UEFA CUP QUALIFIERS 2008/09:GREAT NIGHT FOR SPANISH TEAMS

The 2ºleg UEFA games are in play tonight with the winners qualifying
for the mini-league stages. Here is a quick resume of results & scorers.












SALZBURG 0 - SEVILLA 2, a formality that Sevilla rammed home
with two goals from KANOUTE ( 36th min & 57th min). Sevilla
as expected go onto the mini-league














A 2nd min goal by RACING DE SANTANDER player EDU BEDIA
was enough to defeat HONKA & give the Spaniards the 0-1 win &
qualification for the mini-league.

DEPORTIVO 2 (Colotto 36th & 76th min) - BRANN BERGEN 0
PENALTIES : 3-2
Historical comeback by Deportivo to take the tie in penalties & go on
to the mini-league stage. Magical night at A Coruña.








VALENCIA 2 (Del Horno 81st min; Villa 92th min penalty -
MARITIMO 1 (Marcinho 39th min). Valencia as expected qualify for
the mini-league

Great night for Spanish Football in UEFA as all 4 teams go through! Tweet

Share

SERGIO AGUERO & LIONEL MESSI: CURRENTLY THE BEST TWO PLAYERS IN THE WORLD?

They are the talk of the town, & of the Football World. Two very
young Argentine´s who have speed, skill, dribble & goal, plenty of
goal: SERGIO AGUERO & LIONEL MESSI.

Both yesterday were instrumental - VITAL - in their teams Champions
League victory, with goals & improvised magic that turned the game
in an instant. As the expert say, that stuff Champions are made of &
these two are on track to dominate World Football for the next years
to come, along with another candidate Cristiano Ronaldo.

Lets have a look at both players in action with VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
of yesterdays matches. Enjoy!

Link:

Tweet

Share

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2008/09 - WEDNESDAY GROUP QUALIFYING GAMES: ATLETICO DE MADRID & FC BARCELONA

Tonight the two other Spanish representatives in Champions League
played their Group games - Group C & D - & both came out positive
from their respective clashes.

Sadly SFS starts its round up by announcing that violence has reared

its ugly head again, this time thanks to the walking "brainless" from
Marseille who before the match provoked authorities & the crowd by
throwing objects - seats - & hurling abusive gestures & language at

anything different. Spanish police charged to ease their "emotion" so

the game could start. Once again, this is NOT proper behaviour & it

needs to be stamped out of Football!!!

Talking off Football, great night for ATLETICO DE MADRID who

won 2-1 French team OLYMOIQUE OF MARSEILLE in a Group D
game settled in the 1ºst half. The man in form SERGIO AGUERO scored

for Atletico early in the 3ºrd min to set things rolling.

The French did´nt cave in & reacted in the 15th min thanks to NIANG
who drew for Marseille.

Then RAUL GARCIA scored Atletico´s second & finally winning
goal in the 21st min. This score went into the 2ºhalf were Atletico

took on a more strategic "attitude" to stall the match, frustrate
the French & ensure they took the 3ºpoints.

In the other match - Group C - SHAKHTAR gave FC BARCELONA a

difficult time & made them work for their victory. A 1-2 victory that

came in extremis & thanks to LIONEL MESSI who virtually single
handed gave victory to Barça.

Shakhtar went ahead in the 43ºrd min when IISON (above) scored.
Barça come out in the 2ºhalf with the iniciative while Shakhtar looked

more conservative & looking like they wished to defend their only goal.

But the man above - MESSI - took the match onto his shoulders & scored
in the 87th min to equalize & then repeated in the very last minute to score
his second & the winner for Barça. A close call, but a win, & 3ºpoints
never the less!

Tweet

Share

REAL MADRID : RAUL GONZALEZ THE BEGINNING OF THE END - SLOW END!

The image speaks for itself, REAL MADRID Captain & active playing
Leyend RAUL GONZALEZ of 31 years of age on the bench yesterday
in his teams Champions League clash against Zenit St.Petersburg. The
player did not get a run all night & his team won, suffered a lot, but they
won & without him.

This has various readings: (a) psychologically the team does´nt see the
fact that their Captain not starting will influence the result (b) Coach
wins in strenght to continue taking the "hard decision"(c) The opponents
will see less of the "aura" of super - player & thus make his playing days
harder (d) the media - specially his backers & protectors - will have less
arguements to defend Raul (e) increasing backlash against the player
from fans everytime he plays bad when on the field.













But perhaps this is too pessimistic. Like all greats they must
succome to the fact that age does´nt have favourites. Even though
your mind is sharp your muscles & limbs are not as quick. That
"slowness", that loss of a second, is enough to change an elite Football
player into a "good" participant. In order to reduce & delay that process,
the Coach & the player should dosify their participation, as the season
is long with lots of competitions which can burn out even the youngest
player.

Then there is the other angle, young players who play in the same position
that are exploding, scoring goals & playing well. The fact that Raul is
still holding onto to his position, is blocking out a younger player who may
well be better for the team as a whole. Raul will soon have to come to terms
that the team is always greater than the individual & SFS is sure this will
happen soon, as Raul has always should to be above such things.

This could be a moment in Raul´s great carreer to allow his head to play
more than his body, to give greatness to Real Madrid via his leadership
& experience. Dressing room support & guidance is just as important,
inhouse advise to the youngsters will elavate his greatness & his
participation in quality (important) matches will perhaps be the way to
go.

It´s the law of nature, nothing lasts forever, what goes up must come down.
The initial sign was the Spanish National team, now it´s Real Madrid & the
player must begin the hard mental adaptation & process that it´s just the
way it goes.

Raul will still be active & playing at Real Madrid for a few more years. He
will no doubt still give us moments of ecstasy with unbelievable skill & plays,
but it will be dosified, puntual & with time occasional. Bench time, as
yesterday, will be a more familiar event for Raul, Real Madrid, media & his
fans. Tweet

Share