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