SPANISH FOOTBALL is having a fantastic year & a grand summer with European Champions Titles coming in all categories. Today the SPANISH FOOTBALL FEMALE U-17 TEAM proclaimed themselves EUROPEAN U-17 CHAMPIONS for the second time after defeating FRANCE 1 - 0 in the Final.
Spain Football Female U-17
Tight match that was resolved at the end when Spanish player Gema Gili back-heeled a loose ball into the path of ALBA POMARES who scored the winner. Congratulations girls, great feat with another title in the bag for Spain & Spanish Football - Sports. Well done!
SPANISH FOOTBALL has a new"player" on "the scene" & big time. MALAGA FC defeated Dutch Club FEYENOORD away 0 - 2 in a friendly pre-season game to notch up their sixth victory in the pre-season. The Spanish Club has done some big spending on new players (up to 8) & the results are showing pre-season that the Club is on the right track, gaining steam & becoming a serious rival for other Spanish Football Clubs in the upcoming new LIGA season.
Malaga FC vs Feyenoord
Malaga started cold but slowly began finding the ball & their game. The Spanish Team was evolving so well that by half time one could say they were in total control. The goals came in the 46th min when new signing defender MONREAL scored & the second came in the 85th min when KRIS STADSGAARDS scored a nice "tap in" goal for the visitors.
Malaga, definately in "the groove" pre-season. Tweet
FC BARCELONA lost 1 - 2 their Friendly game against MANCHESTER UNITED this morning ( Sp time ) in some sweltering & humid conditions in Washington (USA). However this was not a replay of the last Champions League Final in which Barça won, far from it, as Barça put on the field up to nine youngsters from their lower levels. This compared to Manchester United who virtually had all their big guns on the field
Thiago & Anderson
From the Spaniards point of view, the highlight was again young midfielder THIAGO who scored Barça´s only goal in spectacular fashion in the 71st min to draw the match at that stage. However OWEN got the winner for United in the 75th min, when NANI earlier in the 21 st min opened the scoring for the "Reds", both were counter-attacks.
Not all bad for Barcelona from this pre-season result, Thiago continues tantalizing & the rest of the Barça youngsters keep acquiring experience at the top level. Coach Guardiola was fairly pleased with the players efforts during the game. Tweet
The SPANISH FOOTBALL NATIONAL TEAM, the current FIFA World Champions, has been drawn in Group I for the upcoming preliminary European WORLD CUP 2014 qualifiers. The news is that in their Group they will find themselves with a strong competitor & historical rival FRANCE. The other European Nations that make up Group I are BELARUS , GEORGIA & FINLAND.
graphic courtesy of Sportyou
As you can see from the above graph ( in Spanish ) there are some very interesting match- ups. The Euro Zone qualifiers begin the 7th September 2012 & go on till the 15th of October of 2013.
The first placed Group winners qualify automatically for the World Cup Tournament to be held in Brazil in 2014, while the 8 best second placed nations ( there are 9 groups) go into a play-off to give the remaining 4 places. Only 13 Nations from the Euro Zone qualify for the World Cup Finals. Tweet
REAL MADRID notched up its fith straight pre-season friendly victory 1 - 2 against English 2 º Division Club LEICESTER. Don´t know if it was just me but it seemed an odd game without the fluid movements & intensity of previous encounters. Perhaps it was the fact the Real Madrid Coach Mourinho "experimented" more in this match & that did not allow the side to fully blend together. Whatever, the victory was good & important as Real Madrid fly straight onward to China for their Asian commitments
Karim Benzema scores for Real Madrid 2011
The player that will grab the headlines will be French forward KARIM BENZEMA who personally set up CALLEJON for his & Real Madrid´s first goal in the 43rd min, & then he himself scored the teams second in the 62nd min. Not so great performance as his last match for Benzema but scoring is his natural instinct & thus should be pleased. Argentine Gonzalo Higuain got a run in the latter part of the game & had some chances, but was out of tune & will need some more work.
The English team was rewarded with a hard earned consolation goal at the end when DYER scored in the 89th min giving the local fans something to cheer after a great afternoon of entertaining Football. Tweet
SPANISH FOOTBALL again has managed to put another National Team in a European Final, this time in the U-19 Euro Championships being held in Rumania. The young Spaniards defeated IRELAND 5 - 0 in the semi final clash & now go on to meet the Czech Rep in the Final
Spanish Football player Morata Spain U-19
The Irish side managed to keep the flood gates closed until Spanish midfield-forward DEULOFEU put in a "cracker" in the 27th min. From here the Spanish tide rose & basically wiped off the pitch a good Irish side that simply played tonight against better team. The goals came in a steady flow, with Spanish Captain SARABIA ( superb tonight before being substituted ) put in a fine goal in the 40th min, along with JUANMI in the 46th min & MORATA with two goals ( 79th & 91st m) to take his tournament tally to six goals to date.
Special mention to the Irish goalkeeper McCarey who kept out at least four more goals & apart from the scoreline showed some real talent.
Good luck to the Spanish U-19 boys in the Final. If they win it will be amazing for them & Spanish Football.
Match details: Spain 5: Edgar Badia; Daniel Carvajal (Albert Blázquez, m.82), Sergi Gómez, Ignasi Miquel, Jon Aurtenetxe; Rubén Pardo, Álex, Pablo Sarabia (Juan Muñiz, m.66), Juanmi; Álvaro Morata & Gerard Deulofeu (Paco Alcácer, m.80). Entrenador: Ginéz Meléndez.
Ireland 0: Aaron McCarey; Derrick Williams, John Egan, Anthony O''Connor, Joseph Shaughnessy; Jeffrey Hendrick, Samir Carruthers (Eoin Wearen, m.62), Sean Murray (Kevin Knight, m.71); Anthony Forde, John O''Sullivan & Conor Murphy (Connor Smith, m.46). Entrenador: Paul Doolin.
SPANISH FOOTBALL action in full & serious swing tonight as ATLETICO DE MADRID attempts to qualify for the Europa League by overcoming the pre-qualifiers that then gives the team access to the last step which is the end of August play-off. The Spanish Football Team met Norwegian Club STORMGODSET & managed to win the 1º leg match 2 - 1.
Not a result to be too happy with as the Norwegians just need to score a goal at home in the 2º leg to qualify. But the game tonight showed that Atletico is by far the superior team & this should keep hopes high. The game from the Atletico perspective had positives & negatives, & to be honest to the Spanish team they still more training to find the extra spark that the team lacked tonight.
José Antonio Reyes for Atletico de Madrid
Atletico need a midfielder that is creative & can pull rabbits out of the hat, although new signing from Zaragoza GABI did a fine job working hard for the team. There is a huge hole upfront left open by the departure of Sergio Aguero that Diego Forlan & new signing Adrian did their best to fill & attempt to make forget the Argentine. Special mention to ADRIAN who looks good, played well, was unlucky not to score & show signs of being a class act. It was he who set up with some magical lay-offs JOSE ANTONIO REYES who scored both the Spanish spectacular goals in the 53rd & 73rd min.
Then a mental lapse that was costly for the Spaniards & allowed the Norwegians back in a game were they were totally shut out. Firstly , new Atletico Brazilian defender MIRANDA received a harsh red card in the 76th min, this forced Atletico to make a tactical change & while defender Perea was running on , the Nords took the ball, & advantage of the players watching the change, to score their only goal in the 79th min via STORFLOR. Bad mistake, almost amateur as the whole Atletico team took their minds off the play during the change.
Atletico attempted to make up for their mistake but their 10 men disadvantage & tiredness halted their efforts. Now its time to look forward, analyse , train hard & attempt to secure the 2º leg game at Norway. Tweet
With SERGIO AGUERO now gone from Spanish Football & from ATLETICO DE MADRID, the latter needs to urgently find a substitute forward. The cruelty of destiny made things worst for Atletico, as forward Diego Costa injuried his knee in training yesterday & will be operated plus out of Football for about six months. The only class forward upfront is DIEGO FORLAN who has renounced holidays after his "Copa America" performance to fly back & help Atletico qualify for next seasons Europa League. So what now?
Rossi, Falcoa, Rondón & Osvaldo
There are four candidates that Atletico de Madrid has on their list to substitute Sergio Aguero. With fresh money in from the selling of David De Gea to Manchester United & Aguero to Manchester City, the Club can now buy another Top quality replacement. The names are:
Giuseppe Rossi (Villareal)
Falcao (Oporto)
Rondón (Malaga FC)
Daniel Osvaldo (Espanyol)
The favourite at this stage is Daniel Osvaldo, but his Club RCD ESPANYOL asks a hefty price of + 20M€. This coincides with another favourite, Rossi, were VILLAREAL asks for 25M€. I personally would love to see Rossi land at Atletico, I think he is a World Class player & would suit & adapt perfectly at the Club.
Said this, we will no doubt be getting fresh news in the near future. Who will replace Aguero at Atletico? Stay tuned!
First off, congratulations to MANCHESTER CITY & their fans for signing what many, including myself, consider the "Best Forward" currently in World Football. SERGIO AGUERO leaves ATLETICO DE MADRID with still 23 years of age & the World at his feet to evolve & explode into a World class player - if not already.
That is his dream, his ambition, to play at a Football Club that can guarantee European stage performances & titles in order to compete for the FIFA Golden Ball. Spanish Football Club Atletico de Madrid could not assure the player "the Football Stage"(Champions League ) & regular big titles. So why sign - with my upmost respects - with Manchester City?
Perhaps soon the REAL story behind Sergio Aguero leaving Atletico will come clean & be aired. Perhaps the player himself will go publicly, or a representative &/or a journalist with the facts behind the chain of events that took Aguero to a final destination not in his plans nor wished at all. If the objective was to make a "quantum leap" in Clubs from Atletico, Manchester City ( again with respects) is a side move without a leap. The player has been naive, badly represented, badly advised, shown poor judgement & lied to & betrayed. They may make a movie one day on this transfer & you may be shocked at the harsh & dark Shakespearian undertones present apart from the reality shock of the Football World.
Sergio Aguero
There has been a few posts written here on Spanish Football Sports that you can re-read to get some background (Segio Aguero 1), (Sergio Aguero 2) & (Sergio Aguero 3). But here is my summary, my humble & amateur summary:
Aguero renews contract with Atletico de Madrid in 2010, before becoming a "free agent", with the agreement to lower his contract release clause from 60M - 45M€ & the agreement to leave the Club the following season. This way Aguero gets his wish & the Club can get money (45M€) which otherwise would not have been possible as a free-agent.
Aguero gets a "verbal agreement" of OK "to any Club of your desire", not written. First mistake!
January 2011 Winter Market, REAL MADRID approaches Atletico de Madrid & offers to pay 45M€ for Sergio Aguero. His Club says no, to avoid a fan backlash during a period were President Gil Marin & others are under fire for their poor performance & even threatened to go to court by a sector of their fans over Club ownership issues
REAL MADRID ( I cannot prove this at all) tells Aguero to be patient that they will go after him at the end of the season. Some media observers say that there is a "verbal agreement" between REAL MADRID & AGUERO, not written. Second mistake!
Aguero puts in a superb second half of the year single handedly saving Atletico to put the Club in Euro positions. He feels he has done his part.
Here at season end & Aguero announces unilaterally that he wishes to leave the Club, that the Club has to act as they have promised, that he has done his part & he is not coming back. This takes the Club & the Atletico fan - base by complete surprise as the player disappears to Argentina for duties with his country in the "Copa America" tournament. Third mistake! Too risky a move without something solid.
However, apparently advised by his representatives ( all three that later split up in a in-house dispute) REAL MADRID had assured them that they would now act & called for the player to make a "strategic" public move.
REAL MADRID did not expect or calculate the fierce reaction from Atletico de Madrid & its President Gil Marin under fire from the fan-base. The Club "rooked" itself against any selling to Real Madrid, it became a prohibited thought. Here Atletico goes against the promise of allowing Aguero to go to "any Club of his choice". The reaction of Atletico was so fierce that it is talked ( cannot be proved ) that President Gil Marin begged Real Madrid President Florentino Perez not to pay the 45M€ contract release clause because he could not negotiate & risk be humiliated in front of the fan base. Apparently, Perez accept not to enter into a "war" with the city neighbour.
REAL MADRID began then to look at Brazilian Neymar
REAL MADRID "leaving options open" tells Aguero to however hang tight & see if "things cool down"
With Aguero nervous, along with his representatives, the latter fly around Europe putting Aguero on sale. Why? Create a Plan B & put pressure on Real Madrid to make a move thinking they would lose out on Aguero
Juventus asked , but did not have the money
Real Madrid did not make a move
FC Barcelona had shown interest early in the season & they were approached. But Barça does have enough budget to get Aguero & say they cannot.
Real Madrid did not make a move
Chelsea FC asked, but smelled something rotten as they took a step back
Real Madrid did not make a move
Manchester City saw a chance, asked, put up the money upfront, all 45M€
Real Madrid still did not make a move
Aguero held out waiting for a last minute rescue by Real Madrid, & it did not come
Sergio Aguero & his people had driven themselves into a dead-end street. Their continuous public comments , inappropriate behaviour & disrespect to the fans of Atletico & the most important, the none arrival of the verbal promise from Real Madrid, has forced the player to end up at Manchester City ( again with respect ), against all his desires.
It has been said ( cannot be proved ) that Argentina team-mate & Man City player Carlos Tevez explained to Aguero all the "disadvantages" of going to City & the English lifestyle for a Latin, the difficulty of adaptation. In fact, Aguero said publicly ( & Maradona) that he wished to stay in Spain as he had just bought a multi-million house in Madrid to expand the family.
In conclusion, this is a tragic story for Sergio Aguero. A story of lies, betrayal & dirty tactics that could be made into a movie on how the Football World operates. The player will now have no choice but to accept his badly managed fate & adapt to the circumstances with a smile & good words. But I hope this does´nt turn out to be another Tevez story for City.
Here is a video to finish & lighten up things. If a movie were made on all of this & the DVD gets a release, I would follow this marketing angle of this film. It is so similar to the Aguero story:
FC BARCELONA won the 4 team tournament held in Munich(Germany) after defeating 0 - 2BAYERN MUNICH in the final.In the other game Porto Alegre won AC Milan in the penalty shoot out & finished third with Milan in last position after losing both its games.
FC Barcelona - Bayern Munich 2011
After witnessing FC Barcelona & both their victories, my question is ..."does Barça really need Cesc Fabregas"? I say this because the man ( kid) of the match was midfielder THIAGO who played very well & scored both goals for Barcelona. The young Spanish Football International got on the score card in the 41st min after receiving in the goal square a pass from Soriano, & his second goal came in the 75th min with a "pearl" of a goal only in the top players league.
In conclusion, a good match & tournament for Barcelona who remain true to their style & Football, plus give the young players a showcase while leaving important names on the sideline. FC Barcelona look frankly good for the new season & will be the bench-mark to follow & attempt to beat in the upcoming new season.
SPANISH FOOTBALL Club REAL MADRID has defeated 1 - 3HERTHA BERLIN in their German pre-season friendly game. It is still summer pre-season & experimentation is part of the method as Real Coach José Mourinho moves pieces about in order to fine tune his Football "machine". Said this the good news from this match was Frenchman KARIM BENZEMA who looked sharp, in tune with the game & scored two goals.
Karim Benzema
The German team was strong initially as it blocked out Madrid in the midfield & were effective with their counter-attacks. From one of these counter-attacks came the first goal in the 12th min when EBERT put Berlin ahead. From here Real Madrid began putting together their moves & plays to begin dominanting procedures. Then in the 29th min CRISTIANO RONALDO scored a free-kick "missile" that flew pass the German goalie to equalize.
The balance shifted from here towards Real Madrid which practically controlled things with Hertha Berlin creating some minor opportunities. Real Madrid forward KARIM BENZEMA went on improving as time went on & was rewarded when he scored in the 33rd min. The Frenchman again scored at the start of the 2º half in the 47th min when Khedira, who had come on, gave a angled pass that Benzema managed to dodge the goalkeeper & score.
From here both teams made changes & kept the score line as Benzema last left it with his third goal, to keep entertaining the crowd who - along with everyone else - saw a good game of Football.
SPANISH FOOTBALL, via the National Team, keeps itself Nº 1 in the Football - Soccer World Rankings for another month after FIFA released today the July rankings. The novelty is Uruguay which jumps to Nº5 after winning the "Copa America", & this position for them is a historical first since FIFA began its rankings.
Spain Football Team shirt
The next FIFA World Ranking is scheduled for the 24th of August. Here is the July Top 10 Football - Soccer Nations.
Top 10 FIFA World Rankings: 1. Spain 1.588 pts 2. Holland 1.542 3. Germany 1.305 4. Brazil 1.202 5. Uruguay 1.156 6. England 1.146 7. Portugal 1.076 8. Italy 1.059 9. Croatia 1.033 10. Argentina 1.013
The SPAIN U-19 TEAM participating in the U-19 EURO CHAMPIONSHIPS in Rumania fell down hard back to Earth with a 3 - 0 defeat against TURKEY. The Spaniards had nothing to lose in this match as they had already qualified for the semis, however Turkey was playing for a spot & missed out because Serbia did not lose against Belgium.
But it was a terrible day at "the office" for the Spanish youngsters with two own goals & the third a terrible defensive mistake. In fact, the Spanish Team was unrecognisable as they looked totally out of order.
Lets hope Spain gets its act back together for the semi final against IRELAND.
Spanish Football International & VALENCIA CF forward JUAN MATA is very, very close to landing at English Premier League Club ARSENAL FC. The operation is still not shut because TOTTEHHAM has made a last minute offer which has made the selling Club think along with the player. There is another English Premier League Club interested & they are LIVERPOOL FC, however it is Arsenal who is in the box seat with a the superior offer of around 18M GBP.
Spanish Football player Juan Mata
Juan Mata is considered to be one of Spanish Football´s great young talents & still is evolving in his Football Arts. If Arsenal do manage to sign Mata they will be happy because as the Americans say...pound per pound this lad is top quality , & looking at the price a true bargain.
This signing could be the door the allows the frustrated Arsenal Captain Cesc Fabregas to sign with FC Barcelona , although Mata does not play exactly in the position of Fabragas.
Stay tuned folks!
LATEST: Valencia CF claim they have no offer from Arsenal (so far) Tweet
SPANISH FOOTBALL Club MALAGA FC keeps on adding, building & putting together a formidable squad for the new upcoming season. The lastest incorporation is none other than Spanish International & now ex-VILLAREAL midfielder SANTIAGO CAZORLA. The player signs with Malaga for the next 5 years. Villareal find themselves in need to secure their future financially & have been forced to sell some of their top players ( Rossi could be next).
Cazorla flys of to Holland to join the team where they are training & participating in friendly matches & will be presented officially on the teams return to Malaga next week.
FC BARCELONA is presently in Munich (Germany) in a fabulous tournament with Porto Alegre, Milan & hosts Bayern Munich. Yesterday Barça won the Brazilian team PORTO ALEGRE 4- 2 in the penalty shoot out after the match finished in a exciting 2-2 draw.
Barcelona gave a run to most of its players especially the youngsters & changed the composition of the team during the match. Midfielder THIAGO was impressive with his passes , vision & even scored along with youngster DOS SANTOS.
Thiago
Tonight FC Barcelona will meet Bayern Munich in the final of the tournament. Beforehand, one would expect a more competitive match as both have their pride on the line. Looking forward to watching.
Details
FC Barcelona: Valdés; Riverola, Busquets, Fontàs, Maxwell; Keita, Thiago, Iniesta, Afellay, Cuenca & Jonathan Soriano. Also played: Pinto; Abidal, Jeffren, Villa, Balliu, Dos Santos, Pedro, Carmona, Armando, Rosell & Espinosa.
Internacional: Muriel; Nei, Bolívar, Rodrigo Moledo, Kléber; Bolatti, Tinga, Elton, Andrezinho, D''Alessandro; & Leandro Damião. Also played: Ricardo Goulart, Wilson Matías, Glaydson, Joao Paulo, Ze Maria & Lucas Roggia.
Goals: 1-0, m.15: Thiago Alcántara. 1-1, m.55: Nei. 2-1, m.63: Jonathan dos Santos. 2-2, m.85: Leandro Damião. Tweet
SPANISH FOOTBALL sometimes perplexes me no end. In fact Spanish Football Clubs seem to do things that confuse & go against the grain of logic. Take the lastest case of REAL MADRID & two players within their orbit, SERGIO AGUERO & NEYMAR. The first is "dying" to go to Real Madrid & the second wishes to wait another year & play for Santos. The first, according to all the Football observers, is the final piece needed to lift Real Madrid, while the second is not really needed because finding a position in the current Real Madrid team will be difficult, not to mention his inexperience in Spanish Football. The end result? Real Madrid wants ( top priority ) Neymar over Aguero.
Sergio Aguero
The Sergio Aguero story is however a true tragedy. The Argentine may have played his cards too early & badly but he was advised to act as he has acted because it has come to light that he had a "verbal agreement" from REAL MADRID. Now one thing is verbal & the other is written, thus his first mistake, not to have gotten the paper signed. However there is a double betrayal, Atletico de Madrid owner Gil Marin "verbally promised" that the Club would allow Aguero to leave the end of the season to any Club of his desire. Again it was verbal & the Argentine should have got that promise sealed on paper.
Aguero has found his Club go back on its word because they refuse to sell to their rival & secure themselves against the fan back-lash, something at this stage of Football civilization still baffles me. And the promised offer from Real Madrid that never came due to the non-aggression policy towards their city rival, something again that baffles me from the most powerful Club in the World.
Yesterday night, MANCHESTER CITY official sealed an agreement with ATLETICO DE MADRID for the transfer of Aguero. The English Premier League Club will pay 45M€ ( the contract release clause). To convince the player City offer 8,5M GPB per year in salary & a 5-6 year contract. The Spanish Sports papers publish that Sergio Aguero has given his OK & will fly to Manchester City in the next days to sign the contract.
If this is in fact true, the player breaks the old Football rule, that players play were they wish too, as this case shows Aguero plays were he does not wish to go. A transfer story that has gone terribly wrong for the player, betrayed twice, because the player ran himself (or was guided) into a dead-end street & no one came to his rescue, except City, the only "life-line".
Said all this, lets wait & see the final decision from the player. It is not over until the "fat lady sings", & singing is signing the City contract.
Neymar
The NEYMAR case is baffling & the opposite to Aguero. REAL MADRID has certainly gone after this 19 year old player, offering 45M€ & making him the "top priority". However, the player does not wish to go NOW, he would like to stay another year at SANTOS or at least stay until Christmas so he can play with Santos the "World Clubs Championships". Are you serious? The biggest Club in the World comes knocking on your door & you tell them comeback next year. In fact you tell the Club what you wish over what they want.
Some see the dark hand of FC Barcelona in here, which has in fact offered to sign him next year allowing Neymar to fulfil his desire, others see the local pressure from Club, fans & media not to abandon. The fact is Real Madrid wish Neymar NOW & have sent ex -player RONALDO ( his pseudo rep) to Brazil to attempt to convince the father of Neymar to fly off the Madrid asap.
Now you may think what this guy playing? The performance of "Neymar" in the "Copa America" certainly did not excite at all, the youngster is good but has no European Football experience, some see his character as a potential "time-bomb" in a city like Madrid & here is Neymar saying no - for the moment - to Real Madrid , while Sergio Aguero is on a silver platter to be had & dying to sign & start.
In both cases, the final paragraph to the final chapter has not been written. There is still a river of ink to be used to finish these cases, but what a "dirty Football Story" of intrigue & betrayal. Two cases that have baffled me at least.
Three SPANISH FOOTBALL based players ( one Spanish born ) are the final candidates for the "UEFA Best Player in European Football Award season 2010 - 2011". The three names are CRISTIANO RONALDO ( Real Madrid ) , LIONEL MESSI & XAVI HERNANDEZ ( FC Barcelona). The winner will be announced the 25th of August at Monaco were a jury of 53 European sporting journalists will hand down their decision.
Messi, Ronaldo & Xavi UEFA Best European Player candidates
The prize was virtually pulled out of the UEFA hat this year as a possible reaction to the France Football - FIFA Golden Ball, were this time its UEFA which hads in the Best Player in a European Club independiently of his natiuonalty for the season. The 25th of August winner will have the privilege of being the first to win this converted prize. One thinks that the idea behind this incentive is to give back UEFA ( as an organization ) its protagonist role & stimulate Football business driving & stimulating the individual elements with extra sales & marketing.
The favourite beforehand looks like Lionel Messi if we are to follow the logic after he won the France Football - FIFA Best World Player Award. But we have been surprised in the pass as "outside" influences may tip the decision according to their own particular logic. Said this, we await the chosen date to know who was considered the "Best Player in European Football" for last season.
Here is the list of the discarded players that made up the Top 10: 4 Andrés Iniesta (SP) - FC Barcelona (33 pts) 5 Falcao (COL) - FC Porto (17) 6 Wayne Rooney (ENG) - Manchester United FC (15) 7 Nemanja Vidić (SRB) - Manchester United FC (5) 8 Zlatan Ibrahimović (SWE) - AC Milan (4) Gerard Piqué (SP) - FC Barcelona (4) 10 Manuel Neuer (GER) - FC Schalke 04* (now Bayarn Munich) Tweet
SPANISH FOOTBALL Club ATLETICO DE MADRID is rumoured from Germany to be the soon "new home" of WOLFSBURG Brazilian midfielder DIEGO RIBAS DA CUNHA (Diego). The 26 year old has already a relative long list of Clubs were he has given services as Santos, Porto, Werder Bremen, Juventus & now, Wolfsburg.
Diego
The Brazilian has been on the list of Atletico for some years, & now has the best opportunity to sign the player after his current Club does not count with the midfielder in its future plans & wishes to earn themselves his high salary. The Spanish Football Club needs a creative midfield player to organize the midfield & "feed" the forwards & Diego could be that player. The Brazilian has fallen in form & play this last season (injury) & is not the "eye catching" player of the past, but Atletico & Spanish Football could be the platform to re-launch his career.
Both Clubs are negotiating & the player has supposedly accepted a salary reduction to arrive at Atletico. Lets wait & see what happens in the next days.
By the way, other names sounding for Atletico are Rossi (Villareal), Falcao (Oporto) & Osvaldo (RCD Espanyol). Obviously theses players cost money & would come with the sale of Sergio Aguero. Stay tuned! Tweet
Good day for SPANISH SPORTS & Sportsmen in the USA MOTO GRAN PRIX at the famous "Laguna Seca" race circuit. Only category MotoGP with a beautiful race between three extraordinary riders which dominated proceeding, with two Spaniards in that elite group. Aussie CASEY STONER won with a perfect performance coming from third to end up winning, ahead of current World Champ JORGE LORENZO & fellow countryman DANI PEDROSA.
Jorge Lorenzo
Although both Spanish riders never mentioned it in their post press conference & acknowledged that Stoner won in true fashion, both Spanish riders carried injury & fatigue into this race. Pedrosa is still weak from his collar bone operations & got tired feeling the strain & Lorenzo fell yesterday & had his hip soar which caused pain all race. But as said, no excuse as Stoner overtook Pedrosa mid way & then Lorenzo who had lead all the way up to the last half dozen or so laps.
Here are the final race positions & current World Championship standings:
1 Casey Stoner HON 2 Jorge Lorenzo YAM 3 Dani Pedrosa HON
Hi guys, back from a couple of days break from Spanish Football Sports, & I find some great news in the Basketball area, with SPAIN defeating ITALY 82 - 70 to proclaim themselves U-20 Basketball European Champions.
FC BARCELONA sold its "son" to AC ROMA for 12M€ with a contract clause of a buy back in 2 years, or AC Roma can own in "property" adding 28M€ after 2 years. This leaves the door open to BOJAN KRKIC to return to his beloved Barça in the future, & the latter the chance to regain the player if he explodes in Italian Football.
As is habitual with Barça, the player left after a press conference thankful but bitter, throwing some venenous darts at Coach Pep Guardiola. The Barcelona Coach has managed to shield himself with an squeaky clean aura that again was blemished by a "forced" out player, who basically was sold to incorporate Chilean Alexis Sanchez, to increase the Clubs bank account at the expense of the Clubs much prided propaganda of "caring for their young born & breed in-house players" (Jeffren is schedule next). Bojan has learned the true "Football lesson" & while doing so expressed in press conference his regret in Guardiola´s decision of not allowing him to get a run in the European Final & the "unclear" & not too "transparent" ways of St. Guardiola. The young player leaves to join ex Barcelona player & now Coach of AC Roma Luis Enrique to get more playing time & regain the form that made Bojan one of Spanish Football´s most prodigious young players
Bojan titles with FC Barcelona
The boys at Spanish Sports paper "Sport.es" have made up this nice infograph-photo of the player which shows all his stats & titles gained at FC Barcelona. An impressive list of numbers for such a young player that without doubt will give plenty of glorious days at Roma.
From here, good luck Bojan, the World is your oyster & may you explode with all your natural talent at Roma. No doubt will see you back in the future, here at home.
The leyendary Bluesman Robert Johnson told the World in his song "Crossroads"
I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees Asked the Lord above, have mercy now, save poor Bob if you please Standin' at the crossroads, tried to flag a ride Whee-hee, I tried to flag a ride Didn't nobody seem to know me, everybody pass me by
Leyend has it that Johnson met the Devil himself at the "Crossroads" & sold his soul in order to get his deepest desire, play the guitar like no one else & be the "greatest" bluesman of them all.
Sergio Aguero
The SERGIO AGUERO situation could well use this soundtrack to describe how the current ATLETICO DE MADRID player is living his recent hours. The Argentine International is currently in his own personal "crossroads" & may well have to sell his soul , but not to the Devil ( his already at Atletico ) but to a Sheik.
Spanish online paper "el confidencial" publish today that apparently REAL MADRID has said NO to Sergio Aguero in his last attempt to get the Club to make an effort to buy his transfer from Atletico de Madrid. This leaves only one option: MANCHESTER CITY. The English Club is on the verge of transferring Carlos Tevez to Corinthians ( the players dislikes living in England, far from family etc) & City sees Aguero as the perfect substitute. They are the only Club to date that will offer the 45M€ contract clause release fee & have offered the player a staggering 9M€ per season salary. Local Spanish Football observers have in the last days changed their minds about this being a tactical manoeuvre from Aguero, to the Man City option is about to become a reality. How did Aguero get here?
The Argentine played his cards badly, he showed all his aces without knowing what the other players had up their sleeves. The player has also been handled by some very bad representatives that played their own game with "over-confidence" & ended up flying around Europe selling their player to everyone that would listen. However, Sergio Aguero may have actually been "betrayed" by Real Madrid, which wished to buy him last January in the "Winter Market", promised him their devoted forever "love" thereafter , but in the end wished not to enter into a "Club-War" with its rival & city neighbour. Real Madrid has changed focus, strategy & "love" towards Brazilian Neymar for the same amount of money: 45M€.
Sergio Aguero has publicly said that he wishes to leave Atletico de Madrid & will not return to Atletico de Madrid, while waiting for the "promised" Real Madrid offer that did not arrive. If it is true what has been reported, that Aguero has made a last ditch attempt to sell himself to Real Madrid & the latter has told him NO way José, then the Argentine is truely lost in his own self made hole & personal crossroad:
1. he returns to Atletico de Madrid on Sunday ( as called up by the Club) & publicly asking for forgiveness & be humiliated, with fans spewing abuse for months 2. takes the Manchester City offer, against his desires to stay in Madrid & play in Real Madrid 3. that Football shows us again how little we all know & Real Madrid comes back in the picture & makes the play in the last minute.
Today , at this moment , point 2 is the real option. Manchester City seems to have all the cards, & as Robert Johnson sang,..."I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees. Asked the Lord above, have mercy now, save poor Bob if you please" .
We will know the outcome soon to this Football story. If your a Manchester City fan, your Club is in the box seat, & nearly everyone is calling it a "sure thing". If your a Real Madrid fan, it all looks dim, very dim & almost discarded if today's news is correct. Lastly, if your an Atletico fan, anything is possible, the Club is the "Devils Club" ( in a figurative & metaphorical sense).
Finally, its over. FC BARCELONA has announced officially ( via Twitter ) the signing of Chilean International & UDINESE forward, the 22 year old ALEXIS SANCHEZ. FC Barcelona Directives & player representative passed all this morning-afternoon in a Barcelona Hotel shutting all the details.
Alexis Sanchez (photoshop by Sport.es)
The deal is 26M€ in cash to the Italian Club plus 11M€ (11.5M€ some sources) more in "variables", that is, a handsome total of 37M-38M€ in transfer payments. The player signs a contract that binds the player with Barça for the next five years. The player arrives this weekend & will be presented to media on Monday. From here we send a warm welcome for Alexis Sanchez to Spanish Football.
FC Barcelona Coach Pep Guardiola had commented in his first press conference that Sanchez was the Clubs Nº1 priority. The Club & Guardiola should be happy as observers now ask if Barça will shift efforts & resources towards Arsenal player Cesc Fabregas.
The SPANISH FOOTBALL U-19 TEAM defeated BELGIUM 1 - 4 in todays EUROPEAN U-19 CAHMPIONSHIP Group B match held in Rumania. The game was cancelled yesterday after severe weather conditions stopped the match in the 18th min with Spain leading 0 - 1.
Spain U-19 Football
The "re-match" started well for Spain ( bad for Belgium ) when in the 11th min the Belgium goalkeeper Casteels was sent off with a red card for fouling Spanish player Deulofeu. MORATA took the penalty & scored in the 14th min to put Spain ahead. With a numerical advantage Spain dominated the match & created chances, but in the the 48th min & against the grain a terrible mistake by Spanish goalkeeper Badia allowed a long range shot by Belgium player CUVELIER toequalize.
This shook the Spaniards & they really did not recover until ALCACER scored the second for Spain in the 65th min. From here Spain recomposed themselves & began rolling the machine with excellent football. The third came in the 91st min after MUÑIZ scored a "screamer" & the fourth in the 93rd min via MORATA. Special mention for the performance of Deulofeu, Aurtenetxe & Ruben Pardo
Spain takes Top spot of Group B & the important three points that serve as a tranquillizer for the remaining matches. Great start!
Details: 1 - Belgium: Koen Casteels; Pierre-Yves Ngawa, Dino Arslanagic (Thomas Kaminski, m.14), Laurens De Bock, Jannes Vansteenkiste; Tom Pietermaat, Jore Trompet, Hannes Van der Bruggen, Florent Cuvelier; Maxime Lestienne (Igor Vetokele, m.77) & Thorgan Hazard (Alessandro Cerigioni, m.66)
4 - Spain:
Edgar Badía; Sergi Gómez, Ignasi Miquel, Jon Aurtenetxe, Albert Blázquez (Daniel Carvajal, m.64); Rubén Pardo, Alex Fernández, Pablo Sarabia, Juanmi Jiménez (Paco Alcácer, m.50); Gerard Deulofeu (Juan Muñiz, m.61) & Álvaro Morata
Portuguese Club BENFICA has "tweeted" this interesting picture. Its Benfica President Luis Felipe with Spanish International & VILLAREAL Spanish Football Player CAPDEVILA. Mates? Was in Lisbon & I thought I would drop in to say hello?
No, apparently putting the final touches to a transfer agreement were Capdevila is the chosen defender to take the place of the now Real Madrid player Fabio Coentrao. The transfer is not official as neither Villareal nor Benfica have made any announcements, but this picture speaks a thousand words.
Congrats to Benfica who picks up a veteran, but a very experienced & very good Football player.
LATEST: confirmed, Capdevila new Benfica player Tweet
REAL MADRID played its second "friendly" pre-season game as part of their self proclaimed "US Tour", & defeated 0 - 3 Mexican Club CHIVAS DE GUADALAJARA. The game had one dominant player, CRISTIANO RONALDO, who scored a HAT TRICK. That is, in a space of 10 mins, the Portuguese player scored three goals.
Cristiano Ronaldo 2011
The game was beamed into Spain in an awkward hour - 5.00am - which limited the viewers included myself who preferrred to score goals in bed. But seen the highlights, Ronaldo took this game - as every game he plays - as if it was his last, with a super competition attitude that shows his win-win - win spirit.
Young French defender VARANE showed his class & impressed in the first half, while Callejón again looked good, with Coentrao.
Good match to analyse how Real Madrid is evolving for Coach Mourinho, who should be relatively happy with how the new incorporations are evolving & performing.
An almost "biblical" rain storm has cancelled the U-19 European Championship Group B game between the SPANISH FOOTBALL NATIONAL team & their BELGIUM counterparts in Rumania this afternoon.
Huge rain storm : U- 19 Spain vs Belgiumcancelled
The English referee decided to halt play after lighting & torrential rain covered the Football ground in the 18th min & with Spain winning 1 - 0 thanks to a goal by ALVARO MORATA. The weather conditions got worst & thus the referee cancelled the match fearing danger & will be replayed tomorrow at 18.00.
However due to UEFA regulations the match will be restarted with a 0 - 0 scoreline & not 1-0 in Spain´s favour when originally called off. Strange as it may sound it is 100% a UEFA regulation. Spain gets off in its Group B & U - 19 Euro adventure in "strange" circumstances as the youngsters attempt to live up to the success of their U-21 Squad counterparts whom won the recent Euro Title in Denmark. Tweet
A couple of days ago I wrote a post about theCesc Fabregas - FC Barcelonasituation & how the Spanish Football player was seeing his attempt to join Barça being turned into a frustrating & almost nightmare experience. I made the point here that it looks like that FC Barcelona was not as "keen" in getting back their long "lost" son , as the long "lost" son is keen in getting back home. At least not at any price according to the official Barça signals.
Barça Coach Guardiola
Today FC Barcelona Coach Pep Guardiola gave the first press conference of the pre-season & there were some eye opening statements that have really caught my attention. The first was this pearl of honestly when asked what is the signing priority at this moment: "La prioridad es un delantero" (translated - "the priority is a forward") . Not a midfielder, therefore not Cesc Fabregas, obviously Alexis Sanchez ...mmmm, there was more.
When asked about Cesc Fabregas & his attempts to "force" a way out of Arsenal:
"A mí no me gustaría que un jugador mío se negara a entrenar. Cesc tiene que hacer lo que el Arsenal le pida. Si no ha ido a la gira asiática es porque tiene molestias. Él es jugador del Arsenal". (translated : "I would not like my player to refuse to train. Cesc has to do what Arsenal asks him to do. If he did not go on the Asian Tour its because he was´nt fit. He is an Arsenal player" )
You can interprete this anyway, but this could be a message to "calm down son".
The Barça Coach then "diplomatically said that Cesc was a wanted player by them, that Barça had the money for both Cesc & SAnchez & ( this is another pearl) ...if Cesc can´t come this year , then next year. Barça has´nt any rush & until the 31st of August there is plenty of time. Next year? Plenty of time? What if Guardiola is not at Barcelona next year?
Cesc Fabregas & his Spanish Football mates
I don´t know about Cesc Fabregas, but if I were him I would be really disappointed with the lack of "love" coming out of Camp Barça. Not a priority at this moment? To use a comparison with Real Madrid ( just a comparison ), when they want a player they get their player: Cristiano Ronaldo 97M€, Kaka 67M€, Zidane, Figo, Beckham, Ronaldo, ... etc etc
Will Cesc Fabregas end up at Barcelona? I think that he will because the player wants to so blindly & its his heart felt desire, but I am not seeing here "love" , whole hearted reciprocal love from Barcelona.
To finish on a light note, perhaps if Cesc Fabregas would have been a musician this may have been written by him. Or at least its a track that can be used as the soundtrack of this long, frustraing, suffering Spanish Football Player story.
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.
