Adversity Revisited

Eric Abidal: More trials.

This is the point of the season that tests teams.

Barcelona are currently involved in three competitions, the Copa del Rey (who's final--to be played against Bilbao--is all that remains), the Champions League of Europe, and finally, the quest to win la Liga.

That the schedule of "top" teams becomes multiplied to double that of lower ranked teams, means that the most competitive had better have a bench of back-up players that are ready to step in when things inevitably go pear-shaped.

Case in point, right now Eric Abidal has been marked out from play until lord knows when, seeing as he is due to have a liver transplant. Apparently, the issues that took him out for several months last year have resurfaced more gravely and now King Eric needs to undergo a full removal of the cancerous organ.

And who is there to pick up the slack? Fontas, or Adriano or Dani Alves--all three of whom were out through injury and suspension from this weekend's game in Mallorca. Pep was forced to field only three defenders on Saturday, but this is actually an exciting thing.

The 3-4-3 formation that Pep has resurrected this year from the old-school total football playbook has been something of a revelation. The keys to its success lies in the fact that Barça, even when they field the conventional 4-3-3, are basically playing a 3-4-3 since Alves or Adriano usually spend as much time darting upfield on the wing as they do "defending." The only difference is mostly one of declared intent.

In Saturday's game the team was laid out more in a 3-3-4 with so many central attacking midfielders on the pitch making themselves available in the final third. The old joke about Barcelona being a goalie + 10 midfielders is largely true.

And hopefully there will be another one returning to the field in a short while.

Afellay and Pep

Ibi Afellay has been out almost the entirety of the season, but may make it back on the field (unlike David Villa) before its end. Messi has picked up the slack for a somewhat under-performing Alexis Sanchez and a non-scoring Pedro, though there has also been an increased scoring presence from Xavi--plus a banner year for Cesc--you get the feeling that the attack could especially use the Dutch-born Moroccan's skill at sending crosses in from the wing.

Since he has been gone, there have been other resources to explore, namely the B team and Isaac Cuenca and Cristian Tello.

The Boys from Company B

The two have been plucked from the B team by Pep, who has given over 20 members of the B team their debut in the A team since his arrival at the helm. Both players are explosive attacking in the box (with Cuenca possessing a particularly accurate cross and knack for blowing by defenders with his gnarly trick-footwork), and they have certainly raised the profile for B side upstarts already boosted by the advance of Thiago early this season.

So while it seems that as long as Barça have la Masia educating young players in football and molecular gastronomy (or whatever else they get into...), they will not run out of talent to pull from at a bargain price, but they still angle for bigger signings to keep them in all three races they run through the course of a year.

The rumored trades for the summer look to be Gareth Bale from Spurs, and David Luiz--the Brazilian back for Chelsea that looks and plays like Animal from the muppets.

David Luiz

Personally, I think either one would be a great acquisition, Luiz in particular, as he has the kind of die-hard engagement in the game that suits the team, but the issue is also tempered by the need of the team to balance their books. Either way, the cold-war-arms-race-style spending it would take to procure Neymar would be a dumb-ass waste of money that would do more to characterize the team as another Galactico, rather than the largely home-grown club that it really is.

Barça are currently 6 points behind Madrid in la Liga, after Madrid drew two out of their last three games during the week. At this rate, the possibility of winning the league perseveres. It would only take Madrid losing one more game out of the remaining nine, as well as getting beaten by the Blaugrana at the Camp Nou.

On Wednesday, Barça will travel to Italy to face AC Milan again in the Champions league, this time not just in an irrelevant meeting at the group level, but in the Quarter Finals. The return of Ibra... the cracken stirs up from its grumbling deep.

What Goes Around...

That was a very very weird game.

In London, Barça and Arsenal have played their first of two in the Champions League quarter finals, and although Barcelona outplayed Arsenal in virtually every way, the north London squad still pulled out a draw under shady circumstances.

The game opened up with Barcelona lashing Arsenal's defense and taking shot after shot after shot in the first fifteen minutes of play. But as dazzling as their attacks may have been, the back of the net went unmoved. Ibra could not connect. It was a completely frustrating opening filled with the loud "Oh"'s and yells that accompany effort that nearly makes it, but somehow manages to fall short.

Fabregas, playing against his boyhood team, his country and culture--went into the game with one yellow card. Around the twentieth minute he picked up another against Busquets and cancelled himself from playing in the next. Arsene Wenger sent Arshavin off the field after he picked up a yellow, looking to avoid a similar misfortune for next week's game at the Blaugrana.

By the half it was level at nil, with the British commentators left to marvel at how outplayed Arsenal was. Something like 15 shots to Arsenal's one. 70% of possession. The game could have been 4-0 by the half.

It was with that frustrated momentum that Barça took the field for the second half, and on the first play, Pique passes to Ibra who breaks free and taps the ball to send it arcing just over the keeper to bounce and land softly inside the wall of the net. 1-0. A minute later he's there again with only the keeper to beat. He does. 2-nil.

Within a few minutes, the crowd seems to be turning on their team. The London fans are pissed at the adolescent performance of their side. The sounds get surlier. Just when I start to pity Arsenal, they come up with a slick goal. We've got a game.



The problem is that the officials want more than a game; They want a vengeful miracle for Arsenal. This comes when Fabregas breaks out in front of the goal to take a shot in the games closing minutes. Puyol comes forward to him and tries to get some coverage on him from behind, sending the shot wide. But Puyol's block is ruled not only a foul, but a Red card. Barça's captain is sent off the pitch and will miss the next match as well.

The call was pure venom. It was like a hobbling of the team out of spite. "Oh, our captain will miss the next game in Barcelona? Guess what, tio, now we'll take yours out of the mix for that one too." On top of that, the penalty shot comes and Fabregas sends it past Valdes for the tie.

Fabregas immediately starts limping away from the goal. He is feeling a sharp pain. That's shame. A bullshit call has allowed him to equalize against the team of his country and family. The consolation is that he won't have to play in Barcelona and have his relatives booing him next week. In fact, his fitness is completely scalded. They weren't sure if he'd be up for the match after having some leg injury, and now after the game the ruling has come down that he will not play for the next six weeks. Wegner took chances with his line-up and put in players that were of questionable health. Their team next week will be softer than this one.

Though Barça's side next week will be short Puyol and Pique (who also got a damning yellow card in the second half), the team will surely have a vicious payback on their mind. They should have scored more. They got almost nothing out of Leo. Ibra didn't deliver on ten or more opportunities. Henry? Oh, he's the guy who walked around on the pitch for the last five minutes and got the applause that Kareem Abdul Jabar gets for showing up to watch the Lakers.

The teams played out the last minutes of the game resigned to the draw, as if the outcome had been determined long before the formality of the match. Maybe Barça were just putting us on. This is an aggravation on the road to their inevitable hoisting of the Cup at the end of May.

Maybe.

Ground Thunder

The League

The Champions League Cup is the most prestigious title in Europe. The title has existed in slightly different incarnations since the fifties. More recently, as the league has been administered by UEFA, it has been marketed as a newer title.

In this era of Champions play going back six years, no team has repeated a championship. In fact, no team that won the previous title has advanced beyond quarter finals. Barça, as last year's miracle team are in the position of defending that elusive title.

This year's team is a different one from last year's lightning attack squad. No more Eto'o.

Samuel Eto'o was the leading scorer for the team and league last year. The striker from Cameroon formed an arrowhead tip with Messi and Henry. Particularly with Henry. Scoring and celebrating with salutes to the crowd and eachother.



But the chemistry of that team wouldn't last. Pep Guardiola reshuffled the front line of the team by trading Eto'o to Inter Milan for Ibrahimovic and 60milion euros. It seemed like mucking up a good thing. An exciting and whip-smart team that won three titles in a season, split up for what?!

Apparently, Guardiola had the future of the club and the ongoing team philosophy in mind. Though he is coach now, he'd played for the team from youth league to professional for years. Pep was the same kind of play-making mid-fielder as Iniesta or Xavi today. Iniesta and Xavi get more gushing adulation from commentators and coaches than any other two players in the game. The FoxSoccer channel's American commentator could only come up with that Iniesta looks like Landon Donovan.



Eto'o was a controversial figure. He'd score and incite the audiences. Talked shit in public when provoked. He also was a public figure in criticizing racism in European football.



It may have been a distraction to Guardiola's understanding of the Barcelona game. To re-work the chemistry of their play he brings in a tall northerner, like Johan Cruyff was in the Seventies. Cruyff, from Holland, became Barça and pretty much Catalan. One of the greatest players ever, he then coached there and is still intimately involved with the club affairs.

Management opted to keep the team changing, but these days it looks like the choices have kept them winning with all of the burden on Messi's shoulders. He scored all three of the team's goals in the second half on Sunday against Valencia. They were still replaying the second goal when he scored the third.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izO9Mf7wZes

Wednesday night in Barcelona against Stuttgart to reach the top eight teams of European play.

The game starts out aggressively for Barça. They're putting Stuttgart on the defensive right away with 90,000 fans in attendance backing them. Henry makes a few attempts that don't connect. Around the twelfth minute Messi explodes up the field and blasts a goal while four defenders converge on him at the top of the box. Boom!

Then Messi delivers to Yaya who sneaks back to Pedro for a goal. Pretty teamwork. More prettiness when Dani Alves flicks the ball back to Messi for his second goal. Other than that, Alves is not looking his best. His crosses aren't connecting as lean with Henry. Henry is good natured on the pitch, but the ten years he has on Messi are showing.

In the second half they bring on Ibra with twenty-five to go. They keep playing hard and looking for more goals, but there are a lot of flubbed opportunities. The score should be higher. Stuttgart takes only one shot in the half to Barça's twelve.

Three minutes of regulation to go, and Henry is sent off as Bojan comes on. First play, Barça breaks through the wall of Stuttgart again and head downfield to the goal. 30 yards out, Ibra sends it forward to Bojan, who touches it once to send it into the net.

Flash to Messi looking slightly perturbed at the success of his team-mate, then joining in the celebration. He's trying for his second consecutive hat-trick. Messi does get about two more chances which closely get sent wide and denied. A minute and a half after regulation, the ref blows the whistle and calls the game. 4-nil'.

Barça advance with their reputation re-affirmed, though everyone knows they could have performed better. But to look shabby and still score four!?! That should make teams nervous.

Meanwhile, in Italy, Samuel Eto'o has scored and knocked out Chelsea from play. The signing seems to be going well for Inter since he's arrived. The tension of a possible game is bubbling. That or possibly Arsenal, which was Henry's home for the greatest days of his football.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfVWFn5ygpE&feature=related

Henry was their captain and is their all-time leading scorer. Now they are captained by Cesc Fabregas, who came up through the Barcelona youth team and is among the best play-making mid-fielders in Europe. That would be a game to get excited over.

The teams all decided, the next draw for play will come on Friday by the time I wake up in Los Angeles. This town, my home, is cool and lovely in the morning. A small earthquake the other night at four in the morning. I was up for it and dashed into the doorway. I don't feel them so much as hear them. It sounds like a garbage can fight. Ground thunder.

the game in russian*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeConZsOAZo

Atletico Madrid: Lesson Learned.

Yesterday Barça lost to Atletico Madrid 2-1.

After the whomping that Barça delivered them in September it was apparent that the eager punk team of Madrid would go to some measures to get their comeuppance. As it stands, they are the only team in Madrid to have beaten Barcelona recently--
hundred million dollar signings, or not.



The real drag about the loss is that not only did At. Madrid nearly shutdown the striking power of Ibra (who scored the sides lone goal off a corner), but the failure of composure that the team showed.

Puyol, of all people, made costly errors that resulted in both goals. Their captain slipping, the crew got into trouble. Hasty fouls. The current stink-eyed play of Ibra continuing and growing greyer. Lack of control.

But the performance of the team's captain seemed to tell about the mounting pressures on the team. The team fit has started to look shakier after the honeymoon in the fall. Is it the whole world right now? Obama's healthcare. A shittier crop than ever in the oscar race? Winter storms and earthquakes.

Carles, let us know when you get back from vacation;
The team's in trouble without you.

Enemies: A Love Story

Barça played Deportivo yesterday and beat them 3-1 on the strength of a driven performance by Leo. Messi scored twice and looked like lightning on the field. Relentless.

To satisfy the gods of superstar trades, Ibra also scored once.

In Madrid, meanwhile, Real Madrid played Almeria. This game makes me conflicted because as much as I dislike Real Madrid, I have a personal grudge against Almeria that ought to supersede grudges that I accumulate as a result of my support for Barça. Lucky for me, there is a perfect confluence of mutual misfortune for both teams. Almeria lose to Madrid 4-2, and Ronaldo gets Red carded.

And what did the superstar get ejected for? He got his first yellow for taking his shirt off after a goal, and the second for a nasty foul in the last minute of regulation play. The hubris of this jock inspired him to pull his shirt off and show his chest muscles in front of the world.



Only a few minutes before, his penalty kick was rejected by Almeria's goalie. Though his teammate knocked the ball in for a goal as it bounced away from the keeper's hands, Ronaldo did not celebrate the score--after all, it wasn't his goal, but the team's. The goal he scored a few minutes later was then celebrated with the kind of bully gusto that over-compensated for the disappointment he felt at not being the guy who broke the tie.

There's no "I" in "Team", big guy. Smell you later.

As for the city of Almeria, I got my grudge after a long day spent roaming through the town waiting for a bus. I had been pretty mercilessly ejected from where I'd been staying and ended up with an impromptu layover in the city. It seemed everywhere I went, I was told to leave. I walked into a café that was full of people, was looked at sideways and told they were closed.

Spent the rest of the day walking around listening to the Stooges on my walkman. No fun to be alone, Walking by myself. No fun to be alone, In love with nobody else.



But if all you have is love for yourself that burden can ruin what soul you were born with. Talent; Strength. Beauty and Ego.

Some of us can juggle.

Some know how to play football.

A Goal On Yourself, Is Still A Goal

Pique! What the fuck?! How can that shit happen?

After slugging out 92 and a half minutes with Osasuna--the last team to beat Barça at the Camp Nóu-- and coming up with a beautifully executed goal off a strike by current hot boy Seidou Keita, Barça could only come up with a tie after Pique bungled a defensive knock into the net. An own goal. Jesus. There was like twenty seconds of play left before Barça could have packed up their shit and left the stadium with their three points for the win and a four point lead over number twos, Real Madrid. Instead they are one point up and have to ask themselves how the hell they let the victory slip through their fingers.

The good news is that the versatile play of Keita is netting some real results for the team. He scored his fourth point of the week, bringing his tally up to 6. Unfortunately, the secret may be out about this under-trumpeted weapon in the arsenal and he will probably not be able to get by below the radar of opponents any more.

At least Osasuna cannot claim to have beaten the Blaugrana--they only drew, and even that was at the hands of Barça's own error. And Barça are still undefeated and sitting in first place. For now...

Hang your head Pique. Your chiseled good looks and George Michael-esque stubble will not redeem this slip up. Show us your war cry.

Barça and others on a Sunday

First of all, welcome to my blog about football. That is to say, Soccer.

I am living in Los Angeles, Half a world away from Barcelona, yet they are they sun of my football solar system. Though I appreciate the game in general, it is the way that Barça play it that inspires my interest. Hence, most all of my postings will be centered on that team.

The following is some accounting of Sunday 10/25/09 football as it stood at about 2pm Los Angeles time.

Cheers!

At the half, it is 3 nil barcelona over zaragoza

Keita has two ( a header and strike-both assisted by Ibra) and Ibrahimovic had a penalty shot.

I'm thinking that beyond a defenestration, we may be preparing for a clown-car-circus-fire-disaster; in which the opposing team are herded into a clown car, which is set ablaze in the center of a circus. This occurs at a 6-nil score.

Dani Alves and Henry are out with injuries. It seems that they are preserving T. Henry-who has yet to make his presence felt for the side-- to be in good shape for the thanksgiving real madrid showdown.

Of course, earlier Almeria got their asses handed to them by Valencia in a strong second half. I'm always stunned and thrilled when Almeria loses. One bad day in a town can turn you into a hater of their sports clubs forever.

In England, West Ham United came back from a two point deficit in the second half to draw with Arsenal.

Here comes the second half in the camp nou.

jason gaav

p.s.

so now the game has ended, and it has continued in the explosive steel-o of the first half. Keita scores his third after Ibra comes up with another and Leo finally gets rewarded after a ton of attempts to make it through the goal. Zaragoza comes up with one, so the score is 6-1

It is a beautiful game that features the stunning re-setting pattern of Barça. They always bring the ball back to the goal and insure their control while trying to coax the opponents out of their defense.

Chivas is about to play America.

Should have people amped.