Thursday, January 27, 2011
This Is Not A Goal: Real Madrid 1 - Sevilla 0
Monday, January 10, 2011
A Memo Recieved, Tactics Changed and Other Thoughts on the 18th Jornada.
2011 is here and La Liga is fully back from winter vacation. The return to action and focus showed in some of the games of the 18th week. Here are some thoughts on a few of them.
The season is heating up, here are the goals from the Madrid-Villareal game.
- After their 2 games with Athletic, some dared to call Barcelona boring. They clearly heard about this in practice this week and their transitions from defense to offense were much quicker. Watch the goals here and you'll see that 2 of their goals originate in (or close to) there own half with just a few passes before the goal. Iniesta's goal comes from a quick transition from defense to offense and a shot from outside the box. This was a much more direct Barca.
- Fans in La Coruna gave Iniesta a standing ovation as he went off. It's January and Spanish fans still celebrate a club player who plays against them. Can you think of a more beautiful display of patriotism and love of football?
- Christian Ronaldo,WTF? CR7/9 has 22 goals in 18 games! Your average superstar would be excited to score 22 goals in 38 Liga matches. Ronaldo is a one-man wrecking crew.
- More than any of his predecessors on the Real bench, Jose Mourinho has mental flexibility. Faced with a Villareal that was running circles around him a-la-Barcelona, Mourinho flipped the script, went with 3 defenders, sent Marcelo and Di Maria up the wings beefed up the Madrid vertebrae and took away possession from the men in yellow.
- Can anyone really expect to beat Real Madrid at home with the refs on their side? Penalties missed, offsides not called and card after card shrugged off because Real intimidates the referees. This out-of-balance favoritism damages the image of La Liga and is a disservice to a team with the players and coaching (see above) to win on their own.
- What would it take to get Villareal to beat the Madrids and Barcelonas of the world? Would one major star, say a forward, do it? How many Champion's League matches would they need to win to afford that star?
- Does Athletico de Madrid need a new coach, new players or a really, really good sports psychologist? They were beat 4-1 by Hercules and look to be returning to their mid-table ways despite a strong start.
- Malaga is buying players by the dozen - well, almost. Since being purchased by Sheik Abdullah Bin-Nasser Al-Thani of Qatar, they've picked up Sergio Asenjo, Enzo Maresca, Martín Demichelis, Julio Baptista and they're talking about Emmanuel Adebayor, and Diego Buonanotte. They're under direction of Manuel Pellegrini and are being called the Manchester City of the Costa del Sol. The players and coach are here but when do the wins arrive?
The season is heating up, here are the goals from the Madrid-Villareal game.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Stalemate and Fresh Comeback
A hard-fought stalemate and a spectacular comeback highlighted the last round of the Copa del Rey. As the King's Cup arrives at it's quarterfinals, only 2nd-division Real Betis resembles a cinderella story. Yet as the magic of an underdog fairy tale disappears, the stage is set for the hype of a battle of the titans.
The most evenly matched ties were the ones I was most looking forward to: Barcelona - Athletic and Valencia - Villareal. (Upon reflection of the score, the Mallorca - Almería draw was rather even as well.) The Barca - Athletic match turned into a hard-fought stalemate while the battle of the killer Vs (they'll sting ya!) started slow but yielded fireworks.
Athletic de Bilbao plays with more heart than almost anyone in Spain's first division, so I wasn't surprised that they corked Barcelona's prolific offense. The Basque defense held strong the first match to salvage a 0-0 tie in Camp Nou.
Athletic's hustle looked to be paying dividends in their home tie as well as they stifled Xavi, Messi and co.for most of the match. Unfortunately for them, Eric Abidal, who had never scored for Barcelona, ended his drought putting a ball into the back of the San Mames net. Athletic fought back valiantly, tying the game at 1 on Llorente's goal. Unfortunately, they couldn't get a second goal and Barcelona advanced on away goals. (In the event of a tie after 2 matches, the team with more away goals goes through to the next round.)
The Valencia - Villareal matchup was more enticing and more rewarding. Valencia and Villareal are local rivals separated by a mere 65km on Spain's East Coast. Valencia is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia. Villareal is a virtual suburb of Castellon, a city which serves as the capital of one of the community's sub regions. Think parental-favorite big brother, Valencia, meets younger, more financially successful sibling, Villareal.
This matchup started slowly with a 0-0 draw in Valencia. Things looked good for Los Che when they went up 2-0 in Villareal going into halftime. Then the tide changed. A thrilling start to the second half saw Villareal get 2 goals in 3 minutes. Once on top, the men in yellow played the pretty football that has put them third in the Spanish league to win convincingly. There's some beautiful goals here, so this is our video of the post.
There were several other interesting matches in octavos de final. Real Madrid pounded modest Levante 8-0 to equal Barcelona's total against Almeria in league play. Madrid lost 0-2 in the away leg but the game was meaningless.
Almeria made themselves the sentimental favorite of the tournament, winning 4-3 in both their home and away legs. This despite their lowly position in the La Liga table (currently tied for last in La Liga).
Sevilla went through with a flurry of goals against Malaga, winning their home match 5-3 and then mopping up 3-0 in Malaga.
The last round also served up a tie between the league's vice royalty, Espanyol - Athletico de Madrid (the alternative teams in Barcelona and Madrid respectively). Kun Aguero made the difference and Athletico goes through to the next round.
Here's where things get good. Athletico went through only to meet in-town rivals Real Madrid. The colchoneros are over matched by Mourinho's squad but they should still deliver passionate, fast-paced football. I'm looking for Flores' attack-minded squad to liven up Mourinho's typical defensive cup stance.
Perhaps even better will be the Villareal - Sevilla draw. As mentioned above, Villareal is playing heroic football. They are probably the best team per Euro (dollar) in Spain. Sevilla hasn't managed to solidify their back line since the coaching changes of late last season (and early this season) but they can score. Look for Kanoute and O Fabuloso, Luis Fabiano, to make this one interesting.
The winner of the Villareal-Sevilla match plays the winner of the Madrid derby.
On the other side of the table, Barcelona plays Betis in a rematch of the Ronaldinho era Supercopa. They'll play the winner of Deportivo - Almeria.
If the favorite wins through in each draw, and they should, the final will be between Barcelona and Real Madrid. It could be one of 4 Clasicos in April and May. Get ready for a wild Spring.
The most evenly matched ties were the ones I was most looking forward to: Barcelona - Athletic and Valencia - Villareal. (Upon reflection of the score, the Mallorca - Almería draw was rather even as well.) The Barca - Athletic match turned into a hard-fought stalemate while the battle of the killer Vs (they'll sting ya!) started slow but yielded fireworks.
Athletic de Bilbao plays with more heart than almost anyone in Spain's first division, so I wasn't surprised that they corked Barcelona's prolific offense. The Basque defense held strong the first match to salvage a 0-0 tie in Camp Nou.
Athletic's hustle looked to be paying dividends in their home tie as well as they stifled Xavi, Messi and co.for most of the match. Unfortunately for them, Eric Abidal, who had never scored for Barcelona, ended his drought putting a ball into the back of the San Mames net. Athletic fought back valiantly, tying the game at 1 on Llorente's goal. Unfortunately, they couldn't get a second goal and Barcelona advanced on away goals. (In the event of a tie after 2 matches, the team with more away goals goes through to the next round.)
The Valencia - Villareal matchup was more enticing and more rewarding. Valencia and Villareal are local rivals separated by a mere 65km on Spain's East Coast. Valencia is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia. Villareal is a virtual suburb of Castellon, a city which serves as the capital of one of the community's sub regions. Think parental-favorite big brother, Valencia, meets younger, more financially successful sibling, Villareal.
This matchup started slowly with a 0-0 draw in Valencia. Things looked good for Los Che when they went up 2-0 in Villareal going into halftime. Then the tide changed. A thrilling start to the second half saw Villareal get 2 goals in 3 minutes. Once on top, the men in yellow played the pretty football that has put them third in the Spanish league to win convincingly. There's some beautiful goals here, so this is our video of the post.
There were several other interesting matches in octavos de final. Real Madrid pounded modest Levante 8-0 to equal Barcelona's total against Almeria in league play. Madrid lost 0-2 in the away leg but the game was meaningless.
Almeria made themselves the sentimental favorite of the tournament, winning 4-3 in both their home and away legs. This despite their lowly position in the La Liga table (currently tied for last in La Liga).
Sevilla went through with a flurry of goals against Malaga, winning their home match 5-3 and then mopping up 3-0 in Malaga.
The last round also served up a tie between the league's vice royalty, Espanyol - Athletico de Madrid (the alternative teams in Barcelona and Madrid respectively). Kun Aguero made the difference and Athletico goes through to the next round.
Here's where things get good. Athletico went through only to meet in-town rivals Real Madrid. The colchoneros are over matched by Mourinho's squad but they should still deliver passionate, fast-paced football. I'm looking for Flores' attack-minded squad to liven up Mourinho's typical defensive cup stance.
Perhaps even better will be the Villareal - Sevilla draw. As mentioned above, Villareal is playing heroic football. They are probably the best team per Euro (dollar) in Spain. Sevilla hasn't managed to solidify their back line since the coaching changes of late last season (and early this season) but they can score. Look for Kanoute and O Fabuloso, Luis Fabiano, to make this one interesting.
The winner of the Villareal-Sevilla match plays the winner of the Madrid derby.
On the other side of the table, Barcelona plays Betis in a rematch of the Ronaldinho era Supercopa. They'll play the winner of Deportivo - Almeria.
If the favorite wins through in each draw, and they should, the final will be between Barcelona and Real Madrid. It could be one of 4 Clasicos in April and May. Get ready for a wild Spring.
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