See Soccer In The Movies In Goal II: Living The Dream.

I just saw Goal II: Living The Dream. Despite its wild inaccuracies, it was a highly entertaining movie that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to any soccer fan.

I had seen the original Goal: The Dream Begins but I didn't realize the sequel had come out. Where Goal I is more of a feel-good, poor-boy-from-the-streets-(of the U.S. via Mexico)makes-good story; Goal  II explores the darker side of stardom as protagonist Santiago Muñez hits the big time with Real Madrid.

Goal II also gives you much greater access to the stars of the game and the surroundings of a top-flight club. Steve McManaman was brought on as an associate producer and offered access to the Real training  facilities, locker room and even the field of Santiago Bernabeu. Awesome!

As if access to the players and  field weren't enough there are appearances by many of the top stars of the game. The Galacticos of Real Madrid make numerous appearances with David Beckham and Steve McManaman getting significant screen time. The locker room scene in Bernabeu is highly realistic but awesome nonetheless! Imagine kicking the ball around before the game with a happy Roberto Carlos, Zidane and Beckham. That's cool (even if you're not fan of Los Bancos)!

The game action looks much more realistic than the first movie. Real games footage has been blended with  footage of our movie heroes so that it looks like Santiago Muñez and Gavin Harris are really receiving passes from or setting  passes up for Raul, Zidane, Ronaldo and Beckham.

The on-ball moves might be a bit overdone but the dramatic effect doesn't ruin the movie.

One thing  that bothers me bit more is that real games been re-worked with the magic of effects to be the reverse of their actual results. The opening scene shows Barcelona beating Real in Bernabeu 3-0. It's the game where Ronaldinho earned a Golden  Ball and  Bernabeu applauded his genius. It's the last real game  you'll see.

When Real plays a Champion's  League Final against Arsenal it's actually their first-elimination round against Arsenal from the 2006 Champion's League. For some reason Nic Cannon is added as an Arsenal forward. Real playing in  the Champion's League final in 2006? Nic Cannon giving the Real defense fits? I guess they  couldn't put Muñez on 2006 Barca because there's no way he'd break into the lineup.

Another plus for Goal II is the appearance of Leonor Varela as Spanish report Jordana Garcia.if you remember being impressed Job's girlfriend in Season 1 of Arrested Development, you'll enjoy seeing her here. I'd love to see here in more movies.

So check out Goal II at your favorite movie purveyor or you could probably even watch it (in poor definition) on YouTube.
Part 1
Part 2
You get the idea...

If you don't want to start watching the whole movie on YouTube, here's the trailer. Enjoy!

Real Madrid: The Whiners That Cried Ref! (Madrid El Equipo Mas Lloron De La Liga)

So Jose Mourinho thinks that the referees were unfair to Real Madrid. Awww! Ooh boo!

I feel terrible for Jose and his team. Clearly there is a referee conspiracy against the merengues. In fact, the whole league is probably against them. And, we all know about the governments historic sabotage of Madrid!

Bullshit!

That's right, I'm going to pull the bullshit card on this one. The fact of the matter is, I haven't seen any team in La Liga that has been as coddled, if not illegally favored by the referees of the Spanish league.

Madrid isn't satisfied to be the nina of the referees ojos, they heap it on by whining about how the refs are mistreating them. What a bunch of spoiled cry babies.

Remember when Rafa Van der Vaart played volleyball with a pass in front of goal? He put both hands on the ball and literally setting it to his foot. Sporting had been winning 1-0 (in Bernabeu) and the Madrid goal totally changed the course of the game.

I've seen few more ridiculous referee calls in soccer (although Thierry Henry's France vs. Ireland handball fits the bill) but its indicative of the game-changing calls in their favor that Los B(l)ancos regularly get.



This is just one of many examples of the rampant favoritism that the referees show Madrid. Have you watched Madrid in the last 10 years? Remember when they went from Galacticos to Iker y los diez tontos (Iker Casillas and the ten fools - a term coined by a Madrid fan)? There was game after game when San Iker repeatedly saved his team with spectacular saves while Los Blancos played horribly. Then, just when you thought Sevilla, Almeria, Athletic, Gijon, Getafe, Osasuna, Valladolid or whoever, were finally going to beat Madrid, the refs would come to the rescue. I'm sure every Spanish team has their share of these examples.

Here's another example taken over the course of a season.



Want more? How about Pepe's shameless mauling of Getafe's Casquero (at the end of last season)?

I realize that you could probably find unflattering examples of the play of any top team if you looked long and hard enough. Still, you'll find more examples from Madrid. Don't believe me? Watch their games. You'd have to be delusional not to see that Real not only get more than their share of preferential treatment from the refs but intentionally try to injure players on occassion.

Even so, I wouldn't even bring this up if it weren't for the constant whining about referees that comes out of Madrid from both the Real organization but also Marca, the propaganda wing of Madrid (to be fair to Marca, they clearly love soccer and produce a very entertaining paper - day in and day out). Real's delusional supporters remind me of right-wing talking heads in the U.S., railing against the dangers of the mainstream media - it's so ridiculous it would be laughable - except that some people believe this BS.

To sum up: Madrid - quit your pathetic whining and play soccer - you have an incredible roster, one of  the world's best coaches and more money than a US-government-bailed-out investment banker. Shut up and play!

What Soccer Game Should I Watch?

Looking for a soccer game to watch early in the week of December 19th? If you like goals, try the Stuttgart - Bayern Munich game from the German Bundesliga.

I usually don't watch many games from the Bundesliga but I stumbled on this game on ESPN Deportes. It was a highly entertaining part of this nutritious breakfast. I won't tell you what the score was or even tell you what happened; but I will say that you won't see many games with more goals. (Warning, do not watch this game if defensive errors and bad goalkeeping make you angry.)

Enjoy!

Real Madrid - Sevilla: This is ugly

The game is still in progress, but so far this game isn't very pretty.

Madrid have made more chances but you'd be hard-pressed to say they're playing well.

Di Maria dived like Greg Louganis in the 60th minutes but unlike most Madrid games, the ref called him on his bull - he got a Yellow.

Sevilla had a shot to go up 1-0 but Negredo missed a clear shot.

Now Madrid is down to 10 because Carvalho got a second yellow.

Despite the disadvantage, a horrible lack of positioning by Sevilla keeper Palop, led to the Madrid goal.

More when the game is over.

Espanyol 1 - FC Barcelona 5: The Catalan Derby Crowns An In-form Barca

I was impressed when Barcelona erased Real Madrid from the field of play with a 5-0 win. I wasn't surprised when they followed that up with a 5-0 victory over Real Sociedad, but it did confirm their superb form. Yet there is no greater proof of Barcelona's transcendent, world-beating football than their victory over in-town rival, Espanyol.

Don't let Espanyol's humble history and position in the league fool you - they play Barcelona tougher than anyone except Real. And in recent years they've given Barcelona more trouble than Real.

Going into the game, Barca and the Periquitos (parakeets - read one opinion on the name here) had played 76 league games with the Blue-and-Whites as the home team. 25 games resulted in wins for Espanyol. 25 resulted in ties and 26 saw Barca win.

Espanyol even gave Rijkaard's superb Barcelona team fits. They regularly dulled the brilliance of an in-form Ronaldinho and in 2007, their 2-1 victory so frustrated Rijkaard that he broke the plexiglass of the dugout bench!

Expectations were so high that Real players openly spoke of catching and passing Barca in the league tables after the Blaugrana fell to Espanyol.

Even Guardiola complimented Espanyol.

Hay equipos que te esperan y otros que te vienen a buscar. El Espanyol es de esos que te vienen a buscar. Su entrenador ha creado una predisposición my buena. Salen muy bien con el balón, sobre todo con Víctor Ruiz. Me siento muy cercano al juego que plantea, me gusta" "Pochettino es uno de los mejores entrenadores de la Liga, viéndole se aprende mucho."

There are teams that wait for you and other that come looking for you. Espanyol is one of the these that comes looking for you. Their coach has created a very good predisposition (attitude). They come out well with the ball, especially with Victor Ruiz. I feel very close to the game that they set forth. Pocchettino is one of the best coaches in the league, seeing him one learns a lot. 

So to see Barcelona not only win against Espanyol but thoroughly crush them was very impressive.

Clearly, Barcelona is firing on all cylinders. Pedro and Villa are finding the back of the net at will. Up front, Messi, Pedro and Villa understand each other. They're perfectly setting up the walls, runs into space, searching passes and powerful long-range shots that Barca needs to create to win. It's a thing of beauty.

As if the front 3 weren't good enough, the midfield, especially Xavi, is performing at an amazing level too. Xavi is not only unlocking defenses but scoring critical goals. His goal against Espanyol was an exclamation point on the amazing personal form he's been enjoying.

After this truly impressive victory, I'm beginning to wonder how many consecutive games Barcelona can string together with 5 or more goals. We'll find out. Until then, enjoy the video!

Questions about the Spanish League Going Into 2011.

• Does anybody play better football/dollar than Villareal?
• Is Real Madrid's locker room really in disarray?
• How long will it take Christiano Ronaldo to piss off everyone around him?
• Who will Real sign to lead the line when Higuain is out? Why haven't they signed someone yet?
• How long will it take Mourinho to get sick of everyone in Madrid? What will his next challenge be?
• Will Real and Barca play 4 times this spring?
• Is Barcelona really considering the sale of Iniesta for 85mil?
• Will Barca's debts hamstring the best team ever?
• Will Atletico ever get their act together?
• Why don't people give Kanoute more credit?
• When will Sevilla get another coach worth his salt?
• How much fun will it be to see Raul come back to Spain {on Schalke) and play Valencia?
•  Does Pellegrini wish he had never left Villareal? How much of a letdown is coaching Malaga?
• Will Operacion Galgo and Operacion Puerto knock on La Liga's door?

I'll take on a few of these questions in the days to come.

Ready For World Cup In Brasil?

Oh Hell Yeah! Let's start getting excited about this now. No one parties like Brasil. I'm going to this World Cup. Here's a video from Brasilian MC Extraordinaire Carlinhos Brown getting the crowd psyched.

Enjoy!

Is Atletico Back?

Atletico de Madrid had a roaring start to the season, winning the European Cup Winner's Cup (between the winner of the Champion's League and the Europa League)and their first Liga match with in a 4-0 drubbing of Sporting de Gijon. They stayed in first place for the next jornada but ran into Barcelona in week 3. Since then they've had an up-and-down season - but it's been mostly down.

Atletico has recently lost to bottom of habitual bottom dwellers Levante and Alemeria. They're on the verge of elimination in the Europa League too, where they face group-leader (and second in the Bundesliga) Bayern Leverkusen. To advance, they need to tie their way game at Leverkusen while Aris loses at home. So why are they suffering so much?

Atletico de Madrid has an amazing squad. Forlan, Aguero, Simao, Tiago, Reyes, Raul Garcia, Fran Merida, Ujfalusi, Perea, Filipe Luis, Godin and De Gea are all high-quality players. Many of them feature on their national teams and Forlan just picked up his Golden Ball from the World Cup.

Atletico's coach, Quique Sanchez Flores, has a proven track record of success, having taken Valencia to third in the league and deep into the Champion's League. So why the bad recent results.

I'm not sure what caused their recent downward run but they looked good against Deportivo. The game was open where apparently nothing was challenged in the midfield (at least in the second half). Atletico and Deportivo traded runs.

Atletico had more inspiration though. Kun Aguero scored 2 spectacular goals to take the colchoneros to victory. I hope Kun is back because he's a spectacular talent. If he gets his act together, this team can be amazing.

C'mon Atletico, mount a challenge.

Here are the highlights:

Matchups In The Spanish League This Weekend

As we come out of our post-Derbi (Clasico) hangover we've got some exciting match-ups to keep us stoked on Spanish soccer.

• Real Madrid vs. Valencia: (Saturday, 10pm Sp) This should be a lot of fun.
  Madrid is doubly wounded by their brutal beating on Monday and by the absence of Higuain and Sergio Ramos. Valencia is on a roll, having gone 4-0-1 in their last 5 games. Valencia typically score a lot of goals - unfortunately, they don't (typically) defend very well. Will this be an offensive pitch-burner?
• Villareal - Sevilla (Sunday 5:00pm Spanish time)
  A match up of arguably the 3rd and 4th best teams in the Spanish League. Both teams have superb rosters. I think Villareal's home-field advantage and superior coach will carry them to victory.
• Real Sociedad - Athletic Bilbao (Sunday 7:00pm Spanish time)
  The Basque derbi - enough said! Pais Vasco is a small region (or country, depending on your point of view) with a lot of intense sporting fans. They passionately feel their team's colors. I don't think Athletic has ever signed a non-basque player. Real Sociedad has signed foreign players and many fans blame the teams lack of success (early this decade) on the betrayal of local talent. This will be good.
• Osasuna - Barcelona (Saturday, 8:00pm Sp)
  Meh! Osasuna will play tough, rugby-like defense, Barcelona will probably squeak by with a victory. I'm not too excited about this game.

I leave you with this video of a 1984 Real-Athletic derbi until the action starts. Complete with techno to augment the retro action, it's awesome!

Barcelona Vs. Anti-Barca.

When Barcelona and Real Madrid met on November 29th, 2010, it was a meeting of the best team in Spanish football and an excellent team that wanted to usurp that title. It was a meeting of almost diametrically opposed styles of play and football philosophies: offense with possession vs. defense and counterattack. When the smoke cleared, only one team was left standing; Barcelona, with its eye-catching total football, was once again on top - by a wide margin. The reason for this continued dominance is the same for the success of many sporting and non-sporting organizations: the clarity of its ideas and the subsequent superb execution of these ideas that makes Barcelona the world's best football team.

When asked for comment on his victory, Barca coach Pep Guardiola had this to say, "I want to dedicate this victory to Rexach and Cruyff because they are the ones that showed us the path. This is the victory of everyone in these 15 years who has believed in this way of playing. (Quiero dedicar esta victoria a Rexach y Cruyff porque son los que nos enseñaron el camino esta es la victoria de todos los que en estos 15 años han creído en esta forma de jugar al fútbol)." The comment, like the team's football, was spot on.

Barcelona has been perfecting the ability to play offensive, interchangeable-player, ball-control football since (at least) Cruyff became head coach of the team. They inculcate it in their youth team as soon as they can put on a blue-and-red-striped jersey. Perhaps they start even earlier. Guardiola has said on multiple occasions that Barca's players have offensive football in their DNA.

Barcelona always plays attacking soccer and everyone knows it. In case you didn't, Guardiola reiterated before the game, "Mourinho knows what we'll come out and attack them, we'll be who we are: Barça. (Mourinho sabe que saldremos a atacarles, seremos lo que somos. El Barça.)

If Barcelona's style is to attack: Mourinho's style has traditionally been the exact opposite: keep your own goal at zero, the rest is a bonus. He is the master of the Champion's League, where a 2nd match tie or even minimal loss can get a team to advance. No one remembers the name of the general who lost to Pyrrhus, yet Mourinho has elevated the loss-to-advance to an art form. To do this he often plays anti-futbol or extremely defensive football.

The tactic worked to perfection against Barcelona last year. Debate the merits of Inter advancing on numerous questionable calls (annulled goals, questionable offsides, etc.) if you will, but Mourinho's tactics worked to perfection in Inter's home leg, where they outworked Barcelona and lethally counterattacked, and then held off the offensive juggernaut in Barcelona, when Inter "parked the bus" in front of goal in order to lose by only 1 point. Given this tie and others from Mourinho's resultadista career and you'd expect him to try to write defensive football into Real Madrid's DNA. Except that he can't do that.

Real Madrid fans want a spectacle as much as any other soccer fan - perhaps more. They're Spanish, raised on the football of Di Stefano, La Quinta del Buitre and recently reminded of good football by their world-cup winning team. They have an expectation that Madrid will dominate opposing teams with regal authority embodied in their name (Real means royal in Spanish). So, I'm sure Mourinho has had several lectures from management about playing offensive football. To his credit, Real has played spectacularly, with what Guardiola called, "the best counterattack in the world."

Until the clasico, Madrid was the most prolific team in La Liga, winning 10 games, with 2 draws. They scored 33 goals to their opponents 6! They pressed high, got the ball back early and their counter attacks were lightning-quick (I believe I saw one opposing coach say that the counter attacks te revientan, or blow you away). Their defense was rock solid and Iker Casillas barely had a chance to touch the ball. So, as they entered the Clasico, which team were they?

Madrid's uncertainty, met by Barcelona's unshakable certainty, was the reason for the lopsided 5-0 score.

Some analysts have claimed that Mourinho lost the game for Madrid with his tactical disposition and minimal changes. I don't agree. Proponents of this theory will cite Mourinho's errors as playing his defensive line too high and not playing the recuperating Gonzalo Higuain. They see Mourinho's lack of defensive planting at the outset as the key to the game. That was only part of the problem.

It was Madrid's players that failed as much as the coach did, because neither was sure what to do. Mourinho isn't used to coaching an offensive team and his players aren't used to playing Mourinho-ball - either version 1.0 or 2.0. With 4 coaches in the last 3 years, they can hardly be expected to have subconsciously mastered a system the way Barcelona has. This showed on the field.

The Merengues weren't sure how to initiate and maintain their quick strike offense in the face of a team that plays its own offense so well. Barcelona doesn't give the ball back. Once they have it, your best chance to get the ball back is for Barca to miss their shot on goal.

Madrid didn't run and press enough to be able to get the ball back otherwise. The distinct lack of hustle from Madrid was possibly the biggest reason that Madrid lost so badly. The teams that have given Barcelona problems in the last year have left their heart and lungs on the field. Watch Inter's effort in Milan or Kobenhavn's recent effort. These two teams gave Barcelona fits because they didn't allow the blaugrana passing game to get started. Without that effort, Madrid was stuck "chasing ghosts" around Camp Nou.

When Madrid did get the ball back, they didn't know what to do with it. They aren't built to attack from their own goal so much as to counterattack. So, when the ball comes from Casillas, what do we do? Before their players had a chance to say, "Me cago en la puta" they had two Barca defenders on them. And, when Barca got the ball back Madrid was stuck chasing ghosts again.

Barcelona was all to ready for the Madrid counterattack, too. Alves and Abidal played in offensive check all game and Barcelona got back quickly in ordered fashion to meet the few Real advances.

Barcelona played their game to perfection by any stretch of the imagination. It's never easy to beat any team 5-0 - even a team from the Segunda B. Beating Real Madrid by such a convincing scoreline should and will go down in history.

By any statistic you want view, Barcelona played perfectly. Xavi made 97% of his passes (see below), Barcelona outpassed Madrid by almost 3-1, their efficiency on goal was almost a goal every 3 shots. It was as if there was only one team on the field. That's not easy to do whatever the extenuating circumstances.

Barcelona could have scored more. If Messi's shot doesn't hit the post, if some of the early runs aren't ruled offsides, if Messi doesn't get run over by Carvalho in the second half; then Barcelona would have come out with more than 5. It's my impression that Guardiola's disciples took their collective foot off the gas after the 4th goal, too. They knew that Madrid was incapable of fighting back, so they didn't pile on the goals. (Don't believe me? Watch from about minute 65 - minute 90.)

This is a victory that Barca fans can savor for years to come. Will it win Barcelona La Liga? Probably not, but it is an amazing achievement and validation of attractive, attacking soccer.

Will Mourinho's Madrid ever be able to match Barcelona? I think at some point they will. The quality of their players and coach is too high not to mount a challenge. But that challenge won't reach maturity until Real know how they want to play. Do they want to play defensive anti-football, attractive offensive football or some combination of the two? When they reach a conclusion from the President down and give their players enough time to learn that style subconsciously, then they'll mount a challenge.

Until then, the victor and champion is Barcelona.

And, until then, I hope you enjoy this artistic, dramatic video. My favorite part comes at about 4:45 where they shoot close on the feet of the Barca players so you can see how well they keep the ball close at speed. I couldn't like this more (except for the end where the Madridistas turn on their players).

Best Goal Tournament: Messi vs. Ronaldo

The voting is over and done with but this is a fun site. I wouldn't mind seeing a few more of these tournament-format best goal competitions. Perhaps a few with historical goals.

http://www.terra.com/deportes/videos-goles-ronaldo-vs-messi/?PPC=google_deportes/ronaldomessi

Barcelona 5 - Real Madrid 0: Quick Flashback to 93/94

Here's a highlight video of Cruyff's Barcelona pounding Madrid 5-0 in the 93/94 season. The first, third and fourth goals are courtesy of Romario. Koeman scored the second, free kick goal and Ivan Iglesias made it a manita.

Barcelona 5 - Real Madrid 0: Historic Rout in Camp Nou

Wow! I never imagined this. I've never seen a 5-0 in El Clasico (that wasn't on video tape). Here are a few quick stats and thoughts until I have time to go over this in more depth.

• I could watch the first goal over and over again. Xavi passes to himself with his back heel in front of goal?!?! That has to be one of the coolest goals I've ever seen - from a guy known more for his passes than his definition in front of goal. In 100 tries, how many times would he be able to repeat that goal?
• How amazing was David Villa? He didn't just open up the left side of the field, he tore a hole in it. His assists and goals were amazing.
• Could Guardiola please play Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta together in midfield in every important game? That combination was amazing.
• Where was Madrid? I thought that they would press up high and hold more possession than they did (35% or so). They couldn't get the ball back, couldn't keep it when they had it and barely had an attack worth mentioning. They didn't even defend well.
• In their first 12 games, Madrid let in 6 goals. Against Barca, they let in 5 in one game!
• This is the worst that Jose Mourinho (Madrid's coach) has ever lost in his career! Previous black marks were a 1-4 loss to Man U and two 0-3s.
• How will the Real Madrid player's respond to this humiliation?
• The last time Barcelona beat Real Madrid was in the 93/94 season when Romario was their forward and Cruyff was Barca's coach.
• Josep Guardiola has coached Barcelona in 5 Clasicos - all 5 ended in Barcelona victories.
• Under Guardiola, Barcelona has outscored Madrid 16-2!
• 5-0 is called "una manita" in Spanish because you hold up 1 hand (mano is hand, manita, or little hand, is the diminutive of hand) and it has 5 fingers - get it?
• I've seen this reported as a Manotazo or a big hand! It was a big win.
• This could have been much worse. This easily could have been 6 or 7-0. Imagine!

Here's are the highlights, I'll be back with more tomorrow.

FC Barcelona - Real Madrid: Countdown to El Clasico

Few soccer matches are as anticipated, exciting and fulfilling as the bi-annual League matchup between Barcelona and Real Madrid. Know as "El Clasico" or "El Derbi" (The Classic or The Derby), the match brings together two teams so impressively powerful that it seems like a "Big Bang" of Spanish soccer. The result shapes the course of the Liga to come and will live on in the memory of each side's supporters for years to come.

Few games live up to their billing as successfully as this one. Each side is easily one of the football world's ten best clubs. They could be, arguably, among the world's ten best clubs - of any sport. No soccer team has spent more money signing players in the last two years (and probably in the last ten) than Real Madrid. Barcelona matches the Madridista bank account with unrivaled teamwork, effort and player development. Real Madrid is renowned for their ability to score quickly and fight doggedly to the last minute when injuries, game flow or fortune prevent them from scoring quickly. Barcelona is known around the world for their artistic pursuit of total football: pretty passing that makes its players interchangeable (to an extent) and completely disarms its opponents. Where Madrid players and coaches regularly proclaim their own grandeur, Barcelona players and coaches are humble and hardworking. The two sides mix like oil and water.

This year, unfortunately, El Clasico takes place on November 29th - a Monday. The non weekend date makes it harder for local fans from the burb, exurbs and the country to get to Camp Nou for the game. It also makes it more difficult for viewers in this hemisphere to watch the game because it takes place at 3PM Eastern/12 PM Pacific.While it's not like shops will close and streets will be empty in downtown Peoria, Lincoln or Houston; there are a lot of fans in the United States, Canada and Latin America who won't be able to watch the game live.

If you do want to follow the game live, you can visit ESPN Deportes or on ESPN 3 (formerly ESPN 360).

Despite the lame scheduling, I'm excited about the game. Both Madrid and Barcelona are off to their best starts, points wise, in years.

This is the best Real Madrid team since some of the teams of the early 90s: it has the world's best goalkeeper, an incredibly solid defense, a tough, perceptive midfield and some of the fastest, most-accurate forwards in the world. Its signature star, Christiano Ronaldo, is off to an incredible start with 14 league goals in 12 games - a sparkling goal-per-game ratio that doesn't look to end anytime soon.

Barcelona is just as impressive! The team that won 6 trophies 2 years ago, set a record for most points in the league last year. They're on pace to break that record this year. Fresh off an 8-0 humiliation of (previously tough-defending) Almeria, the Blaugrana look to have armed their offensive trident. Messi, Villa and Pedro create walls and openings for each other better than any other forwards in the world. Behind the vision and tenacity of players like Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets and Mascherano gets the ball back and opens up the field to the forward's creativity. This Barcelona has the potential to be the best of the last three years!

It's hard to say how a game will turn out but I'll go out on a limb to predict a 3-2 Barcelona victory. I think Real is better than the Inter team that suffocated Barca's 2010 Champion's League dreams but still not good enough to stop Messi and co.

Until the game, enjoy these videos of past matchups.

Thiago Alcantara: The Next Big Thing Coming Out of Barcelona's Youth System.

In Barcelona there is constant discussion of the next great signing. Will it be Cesc? Gareth Bale? Perhaps Javier Pastore? Maybe the next great thing to prowl the pitch of Camp Nou will be a player from the Barcelona youth system: Thiago Alcantara.

Image from ThiagoAlcantara.com

Thiago is the son of Mazinho, the Brasilian midfielder known as the third man in the three-men-and-a-baby celebration from the 1994 World Cup. Mazinho was also a crucial member of the solid Celta de Vigo teams of the late 1990s.

During his time in Spain, Mazinho brought his son Thiago to Spain. Thiago found his way into the Barcelona youth system at age 13.

Thiago is now the pearl of the Barca B team. His crisp passing shows the vision of Xavi. He even looks like Xavi. As you watch the video of Thiago, imagine him blacked out in profile. Could you see Xavi? I can. Perhaps it's the shape of his head, the way he swivels it, eyes up as passes cleanly downfield. I imagine him taking in Xavi's work much as a young Kobe Bryant emulated Michael Jordan.

Yet Alcantara adds Brasilian flair to Xavi's stone-faced efficiency. His ball-handling is superb and his nose for goal, superb. In some ways he looks like Ronaldinho.

Thiago and his father clearly have plans for his future. His website, the video below and the buzz about him show marketing savvy. Yet whether I'm being market to or not, I love it.

I couldn't enjoy a video more - sick soccer action combined with a great song by the Black Keys (Tighten Up). I hope you enjoy it, too.

Almeria 0 - Barcelona 8: Video Game Soccer

If you've ever played a soccer video game, chances are you've tried to win by ridiculous, never-gonna-happen-in-real-life score. 7-0. 11-1. 8-0. Barcelona made that happen on Saturday against Almeria.

In the video game, your forwards are virtually unstoppable. They weave in and out of 4 defenders, pounce on loose balls and always find the back of the net. Your midfielders pick the perfect angle for every pass and each player's stats are padded to superhuman levels. Sound anything like what happened in Mediterranean Games Stadium on Saturday?

Going into the game, Almeria was the 3rd-ranked defense in Spain's La Liga. The only defenses with fewer goals were that of Barcelona (8) and Real Madrid (5). Almeria also had Diego Alves in goal, one of the classiest, most acrobatic keepers in the Spanish league. Could their defense stop the high-powered Azulgrana offense?

Barcelona opened their account early with a slick goal from Lio Messi in the 16th minute. David Villa received the ball and perfectly set up Lio with a sweet back-heel pass. Messi's shot from just outside the penalty box crossed from left to right to end up in the lower right corner of the net.

When Andres Iniesta scored two minutes later on a bungled defensive clear attempt, the stage was set for a route.

Messi, Iniesta, Pedro, Bojan and even Almeria's Acasiete (in his own goal) all racked up goals in the historic win. Barcelona looked like they were on autopilot for most of the game. With an 8-0 scoreline as of the 73rd minute, they had every reason to be.

The route was Barcelona's biggest goleada as the away team since a 1959 beating of Las Palmas. According to El Mundo Deportivo, Barca did rack up an 8-0 as the home team in 1996-1997. That team was coached by Bobby Robson and had the original Ronaldo - el fenomeno - in their ranks together with Figo and current Barca coach, Josep Guardiola.

The result of Saturday's historic victory? Almeria coach Juanma Lillo was fired and Barcelona go into "El Clasico" with all the momentum in the world. Real Madrid and Barcelona have been trading verbal jabs like heavyweight fighters but this 8-0 route is the loudest pronouncement yet. The stage is set for more video game soccer on Monday, November 29.

In case you missed it, here's a video of the PS3-worthy drubbing:

The Decaffeinated Cup: A Copa del Rey Update

Many of Spain's soccer cognoscenti have suggested that the Copa del Rey's format needs to be revised. The current format doesn't provide enough of a handicap to big teams to make the competition interesting. After Wednesday's results that impression can only grow!

Baby Barça crushed hapless Ceuta 5-1 in Camp Nou. Real Madrid exorcised their ghosts of Copa's past with a 5-1 humiliation of Murcia. Even Sevilla got in on the act with a 6-1 royal beat down of poor Real Unión. There were few results that could be considered an upset.

Perhaps some would see an upset in Betis' elimination of Zaragoza, but despite the fact the Betis currently plays in the second division and Zaragoza is in the first, these two teams are virtual equals. Betis has long played in Spain's first division and has a rich palmares to prove it. Zaragoza, while usually a first-division team, only returned to the top flight this year after a rough patch several years ago. This was no upset.

Indeed few of the big home teams had much to play for. Atletico Madrid had won their away match 5-0, so there was little reason fight hard against Las Palmas. In the end they tied 1-1 in this second leg, for a 6-1 victory.

It seems clear that Spain needs to return to the 1-game format that they used until 6-7 years ago. Up to that point, the bigger team had to win on the smaller team's home field. There was 1 game and that was it. Then, in later rounds, teams would play a 2-game playoff to see who advanced. The format was much more friendly to the Davids of the Spanish soccer world. Let's bring that back.

At least these unbalanced competitions have given us some fun highlights. Here's the Baby Barca - Ceuta palizo, I'll post Madrid and Sevilla later if I can find them.

Real Madrid - Murcia: Must-Win Miercoles For Madrid

Today, Real Madrid has a must-win game in the Copa del Rey. Their opponent is modest Murcia, a team from Spain's third or Segunda B division. If Real can win, they advance in the Copa del Rey and go a long way to proving that this is the best Real Madrid team in almost 15 years.


First Los Blancos must beat Murcia. The away leg, in Murcia, ended in a 0-0 draw, despite the presence of most of Madrid's galatic arsenal.


They play today in the Madridista stronghold of Santiago Bernabéu. As if that weren't enough, Coach Jose Mourinho has asked the Madrid fans to come out and create a San-Siro-like atmostphere - in other words be loud and offensive with just a hint of violence. Whether los madrileños come out with chants or "va fan culo" or maintain their customary respect for their opponents, Bernabéu should be a stronghold for the team in white.


As a means of challenging his team, Jose Mourinho will start a much more "Spanish" lineup than usual. Expect to see Pedro León, young Sergio Canales and perhaps Esteban Granero. Mourinho may even allow one of the youth players to enter later in the game. While some may view this as a "b" lineup, Mourinho clearly expects the bench warmers to be more motivated. It's a good move that should provide Madrid with some fire while maintaining the surpise of a late entry into the game by Christiano Ronaldo or Mesut Ozil.

I expect the lineup changes, home crowd, overall history and excellent form of Madrid will bowl over Murcia. Look for the Madridistas to enjoy a fiesta of futból on this Must-Win Miércoles (Wednesday)! And, as Madrid progress in the Copa del Rey, look for Mou's men to consolidate their place as the best team from the capital since 1996-1997.

Ibrahimovic-Onyewu Brawl: Ibracadabra, More Proof of Ibra's Intellect

I would have like to have had a front-row seat to this one: overindulged, athletic Zlatan Ibrahimovic and big-as-a-house Oguchi Onyewu brawled in practice today.

Apparently the cause was Ibrahimovic's dirty tackle from behind that took defender Onyewu down. Gazzetta dello Sport qualified the tackle as "not that hard" but Onyewu didn't take it lightly.

The American, who was out almost all of last year and is playing for free this year, jumped up and grabbed Ibra by the throat! This caused an immediate reaction from the Swede.

I would have like to see Onyewu and Ibrahimovic go at it. I think Ibra needs to learn a little humility and Onyewu has the size to teach him.

Apparently, according to areanapoli.it it took about 10 players to pull the two apart. I look forward to posting a video later!

FC Kobenhavn 1 - FC Barcelona 1: Stalemate for Solbakken

Due to a TiVo glitch, I didn't get to watch the whole Kobenhavn - Barcelona game. What I did see left me with the distinct impression that Barca got all they could handle.

Barcelona scored first but Kobenhavn tied the score soon after. Barcelona seems to have hit their traditional 60+ % ball possession, but for much of the game that number seemed excessively high.

In fact, for large stretches of the last third of the game, the Blaugrana were barely able to get the ball. Kobenhavn pressured them from the top and almost completely plugged Barcelona's ball circulation from goal. This was the most impressive thing that I was from this upstart team. Their courage in pressuring Barcelona almost netted them the winning goal. N'Doye's potential winner was annulled for his push-off.

Barca fans will tell you that their team were superior - and they might have been - but it was a very slight edge. This was nothing like Barca's blow-outs of Lyon or Bayern in their championship year.

Just in case, you didn't think that the game was that close, Guardiola showed his nerves getting into a post-game fracas with Kobenhaven coach Stale Solbakken.

Enjoy the videos below.

Exciting Matches in Tuesday's Champion's League Games (11/2/2010)

Tuesday November 2nd is the first day of the 4th round of Champion's League Ligilla. The games I'm most looking forward to are the match between Tottenham and Inter and the match between Valencia and Glasgow.

Inter and Tottenham got together last week for a 4-3 tale of two halves. Inter lept out to an early lead with a goal in the first minute by captain Javier Zanetti. By the end of the half, Inter had a 4-0 lead. It nearly wasn't enough.

Gareth Bale put the Hot Spurs on his back and brought the score back to 4-3 before the final whistle. Check out the video below.

Adding to the curiosity, Inter's coach Rafa Benitez returns to the league he is most familiar with: the English Premier League. Despite Rafa's clear advantage in familiarity and firepower, the home squad should give them all they can handle. It should be interesting.

Valencia and Glasgow should be interesting too. Valencia were punching well above their weight in Spain's La Liga until recently. They find themselves in 3rd in group C of the table; their 4 points trail Man U's 7 and Glasgow's 5. Can Valencia shrug off their cool streak and give the Rangers a loss? I think so.

I look forward to seeing Joaquin running rampant on the right flank and Valencia scoring 3 goals.

I'm less excited about the Barcelona - Copenhagen match. I expect Denmark's finest to sit back and play their best anti-football. Hopefully Barcelona can break through and get a few away goals.

Sporting de Gijon 1 - Villareal 1: The Yellow Submarine Can't Keep Up

Villareal, known in Spain as the Yellow Submarine wasn't able to keep pace with Barcelona and Madrid. Their loss leaves them in third, 4 points adrift of Real and 3 behind Barca.
It would have been good to see U.S. forward Jozy Altidore score a game winning goal. It was not to be.

FC Barcelona 5 - Sevilla 0: A Question of "Feeling"

When asked why Barcelona would exchange the swift Cameroonian striker, Samuel Eto'o for the agile, athletic Swede, Zlatan Ibrahimovic; Josep Guardiola replied that it was a, "Question of Feeling." Now, a year and a half after Barca's failed forward experiment, Guardiola has Villa. By all signs David Villa does have "feeling" with his coach and his Barcelona teammates and the result was on display Saturday. Barcelona erased Sevilla from the field 5 - 0.

The difference between this and previous Barca matches this year was the intensity the team brought to the field, the movement of David Villa in relation to his teammates, and the accuracy that Barcelona displayed in front of goal.

Those traits, maintained with focus, provided Barcelona with a killer instinct that they haven't shown so far this season. Rather than be content with a 2-0 lead, the Blaugrana were on the hunt for goals up to the very last minute of the game. When Sevilla went down to 10 men early in the second half, Guardiola's troops didn't show any mercy. This ruthless, relentless attitude is necessary for Barcelona to win the league. Their laughable ball-possession can put other teams to sleep but it can also put their own team to sleep. When Barcelona falls asleep, a savvy team with a fast forward can quickly score a goal or two and change the course of a game. When Barcelona displays the killer instinct that they had on Saturday, there are few teams that won't be blown out.

Lionel Messi got things started with a hard, low shot off of a rebound. The tangled human fence of bodies in front of him couldn't stop or slow down Lio's powerful shot.

Nowhere was Barcelona's "feeling" more evident than in the second goal. As Messi received the ball on the right near midfield, David Villa cleared right from his center position to make room for Messi. Lio moved forward and dished the ball off to Villa on the right. As Villa entered the box from the right, it looked like he would attempt to cross. Instead, he slipped past his marker and let loose a perfect shot with his left foot that exploded against the net, just inside the left post.

It was also Villa that put the finishing touches on the evening with a run across the face of goal, outside the box. As he ran from (his) right to left, his shot crossed the goalkeeper to find a home inside the right post of the goal.

Villa's run mimicked that of teammate Messi earlier in the game. Both had the ball for significant time, crossed from right to left and unleashed a shot shortly after passing the middle of the box.

It was this kind of movement that allowed Barcelona to find the scoring chances that they had been lacking earlier in the year. That movement was evident last week as Villa set up Messi twice in Barca's victory over Zaragoza. Against Sevilla, that movement paid off over and over again.

Now that Messi and Villa have developed an understanding, I think you can expect to see a profane amount of goals. These two players are so fast, so generous and so lethal in front of goal; that I expect them to break scoring records. Also, impressive was Pedro's work (see below how he embarrasses Konko out of the game) on the left. Will he be able to move up the goal-scorer's board?

It's good to see Barcelona get that scoring feeling back.

Hércules 1 - Real Madrid 3: The Giant Killers Almost Make it 2

Modest Hércules is a small team from the Spanish coastal town of Alicante. They've only recently made it to Spain's first division, and while they haven't threatened to take position at the top of the league table, they have racked up 2 very impressive results - beating both Barcelona and Sevilla. They almost had a third scalp against Real Madrid.

Their first giant killing took place in no less than Barcelona's Camp Nou, where their impressive display of counterattacking soccer was more impressive than that of Mourinho's 2009 Inter team. The team from Alicante scored 2 on quick Nelson Valdez counterattacks but had opportunities to make it 5 or 6 - 0. Despite have a little over 20% ball possession, they dominated the game.

The rest of the league hasn't been so sunny for the team from the Costa Blanca. Hércules had only 9 points after 8 matches, for a 3rd place in the league. Their match with rival Almeria looked promising, but ended in a 1-1 draw.

So it was surprising to see the team named for Zeus' bastard son go face to face with the galaticos of Real Madrid.

They got off to a great start when Cortés floated a perfect pass from outside the box on the right sideline. The ball landed squarely on the head of David Trezeguet and looped perfectly over Iker Casillas into the upper right corner of the goal. 3 minutes into the game and Madrid had been hit with a bucket of cold water.

Hércules continued their stellar play throughout the first half, attacking with speed and precision. Nelson Valdez almost scored the second with a close shot that San Iker De La Sagrada Camiseta Blanca only just saved.

Los Blancos played better in the second half, holding more possession and taking the sting out of the Alicante attack. A powerful shot from distance by Christiano Ronaldo was bobbled and pounced on by (possibly Madrid's best signing of the year) Di Maria.

In the end, Hércules' third task couldn't be completed. A superb Marcelo run along the end line, left defenders behind and set up a beautiful pull-back pass. Where the first shot was blocked, Christiano Ronaldo put in the rebound. Even Benzema got into the effort, setting up CR 7/9s second goal.

Perhaps the heroes from the Costa Blanca will be able to pull of the upset when they visit Madrid in Bernabeau.

Aside: Is there any more dislikable player than Christiano Ronaldo? His over-the-top victory celebrations, his constant pouting when things go wrong and his intentional kicks of fallen competitors earn him top-douchebag honors in the eyes of this blog. His miserable personality takes all the joy out of watching one of the world's best players. Sad! That's a matter for another post, though.

Happy Birthday Diego! Maradona celebrates his 50th

Diego Maradona turns 50 today and this blogger would like to wish him a happy 6th century. Maradona was clearly one of the 3 greatest football (soccer) players ever. I didn't have the pleasure of watching "La Pelusa" live but I have enjoyed countless highlights on video and on the internet. Feliz cumpleaños, Diego!

In honor of the man from Villa Fiorito, Argentina, I thought I post one of Maradona's favorite goals - his Copa de la Liga goal against Real Madrid from 1983.

One very accurate commentator pointed out that, "Diego didn't elude you, he humiliated you." He does so here, evading the goalie and a defender who slams his man parts into the goal post - ouch! When Maradona apologized to him, defender Juan José told him to "Vete a tomar por culo" (Go take it up the ass). Here's the full interview on Argentina's Olé.

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Murcia 0 - Real Madrid 0: Ghosts of Alcorcón

In case the 2010-2011 Copa del Rey lacked drama, Jose Mourinho decided to add more: he announced that Madrid was out to win the competition that had embarrassed them the past few years. He also announced if his starting lineup didn't have the motivation to play in the Copa del Rey, he'd replace them with players from Castilla (Madrid's development squad).

How did Mou's motivational tactics go over? Not very well. Los Merengues could only tie Murcia and didn't play the most brilliant football. Christiano Ronaldo started but couldn't break the game open as he has the past 3 league matches.

Is Madrid still haunted by the Alcorconazo, the humiliating defeat at the hands of a 3rd division (Segunda B) team from the suburbs of Madrid? You bet they are.

That 4-0 defeat, more than any other game, sentenced last year's coach Manuel Pellegrini. It was also probably the death knell for Guti.

I'll explore this a little more in coming days but before I do, here are some of the amazing scenes from last year's King's Cup shocker! I wish I could find the video that showed Alcorcón's warm-up-suit-wearing youth storming the field after the win - that was my favorite part.

What Is The Copa del Rey? Spain's King's Cup and Why You Should Watch it.

Want to see a real Cinderella story? There's no better place to find it than Spain's Copa del Rey. This annual soccer championship pits 63 teams from Spain's 1st, 2nd and 3rd (Segunda B) division against each other in home and away matches. Played primarily during the work week, the competition ensures that no passionate soccer fan need go 3 days without futból.

The competition began 1902 to celebrate the coronation of Spanish King Alfonso XIII. It was officially named the Copa Del Rey in 1903 and its first title match saw Athletic Bilbao defeat Madrid FC (later Real Madrid). 

Originally formed with a representative from each province, the competition has grown to invite many of the top teams from Spain's first 3 divisions.

The competition is a tournament elimination format that pits 2 teams against each other in home and away matches, with the winner being the team with a greater goal total in both games. As with other Cup ties, even goal differential is broken by weighting away goals more heavily.

The exception to the home-away format is the final, regularly played in one of Spain's most prestigious stadiums.

The giant clubs of Spain's first division regularly face off against smaller teams from the lower divisions. This week Barcelona crossed the straights of Gilbraltar to face tiny Ceuta (you get extra credit if you knew that Spain still has territory in Africa apart from the Canary islands). Barça was able to win their "trap" match but Spain's glamor sides regularly fall to small teams in these ties. The most famous example of this was the Alcorconazo: where tiny Alcorcón defeated Real Madrid 4-0 at home. Alcorcón lost the away match 1-0 in Santiago Bernabeau but advanced on the 4-1 goal aggregate.

Small and outclassed as they are, the teams from Spain's lower ranks do have certain advantages. The first and most important advantage is motivation: their team will be excited to prove that they can play with the best in the world while Spain's first division teams regularly rest their "A" team. The result is that the smaller teams often have greater chemistry - their players are used to playing together while the big teams field a patchwork mix of first and second team players - especially early in the competition.

These early games can often be a trap because of field conditions as well. When Spain's large teams play the away leg, they're forced to play on a small, often poorly maintained field. This limits their passing game (especially in Barcelona's case) and speed (especially in Madrid's case). Nevertheless, Spain's large teams do often win out.

The Copa del Rey's most regular victor has been FC Barcelona with 25 victories. Athletíc Bilbao follow closely with a total of 23 cup wins, the last being in 1984. Real Madrid have the third most victories with 17. They haven't won since 1993.

In 2010, the King's Cup has received quite a bit of attention. Real Madrid have announced that they intend to take the Cup more seriously after being embarrassed the last several years. Coach Jose Mourinho is a master of elimination tournaments and won the Coppa Italia in 2009 with Inter Milan.

Teams like Sevilla, Valencia, Athletico, Athletic and Barcelona seem more likely to hoist the King's trophy at the end of the season.

As you follow the action, here's a look back at one of the best finals, the 2009 match between the Copa del Rey's two most storied teams: Barcelona and Athletic.

Zaragoza 0 - FC Barcelona 2: Barça and the Away-Field Advantage

FC Barcelona won on Saturday. They won as they have often in the last month or so, missing opportunity after opportunity while dominating a clearly inferior opponent.

They did however have many more opportunities to show themselves on Saturday than they have in some of their recent home matches. Which brings us to an interesting issue: is Barcelona better on the road than they are at home?

It sounds strange. Usually teams think of their home stadium as a stronghold and play better in front of boisterous, aggressive and occasionally downright dangerous home fans. Yet this year's Barca squad seems to be doing the opposite: the struggle to beat lesser teams at home and get to show off on the road.

One theory is that the home team can't hide as well: when a team plays Barcelona in the Nou Camp (in Barcelona) it's expected to lose; the visiting team can park 9-10 players by the goal and do everything it can to block real, constructive football.

When a team plays Barça at home, it has a responsibility to its fans to show a minimum of offensive competency. Holding 10 players back is sure to draw cat calls from the fans and even letters asking for the coach to be fired. So the home team plays Barcelona more aggressively - and pays the price for their pride.

I didn't come up with this idea: it was a pearl of an explanation put forth by Ray Hudson on GolTV. This guy makes soccer fun and exciting and drops some real wisdom during the game. Check him out and check out Spain's La Liga (and Barcelona) on GolTV.

For those that don't have GolTV, here are the highlights:

Sevilla 4 - Athletic Bilbao 3: Another Reason to Watch Spain's La Liga.

TV Announcer: The Continental Soccer Association is coming to Springfield!  
              It's all here--fast-kicking, low scoring, and ties?  You bet!
        Bart: Hey, Dad, how come you've never taken us to see a soccer game?
       Homer: I...don't know.
TV Announcer: You'll see all your favorite soccer stars.  Like Ariaga! 
              Ariaga II!  Bariaga!  Aruglia!  And Pizzoza!
       Homer: Oh, I never heard of those people.
TV Announcer: And they'll all be signing autographs!
       Homer: Woo-hoo!
TV Announcer: This match will determine once and for all which nation is 
              the greatest on earth: Mexico or Portugal!

Quote from Simpson's Episode F501 

Funny as the Simpsons episode was, most US sports fans have this misguided impression of soccer. And, sometimes it's not even that misguided. But it sure missed the mark in Sunday's Sevilla - Athletico match.

This is why you need to watch soccer, and Spain's La Liga in particular. It doesn't get much more exciting than this!

Sevilla went up 3-0 in the 62nd minute. Normally at 3-0, a team owns the game. It's over and they can put in their development players to prove it. Not on Sunday!

Los leones (the lions) of Bilbao came roaring back like their namesake from the Serengeti. They brought the score to 3-2 before a questionable penalty (committed on Negredo, executed by Kanoute) put the game out of reach at 4-2.

Athletic didn't stop there either, they scored a 91st minute header to keep hope alive!

They could not however, pull even. Athletic ran out of time and Sevilla added a win to the post-Alvarez era.

All told, it was a breathless 30 minutes of soccer. I can think of very few sports that can serve up this kind of emotional roller coaster in such a short time.

Ride that football roller coaster with me with this embedded video:

Holy Mouly: Madrid's Playing Well And Scoring At Will

Okay, I apologize; I've used another groan-worthy made-up Mou word. Still, after watching Real Madrid's last 3 games, "the special one" is worthy of headlines - and the rest of the league is left to groan.

Madrid's latest experiment in running up the score (and I mean that in the best possible way) came at the expense of Racing Santader. After their 6-1 drubbing the Racing boys have officially changed their team colors from black and green to black and blue, with makeup artist bruises for effect.

Madrid got on the board early courtesy of Higuain in the 10th minute and then ran off 4 straight Christiano Ronaldo goals. CR7/9 gattling-gun-goal run was followed by an Ozil goal that left los merengues up 6-0. Racing did get the "goal of honor" to ease the drubbing, but it's still hard to cover up that 6.

This isn't the first Madrid rout, either. Madrid recently put down Malaga 4-1 and pummeled Deportivo La Coruña 6-1 as well. That's 16 goals in 3 games!

Los Blancos (Madrid is known as "The Whites" in Spain in reference to their jerseys - and maybe because fans from the capital think they are the good guys) boast a whopping +18 goal differential after 8 games. The feel-good stat for fans from the capital is that 16 of Madrid's 22 goals have come in the first 60 minutes, compared to just 1 of their opponents goals. These are not garbage goals - Madrid is going out hard and putting good Spanish league teams down like ugly rabid dogs.

This article is my way of apologizing to Sr. Jose Mourinho (as if he cares). I heckled him early in the year. I was wrong. I shouldn't have doubted. I stand super-corrected. Jose, if you're reading this, you can lay off now. Down boy!

I expected Madrid to play well at some point in the season, but their recent run has exceeded my wildest imaginings. This is a super-dotado (talented) team with a (self-professed) genius of a coach. I shouldn't have doubted.

Real Madrid 6 - Racing Santander 1

Real Madrid 6 - Deportivo La Coruna 1

Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid got it together - and how! I guess I can stop commenting on Mourinho's lack of goals. Check out some highlights and comment if you will.

Barcelona 1 - Mallorca 1: Is Barça Broken?

It has been a hard week for FC Barcelona. The Catalan giants failed in their fourth attempt to beat Rubin Kazan on Wednesday and ended up with the same result from Sunday's Liga match with Mallorca. Their two opponents played a much different style of football but the result was the same: 1-1.

The same culprit, lack of definition in front of goal, haunted Barcelona both times. Against Rubin they had a lot fewer chances, but they still had more than enough opportunities to go up 2 or 3 - 1.

Against Mallorca, Barcelona played possibly their most beautiful half of football this season in the first half. Open, flowing football gave rise to dangerous opportunity after opportunity. It looked like Barcelona would go up 5-0 but when the half ended it was Barça 1 - Mallorca 1.

Have teams found a way to defeat the most prolific offense of the last two years (an perhaps all time)? I'd lay the blame on Barcelona's players, not the opposing teams.

Barcelona's connection up front has lacked two of its most important components in the past week: Lionel Messi and David Villa. Messi returned late in the game against Rubin and immediately made a difference. Still, after being sidelined for 2 weeks, he lacked the precision that he usually displays. Villa sat out on Sunday as a result of the red card he received against Atletic de Bilbao.

The rest of Barcelona's all-stars don't look so stellar when not playing next to Messi, Villa and Xavi. Bojan had some nice shots but couldn't score when he needed to. Pedro had a beautiful pass to set up Messi's goal, but couldn't find the back of the net when it counted.

Maybe starting Jeffren would have made a difference. Pedro seems to have long invisible stretches before he shows up in a big way. Jeffren may be a little more consistent in the problems he causes opposing defenses.

So, is Barça Broken? I don't think so. I think that once Guardiola gets his starting 11 back and they get a chance to play together, they'll get back to Barcelona's torrid goal-scoring pace.

Here are highlights.

Valencia Leads The League. Can Someone Other Than Barca or Madrid Win Spain's La Liga?

When the 6th round of Spain's La Liga comes to an end, you leader will be: Valencia! You heard right, the leader of La Liga BBVA is not Barcelona or Real Madrid. Given Valencia's early success and the strong start of Atlético Madrid in all competitions; can someone other than FCB or Real win La Liga?

The anser is Yes. Other teams can and have won the Spanish Liga Profesional de Futbol in the last 15 years. Atlético Madrid, Deportivo de La Coruña, and Valencia CF have all lifted the cup that most commonly finds its way to Barcelona and Madrid's halls.

Atlético Madrid shocked the experts winning La Liga in the 1995-1996 season. Coached by Radomir Antić, Atlético had recently cleaned house after narrowly missing descent to the second division the previous season. Led by hard man Diego Simeone and tall striker Kiko, the colchoneros played impressive counter-attacking football to take the title with an impressive 87 points.

La Liga fell under the sway of Real Madrid and Barcelona for the next three years in a very parity-heavy environment marked by low point totals for the Van Gaal's winning teams.

Deportivo de La Coruña, broke the 2-team dominance in 2000. The men in the blue-and-white stripes were led by Roy Makaay, dropped a 5-2 on Real Madrid in El Riazor (Depor's home stadium) and won la liga with 69 points.

Valencia CF got in on the action two years later. With an extremely talented team set up by Héctor Cúper, Valencia had players like Gerrard, Mendieta and Claudio Lopez. These players had taken the squad to the final of the Champion's League in 2000 and 2001 (losing to Madrid and Bayern Munich respectively) and regularly destroyed the dream's of Barcelona under Louis Van Gaal.

Rafa Benítez made the most of his club's talent and took Valencia to the league title in 2001-02 and 2003-2004.

After Valencia's run dominance returned to Barcelona thanks to the spectacular play of Ronaldinho.

So can Valencia, Atletico or another Spanish wild card in the league this year? No. Barcelona and Real Madrid are too talented and they have the two best soccer coaches in the world today. Valencia had to sell stars Villa and Silva before the season started, Atletico regularly falter under pressure, Sevilla has gotten off to a poor start under recently fired Antonio Alvarez and the rest of la Liga teams don't have the depth to handle the 38-game marathon.

Look for Barcelona or Real Madrid to earn the title in 2010-11.

Until then, here's a look at the last non-hegemon champion.

Exciting Match Ups in Wednesday's Champion League Ties

There is some exciting soccer to watch this Wednesday, September 29th. The two games I'm most interested in are Rubin Kazan vs. Barcelona and Valencia vs. Manchester United.

Rubin Kazan are champions of the Russian League and a notorious thorn in the side for Barcelona. During last year's league phase (of the Champions League), Rubin beat Barca at home and played to a draw in Russia. The Russians play tough defense, face jet-lagged opponents and are more comfortable in the cold weather of Kazan. It was snowing in Tuesday's photos of practice.

I see Rubin giving Barcelona trouble only to go down 1-2. The blaugrana will get there act together despite starting with Messi on the bench.

Perhaps more exciting, or at least more high scoring should be the match between Valencia and Man U. This should be a fun display of attacking soccer. Valencia currently lead the Spanish league and are playing incredibly well despite selling stars Villa, Silva and Marchena. They're currently undefeated with 4 wins and a draw.

Manchester United is a perennial performer in the Champions League. They've struggled a bit in English League play but are still running second. Look for them to step it up on Wednesday, especially if Rooney is healthy.

Prediction: Valencia 2 - Man U 3

Here are highlights from a preseason match from last year between Valencia and Man U.

Auxerre 0 - Real Madrid 1, Quick Impressions

I have yet to get a chance to watch the all of Tuesday's Auxerre - Madrid game. What I did see, showed an interesting line-up change.

Mourinho, had Xabi Alonso playing as a single pivot or defensive midfielder while Khedira and Lass Diarra were pushed farther forward on the left and right respectively.

That's interesting because Mourinho usually prefers to play with 2 defensive midfielders. So far this year that's been Xabi Alonso and Khedira. Usually, they are accompanied by a media punta, or attacking midfielder in the Schneider mold - this year usually Ozil and occasionally Canales.

Given Khedira and Lass Diarra's defensive bent, I was curious to see how their connection to the front line was. The verdict: not awesome. Madrid was clearly winning the battle in the midfield in the first half but they were not creating a lot of clear scoring opportunities.

I saw that Ozil came in for Benzema in the second half. I hope to see how that worked out later tonight.

Who do you think Mourinho should line up in the midfield?

Sevilla Fires Antonio Alvarez

Sevilla president, José María del Nido has fired Sevilla's coach Antonio Alvarez. The dismissal took place following Sevilla's 0-2 loss to lowly Hercules.

Alvarez took over last year after serving as assistant coach Manolo Jimenez, who was fired for lack of results late last year.

Alvarez guided Sevilla to victory in the Copa del Rey last year (King's Cup) but failed in the early-season Spanish Supercopa, the classification phase of the Champion's League and the early games of the league.

Sevilla has a superb roster, let's hope the newest coach can guide them to greener pastures - and more goals.

Levante 0 - Real Madrid 0: Yawn. Snore. Do You Miss Pellegrini Yet?

After 5 League games, mighty Real Madrid has scored a measly 6 goals. Despite spending over 300 million Euro in transfer fees the last two years, despite having "The Special One" as a coach, the Merengues are providing a very unappealing image this year.

In Madrid's favor, they have created numerous scoring chances this year. Ball possession is much higher than it was last year and San Iker (goalkeeper Iker Casillas) has done so little work that he could sit in goal and eat churros y chocolate if he wanted to.Madrid defense has been stellar. They've allowed 1 goal in their 5 games and haven't looked in serious danger all season.

Real's defensive success can't seem to get rid of the poor taste left by their resultadista play in the league. This is not the Champion's League. Fans don't want a series of 1-0 victories so that the team can move on to the next round of play. The Madridistas want breathless, end-to-end action that showcases the speed and skill of their playmakers - and results in lots of goals.

Those fans that remember last year's team will remember that Madrid had already scored 16 goals in their first 5 games. A goal per game average of 3.2 instead of the sad 1.2 gpg/avg. Last year's Pellegrini team didn't look like they were dominating the majority of games they played but they scored a shocking 102 goals. Everything went in. No matter how much you bring up traditional referee favoritism of Madrid (find Rafa Van der Vaart's volleyball goal and you'll know what I mean), this was a potent offense that was a lot of fun to watch.

I'm beginning to wonder if Mourinho is capable of guiding a team to play successful offense. Thus far this year, Real have taken 105 shots on goal with only 5 going in. They lead the league in that regard with superstar CR7/9 taking the individual honors for futility in front of goal with 41 shots and two goals. Higuain has taken 15 shots with 1 finding the back of the net.

I hope that los Merengues can figure things out quickly because I watch the Spain's La Liga to see exciting, attacking football. If I wanted to watch a scoreless draw that is only broken by a debatable penalty, I'd watch the Italian league. Mourinho is an indisputably hard worker - hopefully his work will pay off soon. Until then: there are still Mou goals needed.

See the poll at the bottom of the page. Until then, here's a clip from last year's Real fun.

Athletic Bilbao 1 - Barcelona 3: A Hard Fought Victory In the Cathedral

Athletic de Bilbao is known to have one of the most impassioned fan bases in the world. The Bilbaino faithful regularly fill their home stadium, known as La Catedral (The Cathedral), to its 39, 670 capacity; so it was no surprise to see a see of red and white, replete with flags, banners and probably their fair share of kalimotxo when Catalan giant F.C. Barcelona came to town. Rain and inclement weather does not stop these fans.

Unlike many teams in the Spanish league, Athletic (under Joaquín Caparrós) does not assume an ultra-defensive position in the face of Barcelona's imposing attack. The Lions of Bilbao contest the game from start to finish and Saturday's match was no exception.

The red-and-whites attempted to win the battle in the midfield, pressuring Barcelona and not giving their team time to pass at will. Barcelona may have had more chances early on in the game, but they did not show their usual dominance.

In the 34th minute Athletic's Amorebieta was shown a red card for a nasty challenge on Iniesta. Despite going down a man, the rojiblanco's kept fighting the good fight and looked good at the beginning of the second half.


Just when the Athletic looked best, Barcelona broke the scoreless draw. A beautifully quick touch by David Villa left Seydou Keita alone in front of goal. The Mali international scored easily. 


Then in 71st minute Xavi looked to have sealed the game with an oddly bouncing shot from outside the area. With a 2-0 lead, and a man up, Barcelona was sure to win right?


There was still plenty of excitement left. David Villa was shown a red card in the 83rd minute, Athletic scored to cut the difference to 1 and then, just when Athletic looked to have the last-minute momentum, Barcelona's Sergio Busquets finished the game off with a pretty strike into the upper-left corner.


So far this season, Barcelona's front line has been dominant - with Messi, Villa and Pedro (or Bojan) each making the score sheet by the end of the game. With Messi out, it was Barca's midfield that made the difference with Keita, Xavi and Busquets animating the game and putting the ball in the back of the net.


This was a true battle between two great sides with even better fan bases. If any conclusion can be drawn from this game, it's that I want to see a game in San Mames before it's abandoned for a newer, bigger stadium in 2013 or 2014. Enjoy the goals.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Ballers Over Thinkers

In educated circles of Europe, Soccer players aren't held in very high regard. The stereotype is much the same that American football players enjoy: they're thought of as strong, unintelligent, louts. I have no desire to debate the accuracy of these opinions. However, their is one player who is doing an excellent job of embodying these stereotypes. His name is Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Zlatan was born in Sweden to a Bosnian father and Croatian mother. His football career has taken him to Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona and now Milan. When on form, he's capable of some of the most amazing, acrobatic goals you've ever seen. Few players are as good at breaking scoreless ties as Ibra - as he lunges past defenders with a long, flexible stride.

Yet lately, he's been making headlines as often for his actions off the field as on. In Barcelona, he seemingly couldn't adjust to coach Josep Guardiola's scheme.

His agent, Mino Raiola, painted European sports journals with one bombastic statement after another, assuring the Guardiola wasn't as perfect as people thought, that coach had problems with himself and that it was more likely Guardiola would leave Barca than Ibra.

As Ibra left Barcelona at a firesale price, he made numerous statements to the media calling Guardiola such hurtful names as "Philosopher." Apparently, thought is not valued in Zlatan's camp. 

Now on Milan, Ibra continues to make headlines. Check out the first video below, where Ibra kicks his teammate. He's yet to release a good explanation for his actions. His teammate, Rodney Strasser, didn't seem happy about it either. If it was a joke, it went over poorly.

On Wednesday, Ibra el Ogro began to endear himself to his new fans. He scored 2 goals to lead Milan to a 2-0 victory over French squad, Auxerre.

Then just in case you were beginning to like this guy, he got into it with Champion's League winning coach and current commentator Arrigo Sacchi. Sacchi said that on Ibra's first goal, he wouldn't have scored if he didn't have size 47 feet. It sounds like he intended it as a compliment, "Hey Ibra, you're really big, perfectly adapted to delantero" or something like that.

Ibra took it as an opportunity to rip into Sacchi, saying that some people talk too much and Sacchi is one of those people. When the lead commentator said Sacchi was trying to give him a compliment, Ibra let him know that he didn't appreciate him saying that Ibra wouldn't fit in at Barcelona. The exchange goes on for a while. It wasn't comfortable television.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is an awesome soccer player - but I wouldn't want him on my team. The fact that he's left every squad he ever played for with an argument leads me to believe that he's incapable of getting along with people - morale poison for any team that signs him. That he's the Terrell Owens of European soccer. But hey, what do I know. Judge for yourself, watching the awesome videos below.

Wednesday's Champion's League Match Predictions

There are some exciting matches coming up today. I think Real Madrid vs. Ajax and Bayern vs. Roma should be two of the most fun.

Real Madrid vs. Ajax prediction: Madrid 3 - Ajax 1. Mourinho's squad hasn't played pretty football yet this year. Most of the time they seem to be lost on the pitch: what do we do, who should we pass to, how do we create offensive football? Despite the questions, they simply have too many players of exceptional quality.

Higuain leads the line with German star Mesut Ozil playing the role of 10 or attacking midfielder. CR7/9 is off to the right and the slashing Di Maria takes the left wing. Khedira and Xabi Alonso will function as a double pivot, bringing the ball out from the defense, giving order to the team and supplying the speedy forwards. And the defense is talented too, with Marcelo making attacking runs on the left, Pepe and Carvalho at center back and Arbeloa filling in nicely on the right. Madrid has too much quality to lose.

Add in the fact that they're playing at home in front of fans eager to see their "Galacticos" win and I have to believe they'll be motivated.

Ajax won't even have their biggest star: Luis Suarez (yes, he of Uruguay-Ghana handball fame) is out.

Ajax will score the early splash-of-cold-water goal only to fall to Madrid's comeback.

Bayern vs. Roma should be a fun match too. Bayern played in last year's Champion's League final and won everything they could win in Germany. They were dominant in the Bundesliga.

Roma had an impressive season, too. After replacing coach Luciano Spalletti with Claudio Ranieri they won an impressive 24 straight league matches. They pushed eventual Italian league leader Inter all the way to the final week and almost pulled off the upset. They were also strong in the Italian Cup, finishing as runners up to Inter yet again. 

I haven't followed these teams to much, so I won't hazard a guess on how they'll play. Just watch (if you can) and enjoy.

Here's some eye candy to keep you busy until game time.