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A better lens at Serie A and La Liga
After a contentious two years in control at Real Madrid today club President Ramon Calderon has relinquished control to former vice-president Vicente Boluda. Calderon had come under increasing fire this week after reports linking him with voter fraud during a club General Assembly meeting on December 7th. He survived the vote of no-confidence but an investigation revealed that he had used “bused-in” ultra groups to intimidate current members and had even gone as far as to use non-members to rig the vote in his favor. Now everyone is calling on the club to move forward and call a general election to find his permanent successor, but no one should have been surprised. There were signs even from the beginning.
During the 2006 election there were reports that whole blocks of mail-in votes were ignored and that allowed him to squeek past his opponents and seize control of the club. It seemed even then that his hold on the club was tenuous at best. He hired an experienced coach in Capello who had already had a tempestuous reign a decade earlier in Madrid, gave him an inexperienced Sporting Director in Peja Mijatovic, and walked around with the wide-eyed look of a deer in headlights. Calderon was surprised that Capello, noted for his no-nonsense approach to club management and often dour tactics, brought a similar mentality to the capital and almost immediately wanted him gone calling for excitement to return to the Bernabeu. Capello, rather than taking the bait and leaving back to Italy, circled the wagons and won the League again for los blancos stopping only to flip a bird at club leadership. The fiasco of volatile ex-coach Bernt Schuster’s hiring and firing, well I won’t even get into that. Anyone who expected anything less of the German doesn’t remember him as a player, but isn’t it remarkable that his tenure in office, so tainted by his last few weeks in office, seems pale in comparison with that of his boss in hindsight?
Calderon and his underlings were inept in the transfer market. His usual response to bringing in new players was, “Well, we have tons to spend, let’s have it on then!” and then he’d be surprised why other clubs negotiated higher with Madrid than any other club. The transfers he presided over were either haphazard (securing Rafael Van der Vaart even though Wesley Snejder was already on the club and was too similar a player), poorly thought-out (Javier Saviola on a free was no bargain at all), and often lacked coordination with the needs of the squad (losing Robinho after publicly courting Cristano Ronaldo as his replacement and then not having a plan B after that fell through was almost criminal) and it directly led to Schuster’s firing. The most glaring mistake though was one more recent. Seeking to replace the season ending injuries to Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Mamadou Diarra the club sought a quick fix in Ajax striker Klaus Jan Huntelaar and Lassana Diarra from Portsmouth. No one bothered to notice that both players were cup tied to their former clubs and only one of them would be allowed to play for los blancos in Europe.
The rest is history, and speaking of which, some of our listeners have asked how Calderon’s term should be remembered, whether for the comeback under Capello, league wins in key games against derby rivals, and the two consecutive Primera Liga titles, or for another incident during that tenure, of a trip to New York when was detained for hours by the authorities who mistook him for a criminal. Right now, not many of us are thinking of the former.
Announcements Quote of the Week
Thanks for sticking with us everyone. This is a brand new day for Forza Futbol. Things are a little lighter and definitely a little sadder as we say goodbye to our friend Elisa here on Forza Futbol. We want to thank her for her friendship first and foremost and her dedication to the podcast. She will be missed.
It’s impossible to win at Barca’s stadium. They are devastating. I think it is their year.” It’s nice to talk that way if you’re an admirer of the blaugrana, but what if you’re the coach of your biggest rival? Either he’s, as defender Pepe said, trying to take the onus of the match off his players or he’s intentionally setting his head on the chopping block. I think it was a calculated move to salvage a dwindling reputation.
Highlights
Berndt Schuster is done as Real Madrid coach? Well it’s about time. He’d lost the plot, and as usual had lost his head, but hiring Juande Ramos on a six month contract as his replacement? Well, at least he won’t anger the reporters. Next on the coaching hotseat? Murcia’s Javier Clemente. El Mundo Deportivo readers expect a 5-0 result in the clasico this weekend between Barca and Real Madrid? I know that the cules are out for blood considering last year’s championship humiliation Barcelona were forced to witnes at the Bernabeu, but I’ve always believed that when things seem too one sided, is an upset in store? Milan have signed Brazilian defender Thiago Silva: a great move considering the age of that backline, but Gennaro Gattuso is definitely out for the season with a knee injury. A real blow to the scudetto hopes of AC Milan. Gilardino secures Fiorentina’s UEFA Cup spot. Villarreal, Real Madrid, Juventus and Fiorentina were all in Champions League action this week. Santos Mirasierra the OM ultra sentenced to 3 and a half years in a Madrid jail is out on bail? Did someone bow to a violent ultra threat to appease the French?
All this and more on the only podcast that gives you a sharper lens on the top two leagues of Europe: Serie A and La Liga
What Price Loyalty? In the days where footballers, agents, owners, and clubs are greedy bastards, a gem of a player wants to give thanks and honor his team for all that they have given to him. For the wonderful opportunity of playing football. Athletic’s long time captain, icon and idol, Joseba Exteberría, has agreed to play his last professional year for Athletic Bilbao for free. Can you believe it? 
El Gallo, translated by yours truly, (Elisa) from the official press conference:
My dream has always been to play for 15 years with Athletic. I will play my last professional year free, as a thank you to the club and all that it has give to me. My years with Athletic have been great for me and my family. It’s not a question of football, Athletic has changed my life. My daughter is Bilbaína and I will continue living in Bilbao. I am not trying to set a precedent. We are in a professional world and everyone should be able to defend their rights and contracts. For me this is a personal gesture, nothing more. (When asked about his future) I would like to coach at the club is some capacity, but I have not had discussions yet with the club.
What a class act! In the modern day, who would have believed such a gesture? I’m speechless. Puts my faith back in football.
Much will be said in he coming weeks over this game, there will be match bans and fan arrests, calls for retribution from officials and from either set of supporters, but in the end it will be just one game (RCD Espanyol) played in one city (Barcelona), where in spite of being down one goal for much of the game, the visitors eked out a win against an over-matched home squad by scoring two in the final half, and the decider coming on a penalty awarded in an extended period of injury time that reached well beyond the Saturday night start time and ended past midnight in the early hours of Sunday.
What do we know though about the off-field troubles, though? Well, midweek on the Boixois Nois website, the ill-famed ultras that support Barcelona FC (but are not allowed to enter the Camp Nou) threatened to give the Montjuic Stadium a well-deserved “send-off” as this will be the last derby hosted there. 10 minutes into the second half, the Barca supporters sitting in the upper deck of a half-empty Montjuic started throwing objects onto the Espanyol supporters below. A flare went off in the crowd, no one was seriously injured, and other than a minuscule group of Espanyol muscle who tried to scale the barrier below and cross the pitch, order was secured and the violence was curtailed. For those used to seeing this in Italian soccer this would have been a fairly innocuous bit of crowd trouble, but this was Barcelona and the media have blown things out of proportion.
Espanyol blame Barca for allowing their supporters to travel and make mischief across town. An angry Barca president Joan Laporta blames Espanyol for not securing the stadium, the league for not doing more against the violent ultras as he has done, and both clubs have hammered the stadium security. Attached to this, in the wake of the violence and the loss, Sanchez Libre the Espanyol chairman, has returned to that typical “big-club paranoia” that the league has been bought and paid for at the expense of smaller clubs like Espanyol.
Now, I don’t necessarily disagree with him. I’m an Espanyol supporter for godsakes, but in this case he doesn’t have much to stand on. The red card sending off for Nene was appropriate for an aerial challenge where he led with his hand outstretched. There was contact on the player and not the ball that led up to the decisive penalty and Espanyol’s goal was dicey in and of itself. What he does have a right to complain about is the typically shoddy refereeing of Luis Medina Cantalejo, who has stepped into the brown-stained shoes of Graham Poll as the worst referee in the world. Any referee worth his salt communicates with players, guides play and controls the game quietly and sternly. The authoritarian Cantalejo botches calls, waves flags mercilessly and angrily denounces the sort of dissent he brings on himself. In this match, Cantalejo failed to control the sort of problems that tipify derbies (overly enthusiastic tackles, heated emotions, and rough play)
With the start of the new Champions League campaign, one of the topics that has frequented Spanish commentary and blogs is – Is the Premier League outshining La Liga? Is La Liga are 2nd Tier League? (I don’t want to go there, but the same Spanish rags claim that Serie A is a retirement league and will get worse should Ibra or Kaká leave.)
OK, the yahoos from the Spanish rages, exaggerate, freak out and love high drama. They need to fill up their dailies and create news. But it’s been awhile since a La Liga team has won the Champions League, Spanish clubs are in debt, and people are worried.
Does the Prem brand better than La Liga? Is the Prem moving towards the NBA mega-sensation and is La Liga far behind? C’mon, La Liga still shows their games at 10pm at nite. This is not conducive to Asia and the the other foreign markets. Do the Spanish teams do a good job of promoting themselves overseas other than the Big Two? Look, Everton has been coming to the US every year and West Ham came over to play this past year. Pompey went to China. These teams are spreading the Prem love and they are NOT the Big Four. Is La Liga doing enough to earn fans and sell shirts? We have the best fútbol, shouldn’t that be enough?
Also what about the provincial, club media deals? Is this archaic? Is a league-wide agreement as used in England, more conducive to a strong league?
Deportivo La Coruña’s President has said that the future of Spanish football is foreign investment? Do you agree?
Here’s my two cents, I think Spain can learn a lot from the Premiership, particularly the media deals and distribution of wealth (even though the richer clubs still get more money due to more appearances on TV and attendances). I also adore the parachute package for teams promoted and relegated. Spain needs something like this drastically. I also think the branding can improve of La Liga, but in moderation. The league as a whole should try and assist in this matter. Why don’t they produce and offer Friday preview shows in Spanish? Why aren’t some of the Spanish football opinion shows made available, with dubbing or translation to foreign markets?
The infrastructure and organization in Spain needs vast improvement. Why are the games decided sometimes 3 hours before kickoff? How is that conducive to coach potato fans? The technology, camera angles, and TV picture, needs to get to the 21st century. The visuals are appalling. Have you ever compared a Prem or CL game to a La Liga game. The La Liga game pales in comparison.
We need access to more La Liga games on TV or via broadband. Why not offer the other games at a more moderate price? It’s difficult for Spaniards to watch non local games, let alone foreigners. This has got to improve. Also access to kits, merchandise, magazines, daily rags would be awesome. Do you know how hard it is to find an Athletic Bilbao kit?
But I like the provincial nuances and local flavor of La Liga and I for one, don’t want them to lose this. The play on the pitch is amazing, along with the parity and strength of the mid table teams. The cantera or youth academies keep producing wonderful talent. And there are players that are loyal or don’t want to go abroad – see Cazorla, Villa, Silva, Casillas. I don’t want foreign investment to come in and ruin La Liga or great an artificial market. We don’t need billionaires, just better marketing and business savvy. The Spanish owners already do a fine job sticking their clubs in the red. I also feel that the last remaining socio clubs, need to stay that way – Real Madrid, Barçelona, Athletic Bilbao, etc. It keeps accountability.
But where there is talent on the pitch and in the back office ie managers and technical directors, some will want to go abroad where the money is IE England. But I am not worried about the level of play or the trophies, to me it’s all cyclical. The money is in the Prem, but that is a bubble that will burst and a recalibration or reallignment will take place. The Premiership will not always be at the top. Relax.
And honestly I don’t want a super league. I don’t want to watch just the top leagues or the same teams always winning. That’s boring and not what football is all about. We already have the Champions League, World Cup and other tournaments where the cream of the crop rise to the top. Isn’t that enough?
OK, those are my thoughts, but I want to hear from you. What do you think? Give us your comments and we’ll read them on the podcast. We’d love to hear from you. It’s a fascinating topic, that won’t go away.
During the summer I read a very interesting article in Marca that I wanted to share with our Non Spanish speaking readers. It was a tribute to all the Spanish goal keepers in La Liga as well as in England. It’s a testimony to the cantera or youth academy systems, that Spain continues to develop quality Keepers.
Did you know that there are 5 Spanish teams where ALL 3 Goal Keepers are from Spain?
Athletic de Bilbao (Iraizoz, Armando and Lafuente), Barcelona (Valdés, Pinto and Jorquera), Málaga (Arnau, Goitia and Tudela), Numancia (Juan Pablo, Diego and Jesús Fernández) and Osasuna (Ricardo, Roberto and Andrés Fernández). Very impressive.
We can’t forget all the number one Goal Keepers, that have earned their top spot at their club:
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid and Spain) , Diego López (Villarreal) , Sergio Asenjo (Valladolid), Andres Palop (Sevilla) and Daniel Aranzubía (Deportivo La Coruña).
Did you know that there are several young Goalies (U-21) who play in Spain and have earned the no. 1 spot?
Asenjo (Valladolid and Spain U-21), Miguel Ángel Moyá (Mallorca), Asier Riesgo and Roberto (Recreativo de Huelva). The future looks bright!
Did you know that there are now 3 Spaniards who earn their trade in England?
Pepe Reina (Liverpool); Manolo Almunia (Arsenal) and César Sánchez (Tottenham backup).
Let’s hope that Spain never has the problem that England and other countries have with this position. Spain needs to continue to produce quality Keepers, at all costs.
The first World Cup Qualifiers kick off this week for La Furia Roja. All things considered, these two games should be an easy 6 points for the European champions, right? Both games at home, Murcia and Albacete, respectively. Not exactly the mighty mights. Bosina-H could be tricky, but our boys should do the business. .. –>more–>
Concerning call ups – no real big changes from the call ups to the Friendly vs Denmark. The only changes are Cesc is back and fit, so De La Red is out. Del Bosque also dropped Amorebieta in defense. He’s injured anyway. With the recent injury to El Niño Torres, Bojan Krkic may get his first actual game with La Furia. Great news! The boy is 100% playing for La Roja. Andoni Iraola from Athletic Bilbao, has been called up again at Right Back, along with Diego Capel, the stellar left winger from Sevilla. Both players showed brilliantly vs Denmark and deserve a call up. No Raul, nuff said!
Did I mention that we thoroughly trashed Denmark? OK, it was only a friendly, but nice to see Xabi Alonso with a brace. He looked like a natural striker, IMO. I like the flexibility that Capel and Iraola brought to the game.
Here is my guess at the starting 11. Don’t beat me up if it changes…..
Goal – Casillas (who else?)
Defense- Ramos – Puyol – Albiol – Capdevila (Marchena is still hurt)
Midfield – Iniesta – Xavi – Senna – Silva (Midfield magic)
Strikers – Guiza and Villa (Should be interesting!)
The path to World Cup glory – vamanos!!!!
We were all bored to tears with the drama that was, between Cronaldo, Man United and Real Madrid. Well, little did Madrid know, but they alienated one of their key, creative players in the process, little Robinho. Robinho was offered to Manchester United as part of the CRon deal, to lower the asking price down to 65M Euros. No one from the Madrid camp, of course, bothered to talk to Robinho about the whole situation and Robinho felt unwanted, unsure of his place in the Madrid pantheon, etc. Did Madrid coddle their star? Offer an improved salary and contract? No, nothing, nada.
Along comes Samba, Felipao and Big Bucks Chelsea, with an offer Robinho cannot refuse. They can double his wages as long as Madrid agrees to the transfer. Well Madrid was furious, so Robinho does his best rendition of Cristiano Ronaldo and is doing a fine job of touche while pushing his way out. He’s gone to the press, pleaded his case and frankly is playing like crap when he is forced to participate. Madrid’s President Calderon has come out now stating if Robinho wants to go, he can buyout his contract. Not the 120M buyout clause but the 45M Euros that Madrid has asked Chelsea to meet.
It’s going to happen. Madrid has been out played by their own player. Whodathunk? Just desserts? Did Madrid value and treasure one of it’s most precious assets? Or did they spend their time drooling over the merchandise bonanza and possibilities of Cristiano Ronaldo? Well, now they got beat at their own game.
And Robinho is not the only one. Vincent Company was not happy with the way Hamburg treated him at the Olympics, so now he is at Man City. Who knows what is going to happen to Rafinha at Schalke or Diego at Bremen? I say they will be leaving their respective clubs, shortly. And what about Xabi Alonso, put on the market for Garreth Barry, without his knowledge. I am sure Xabi did not appreciate this, especially since he is a damn good player. Better than Barry IMO. I saw the way Xabi played against Middlesboro. He was poor, lacked confidence, until the end when he helped bring about the last two goals. Rafa has broken his spirit, very similar to Madrid with Robinho.
Let’s hope that at the end of this transfer window/saga that the football clubs have learned a lesson. Running a football club is totally different than running a business. Your prized possessions, your players, are not commodities. They are human beings. Ah what am I thinking! They’ll never learn!
I’m not a big fan of friendly matches, so waiting until after a 2-2 draw for the Azzurri against Austria today to comment on the call-ups is just as good as writing it yesterday. Alberto Gilardino scored to bring Italy back after being down 2-0 and were lucky to score on an own goal by the Austrian keeper, but a draw is a draw is a draw. Lippi has been forced to field a defence without Fabio Cannavaro, Marco Materazzi, Giorgio Chiellini and Alessandro Gamberini so some of these are not permanent fixtures.
Goalkeepers: Juve’s Gigi Buffon, backed up by Marco Amelia from Palermo. Gigi is starting to show cracks in his indestructible facade, but he is still Italy’s undesputed #1, #2 and probably #3.
Defenders: Bonera, Grosso, Chiellini, Cassetti, Barzagli, Zambrotta, Dossena. The Italian defence is still graying, the two holdovers from the World Cup squad are well over 30 and Barzagli, a backup on that squad is at his prime right now and yet decided to ply his trade in Germany, away from the microscope in Serie A. Is this a watershed year for Italian defenders? Most people say that the young Italian keepers are on the wane, but what of pride of the Italian game; the fullbacks and centerbacks?
Midfielders: DeRossi, Gattuso, Palombo, Camoranesi, Perrotta, Pirlo, and Aquilani. Have we gotten stuck in a timewarp? I realize this is roughly the same squad that Lippi brought up two years ago, but I’m sory but that’s a problem. I understand DeRossi, Aquilani to a certain extent despite his injury problems, but Perrotta, Camoranesi and Gattuso? All three are on the other side of their International careers. Pirlo is still a force, especially on the set-piece, but I’d like to have seen some new faces in the mix.
Forwards: Del Piero, Gilardino, Di Natale, Iaquinta. Gilardino is back in the squad and proved Lippi right with a goal today despite being out of favor with the previous regime. Iaquinta is again second choice up front, Luca Toni is hurt and a wonder about the omission of Il Bambino
Overall a conservative bunch of choices, but Lippi had better start venting some of those Azzurrini, because they are the one’s who will be the backbone of the next World Cup.
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