Spanish Football | Soccer

REAL MADRID. MORES CHANGES & NEWS

Some interesing players situation changes in the last day of
transfer deals. As usual REAL MADRID take the news
headlines, with big names.

It was the REYES - BAPTISTA swap deal that took REYES
finally to REAL MADRID. Arsenal oked it in exchange for
Real´s Brazilian Baptista.
Atletico de Madrid now wants its "3M€" pre-agreement price
back in payment.
Difficult to prove, as it is one word against the other.

RONALDO has announced he will definately stay with Real
Madrid, while IVAN HILGUERA is close to leaving.

Lastly, Real´s English defender JONATHAN WOODGATE
was presented by English Premier League side
MIDDLESBOROUGH were he has arrived on loan.

NEWS FLASH - Ivan Helguera stays at Real Madrid. The
Valencia offer did not come through & he rejected a Racing
de Santander offer

SEVILLE played LEVANTE to end the 1º round of the SPANISH
LEAGUE. A brilliant & attractive game that took Seville to the top
of the 1º Division ladder with a 4-0 win, which included a HAT -
TRICK by KEPA.
Score Results:
Kepa ( 3) 28´ 50´ 87´
Kanoute 8´

The 1º Division Ladder Top 5 looks like this.
1. Seville 3pts
2. Getafe
3. FC Barcelona
4. Deportivo de Coruña
5. Valencia CF

The league takes a short break for International & European
Nations Championship qualifiers.

MORE SPANISH FOOTBALL TRANSFER NEWS

With 2 days left to shut transfers & the market is red hot.
ATLETICO DE MADRID finally shut the deal with Dynamo
of Moscow for its Portugues International midfielder
MANICHE. He has signed for 3 seasons & will be officially
presented tomorrow to fans & media.

REAL BETIS has signed 2 players, young Brazilian RAFAEL
SOBIS who will debut in the Brazilian national squad & played
in Porte Alegre, & Young German International ODONKOR
from Borrusia Dortmund - pictured below.

Lastly, ARIEL IBAGAZA has returned to REAL MALLORCA
from Atletico de Madrid , where he had a terrible run of bad
luck & injuries that stopped him from shinning. SFS wishes
him luck as he is a real class player when in form.

REAL MADRID TRANSFERS. PLAYERS FOR SALE & LOANS

REAL MADRID is cleaning its house out for the new season, while
some furniture will be given a new shine & will stay. Thats the
case with RONALDO who has commented that he is happy with
Madrid & wishes to stay many years. What do you expect him to
say? The reason he is still there is that Milan & Inter didn´t
come to an agreement with Real; now its Ronaldo´s chance to
prove himself again & is training hard to regain his best form.

Young Real player JUAN FRAN has been transfered to
OSASUNA. While Danish player GRAVESEN has been
sold to CELTIC GLASGOW for 3,000,000€.

Real´s English defender WOODGATE is in England talking
to MIDDLESBOROUGH & NEWCASTLE to decide which
team he wishes to be loaned .

Uruguayian International & midfielder PABLO GARCIA
- pictured- has been loaned to CELTA DE VIGO. While
IVAN HELGUERA is currently negociating with VALENCIA.

Finally, AC MILAN has offered - according to AS - 25,000,000€
for Real´s ROBINHO. The Spanish club has said that the Brazilian
is not for sale.

As you can see, a full face lift at Real, now its games they need to win.

SPANISH FOOTBALL & TRANSFER NEWS

CELTA & FC BARCELONA played tonight their
1º round match in which Barça won 2-3 in a less
than conviencing & tough match, which Gudjohnson
solved in the last minutes of the game.

The scorers were:
1-0 Baino
1-1 Eto´o
1-2 Messi
2-2 G.Lopez
2.3 Gudjohnson

Tomorrow the last match of Round 1 will be played between
Seville - Levante

Ex-Betis player JOAQUIN
was officially presented to
media & fans by his new
club VALENCIA.

The 25,000,000€ signing
finally reached an agreement
after long & hard negotiations

Spanish International & Arsenal player JOSE ANTONIO
REYES is in Spain to join the Spanish National Squad.
He has commented that he desires to stay in Spain & not
return to English Football.
ATLETICO DE MADRID may help him get his dream as
negotiations with Arsenal are close to sealing a deal which
will put Reyes next to his long time friend Fernando Torres.
We all will need to wait & see, as Atletico is offering less
than what Arsenal asks, but Reyes is happy to play in Atletico
Stay tuned!

SPANISH FOOTBALL. "LA LIGA" KICKS OFF FOR 2006/07

The Spanish League kicked off this weekend with mixed results
& 2 matches left to be played Monday & Tuesday.

FERNANDO TORRES scored the only goal for Atletico de Madrid in
it´s victory over Racing de Santander. Real Madrid disappointed at
home with a 0-0 draw with Villareal. Deportivo & Zaragoza
was the match full of goals with Deportivo winning 3-2.

Results:
Espanyol 0 - Gimastic de Tarragona (Campano)
Osasuna 0 - Getafe ( Celestini, Nacho)
Racing 0 - Atletico de Madrid 1 ( Torres)
Real Madrid 0 - Villareal 0
Recreativo 1 (Cazorla) - Mallorca 1 ( Arango)
Deportivo 3 ( J.Rodriguez,Sergio, Arizmendi) - Zaragoza 2
(D.Milito, Ewerthon)
Valencia 2 ( Morientes, Albiol) - Betis 1 ( Xisco)
At Bilbao 1 (Aduritz) - Real Sociedad 1 ( Aranburu)

Celta - Barcelona (Monday)
Seville - Levante ( Tuesday)

Spanish paper, Marca, has announced that AC MILAN has signed
Brazilian & REAL BETIS forward OLIVEIRA for 15,000,000€.
This operation comes after Milan´s attempt for Real Madrid´s
Ronaldo failed, as they asked for 30M€ & Oliveira was its next
more economical option. The news is up on Milan´s web site.

SPANISH FOOTBALL "LA LIGA" KICKS OFF SEASON 2006/07 THIS WEEKEND

The new 2006/07 SPANISH 1º DIVISION season starts this
weekend. "La Liga" - as its also known - kicks off with a
whole lot of new players & stars, maintaining it as the "best"
league in the world.

Here is the Round 1º fixture:
Valencia-Betis (Saturday)
Osasuna-Getafe(Sunday)
Racing - Atletico de Madrid
Real Madrid - Villareal
Recreativo-Mallorca
Deportivo-Zaragoza
At.Bilbao-Real Sociedad
Celta-Barcelona(Monday)
Seville-Levante(Tuesday)

Here is a video with highlights of last seasons action to lift your
spirits

FOOTBALL: SPANISH NATIONAL SQUAD LIST

The SPANISH NATIONAL SQUAD has been announced & there
are no changes to the list given for the ICELAND friendly.

Spain begins its EUROPEAN NATIONS CUP road on September
the 2nd against LIECHTENSTEIN - at home & September the 6th
against NORTHERN IRELAND - away.

Here is the list of players:

Atlético de Madrid: Antonio López, Pablo Ibáñez, Fernando Torres,
Mariano Pernía.
Arsenal: Cesc y Reyes
Barcelona: Iniesta, Puyol y Xavi
Betis: Juanito y Joaquín.
Celta: Oubiña
Liverpool: Reina, Xabi Alonso y Luis García
Real Madrid: Casillas, Salgado, Ramos y Raúl.
Valencia: Albelda, Marchena, Villa.

EUROPEAN SUPERCUP FINAL. FC BARCELONA - SEVILLE

The European Football season kicks off tonight in Monaco
with the 1º title up for grabs between last years European Cup
Champs & UEFA Cup Winners. Its an all Spanish affair between
FC BARCELONA & SEVILLE in tonights EUROPEAN
SUPERCUP FINAL.
The favourites are Barça who are in fantastic form so early in the
season.
(Seville training in Monaco, courtesy of AS.com)

Possible line -ups:
Barcelona: Víctor Valdés; Belletti, Puyol, Márquez,
Van Bronckhorst; Motta, Xavi, Deco; Messi,
Ronaldinho y Etoo.
Sevilla: Palop; Alves, Javi Navarro, Escudé, David;
Renato, Poulsen; Navas, Kanouté, Adriano;
y Luis Fabiano.

Ref: Stefano Farina (Italy).
Stadium: Louis II (20.000 capacity)

Funny how luck works sometimes,
REAL MADRID is in Group E &
joins Olympique de Lyon, Steaua
& Dinamo Kiev. New Real player
Diarra will meet his ex-companions
in European Cup competition.

FC BARCELONA is in Group A &
joins Chelsea, Werder Bermen &
Levski.

VALENCIA is in Group D & joins
Roma, Olympiakos & Shakhlzr
Donetsk

Talking about the European Cup, the prizes for the best players for last
season were given today & 4 Fc Barcelona players were awarded from
a possible 5. Impressive!

MVP - Ronaldinho
Best Defender - Carles Puyol
Best Midfielder - Deco
Best Forward - Samuel Eto´o

Lastly transfer news. JOAQUIN has
been signed & transfered to
VALENCIA for 24,000,000€
from Betis.

For the REAL MADRID fan this is the photo they have been
waiting for, MAHAMADOU DIARRA, finally dresses in
white. The operation cost about 26M€, although SFS thinks
it may be more & a 5 year contract.
Diarra could play against Anderletch in the Bernabeu Trophy,
he is the big hope to solve the midfield "hole".
SFS wishes him luck!

SPANISH FOOTBALL. GOOD & BAD NEWS.

Big night for Spanish Football, with European Cup qualifiers &
a friendly match in Barcelona

VALENCIA qualified for
the European Champions
League by defeating
SALZBURG 3- 0 at home
in front of a full house.

Scorers were F.Morientes,
D.Villa & D. Silva.

The bad news was that
OSASUNA couldn´t make
their dream a reality. They
only managed a 1-1 draw
at home against HAMBURG.

Here the away goal was the key,
giving the German team the berth
for the Euro Champions League

Scorers were Cueller for Osasuna
& De Jong for Hamburg

Lastly FC BARCELONA played BAYERN MUNICH in its Joan Gamper
tournament, were Barça showed its in top form winning 4-0.
The scorers were : Ronaldinho, Eto´o(2) & Saviola.
Barça are in awesome form.

You can put a marketing & public
relations aura on anyone, especially
sporting personalities. There is a lot
of cash to be won showing a non-
selfish & humanitarian image.
Hey , why not help an orphan school
in your home country, give gifts at
the local children´s cancer ward
or show up defending some ecological
event.
That makes you a great guy. A role
model & an example for the rest of
us mortals to follow.

SAMUEL ETO´O is a young man
who does all this & more, however
his history is full of the following
events.

In Sunday´s Spanish SuperCup Final,
he was substituted at half time. ¿Eto´o natural reaction? Leave the
stadium! Yep, thats right, leave his teammates & his club. ¿But they
won the final? It did´nt matter,Samuel Eto´o comes first. That´s
always been his style, its all good & roses when its all fun & he
disappears with a; "I don´t give a damm attitude", when it gets tough.

His team is bigger & greater, Barça shows its class &
has strugged off the situation with a comment ,"Eto´o is an important
member of the team". Grandeur style! Congratulations Barça.

So kids, don´t let the goals, charity & smiles fool you, this guy will never be
a true champion. He will have lots & lots of cash, but never the class.

Brazilian forward RICARDO
OLIVEIRA finally returns to
incorporate himself with
BETIS with a 9 day delay.

Here is the run down. Last
season he experienced a
terrible knee injury - 6
months. So Betis signed
another player that took his
place.

Oliveira recovered ahead
of time, but could´nt play due
to the fact, that someone else
had his place.

So Betis decides to loan him to SAO PAULO so he can pick up
form & match play. He did so quickly & was starring in Brazil
scoring goals left right & center.
So much was his "electric" performance he did´nt want to
comeback. Instead he wanted "glory" helping his adopted club
go far in the Libertadores competition.
But Betis needs him as the league starts next Saturday,
& Oliviera shows up today 9 days later.
He is already fined by the club - 1,000,000€ Woffff!
& will probably get more punishment.
But everything will be forgotten once he scores a goal. That´s the
Brazilian footballing way.

FC BARCELONA WINS THE SPANISH SUPERCUP

FC BARCELONA has beaten ESPANYOL 3-0 tonight to win
the SPANISH SUPERCUP 4-1 on aggregate, & take the 1º
official title for the new 2006/07 season.

Barça was awesome with all their star players in excellent
form & proving that they are favorites so early in this new season.
The goal scorers were XAVI & DECO who scored twice, giving us
a great display of indivual & collective skill. It was all touch football
& speed which left Espanyol watching more than participating.

This brings Barça nicely into the next European SuperCup
final against UEFA Cup Champs Seville. If they play like they did
tonight, they may well take that title as well.

ALVARO BAUTISTA gets closer
to the 125cc World title after
winning his race today in the
Czech GP.
Race results:
1. Bautista
2. Kallio
3. G. Talmacsi

World Ladder & Points:
1. Bautista 230pts
2. Kallio 161pts
3. Pasini 147pts

In the 250cc catagory
another Spaniard
JORGE LORENZO won & expanded
his lead in the World title race.

Race results:
1. Lorenzo
2. Dovizioso
3. Aoyama

World Ladder & Points:
1. Lorenzo 199pts
2.Dovizioso 192pts
3.Takahashi 133pts

In the top catagory of MotoGP, Italian Capirossi raced away to grab the
race & win ahead of fellow countryman Valentino Rossi & Spaniard
DANI PEDROSA. Current leader Nicky Hayden had a terrible race
finishing 9th & thus allowing Pedrosa & Rossi to cut his lead.

World Ladder & Points:
1. N.Hayden 201pts
2.Pedrosa 176pts
3.Rossi 147pts

Next race MALAYSIAN GP

While RONALDO is quietly
training to recover from a
routine knee operation in
Madrid, back in Italy, 2 teams
are desperately attempting
to have his services: AC MILAN
& INTER MILAN.

So much so that, local paper
AS, has commented that both
have contacted REAL MADRID
to express their desires & each
has promised that it will pay
much more than what the other
has to offer.

Currently, Real has a small dilema:
¿what to do with Ronaldo?

Firstly, his "indiscipline" ways go totally against Fabio Capello´s
philosophy. Ronaldo is behind in his pre-season training with
regards his teammates due to an operation that Capello was´nt
to sure if necessary.

Secondly, Van Nistelrooy is a forward more in tune with Capello´s way
of Football. First touch, great aerial skill, running into spaces & making
spaces; while Ronaldo is static & needs to be feed.

Lastly, Real may say yes to the offers, if apart from the est. 15M€, a
player comes into the operation. If Milan puts up KAKA ( doubt it) or
Inter puts in ADRIANO ( most likely & rumoured the case).

¿Should Real Madrid sell Ronaldo?

Stay tuned!

SPANISH FOOTBALL. LAST MATCHES BEFORE NEXT WEEKS "LIGA" KICK-OFF

Spain´s most prestigious summer tournament "El Carranza"
has been won by the hosting team, CADIZ who are in 2º
Division. They defeated tonight 1º Division team BETIS on
penalties after drawing 2-2 after 90 minutes.

The match to determine the 3º place was between VILLAREAL
& REAL MADRID. A free kick by RIQUELME gave his side the
victory winning Real 1-0.

The final satndings 1.Cadiz; 2.Betis; 3. Villareal & 4.Real Madrid

Real Madrid will have a further warm up match at home with its
traditional "Santiago Bernabeu Trophy" match against Anderletch
this Wednesday.

In another match played tonight, 2 Madrid teams meet to test
their form before next Saturday´s Spanish League start for the
2006/07 season. GETAFE & ATLETICO DE MADRID played
a 0-0 draw

ZARAGOZA draw 0-0 against Italian team ROMA in Italy.

The big name teams are still sluggish & are slowly gaining in
form. This is typical, as with the addition of so many new players,
the squads are still learning from each other & are a bit "stiff" &
lack match pace.

SPAIN began well in
the BASKETBALL
WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIPS being
held in Japan.

Spain defeated New Zealand
86 - 70 in its opening Group
B match.

The experts give the Spanish
national side an excellent
chance of going far in this
tournament. They have a new
generation of young & class
players, many of which are in
US NBA sides.
The team is lead by star player PAU GASOL, with other overseas
stars as CALDERON, GARBAJOSA, NAVARRO...& company. Next
match against Panama & let´s hope Spain´s time to get to the top has
finally arrived. SFS will keep you informed on the developments.

MANICHE CLOSER TO ATLETICO DE MADRID

ATLETICO DE MADRID hope to shut the ongoing transfer
saga with Portugues International & Dynamo Moscow player
MANICHE, this Monday.

The player is in Madrid, Atletico has put the offer on the table
for Dynamo, but an important offer from Turkey has come in
thus causing "confusion". The player has expressed that he
wishes to play with Atletico, & the club has said it will wait
until Monday. The local press comment that it looks highly likely
that Monday will herald the news of the long awaited transfer
deal.

REAL MADRID SIGNS DIARRA & GET KNOCKED OUT IN PRESTIGIOUS SUMMER TOURNAMENT

REAL MADRID & OLYMPIQUE DE LYON have come to an
agreement to have DIARRA transfered to the Spanish Club.
The deal is 26,000,000€ (1 more if RM win the European Cup).
This ends months of negotiations, which included the player
rebelling against his French club to force the situation.

The other news, is that REAL MADRID were knocked out last
night by BETIS, in the prestigious summer tournament
"CARRANZA". The match concluded 3-3 & went to penalties,
were a Robert Carlos miss, gave the game to Betis.

Scores:
BETIS - Dani (2) & Edu (penalty)
REAL MADRID - Van Nistelrooy (pen.), Raul & Cannavaro
Winners BETIS on penalties. See video below of highlights.

Betis will now play Cadiz in the final tonight.

BETIS & Spanish International winger
JOAQUIN is closer to reaching his
desire to play for VALENCIA CF this
season.

The clubs have an offer on the table,
18,000,000€ plus Valencia player
Regueiro. It is now up to Betis
president to say OK

From the some paper - Marca -
comes the story that REAL MADRID
are still interested in Arsenal´s
Spanish forward ANTONIO REYES.

It is said, Real will put a 15,000,000€
offer on the table, without a player
involved. In other attempts , Real´s
Brazilian BAPTISTA has be mentioned
in past negociations. Lets see what occurs.

WHY ALL THE HUSSLE?

FC BARCELONA won 0-1 RCD ESPANYOL tonight in the 1º
leg of the SPANISH SUPER CUP, which signals the start of
the new Spanish Football season, set to start the 26th of
August.

Last seasons "Liga" winners scored thanks to Frenchmen
GUILY. The Spanish Cup winners , Espanyol, will now go
to the Nou Camp in the 2º leg & attempt to eliminate the
lead, a difficult task as they find themselves in Camp Barça.

SERGIO AGUERO, 18 year old
Argentine, recently signed for
ATLETICO DE MADRID for
an est. 25,000,000€

Julio Maldonado of AS, dedicates
an article to this young player for
us to keep an eye out on for the
coming years.

He debuted with 15 years in 1 º
Division (Argentina), earlier than
Maradona who was until then the
youngest in history.

The experts compare him to Romario.

He was elected the Argentine 1º Div
Best player last season while he played in Independiente.

He is now in Spain, "La Liga" & at Atletico where he is proving his class &
talent in the pre-season matches. He is rapidly winning the hearts of the
Atletico fans & the minds of the local media experts. A star is being born.

Take note - Sergio Aguero - coming soon to a gol near you.

Here are his 3 goals for Atletico already in pre-season:

The Italian press keep writing about
it; the enthusiastic interest of INTER
& AC MILAN to have the services
of Argentine International MAXI
RODRIGUEZ.

The comforting news for ATLETICO
DE MADRID fans is the Maxi is very
happy in Madrid & does´nt want to
think about leaving. Maxi has 2 more
years of contract & the club is also
glad he feels so well.

Everyone is sure that the club will
extend his contract in the near future.

Good news indeed fellow Atleticos.

SPAIN DRAWS WITH ICELAND 0 - 0 IN A COLD GAME

The SPANISH NATIONAL TEAM played a 0 - 0 draw at
ICELAND in a physical & less than exciting match.

The Spanish side come out with Luis Garcia & goalkeeper
Reina, ahead of the press prognostics. It was a Keepers night,
as for Reina, as with Arason, who was in fine form.

Spain showed its lack of homeland league match play, & the
lack of intensity - it was a friendly - illustrated a less than
conviencing performance.
The 2º half saw a much more attacking Spain with Reyes, Iniesta
A.Lopez & Joaquin, & chances appeared, only to be stopped by
the local keeper & the ordered defence.
But its normal at this time of the year & at least Spain went away
with a 0 - 0 draw

Spanish captain RAUL played his 100th game & frankly
had a very quiet game

Good match by Iceland they deserved the result, as reward for
their strenght, order & concentration.
Spain has started its new road towards the 2008 Euro Cup a
bit stiff, but will improve as its league kicks off the 26th of
August. They can only improve.

He played in Spain with Di Stefano & Puskas, was up there with the
legends , one of Dutch football´s greats.
He played in VALENCIA & LEVANTE, apart from INTER MILAN
& TORINO.
He was a Dutch International on 38 occasions & scored 35 goals.
FAAS WILKES died today at 82 years of age.
SFS thanks him for the football, the memories & in keeping the
"spirit" of this wonderful sport burning & alive.
Rest in peace football forward, keep scoring celestial goals.

SPAIN PLAYS ICELAND IN FRIENDLY & RAUL GONZALEZ 100TH INTERNATIONAL CAP

Tonight in the staduim below SPAIN plays ICELAND in a friendly
match the kicks off a "new era" for the Spanish national side. Spain
wishes to continue building on its young promises with its eyes set on
the upcoming European Championships. It wishes to add experience
& mental strenght , which hampered its good performance in the recent
World Cup competition.

If we are to follow coach Luis Aragones
"signs" at training, the inicial lineup
may look like this:
CASILLAS
SALGADO,RAMOS,PABLO,PERNIA
INIESTA, ALBELDA, CESC
TORRES, RAUL, VILLA

No doubt, there will be a lot of changes throughtout the match.

This match is also special for RAUL,
tonight he earns his 100th International
cap for Spain, with Zubizarreta the only
player ahead of him with 126 caps

Its an amazing carreer full of increidible
numbers:
Debut 1996 ( 10 years)
Played in 3 World Cups ( France 98,
Korea/Japan 2002 & Germany 2006)
Played in 2 Euro Cups ( Belguim/
Holland 2000 & Portugal 2004)
Scored 44goals - highest in Spanish
history

If we add his club titles with
REAL MADRID the picture grows:

4 Spanish League Titles
3 European Cups
3 Spanish SuperCups
2 Intercontinental Cups
1 European SuperCups

The only title missing is with his national side, & he hopes that will change
with the upcoming European Championships in 2008.

SFS Congratulates RAUL GONZALEZ for his services to the SPANISH
NATIONAL SIDE, keep playing & keep scoring.

After repeated mentions that its player
DIARRA is not for sale, Olympique de Lyon
have finally set a price, the same price
Chelsea paid for Essien, a cool
38,000,000€

No doubt this is a maximum & the price
will fall, as the player has expressed his
desire to leave the club & play for REAL
MADRID, so much so, that he has refused
deals with other clubs - eg Manchester Utd
- to play in Spain

Its obvious that he is young, top class & the
strong-midfielder that Real looks for
since Makelele´s departure.
¿But is he worth the money?

REAL MADRID defeated Real Salt Lake 0-2 in its last match
in its Tour through the US.
Goals were scored by NISTELROOY ( penalty) & ROBINHO who played
a great match. Here are the goals on video.

Another Spanish team in the US, but finishing its Mexico-US Tour,
FC BARCELONA defeated 1-4 New York Red Bulls in front of
a 79,000 crowd. RONALDINHO scored twice, along with MESSI &
SAVIOLA. For NYRBulls the scorer was French veteran DJORKAEFF.
See all the goals in the following video.

The main highlights emerging from these matches is the good form of
Cassano, Emerson, the Cannavaro & Ramos defensive connection for
Real Madrid & the good play from Ronaldinho, & surprisingly Saviola
for Barça scoring in the last two games.