“Until June I will be staying & will be fighting to get the team into Europe. The day that a good offer arrives I will put to Miguel Angel” (the Maximum Club shareholder, owner & Director General).
A clear signal to all Atletico de Madrid fans that Aguero is preparing the path for a departure next season. The “good” offers are already on the table, most notably Chelsea FC & Manchester United, & the Club is not competitive enough to keep “KUN” with solid Football & Sports arguments. It is well known that a 50M€ + transfer injection will help the Club financially which also explains its lack of pre-season buying & thus its current state of play.
With this message, the Top European Clubs, along with the already mentioned Premier League Clubs, will be pushing themselves to get into the first row to have access to the star Argentine International.
Funny how life pitches two people, in this case Sportsman & Football Players, together to follow a same path. Destiny? I would´nt know at all, but what I´m sure is that with the years & in retirement both will look back & thank their rival for pushing them on to their highest levels & prizes. One seems to inspire the other the competitive drive needed to continually push each other out of their "comfort zones" & break their personal frontiers.
CRISTIANO RONALDO & LIONEL MESSI. Look at these similiarities:
1. Both injured, recovered & played in yesterdays "Clasico"
2. Both missed clear goal chances yesterday 3. Both relative "quite" in their playing roles yesterday
4. Both "stars" for their respective teams 5. Both in their early 20s
6. Messi second to Ronaldo in last years "Golden Ball"/ FIFA World Player,
Finally & great news for ATLETICO DE MADRID fans, 4-0 victory over ESPANYOL. Goals Forlan 25th, Aguero 62nd & 86th & Maxi Rodriguez 89th min
FC BARCELONA 1 - REAL MADRID 0. Here is the video of the goal that sealed the game by IBRAHIMOVIC 56th min:
SFS will dedicate tonight its summary to this match. Real Madrid played the best 45 mins of all the season countering the midfield & the ball control of FC Barcelona with great tactical placement, concentration & excellent play that nearly paid off, had it not been for a missed Cristiano Roanldo opportunity that could have changed the course of the match.
But lets go back in time , why did Coach Pellegrini put on Higuain from the start & leave Benzema on the bench? Why do I say this? Higuain finally did little or nothing tonight.
Lets go forward. Barça brought on IBRAHIMOVIC in the 2º half & he took his chanceto score what turned out to be the winning goal in the 56th min. Then an important moment, Barça Busquets receives his second yellow & issent off leaving his team with 10 men. Coach Pellegrini then decides to take off Cristiano Ronaldo & put on Benzema...everyone is baffled!Was Ronaldo injured? Didn´t look like, so why take him off?
From here Barça regained control of the game & frustrated Real Madrid to the point that Lass Diarra was sent off as well with certain irritation seeing how his teams clear advantage had turned into a disadvantage. Barça then went on to win & retake the Spanish League Top spot on the ladder.
Real Madrid Coach Pellegrini has justified - post match press conference - his decision to take off Cristaino Roanldo with the medical excuse from World ankle specialist & Ronaldo´s doctor, Dr.Dijk who advised that Ronaldo should only play 60 mins tonight. SFS does´nt buy it, nor does it buy Coach Pellegrini decision to put Higuain from the start over Benzema as well.
SFS watched tonights game & comes to the conclusion that Coach Pellegrini is not the man for this proyect. His decision tonight to take off Ronaldo with Barça down to 10 men was for SFS unexplainable & crucial in their loss.
Having said this, excellent game from Barça Captain PUYOL who was magnificent tonight & showed his pure class. Plus, congratulations to Barça Coach Guardiola who reacted with logical answers (the Ibrahimovic change) to their difficult situation & knew what to do under the circumstances. Real Madrid has improved & showed a better image , but lost to missedchances & some outragous Coaching decisions (again!)Tweet
France Football has released its list of 10 players who are the final candidates for their “Golden Ball Award 2009”. The prize will be made official next Tuesday with FC BARCELONA player LIONEL MESSI favourite. The rumour has it that Cristiano Ronaldo will be second & Xavi Hernandez (FC Barcelona) will be third. The other Spanish player on the list is Barça midfielder Andres Iniesta.
Here is the list: France Football Goleen Ball Award 2009 Top 10 Candidates:
FC Barcelona Leo Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Xavi Hernández & Andrés Iniesta
Real Madrid Cristiano, Ronaldo Kaká
Inter de Milan Samuel Etoo
Manchester United Wayne Rooney
Liverpool Steven Gerrard
Out of this list 6 players will be participating in tonight’s Spanish League “Clasico” – FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid – in “Camp Nou”.
Three games celebrated tonight in Round 12 of the Spanish League commonly known as “La Liga”.
(photo: Bilic_elmundo.com)
SPORTING DE GIJÓN keeps surprising with another win 1-0 over VILLAREAL. The winning goal cam in the 75th min thanks to BILIC. Sporting are knocking on the classification table "Europa League" door, something admirable so far & still need to be seen if they can keep this up. For now, great stuff.
(photo:Villa_elmundo.com_apphoto_Albero.Sanz)
VALENCIA CF had a disallowed goal in the 9th min by Villa & a ball that hit the opponents post in the 74th min from Joaquin, but finished with a 1-1 draw against MALLORCA. The former got ahead in the 48th min with a DAVID VILLA goal but once again allowed the opponent back in the game & gave away a penalty in the latter part of the match. BORJA VALERO converted the penalty in the 85th min to take away the victory from the home team & go away with a valuable point.
(photo:Luis Fabiano)
LUIS FABIANO above managed to score two goals in the 2ºhalf (58th & 72nd min) to grab a 2-2 draw against bottom placed side MALAGA.
The visitors took advantage of the missed chances by Sevilla in the 1ºst
half to surprise them with two goals, thanks to FERNANDO in the 22nd
min & DUDA in the 45th min.
But this Sevilla side has character & top class players that can turn the
game around with their magic. The team put their mind onto it & in the 2ºhalf managed the cameback to equalize & at least not lose the match to take the point.
The list of 30 candidates for the 2009 France Football Golden Ball Award has been made public with 6 Spanish players on the list. The League that has most players is “La Liga” which has 12 players on the candidate list below:
(photo:as.com)
Andreï Arshavin (Arsenal) Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) Iker Casillas (Real Madrid) Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) Diego (Juventus) Didier Drogba (Chelsea) Edin Dzeko (Wolfsburg) Samuel Etoo (Inter Milan) Cesc Fábregas (Arsenal) Fernando Torres (Liverpool) Diego Forlán (Atlético Madrid) Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) Ryan Giggs (Manchester United) Yoann Gourcuff (Girondins) Thierry Henry (Barcelona) Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Barcelona) Iniesta (Barcelona) Julio Cesar (Inter Milan) Kaká (Real Madrid) Frank Lampard (Chelsea) Maicon (Inter Milan) Lionel Messi (Barcelona) Luis Fabiano (Sevilla) Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich) Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) John Terry (Chelsea) Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United) David Villa (Valencia) Xavi (Barcelona) Yaya Touré (Barcelona)
Inside rumours & speculation have already mentioned that the winner will be LIONEL MESSI, followed by Cristiano Ronaldo & third going to Xavi Hernandez. However, this is pure speculation.
The news from the various local media today is that French forward KARIM BENZEMA will start from the beginning alongside Kaká & Cristiano Ronaldo in next Sundays “Clasico” against FC BARCELONA at “Camp Nou”.
There are a few observations here:
1. The first time that all three star signings play together for a long-time. This fact has baffled many observers & is one of the many criticisms hailed upon Coach Pellegrini 2. Veteran Captain & Real Madrid living legend Raúl will begin on the bench. This is a recent tendency that sees the player’s role change to a second-level. Many commentators & Club Directives feel that Raúl halts the progression of the younger players who play upfront. Added to this, many assert that Raúl displaces Kaká & Benzema from their natural positions making them less effective 3. Real Madrid finally go to “Camp Nou” with all their fire-power.
These three observations put a hell of lot expectations onto the team & the players involved. Firstly, it finally gives the reason to those who have been very critical with Coach Pellegrini & Raúl. Not to see improvement in the teams performance, efficiency &/or results next Sunday will give ammunition to those attacked to counter, especially in the Karim Benzema case.
The young 21 year old striker has not started his career at Real Madrid as he would have liked & others have expected. The man is going through a “difficult” adaptive period where Football styles & the local language & culture are hurdles that need to be jumped & conquered. His natural shyness, obviously due to lack of knowledge of Spanish to fully express himself, is also halting & breaking his adaptation. One cannot but remember another case with a Frenchmen at Real Madrid who shared similar characteristics, that of Nicolas Anelka now at Chelsea FC.
There has been an increasing tendency from Benzema to take out his personal frustration & lack of playing time on field with indirect criticisms, within his inner circle & with some media , of Coach Pellegrini & on Raúl. This is dangerous given the opportunity the player will have this Sunday, here the saying "put your money where your mouth is"– in this case "your goals where your mouth is" – has never been so relevant.
The biggest game in Europe, & possibly the World, is the stage where a Football player can finish a hero & thus have his path cleared for many years or be a mental condemnation & career suffering time that has lead many rising star fizzle out in the shadows. This Sunday against FC Barcelona Karim Benzema has his golden opportunity to shut mouths, grow in confidence, regain his French team place, be the promise everyone expected & the hero of Real Madrid, or send him back to the substitution bench, give Raúl back his place & send the player into a worrying spiral of “doubts & confidence” that will be hard to get out leaving little margin for future criticism from his part. "El Clasico", the FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid clash, the place were dreams turn to reality & stars are born. That’s the good side; the other is that same place & stage can damage the promising careers of many & send them into the forgotten. Let’s hope Karim thanks his chance, proves his talent & worth, let’s wish him luck & that he realizes the magnitud of the occasion & that he gives his all.
Remember this opportunity for Royston Drenthe against FC Barcelona at Camp Nou in 2008 (minute 1.16 on the video), watch:
Apart from Barcelona winning 2-0, it was the moment that changed another promise like Drenthe, a moment he still hasn’t recovered from, is still suffering personally & professionally ever since. Let´s hope Benzema scores if he finds himself in a similiar position!
FC BARCELONA & some of its star players have given their image for the worthy cause of awareness & fundraising towards the orphans who have lost their family from AIDS across the World. The latest figures cite that 15.000.000 children are made orphans due to loss of family members from AIDS. Under the UNICEF “flag” the Spanish team endorses this campaign which SFS gives space here in solidarity in getting the message out & hope:
It’s Sunday evening, the 29th of November at 19.00hrs & on a field in a stadium named “Camp Nou” located in the Spanish city of Barcelona there are 24 players looking at a ball situated in the middle of the field awaiting the referee’s whistle.You focus your vision further & realize that you are seeing Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká, Xavi,Iniesta, Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Ibrahimovic, Xabi Alonso, Thierry Henry, Karim Benzema …& you realize that the Best Players in the World of Football are before your very own eyes. The whistle blows & you are witnessing the “Clasico” the big Spanish League “Derby” between FC BARCELONA & REAL MADRID.
(photo: Mundodeportivo.com)
There are few occasions & few places (perhaps except for Argentina & the Boca Juniors vs. River Plate game) in the World of Football that allows you to view, feel & live Football at its highest level. Never before have so many World Class players been summoned together in one place to play with & against each other. For example, rumour has it that this years Golden Ball Award final places will be Messi the winner, Cristiano Ronaldo second & Xavi Hernandez third; they will all be there this Sunday representing their team along with the current Best Goalkeeper in the World who is Iker Casillas & a list of Top 10 World ranked stars: Kaká, Iniesta, Ibrahimovic, Benzema, Xabi Alonso, Ramos, Puyol, Henry…etc & etc. This is awesome, unique, special & not to be missed if you are a Football fan.
The pre-match favourites are FC BARCELONA who displayed last Tuesday in their Champions League must win game against Inter Milan that they are firing, & won 2-0 without Messi & Ibrahimovic. REAL MADRID is leading the Spanish League classification table by 1ºpoint over Barça, but their game yesterday showed that they are a playing contradiction, miles behind the worst level Barça could play & are winning thanks to individual solutions ahead of any real coherent team play which is lacking & worrying some Real Madrid Directives. In fact, Real Madrid show continuing signs of lack of physical endurance in their matches, lack of coordination, emptiness in creativity & solutions. This paints a bleak picture for Madrid, but they will have back CRISTIANO RONALDO & his mere presence will give the visitors a moral boost & a substantial lift in the quality scale. According to the latest media comments by Ronaldo, the man is centred, eager & wishing to score to let the World know that the “King wishes his crown back”.
(photo:elmundo.es)
Either way, anything can happen as this match, this very special clash of giants does not follow the standard prognostics & written rules of a normal obliged scheduled game. This is one of the biggest spectacles in Football & even the “Gods” themselves take a break & desert their control over destiny to hand it over with free reign to 24 players who are consciously & physically lifted above their normal levels.
Latest news is that Messi is trying hard to overcome injury to be fit, with Ibrahimovic almost certain to start. At Real Madrid Cristiano Ronaldo is fit & roaring to go with Benzema upfront & Kaká in his natural position just behind the forwards…The stage is set, will you
The only real good news from the 1-0REAL MADRIDvictory over ZURICH in Group C was the return in the 2ºhalf of CRISTIANO RONALDO after 56 days out with injury & the fact that AC Milan drew at Olympique 1-1 to give Madrid the top spot in the Group. The rest, even with victory was very, very disappointing.
There are still serious questions about Real Madrid´s game. The team goes from good to average to poor throughout the evolution of the matches.Either there is a physical - training problem or its mental, SFS is baffled! Added to this, there still seems to be a lack of system, of a plan & a strategy that everyone can follow, except there are individual attempts to solve the situations. All these problems & Real Madrid won the game, which should make everyone think what is happening?
(photo: Higuain_reuters_elmundo.es)
The only & winning goal came in the 20th min via HIGUAÍN, but that was it as for authentic moments of glory.
Last question; why did´nt Benzema get a run today? Leave that one to you.
Next Sunday Real will meet FC Barcelona & after what was witnessed tonight, Real Madrid could face an awful defeat by a big margen. Lets hope the "Derby" atmosphere lifts the Real Madrid play, if only to be able to give Barça a "fair" opponent.
(photo: Forlan_marca.com)
Talking about a "basket case", ATLETICO DE MADRID managed a 1-1 draw against APOEL away in their Group D game. The Spanish team cannot turn its chances into goals, opportunities they had & plenty. But their defence, yes their defence sinks any little hope as it happened early in the 4th min when MIROGAVJEVIC scored for the home team.
From here nerves, frustration & lost of coordination for the Spaniards who managed to draw thanks to SIMAO in the 61st min. Thank God for that, everyone here said out loud.
Atletico virtually assures its Europa League place, but one doesn´t hold out much hope that the team with advance far, as this season is turning out to be "hell on earth".Tweet
GERARD PIQUE was born 2nd of February 1987 in the city of Barcelona. This 22 year old FC BARCELONA defender is already,along with AC Milan Clarence Seedorf, the few who have won UEFA Champions League titles back to back in different Clubs. However, the achievements do not stop here, with such a young age the defender has earned a permanent & important place in the Spanish National Team. Everything indicates that we are witnessing a man & a Football player destined for big things that could leave a mark in the history of European & certainly World Football.
(photo: Gerard Pique_marca.com)
Pique is already an ex-Real Zaragoza & Manchester United player, leaving the latter after having little opportunities to show his skills, talent that includes midfield duties if needed & an uncanny goal scoring ability for a player who specializes in his position. Already some experts & veteran observers are comparing Pique to the mythical German Captain & defender Franz Beckenbauer, a comparison that just in itself already takes the player halfway to glory.
The people in the inside, those that live the FC Barcelona dressing room have expressed the extraordinary leadership qualities of the defender & are already predicting that Pique is destined to be Barça´s next long-term Captain, something that will transfer itself with time onto the Spanish National Squad. This added with his Football qualities sets the path for legend status as long as the player wishes it to be & he can avoid unlucky injuries.
The young man has already: 2 Champions League (2008 & 09) 1 Euro Super Cup (2009) 1 English League Cup (2006) 1 Community Shield (2007) 1 Premier League (2008) 1 Spanish Cup (2009) 1 Spanish League (2009) 1 Spanish Super Cup (2009)
With 22 years of age this is just the beginning, & we will be seeing how this youngman continues evolving & getting better to possibly become soon the “Best Defender in The World” & for sometime.
With Rubin Kazin drawing 0-0 with Dynamo Kiev in the other Group F game, FC BARCELONA had less pressure & defeated INTER MILAN 2-0 in a game that was an anti-climax. A very disappointing Italian team that had little ideas & were very conservative in their strategy & play.
However, that maybe easy to write as Barcelona dominated the ball & played all the game with some brilliant Football ( without Ibrahimovic & Messi) that was hard to stop.
PIQUE opened the scoring in the 9th min with his header as shown on this video:
Barça grew even more stronger & in the 25th min PEDRO scored the second after a great built-up & pass from Alves.
(photo: Pedro_elmundo/ap_photo)
From here & until the end Barça had more chances but just made sure to control the game. Inter Milan was ineffective tonight & the much awaited Samuel Eto´o "revenge" opportunity did not eventuate.
Once again all the pre-match prognostics go out the window as Barça turn a possible elimination scenario into a almost qualifying & top of the Group situation. That is why they are the current European Champions! (photo:Negredo_marca.com)
Talking about pre-match prognostics failing, SEVILLA FC lost 1-0 away to UNIREA in their Group G clash.
Sevilla played better overall & hit the post twice but Unirea took its chance even though it was via an own goal from Sevilla Fc defender DRAGUTINOVIC in the 44th min.
From here the local side put up a defensive wall & managed to take the game. Having said all this Sevilla should not have problems in their quest to qualify from the Group stage. As they say, shit happens sometimes!Tweet
Many a time here on SFS the comparisons with Football & Life have been highlighted, with the emphasis on how things can turn 360º in a matter of days &/or months. The ousted & now ex-FC BARCELONA forward SAMUEL ETOÓ could play a part tonight in eliminating his ex-Club if his current employer, Italian Champions INTER MILAN, defeat Barça in their Group Champions League game.
(photo: as.com)
Paradoxical really that the ex-Camp Barça hero could score for Inter & create shockwaves throughout the Football World knocking out the Current European Champions so early in the Group stage. For FC Barcelona this would be a hard blow that may cause short-term “wobbles” that could have bad results in the “Liga” competition with Real Madrid to be played next Sunday. In fact, there is uncertainty if stars Ibrahimovic or Messi can play tonight due to injuries, although the former has a higher probability. Either way, destiny has put the chips on the table with a grand game expected between theses two Football giants where anything can happen & either team could win. From SFS I wish Barça all the best as I desire Spanish teams to go all
the way.
Samuel Etoó tonight will be the focus, the returning son, the man who can change the course of both Clubs, one onto glory while with the other out to the cold. Life & Football, funny how each keep on building stages for you to perform.
Saturdays At.Bilbao vs Fc Barcelona gave us plenty of extra-football content & insights as shown on the below post with "Superman" & this new post on "Martial Arts"
FC BARCELONA Argentine star LIONEL MESSI is a tough player to stop, most opponent team defenders are left standing still while the agil & classy forward dribbles past them to score his goals.
Here is a "new method" to stop Messi as shown by Athletic de Bilbao defender AMOREBIETA. He uses the unconventional “Karate” leave it up & into your face technique as used by the “School of Tough Defenders without Skill”. See video:
Obviously, this “martial art” is so new that the referee nor his linesman were prepared for this daring use of the secret art & its excecution.Tweet
Have you ever wondered what SUPERMAN is doing lately? Been a while that we know little of his location or what he is doing. Apparently he has a part-time job as a security guard at the ATHLETIC DE BILBAO stadium "San Mames" as this video indicates in Saturdays game against FC Barcelona
Superman flew & tackled a spontaneous runner with an Algerian flag in the very last moment to "save the day"!Tweet
La Spanish Liga continued today with Round 11 & its six scheduled games. (photo: efe)
MALLORCA continues proving its home ground is a stronghold with another good win other ALMERIA 3-1. The man of the match was CASTRO for Mallorca who put in two goals (48th & 94th min),
with his team-mate VICTOR scoring the other goal in the 89th min. The only goal for Almeria came from RODRIGUEZ in the 75th min. (photo: efe_elmundo.com)
VILLAREAL is pulling itself out of the "hole" it got itself into early in this
season with some well earned wins. Today they defeated VALLADOLID
3-1 with Brazilian NILMAR starring for Villareal with two goals along
with ROSSI who put in the third. COSTA got the consolation goal for Valladolid, a team in bad shape at this point of the "Liga".
(photo:marca.com)
MALAGA managed to pull back a 1-1 draw from REAL ZARAGOZA in a tense 2ºhalf were both teams lost a man to a red card. Earlier EWERTHON converted a penalty to put Zaragoza ahead but Malaga equalized via GONZALEZ in the 74th min. Much needed point for Malaga still last in the classification ladder.
(photo: elmundo.com_efe)
XEREZ & REAL SPORTING DE GIJÓN only managed a 0-0 draw in a match were both were not able to turn their chances into goals.
(photo: efe-elmundo)
RCD ESPANYOL lost 0- 2 to GETAFE in the latter part of the game thanks to goals from CASQUERO in the 79th min & PEDRO RIOS
in the 93rd min. Espanyol were scored when best they were playing
which must have been a moral blow. Ex-Espanyol Captain Tamudo
made a return to his side but was´nt able to score. (photo: marca.com)
OSASUNA lost to VALENCIA CF 1-3 with the latter too good in its counter-attacks. DAVID VILLA pulls a bit more away as the Liga leading
goal scorer with his 11th min shot. His team-mates ABELDA in the
20th min & MARCHENA in the 56th min also got on the score sheet.
Osasuna went down to 9 men when its forward Pandiani saw his
second yellow card & Flaño saw his in the last minutes, however MASOUD scored Osasuna´s only goal in the 68th min.
Young Luara Hayrapetyan representing Armenia came in runner-up yesterday at the EUROVISION JR contest with her song BARCELONA:
She & her team dressed the FC BARCELONA outfit & poured their hearts out to lovely & catchy tune. Perhaps the Spanish Club should consider Laura as a pre-match "Classic" Barça vs Real Madrid performance at "Camp Nou" next Sunday. It would be a great Marketing exercise for everyone.Tweet
Its been said by wise men for many, many years how Football is a fluctuating game of CRAZY luck, spirits & results. Who would have imagined two weeks ago with the Real Madrid institutional pillars “crumbling” & Coach Pellegrini´s position on the edge, that REAL MADRID would be at the Top of the “La Liga” ladder? This & the fact that Real Madrid is not exactly playing better Football than Barça, in fact the former still has worrying tactical & defensive problems to overcome.
(photo: Messi injured_marca.com)
FC BARCELONA drew last night against Athletic de Bilbao 1-1 to "allow" the “arch rival” to jump ahead with a 1º point advantage in the classification table, but the hand of luck drew them a bad hand with injury to LIONEL MESSI. Unfortunate & with absolute bad timing as Barça has a tough week ahead which could see their Champions League future in doubt ( i.e. elimination) with a vital game this Tuesday against an inform Inter Milan, & next weeks “Classico” against Real Madrid also under the odds.
With “swine flu” spreading through the dressing room (Abidal, Toure & Marquez for the moment), Messi almost discarded for Inter & possibly for Real Madrid & Ibrahimovic injured , Barça hopes that it can get out alive against Inter Milan this Tuesday & have sufficient men, moral spirits & confidence to halt Real Madrid next Sunday. Remember, if Real wins at “Camp Nou”, not only will that be a boost to the Madrid confidence but also another 3 points, added to which Barça will have a “new hunter” on their tail called Sevilla FC.
It appears, at this point, that the “Gods of the Football skies” have turned the tide against FC Barcelona who, as already said, are playing the better Football of all the Spanish Clubs ( with Sevilla the only possible exception) & facing a potentially awkward & difficult 7 days ahead that could steer them off the rails & fill the media with the
word "crisis".
(photo: Higuaín_elmundo.com)
Football is funny & difficult to understand. Real Madrid gains back Cristiano Ronaldo & Barcelona now losses Messi, Real could get back on course in Champions if they defeat Zurich on Tuesday, while Barça could say Goodbye if they lose to Inter on Wednesday, & lastly Barça may see Real escape if the they lose next Sunday.
Tense week coming up folks, it will be interesting to see how the Football Gods throw the dice, as it seems at times, it has everything to do except with Football!
As Freddy Mercury sang : "Crazy Little Thing Called Love (or Football?)" TRY IT, CHANGE THE WORLD "LOVE" FOR "FOOTBALL" & sing along:
NOTE: This article will have little relevance if Real lose on Wednesday & Barça wins on Tuesday &/or Sunday...thats Football :-)
LATEST: Doctors confirm that Messi´s injury is not as bad as first thought. Stay tuned!
ATLETICO DE MADRID went to DEPORTIVO & fell again in their own trap. The Madrid team lost the match in the 95th min to a penalty that leaves them dangling at the bottom of the table. The Club has enter a worrying spiral that fans hope they can pull themselves out off. (photo: Aguero end of game)
SERGIO AGUERO put Atletico ahead with a brilliant individual goal in the 3rd min, but slowly Deportivo pulled back the game to their advantage when COLOTTO equalized in the 20th min. Both teams then were fairly equal & when everyone thought it would finish with shared points, Atletico defender Pablo makes a penalty that GUARDADO converted in the LAST moment. Final result 2-1 to Deportivo. A SFS question - how can you convince Aguero to stay at Atletico after seeing this - again? (photo: Perotti scores_elmundo.com)
At the opposite band of the spectrum, SEVILLA FC travelled to TENERIFE & continued on their merry way with a 1-2 win that could have been more had they not taken the foot off the accelerator. In form PEROTTI scored first for Sevilla FC in the
31st min followed by RENATO in the 48th min. The consolidation
goal for Tenerife came via NINO in the 75th min. (photo: Higuían scores)
REAL MADRID had Raul starting on the bench again with Drenthe getting a run in the midfield, to end up winning 1-0 RACING DE SANTANDER with a goal from HIGUAÍN. Real Madrid dominated a
fairly ordinary Racing that gave Madrid a serious scare late in the
game when Canales scored & was disallowed for an off-side that
was questioned. The same occured with Benzema who had his
goal disallowed in the 2ºhalf for off-side as well.
However, Real Madrid still look lost on the field & out of place. Their defence also looked sloppy & raised the whistles of the home
crowd throughout the match. Overall, a sour victory with the only
sweet element being the 3 points, but they still do not bring on
confidence.
(photo: Alves scores_marca.com)
ATHLETIC DE BILBAO drew 1-1 with FC BARCELONA in an intense, physical & exciting end to end game. At.Bilbao are always difficult
with their home crowd cheering them on & they put in a great 2º half after DANI ALVES put Barça ahead in the 53rd min from a
fabulous Xavi pass. But Bilbao are a tough nut & substitute TOQUERA
brough the roof down when he equalized in the 62nd min. It could have gone more Barça´s way as they failed to put in a bag full
of opportunities, to which Bilbao had few & were more effective with their "valuable" goal.
Barça now passes top ladder spot to Real Madrid (1 point more) who will meet each other next week in the "BIG CLASSIC", but before its Inter Milan on Tuesday. A tough week!
Is this the "new" mass threat to World Football (Soccer)?
Dodgy referee decisions, intencional red cards to leave your team with
less men, own goals, off-sides not called, goalkeeping mistakes...the options are long as "betting" money has entered as a possible factor in game results.In Germany they are investigating up to 200 games; local, Europa League & Champions League.
Game fixing is not something new, according to Canadian investigative
writter Declan Hill, "game fixing " has occured in the last 40 years citing
at least 137 games that show clear signs of "manipulation"
Let´s hope the Government & the Football Authorities UEFA & FIFA cut this "cancer" asap before it spreads wider in Football & other Sports, gets rooted & out of control.
The Football Finance website "Futebol Finance" (Portugues) publish an interesting article to hightlight the "Top 20 Most Valuable U-21 Players in the World". The first Top 3 named "youngsters" all play in the Spanish League - "La Liga".
(Sergio Aguero for Atletico de Madrid)
LIST: The TOP 20 players U-21 most valuable in the world 2009
Name Age Country Club Amount€
1 . Sergio Aguero 21 Argentina At.Madrid € 50,000,000 2. Karim Benzema 21 France Real Madrid € 40,000,000 3. Gonzalo Higuain 21 Argentina Real Madrid € 30,000,000 4. Pato 20 Brazil Milan € 30,000,000 5. Mario Balotelli 19 Italy Internazionale € 30,000,000 6. Theo Walcott 20 England Arsenal € 25,000,000 7. Stevan Jovetić 20 Montenegro Fiorentina € 25,000,000 8. Juan Manuel Mata 21 Spain Valencia € 25,000,000 9. Angel Di Maria 21 Argentina Benfica € 20,000,000 10. Miralem Sulejmani 20 Serbia Ajax € 15,000,000 11. Bojan Krkic 19 Spain FC Barcelona € 15,000,000 12. Neymar 17 Brazil Santos € 12,500,000 13. William 21 Brazil CSKA Moscow € 10,000,000 14. Marko Marin 20 Germany W. Bremen € 10,000,000 15. Keirrison 20 Brazil FC Barcelona € 10,000,000 16. Marko Arnautovic 20 Austria Internazionale € 10,000,000 17. Alan Dzagoev 19 Russia CSKA Moscow € 10,000,000 18. Sydou Boumba 21 Ivory Coast Young Boys € 9,000,000 19 .Thomas Muller 20 Germany Bayern Munich € 9,000,000 20. Alberto Paloschi 19 Italy Parma € 9,000,000
FIFA & FIFPro (the players Union) have combined to announce this year the "FIFA/FIFPro WORLD XITeam" which will be announced the 21st of December in a Gala at Zurich (Switzerland).
For the moment the organizations have handed in their 55 candidates of which 11 are Spanishplayers: Casillas, Reina, Sergio Ramos, Piqué, Puyol, Iniesta, Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Cesc, Torres & Villa.
The “World XI” will be voted by 50.000 professional Football players from all around the World who will vote for their Best Player per each position. Here is the FULL LIST of 55 Candidates: Spaniards in BLOCK & Spanish based players in dark -
GOALKEEPERS Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), IKER CASILLAS (Spain/Real Madrid), Julio Cesar (Inter), JOSE MANUEL REINA (Spain/Liverpool), Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United)
DEFENDERS Daniel Alves (FC Barcelona), Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Gael Clichy (Arsenal), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Patrice Evra (/Manchester United), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Fabio Grosso (Juventus), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Lucio Ferreira (Inter), Maicon Douglas Sisenando (Inter), Alessandro Nesta (AC Milan), Pepe (Real Madrid), GERARD PIQUE (Spain/ FC Barcelona), CARLES PUYOL (Spain/FC Barcelona), SERGIO RAMOS (Spain/Real Madrid), Walter Samuel (Inter), John Terry (Chelsea), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United).
MIDFIELDERS XABI ALONSO (Spain/Real Madrid), Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Daniele De Rossi (AS Roma), Diego (Juventus), Michael Essien (Chelsea), CESC FABREGAS (Arsenal), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Ryan Giggs (Manchester United), ANDRES INIESTA (FC Barcelona), Ricardo Kaká (Real Madrid), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan), Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich), Yaya Touré (FC Barcelona), XAVI (FC Barcelona).
FORWARDS Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), Andrei Arshavin (Arsenal), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Samuel Etoó (Inter), Luís Fabiano (Sevilla), Thierry Henry (FC Barcelona), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (FC Barcelona), Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona), Diego Milito (Inter), Alexandre Pato (AC Milan), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), FERNANDO TORRES (Liverpool), DAVID VILLA (Valencia).
FIFA has made official its National Team Ranking for December issuing their table today. As advanced earlier in the week, SPAIN regains the Nº1 spot from Brazil.
Here are the Top 10 places:
1. Spain 1622 pts 2. Brazil 1592 3. Holland 1279 4. Italy 1215 5. Portugal 1181 6. Germany 1170 7. France 1122 8. Argentina 1085 9. England 1063 10. Croatia 1050
It´s official FIFA has rejected the call to replay the France vs Ireland World Cup 2010 qualifying match which was won by France after Thierry Henry handballed twice in the last moments to allow team-mate Gallas to score the qualifying goal.
As expected the "blacklash" has been Worldwide with responses from all around the global. Here is a "humourous" response (no so much for the Irish & very understandable) of the whole affair:
News from the REAL MADRID “friendly” Sports daily “AS” informs that SEVILLA FC midfielder DIEGO PERROTI is on the agenda of the Madrid Club for next season. The Argentine has called the attention of everyone with some outstanding plays & more importantly his goals, in his explosive start to this season. Some see him as the natural substitute to Cristaino Ronaldo when the latter is injured or on International duties.
Sevilla bought the Argentine for 300.000€ from 2º Division Argentine Club Deportivo Morón two years ago & now has the player valued at around the 15-20M€ mark. However, SFS feels that Sevilla will not have any intention of letting go the player, not as yet. The press story will only make Sevilla better the players contract & lift his contract release clause from 25M€ to 50M€. As you can suspect, things of the press...
REAL MADRID star CRISTIANO RONALDO has contacted SFS Blog ;-) to get his message out to all his millions of fans. He is back from injury after 51 days sidelined & wishes to thank personally everyone for their support during the difficult period:
FC BARCELONA & Spanish International midfielder ANDRES INIESTA gives us a “Masterclass” on how he does his famous dribble. This is for our young readers from around the global:
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Putting my grain of sand to help contribute in expanding Spanish Football - Soccer | Sports abroad. An ex-amateur Footballer long ago - alias Striker - is now a fan that has the game embedded in his Football - Soccer Sports heart.
