RCD: 2-0 v Valencia

Alright I can say it now. Whew! the jinx is over. No not really, because Little Buddha De La Pena is out again from a leg injury and won’t be fit against Madrid, but there are encouraging signs that capitan Tamudo might be able to return from his broken arm in time, and there is the very impressive win over a Valencia squad that is still dealing with the after-effects of the Koeman Reolution. Luis Garcia scored both goals, the first off a pretty bad goalkeeping error by Timo Hildebrand, and the second off a deserved penalty, and for the first time in weeks we fairly dominated.

The other important news of the week is that constant speculation over keeper Carlos Kameni’s future at the club are weighing on Ernesto Valverde. Sure Jarque, Riera and Torrejon have all been linked recently to moves away from the club, but Kameni has been putting out feelers through his agent since going off to play in the Africa Nation’s Cup. It looks like his move to Tottenham has almost been finalized, but Dinamo Tiblisi keeper Didier Ovono has been lined up as a replacement. I wish agents and players would start drumming up interest after the season is over. This constant harping to AS or Marca is just ridiculous.

Beyond that, I’d say it’s a slow newsweek as the attention is riding high on the European Championships. More next week.

O Fenomeno

It’s a shame really. You know him as the fat-nomeno, a caricature of a carioca forward, butt of a thousand Real Madrid jokes, last remnant of a Galactico winter, but those like me who remember 1994, when Brazil won the World Cup against favored Italy, the name Ronaldo still carries weight.

For me, he was the paciest player I have ever seen. At PSV he was, a gangly center forward, just off the shuttle from Brazil, spending two fruitful years in Eindhoven bagging 42 goals in 46 appearances and drawing notice from Barcelona, leaving for the waiting arms of Sir Bobby Robson and big time European football.

We often forget how dominant a forward he really was at his heights. He pulled Brazil almost singlehandedly into the 2002 World Cup, won the Golden Shoe scoring eight goals, and lifting the trophy for the selecao. He was called up for the last 4 World Cups, playing in three, becoming the greatest goal scorer in the history of the World Cup. He trails only Pele and Zico as the greatest international goal scorers in the history of the Brazilian national team. In 11 years playing on the biggest stage, for three of the biggest clubs in the world (Inter Milan, Barcelona and Real Madrid), Ronaldo scored 166 goals.

Despite all the accomplishments, we often note that he never won the Champions League and that his clubs often struggled to win league titles with him. We remember him for the weird soul-patch haircut on his forehead, the weirder chia-pet one for Milan, the epileptic seizures that took him before the 1998 World Cup final against France, and the devastating knee injuries that robbed him of most of his pace, but none of skill and panache on the ball. Instead of remembering him for his perseverance, returning to play for Inter after many had written him off, we call him a mercenary for repaying Moratti’s loyalty by taking Real Madrid’s money and leaving for Spain. We call him an destabilizing force, a poor teammate, undedicated, and the worst of the Galactico policy.

We even remember him more for his personal life, filled with a litany of Brazilian supermodels, television presenters, singers and actresses. We see the fast cars, the easy money, and the high life. We see him slow down, gain weight and we call him lazy. Even the President of Brazil calls him fat and lazy.

We all age and change, but a phenomenon has no business being human, he is constantly compared to the player he was, even if he has a lot left to give. It would be so much easier if he went away, if we could just remember the good times, then he could be a legend one that burned brightly and flamed out, rather than the one who lagged about and overstayed his welcome.

Now he has injured himself again. A twin injury to his first, one in rossoneri compared to one in nerazzurri. We blame Milan labs, or the PSV doctors, or the Brazilians themselves, and again we ignore the player. We continue to ignore the man for the myth. We break down our idols after building them up. Will we be able to appreciate his skill only after he has retired?

I think he still has a great deal to play for and to play towards. Is it in Brazil or in the U.S.? Who knows. Remember, he is younger than Hernan Crespo, David Beckham, Alessandro Del Piero, Clarence Seedorf and Fernando Morientes. He is only slightly older than Thierry Henry and Raul Gonzalez, and he is the same age within days of Francesco Totti. I think he has earned a right to choose for himself.

He is not just a commodity, a manufactured image, a poster on a wall. Nike’s football savior, until they find another one, a younger, slimmer model with rock star good looks, and pretty step-overs, but none of the definition and serene finishing. Despite sharing the same name, and a common language, this new Ronaldo (Cristiano) will never fill the shoes of Ronaldo Luis Nazario da Lima. Ronaldinho before Ronaldinho.  O Fenomeno.

RCD: 2-4 v Sevilla

Every time I watch Espanyol play Sevilla, in whatever format since it’s rare that we get to see other than the usual big 4 games here in the States, I’m reminded of that magical night in Scotland where Espanyol almost, and should have won, the UEFA Cup final. Sevilla did well that night don’t get me wrong, but Espanyol looked hungrier more direct and even when down to 10 men with the loss of Moises Hurtado, they battled and sent the game to penalties.

This game, was nothing like that one. Sevilla were playing without key players like Chevanton who was hurt, and Dani Alves and Keita who were suspended, but for the fourth game in five Espanyol failed to step up to the challenge, especially when their nearest rivals Villareal and Atletico Madrid both lost. With this run of form they’re only 5 points and 4 clubs away from 9th, with both Sevilla and “lowly” Almeria just 3 points shy. I know they have injuries, all clubs do at this point of the season, and I grant you that not many would have withstood the shock to the system that is losing Raul Tamudo, but give me a break already. The problem isn’t about scoring goals. It’s the back line.

Espanyol came out flat again, lost their concentration, let in a couple of easy goals one by Kanoute and the other by his strike partner and hopeful pichichi winner Luis Fabiano, with Clemente being especially useless, but Riera and Garcia both showed some much needed determination, the latter getting us within a goal before halftime. We came out sharp, but a second bout with stupidity saw Zabaleta sent off for bringing Capel down, a professional foul but he was already carrying a yellow which makes it a semi-pro foul.

That’s when Sevilla went for the kill. Capel and yellow-card magnet Poulsen both scored to put the game away even if a pretty goal on a half-volley by Coro really impressed even. It was too little too late.

What this sets up is a pressurized last few months, filled with some key matches. Next week, it’s at the Riazor against Depor which looks winnable and it’s away finally so that we can get out of Barcelona for a change, but then it’s Valencia followed by Real Madrid, and a succession of tough midtable sides like Racing and Mallorca sandwiched around relegation contenders Murcia.

It’s going to be tough, but some bright lights are appearing. The contract talks for Valverde and keeper Carlos Kameni are being fastracked and even better news, Raul Tamudo who had his sights on returning for the Real Madrid game in March, is now cautiously optimistic that he’ll be there for the match at home against Valencia.

Cue the Leonard Cohen: “Hallelujah”

RCD: 1-2 v Recreativo Huelva

The talk of the week was that the win going to spark us out of the doldrums. Espanyol’s recent form has been piss-poor, losing away to Valladolid and Almeria, losing at home to Real Betis, and drawing at the Montjuic to Bilbao in the Copa Del Rey. They brought in Ewerthon from Vfc Stuttgart who was languishing on the bench in Germany (they said he lacked fittness), but he played so well last year at Real Zaragoza that I was optimistic that we could get through the loss of Raul Tamudo without too much of a blip. They didn’t really need Ewerthon all that much against Getafe, because Jonathan Soriano, straight from the cantera after loan spells at Poli Ejido and Almeria, scored the winning goal.

This week, Carlos Kameni was still in Ghana playing in the Africa Cup of Nations final against Egypt which saw the Indomitable Lions lose despite some remarkable saves by our much missed goalkeeper. He refuted reports that he wanted out at the end of the year, and was concentrating his efforts for club and country. Espanyol’s recent form is usually given to the injury crisis, but true fans know how important the Cameroonian is to the blanc-i-blau.

The opponents: Recreativo Huelva were coming into the match every bit the relegation victims. They had fired their coach Victor Munoz after losing to Sevilla, had lost 3 of 4 matches and were without some key starters for an away trip at the Montjuic.

Expectations: Well, I expected a better performance at least. Huelva got the expected new-coach-bump from Huelva native Manolo Zambrano and a two goal outpouring from ex-Liverpool cast-off Florent Sinama-Pongolle, helped on again by another dubious performance in goal by Real Madrid reject Kiko Casilla. Still, we should have played better. Again they came out flat against an inferior opponent, and at home I might add, Jonathan Soriano and Moises were lost after 20 minutes with head injuries after some rash challenges, and again Valverde was left to praise the opponent and also the League for being so competitive.

Ewerthon did score a late goal and the club did try their best for a late equalizer, but it wasn’t to be. Another loss like this leaves me wondering which club will show up on any given week. Hopefully this really does mark a turning point for Espanyol in the league.

RCD Espanyol

My name is Armando, and I’m a blogger and podcaster at Forzafutbol.com. I’ve been covering the Spanish League pretty intensely over the last year for our growing podcast and in that time I have become a pretty intense fanatic of RCD Espanyol.

Yes, in that time I have gone to visit family that live in Barcelona and while I took the tour of the Camp Nou as all good tourists should, I actually caught a match at the Estadi Olimpic de Montjuic, saw the Periquitos play Deportivo La Coruna, and made lots of friends, rode the supporters buses up the hill from Plaça d’Espanya, made some more friends at the game, learned some songs, and walked right back down the hill through the beautiful park along the hillside back to the train station later on, that it all felt right to throw myself headlong into supporting them as my club.

So, while I haven’t been a staunch supporter for half my life, not even half the year actually, I think it’s never too late to pick a club in Spain, one of my favorite leagues, and wear the colors, laugh at your rivals and cheer on your team.

So, from here on in, I’ll try my best to connect with my fellow blanc-i-blau fanatics, bring the latest news and gossip to this blog, and try my best to bring awareness of one of the Spanish League’s oldest clubs to English soccer fans.

Batten Down the Hatches

This won’t be a long post for the week, we’ve closed up shop at Forza Futbol and we’re moving to Champions Soccer Radio Network. The leagues have grown dark for midweek games, Italy dominated Portugal in a friendly and Spain did enough to win against France as well, Fabio Capello has swept away the last vestiges of the entitlement culture in the England squad and 9,000 miles away little old me was watching the Argentinian B-team pummel an over matched Guatemalan side that was clearly missing captain and L.A. Galaxy forward Carlos Ruiz.

I know, a completely diferent class of player. What I did get to see was some of the most exciting Argentinian players playing in what is essentially their U-23 youth side.

The most recognizable name on the pitch was of course ex-Villareal general Juan Roman Riquelme who was his usual, efficient self, setting up Napoli dynamo Ezequiel Lavezzi for their second goal, which was obviously a complete howler by the Guatemalan keeper who barely touched the ball at all despite it being a fairly weak shot point blank.  Playing just in front of Lavezzi, was Real Madrid winger Gonzalo Higuain, who looked tentative early on, but scored the first goal in tight quarters in front of goal.

Argentina soon got in a rhythm, a dominant display not only by Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano, but by Valencia youngster Ever Banega who was by far the class player on the pitch. He was incisive in his passes, passed well especially over 30 yards, and directed traffic at the back in a role similar to Pirlo’s role for AC Milan. Of course, Mascherano can make anyone look good because of his skills in front of the back line, but the next generation of Argentinian players is in good hands with Higuain, Banega, Lavezzi and Mascherano.

While the final score said 5-0 to the Argentinians, it was exciting nontheless, less a contest than a training session of course, but a very interesting window into the future of the Argentinean squad. Weird that not everyone got the same out of it as me.

I was sitting in the Guatemala section at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum at the opposite end to the famous peristyle and the Olympic torch, and at times there was a tangible sense of danger, with dozens of fights going on all around me. The crowd was lively and sarcastic at first, but became the more frustrated as the Chapines made the match more and more difficult for themselves. Inexplicably, the fans around me insisted that their players had been “bought” and were tanking the game on purpose against a bunch of “nameless Argies” and a “useless Riquelme”.  Just shows you how delusional you can get with a bit of liquid courage in your system.

Valencia Synchronized

Have you ever had a situation where the unrelated events of a day or a week start building and interconnecting? Synchronicity. Like, there are no accidents? Well that’s the kind of futbol week I’ve had.

Last Tuesday I was catching up on some Times Online podcasts. Co-host Guillem Balague’s was talking about the Valencia situation. To paraphrase him, Koeman had made a drastic mistake in getting rid of Canizares, Angulo and Albelda and the situation was becoming untenable. He pretty much told us the same when he was on with us last month. On Wednesday I was trolling through the blogs I normally read and found an article written by Guillem here. Scroll down to the bottom and you’ll find him answering one of the emailers. According to him, it was Soler himself who called for the purge and that may be, along with some dire financial instability, why Koeman hasn’t been rewarded with a firing. The chants that had gone up, “Vete (Leave) Quique!” have now turned on the Dutchman. Another interesting sidenote is that Balague believes that Koeman’s second mistake at Valencia was that he disrespected this opportunity, treating it as a stepping stone to a bigger and better position; most notably a return to Barcelona and succeed Frank Rijkaard in Catalunya. Alright, now you’re really going to think I’m stalking Balague, but on Thursday I finally got my copy of Balague’s, A Season on the Brink: a portrait of Rafael Benitez’s Liverpool from amazon.co.uk. I flipped through and added it to my huge list of books to be read, but the subject was just too strong to put down. I started reading it and I was just sucked in. Little did I know what kind of shadow Valencia would have over the whole book.

The book is ostensibly about the Rafa-lution at Liverpool FC and his first year on Merseyside, that saw them win the European Cup after only 10 months in charge. You get a very real picture of the man, a brilliant tactician and quiet leader of men. A true Madrileño: stoic and introspective, often to a fault. He reminds me of my dad in fact who comes from the same stock.

What you also get is that his years up to Valencia, the failures at Valladolid and Osasuna, not to mention the struggles with Extramadura and Tenerife, made him as a manager but his 4 years at the Mestalla marked him forever and it’s done a whole lot of damage to both himself and Los Che.

The popular opinion is that the Soler family is treating Valencia CF as a very expensive plaything, hiring the wrong people and managing it poorly, and that may be so, but as this book clearly shows the problems started even before the Soler’s won the election in 2004. During the 2004 season Benitez had some very public run-ins with his Sporting Director: Jesus Garcia Pitarch. It’s those heated exchanges that Rafa’s famous quote “I asked for a sofa and they brought me a lampshade” comes from. Sure, many of the problems were, like the quote says, over player acquisition or ironically about rotation of players, but he never felt truly appreciated for the monumental task he and his group of coaches had accomplished at the Mestalla: winning the league in 2001-2002 a mere 31 years after their last one, winning it again 2 years later and becoming UEFA Cup champions in 2001.

The often public exchanges between club President Jaime Orti and his manager couldn’t help but form divisions with the players. He left tearfully for Liverpool and the fractures between players (those that supported Rafa and those that supported the Orti and Pitarch were already there. Soler took over just as the train wreck of the previous administration was being whisked away. Soler did try to keep Benitez, offering to hike his pay, but he had already made up his mind.

Benitez’s Liverpool would be built with his Valencia model in mind. He soon found out though, that each club has its own internal life and what worked at Valencia wouldn’t necessarily work at Liverpool. Winning the Champions League was almost a distraction from succeeding in the league. What was also inescapable were the behind the scenes problems that harkened back to his time at the Mestalla: his relationships with star players, his prickly tendency to annoy his paymasters and the often public debate over his selection, tactics and transfer policy.

At Valencia in his absence, Claudio Ranieri took over, bringing a series of Italian signings like Marco DiVaio, Bernardo Corradi and Stefano Fiore. The fractures became huge chasms as the Italians were never really accepted by the club or supporters. The Ranieri era ended n a whimper, and ex-Getafe coach Quique Sanchez-Flores was hired with the intent to return the club to the structure under Benitez. Ironically, Quique and Soler’s Sporting Director Amedeo Carboni’s working relationship would also mirror his predecessor. Firing Sanchez-Flores at the beginning of this year and bringing in the much traveled Ronald Koeman has done nothing to stop the madness at Los Che leading them to consider the very real possibility of relegation. Players have been benched, new signings have been brought in, and the club has continued to lose.

We think that the problems at a club can be solved by removing a Coach, a Manager, a Sporting Director or a Club President, that the answers are short term, and the fortunes of a club can be turned by patching over the faults and turning over a new leaf. In Valencia’s case, and to certain extent Liverpool’s, much more needs to be done. I don’t have the answers, Los Che may be relegated if their current form continues, Koeman has two more games to right the ship or he’s gone as has been reported, and Liverpool owners have given Rafa the dreaded vote of confidence for his outbursts earlier in the year. We’ll see what the future holds.

I recommend this book highly, it is of course a minute by minute detail of an improbable Champions League run by the Reds, but it’s far more. Balague offers a portrait of a manager in crisis and a a Rosetta Stone to read the present situation at both clubs by.

fooball, soccer, liverpool, liverppol rafa benitez

Valencia, my eye.

Others have noted that it has been a rough week for former Dutch international Ronald Koeman, Barcelona dream-teamer under Johan Cruyff, and ex-manager of Benfica, PSV Endhoven and current top man at Valencia . I say he hasn’t had a rough enough week.

Since resigning from PSV on October 31, 2007, and accepting the Valencia job after the sudden firing of Quique Sanchez-Flores, he has done practically everything wrong. He arrives 5 days late after being hired, misses the weekend win against Mallorca, fails to get the club organized for a midweek Champions League match against comparative minnows Rosenberg, loses 2-0 at home in the Mestalla, and leaves Trond Henriksen, the Norwegian side’s coach unimpressed, calling the Spanish side’s performance “cowardly”. He then sits on-form winger and Spain international Joaquin for his lack of effort in training after only a few days in charge, benches three of his top players Santiago Canizares, David Albelda and Miguel Angel Angulo for and now even minority ownership at the club are calling his tenure at the club a joke.

The club have backtracked from their humiliating treatment of the three, they have released a statement that the 3 have only been dropped not ostracized, but everything out of the club is stating that this is only the beginning of the Koeman Revolution. Baraja, Vicente and even David Villa are on the outs, and young starlets like Boca Juniors midfielder Ever Banega and Ajax striker Klaus-Jan Huntelaar are rumoured coming into the squad for the January transfer window.

Is he crazy? This is a club that was top four as little as two months ago. Was there a lack of quality on the side? Sure, some like Angulo and Vicente were often injured and Canizares is riding on fumes, but this is a Champions League level team with proven strikers like Villa to play off of Morientes who still has a few years left, Timo Hildebrand was being groomed as Santi’s replacement and it had a proven spine built by a Champions League winning coach in Rafa Benitez. You can’t change a club’s heart in 3 weeks and then expect the rest to play for you. You can’t expect players who have thrived playing one way, and fit them into an outdated mix of Rinus Michel’s, Johann Cruyff’s, and Louis Van Gaal’s least creative tendencies.

Ronald Koeman was a fantastic player, a defender in the libero mold, who ran the famous Barcelona dream-team of Cruyff to the 1992 European Cup final. Since his retirement, he has commanded Dutch side Vitesse Arnheim to a UEFA Cup berth in 2001, took Ajax to the Champions League quarter finals before losing to AC Milan, but spent the next 3 years grinding out wins and ruining the legendary Dutch side’s fortunes, where he was ultimately fired after a 2004 loss to Auxerre in the UEFA Cup. He was hired to replace Giovanni Trappatoni at Benfica in 2005 but couldn’t get the Portuguese champs to more than a third place finish in the league, lost out in the League Cup to a soon-to-be relegated side, and won their only trophy in the Superliga which pits the League and Cup winners from the previous years. To add insult to injury, he left Benfica for while the Portuguese squad were still in contention for the Champions League that without him lost only to eventual champs Barcelona in the quarter finals. He then leads PSV to a dominant first half, but allows both Ajax and AZ Alkmaar to cut the lead until by the penultimate match all 3 teams were tied at 72 points. In the final game, Alkmaar loses, Ajax beats Willem II, but PSV wins on goal differential against (hold it), Ronald Koeman’s old squad Vitesse Arnheim.

Tintin was the wrong choice to turn the fortunes of a struggling champ like Valencia around. The numbers don’t lie. He lucked into a young squad at Ajax led by Zlatan Ibrahimovich, Van der Vaart and Christian Chivu, destroyed a Benfica that had been brought back to prominence by Il Trap, and finally replaced Gus Hiddink at PSV only to turn them into a dour, ill-conceived squad that eat Arsenal by an aggregate score of 2-1 over two legs, but then were held goalless and thoroughly dominated by eventual finalists Liverpool.

What will his time at Valencia be remembered for? If his past is any indication, he is living a charmed life, because few have done so little after being given so much.

RCD Espanyol

The little club that couldn’t, win the UEFA Cup Final last year against a dominant Sevilla squad that is, has been playing some of the best football in the Spanish league over the last month and have brought the spotlight on their often ignored Catalan club. After starting the season with losses to Valladolid and Huelva sandwiched around a close win against Getafe and a draw to Real Betis away, the Periquitos have strung together some rather impressive wins, beating some of the biggest clubs in La Liga: Sevilla, Valencia, Real Madrid and coming from behind just last week, settling for a draw in the local Barcelona derby.

Granted, beating Sevilla at the Sanchez Pizjuan is not as shocking as it may sound, the Andalusians have not looked the same side after the death of Antonio Puerta, and I think more importantly the unsettling nature of the Juande Ramos and Dani Alves sagas. Valencia have had to deal with their own fractured changing room, and the whirlwind that is the Real Madrid squad have also had to deal with a similar instability, and both have played well below expectations despite their elevated positions on the table.

Now, I’m not saying that Espanyol deserves to be ranked ahead of their powerful neighbors, even my dense faculties can see that being fifth in the table means there are 4 other teams more deserving of honors than they, but I’d like to take a moment to turn the spotlight on the Parakeets from the Stadio Olimpic de Montjuic, the other team from Barcelona.

They are one of the founding members of the Spanish League, the first club not to be started by homesick ex-pats but by the fanatical natives, they have a nifty regal title that seems ill conceived amongst the independent minded Catalunyans, and a squad made up of cast-offs, rejects, youngsters, keepers and a diamond in their crown.

It’s so easy to root for a big club. You see them all the time on television. They’re the first ones linked to the greatest players in the world. They have special deals with the big newspapers that allow for extra coverage, they have huge multinational followings, and they are always linked the best managers, coaches, chairmen, and trainers. There is an expectation almost, that the brand itself requires a native to attach him or herself to the big club in town, or a foreigner to select amongst a dwindling group of elite clubs.

Rather than that, I decided that I was going to support a smaller club, one that wasn’t burdened with that immense level of expectation, but not one so small as to have no ambition at all. They had to play well and they needed to be tough minded. Add to the fact they’re from one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever been to, a place that I have family in and I’d say I picked the right team for me. I’m not slighting anyone else’s choice, Real Madrid or Barcelona have majestic histories and impressively detailed CV’s that many people admire, the sort that develop rabid followings.

Me, I’ll be off in the corner “celebrating” a 3-3 collapse against Real Zaragoza. I knew the job was dangerous when I took it.

La Liga 2007-2008

Here are the predictions for the 2007-2008 season.

Elisa’s

Top 6

1. Barcelona
2. Sevilla
3. Valencia
4. Real Madrid
5. Atletico de Madrid
6. Real Betis

Relegation

1. Levante
2. Almeria
3. Real Valladolid

Top Signing/Transfer of the Year:

• Thierry Henry-Barcelona

Top Flop – Signing/Transfer of the year:

• Pepe-Real Madrid

Coppa Del Rey winners:

• Valencia

Best peformance in UEFA Cup -

• Atletico Madrid

Best performance in Champions League -

• Barcelona

Hannah’s

Top 6

1. Barcelona
2. Sevilla
3. Real Madrid
4. Atletico Madrid
5. Villareal
6. Valencia

Relegation:

1. Athletic Bilbao
2. Real Valladolid

Best peformance in UEFA Cup

• Atletico Madrid

Best performance in Champions League

• Barcelona

The Best (of course by me): wink wink

Mando’s

Top 6

1. Barcelona
2. Real Madrid
3. Sevilla
4. Valencia
5. Atletico Madrid
6. Real Zaragoza

Relegation:

• Almeria
• Real Valladolid
• Levante

Top Signing/Transfer of the Year:

• Juan Roman Riquelme

Top Flop:

• Arjen Robben

Copa Del Rey Winners:

• Valencia

Best Performance in UEFA Cup

• Real Zaragoza

Best Performance in the Champions League:

• Sevilla