Sweet and Sour

The Other Pep

After about two months of struggling to get into gear and falling behind further and further to Real Madrid in la Liga, Barcelona delivered one of the unstoppable performances that they were, until recently, turning on with the apparent ease of flipping a switch.

Having just played Valencia in the Copa del Rey, it was time to play them in la Liga at the Nou Camp, and after falling behind 0-1 in the ninth minute thanks to a fluke breakaway, they responded by scoring 5 unanswered goals before the final whistle blew.

Messi in particular was unstoppable, scoring four and serving up deft passes to Pedro, Alexis and Tello--though none of them converted on their opportunities. Alexis, for not scoring, was on fire. He cut back and forth with the ball and made Valencia's defense sweat bullets. I was skeptical about the little(r) man, but he is showing a work ethic that is beyond reproach right now.

You've got another thing coming...

Cesc and Alexis seemed to be the two players that had the most opportunities denied by Diego Alves. The Brazilian keeper for Valencia played a great game--which shows how on-fire Barça's offense was--in spite of allowing five to pass him to the net, the score could have been double that.

Cesc had a brilliant near goal bounce off the inside of the bar. The greatest goal that never was for him. As he was subbed out around the 75th minute for Thiago, Pep hugged him professionally and they exchanged a few words. Apparently Pep did not like what he heard from Cesc and he grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and threw him towards the bench.

It was the moment of the game for me.

Because Pep is the star at the center of their galaxy (not Messi or Xavi, as some might believe) to see him display moments of candor and honesty are some of the most exciting and worth-while events in a game. Though his philosophy is articulated as something that is nearly mystical in it's belief in "Barça" as a concept beyond a club, the physical manifestations of the game's pressure--the frustration, ecstacies and rage--those are the times when we get to see the actual stakes involved in the adherence to an ethos.

As the team and circumstances do not align with the just logic of a theory, the failure of the game in practice is as bitter as ashes.

Pep, when he is enraged, is scary. They are winning 3-1, 5-0, or whatever, but if the underlying logic is not executed correctly, then he is violently frustrated. This is because it's not all about winning. People always say "If you play beautifully and don't win, it's worthless." This is the motivation behind a large majority of football teams. They don't want to play pretty at the expense of winning. Totally understandable.

However, if you win and don't elevate the game to art then you might as well be playing rugby.

Athletes just want to win; poets want something more.


Josep Guardiola articulates his vision

To Rock Madrid

This week is starting to get busy, as Barça are going to play their galactic rivals in Madrid for the first leg of the Spanish Supercopa.

The Supercopa is a cup played over two games between la Liga's champion (the blaugrana), and the Copa del Rey winners (these dudes). Sunday should bring the starting team together for the first time since the championship to unofficially kick off their season at the Bernabeu.


Pep isn't scared of white people

Before the game, it looks as though Cesc Fabregas will indeed be coming back to Barça (probably for around £35M--at least 5M less than what Arsenal had wanted to give him up for, but the little guy gave them the puss-n-boots face and they caved). It is said that he himself will shell out 4M on the move, but some things are worth more than millions.


Francesc Fàbregas i Soler

So what have Barcelona done in the off season? They have gotten rid of Milito, Bojan and Jeffren. Pep has signed Alexis Sanchez (Udinese's Chilean striker) and (almost certainly) Cesc, thus further empowering his attacking midfield.

The defense remains a concern, with the job of the backs frequently being given to players more accustomed to the midfield. But that is how Pep seems to want to augment the defense. Since the barcelona defense is also keen to switch positions and move to attack, their versatility and refusal to be purely reactive keeps their opponents on their toes. Last season every single member of the squad except for Javier Mascherano scored. Pretty illustrative of their defense's creativity.

Mascherano himself came to the squad from Liverpool, where he was a (you guessed it) midfielder. Though he was known as a hatchet-man to deliver tackles, he was not employed defensively in the back third.


Masche got serious love in Liverpool

He made the switch to Barça last year after the World Cup, where he was captain of Argentina under Maradona. When Maradona first took the coaching position for his short and curious tenure as the national manager, he was asked who he wanted for the team. "Mascherano and ten other guys."

Puyol hasn't played much lately, still working on his fitness after yet more surgery, and the dudes they have played in the pre-season have not covered themselves in glory along the back line. Losing against the prides of both England and Mexico isn't a great look.

But now the first team is fittin' to re-form like Voltron and have a cup showdown with their nemesis. Their small statures are towered over by the broad boys of the capital, but they take the pitch in Madrid like Jay Adams hit the ground at Del Mar.


Rascal

Since Pep has taken the coaching gig at his alma mater, Barça have not lost in Madrid. Like a wave of bees, the blaugrana have flooded their senses over and again. If the Mourinho team will opt to continue their barrage of fouls and negative-play in order to grapple the little guys to submission (as they did for their Copa del Rey win [Madrid's only victory in the last three years against Barça]), remains to be seen.

But for anyone who likes to see a littler kid walk up to the face of a bully and dis him, this is the kind of contest that is the sweetest. The kind we pull for and giggle at. Time to play, time to play...


Even in Madrid they know who rocks
\m/

Offseason

The 10-11' season is over and the books have been written on the outcome.

It has been an obvious high-water mark for FC Barcelona, and perhaps football in general as people have lined up to sing the praises of their particular style of apparently, selfless play.

The team has also gone through the measures of shoring up their squad with contracts designed to keep their nucleus largely intact for the next four years. Pedro recently re-upped his along with Thiago, as Busquets, Alves, Xavi, Messi, Iniesta and others (almost all of them, actually) are committed until at least 2015.

The only familiar dudes that seem to be candidates for inevitable trade are Bojan and Gabby Milito. Neither one of them has had a remarkable season in a few years. Milito has been injury-ridden and showed himself to be less than up-to-task in filling the gaping holes in their defense last season.

Bojan is a more tricky issue: He is a second generation player on the team who showed real flashes of brilliance while still in his teens. He was almost like a Messi-alternative for a short while.



But then it seemed like his touch stopped settling and in the key final moments, his shots would fly awry. I felt that he may have been sent a bit off course by his feeling an urge to replicate Messi's jaw-dropping improvisations, rather than keeping a holding pattern that would allow him to clean up on second chance strikes as Pedro has done so effectively. Now he is rumored to be a bargaining chip to be moved to Italy and help alleviate some of the team's 500 million Euro debt.

Speaking of debt, distinctive chinks in the superman armor seem to be showing under the weight of the bank balance. After years bearing only the mark of UNICEF on their chest, Barça will begin featuring the label of the Qatar Foundation--a group that seems to be a broad consortium of scientific, industrial and educational interests that are designed to advance the oil-filthy-rich nation socially. It may not be AIG, but it seems vaguely like a cabal compared to the polio-vaccinating and baby feeding peacemakers of UNICEF.

The £125m price of selling the front jersey real estate, while moving UNICEF to the back as a tramp-stamp, will make some progress in making the world's most dazzling team more economically viable, but it looks a little nefarious.

Elsewhere, there is still talk about signing Cesc Fabregas from Arsenal--this makes two summers in a row that have had the rumour blazing. Arsenal is a mess. He should move, but I still don't see a sure place for him in the lineup, at least until Xavi or Iniesta leave (knock-knock). Even then, they just signed Afelay like six months ago and he will be such a great fit with the team in the season to come. Cesc, just stay in England.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid have been signing a ton of defensive midfielders and look to be scrambling to meet the needs of Jose Mourinho after a season that saw them finish in second place for the third straight year. Next year they will most likely be even more competitive, as all Mourinho teams tend to take a year to warm before really getting rolling. Current speculation links Brazilian striking phenomenon Neymar to Madrid. That kid's one of these Justin Bieber dudes...


Neymar warms up

There is already a match scheduled for the numbers one and two teams to meet twice in August for the Spanish Super Cup, where the Copa del Rey winners meet la Liga's champions.

In the meantime, some players are getting a break, while others from the western hemisphere are playing in the Copa America. Even for those who've got to play in July for their home country, the feeling looks to be pretty post-orgasmic. The real heavy dream lifting has been accomplished back in Catalunya, and what comes now are just gravy contests to please the die-hards and show the folks back home a taste of the jedi lessons that have been learned in the Camp Nou.

If there is darkness on the horizon, it is still distant.

My senses haven't returned to me just yet.

Gamper

The founder of the club was Joan Gamper. He was born in Switzerland, moved to Barcelona and in 1899 created the FC Barcelona. Mr. Gamper scored 120 goals and later became club president. After FC Barcelona got scandalized and painted as a Catalan separatist team, he fell on hard times and took his own life in 1930. Mr. Gamper remains the great spiritual martyr of the club.

Hence, they play the Gamper invitational Cup at the Camp Nou as the last pre-season game for the team. Today's game brought AC Milan to the stadium and it was Ronaldinho's return to the stadium 2 years after his being traded to Milan.


photo by Dennis Doyle

Ronnie had played five landmark seasons and left just as Pep Guardiola became coach and steered the team to pure class. Ronaldinho has been sited by him as an inspiration for their renaissance, and he was greeted with love. Puyol, even called him with the squad for the pre-game team photograph.



The game was dominated by Barça, though they seemed perpetually unsettled at playing at least six substitutions during it's course. Ibrá looked like tall crap and it is possible he may be traded in the next few days. They are also talking about acquiring Mascherano, though where they would put the Liverpool/Argentine defensive wall is puzzling. They already have Puyol and el matador, Pique.

The other new guy, David Villa played the first half and he scored the only regulation goal for the team. But why does he have to suck his thumb after he scores? I hope Pep talks that shit out of him...



Milan scored in the second half and neither Messi, nor Pedro or Bojan could break through to the winning goal. Game went to penalties and second choice goalie Pinto stopped three of Milan's and, thump!, Barça wins the Gamper Cup.

Young men keep playing this game. Some grow into the organization after the pitch. They build the team up in different architecture of the game's philosophy. Swiss, Brazilian, Dutch and Catalán, it's a collection of guys that are willing to sweat, bleed, play and love for the team. At all costs.