Liquid Swords

The Squad salute their 500 supporters in the cheap seats

Barça went to Madrid on Saturday and beat their rivals 3-1. Though el Clasico appeared to be an uphill battle in light of Madrid's current run of dominance, Barça still managed to create the opportunities needed to come up on the (then) league-leaders.

How?

The game was thrown into a tailspin upon first getting possession of the ball in the first half, after sending it back to Victor Valdes, the goalie gifted it directly to Di Maria, who dished to Mesut Øzil, whose shot was deflected right to Karim Benzema, tapping it into the roof of the net past Valdes. 22 seconds into the game and Madrid was up 1 nil.

Jesus...

The problem was that as Barca had gotten possession their defensive backs started splitting wide and heading to play deep out of their end. They were so wide and far back, in fact, that they were way out of distance to effectively defend in front of their goal, which is where the Madrid front line were pressuring to attack and pounce on just such an opportunity.

Barcelona was playing the kind of daring football that no one else on Earth attempts. By splitting their defensive backs so wide apart and so deep up the pitch to play out from the back, they were daring their adversaries to challenge them up high in order to make holes in the midfield. 22 seconds in, they got caught.

But as they regrouped and got the ball into their own rhythm, steadily they managed to create those holes in the Madrid midfield and fatigue their forwards who were busy chasing the ghosts of opportunity created by Pique, Puyol and Abidal in the back field, still holding on to their now-you-see-me-now-you-don't style.

By the second half, the merengues were having to dash back upfield to defend their goal after being drawn out time and again, and their breath was no longer able to sustain the effort of keeping up with the claret and blue zig-zags.

The line-up that Pep fielded was different from the one that faced Madrid a year ago in the 5-0 rout at the Nou Camp. Instead of David Villa and Pedro on the wings, he put in Alexis Sanchez and Cesc Fabregas--both of the summer signings. Indeed, both of them would score in the game.

It wasn't the starlets presence on the pitch that won the game, though. It was Pep.


El Genio

Though he started the game with the team lined up in a 4-3-3, keeping four defenders in the back to deal with the aggressive Madrid offense, by the tenth minute, down a point, he switched it up to a 3-4-3, sending one of the backs up into the mid-field and beyond. Dani Alves was exemplary in shooting up the field in the role we saw him in last year as a make-shift winger that sent his pitch-perfect crosses towards the forwards swooping in at the goal. Sergio Busquets acted as a sweeper to make sure the defense always could get some kind of entry to Xavi and, most effectively, Iniesta.

Iniesta seemed to exhaust his counterparts as he whirled all over the pitch with his beguiling gait. They could not get a handle on him. And though he did not always connect with his teammates in the way we are used to seeing--in fact, the team in general seemed to give the ball away much more than would have been comfortable for their fans--Iniesta was always a problem for the men in white to contain. He was such a dazzler that as he was subbed off the game in it's final minutes, even the Madrid fans applauded his master-class.

Pep made the adjustments necessary to counter Mourinho's press-crazy tactics, while Mourinho let his boys keep playing the same way.

The resulting win for the Blaugrana was a win for flexibility.

The team is in Japan today, set to play in the final for the FIFA Club World Cup. Another fairly arbitrary cup, but a cup nonetheless.

On Friday is the Champions league draw for the final 16.

The pendulum is swinging back our way.

Ball Boy

This morning FIFA announced the 23 candidates for the Balon d'Or award for the world's best individual player. Barcelona's squad featured 8 of the 23 names, including Abidal, Dani Alves, Cesc, Piqué, Villa, Xavi, Iniesta and the back to back winner of the last two years, Lionel Messi.


Last year's Golden Boys

The idea of individual achievement seems to be something of a double-edged sword for the beautiful game. As players excel, they become of vital importance to making their team perform more cohesively. Once they get a sense of their worth they are afforded certain indulgences and rapidly that excellence starts yielding diminishing returns (take a look at Carlos Tevez' ongoing soap-opera at Manchester City).

For Barcelona it seems that no matter how superb the results that their players net, if they do not subscribe to a selfless style of performance (both on and off the pitch), they will not last in Guardiola's squad.

Samuel Eto'o was Spain's highest scorer in 2008-2009, and it seems he was not sufficiently Barça in Pep's eyes, so he was despatched to Italy. The next year, Ibrahimovic scored a great goal tally for the Blaugrana (wearing the same no. 9 that Eto'o had just vacated), but he did not jive with the team's humble and light-footed philosophy and he was gone before the 2010 season started.

Messi has been the highest scorer for the squad since Eto'o left, but he has also come up with brilliant assists and shown how instrumental he is in raising the level of play of those around him. Of all the goals he scored last season, the most remarkable play he made may have been a pass to Villa for the fourth goal in the 5-0 routing of Real Madrid.


Mo and Pep react to teamwork from opposite sides of the scoreline

Above all other achievers and champions, this blog is really about Pep Guardiola. Pep has been at the helm of the ship after spending a lifetime building the character necessary to define and apply it's ethos. Now, for the third year running, Pep is nominated for FIFA's Coach of the year award and is a clear favorite to win the prize.

Originally a ballboy, Pep has come through the ranks from the bottom and learned how to embody the elusive esthetic of a squad that is "more than a club." Some successes are deliberate and willed; some are mystical.

The best are both.


Pep's early celebration at the Nou Camp

The LA Galaxy

In Los Angeles. The crispy meat of summertime.

Off-season friendlies are underway, and the leftover victory stains are slowly being wiped away from the eyes. To follow a team from far away makes the experience take on a butterfly-effect. You are there by virtue of being psychically attuned, but there is nothing that remotely resembles the immediacy of the game on the field:

Grass that's cut, wet and smelling faintly of chemicals sharing the air with the bodies of 90,000 people there in the arena. Cosmetics and body sprays. Heat on flesh and the sweat of the players themselves as the game moves onward.

Those elements are replaced by the local drama of the internet connection and the missing focus of helping cook dinner while getting ready for an imminent appointment. The blindfold is being put on and Yoda is telling me to strike at the ball with my lightsaber. But all around the galaxy, things are looking ominous.


Let's have a look in my crystal ball...

A few weeks ago Real Madrid played in Los Angeles against the Galaxy. David Beckham and Landon Donovan posed for pics and swapped shirts with Iker Casillas and Cristiano Ronaldo. The boys from Spain looked über-tan, like bionic George Hamiltons--and they proceeded to take the pitch and defenestrate the Galaxy 4-0. I didn't go, because what am I an asshole?

R. Madrid in California

Of particular note was Ronaldo's solo effort goal up the wing across the keeper. Damn! Madrid have also signed Coentrao, who played for Benfica and the national team, and he looks to be a pretty bad motherfucker. There must be a lot of portugese being spoken in that clubhouse. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone on the team can speak it.

In Barcelona, the boys are probably still speaking Catalán, although who knows what they are saying. They have not played a game as a full first squad since the Championship, and now they are donning these funky-ass new colors and the team is still publicly courting Cesc Fabregas back from Arsenal. This makes two summers in a row of this frustrating rumor. I don't think he's coming back, though, and that should just be dropped.

We have sent Jeffren to play in Portugal. He scored the fifth goal in the Clasico last fall, but that only showed that he could on occasion make the most of his very limited minutes on the field.

Also gone is Bojan, who couldn't sit idly with as much sweet understanding as Jeffren. Before packing for Roma, Bojan had a weird press conference where he kind of cried and complained about the side and Pep Guardiola not believing in him. Still you can kind of understand him as he has to leave the world's top team to go someplace he will actually get a chance to start nearly every game as the favored attacking option.

Bojan leaves.

On Saturday Barcelona played Man U in Washington D.C. No Messi or Xavi, and a limited contribution from many other traditional starters. It was mostly a showcase for Thiago to see how he could meet up with the wizard Iniesta. Iniesta is clearly a genius. Thiago looks very hungry and happy to be getting his playing time on the first team. He obviously wants to make an explosive impression, hence his three goals in the last two games. He scored a pearl to equalize with Man U, but then they answered only a few short minutes later. Let's hope he performs more consistently than his two former teammates.

Last season: Bojan, Jeffren and Thiago

Barça lost the exhibition 1-2, in their black colored kits with no names printed on the back in order to save room for the relocated UNICEF badge. A shaky start, perhaps. In a related bit of shudderation, Kobe Bryant showed up and put on the new Qatar Foundation jerseys at a team luncheon. Shit, man.

Tonight the team will play Chivas in Miami. It is all just a publicity jog until they return to Spain to play Madrid in the Spanish Supercup on the 14th. We just need to stretch out and get the feel for these new clothes. We don't know how to beat anyone else, but we know how to beat ourselves.

The Tie that Binds

There it was.

Another edition of the world's greatest single-sport spectacle has come and gone, leaving in it's wake the scattered debris of the planet's football zealots and a persistent ringing in the ears from tens of thousands of vuvuzelas howling at once for a show. The show came to South Africa and has now left and returned to the ether of expectations, building for the next cup four years from now in Brazil.

But the present one is still fresh. Played only yesterday, the Final came down to Spain and Holland. The weeks-long build up of sixty-some games involving 32 teams from all over. So what were hot games? What were choice moments?

The opening game of South Africa v. Mexico was thrilling. No host nation team has ever lost a Cup opener. By having South Africa be that host, the jubilant struggle of Africa was more immediate, if not overstated. The game against Mexico seemed to have equanimity. Mexico and South Africa; it's a beautiful thing. The cup's first goal was among it's greatest; Tshabalala of the host nation scored a tremendous strike to the back of the net. Golazo! Barcelona's Rafa Marquez answered the goal with a nice sneak past the keeper about seven minutes later. The game drew; the host nation loss-less streak continues.

The USA game vs. England. A dork-shot strike snuck by the english keeper -- it just puttered through his butterfingers. England drew with the States to the accompanying jeers of the British press and the team never got any footing at all in the cup from there out. The USA played very well in the cup this year. They finished at the top of their group (ahead of England) and demonstrated an ability to make moments happen. Harrowing goals in the late minutes and two game winning goals denied by the referees. Still, they came out at the hands of Ghana.

Ghana's lone star flag proved tell-tale of Africa's cup prospects. After the first round, Ghana was the only African nation left represented on the field. Though there were sparks of greatness, there were also tough expectations and scandals unsettling the teams. Didiér Drogba played with a broken elbow he'd sustained against Japan in a warm-up match. Eto'o remained magnetic, but diminished from years past. Both of them were sole star-players on squads that had difficulty in going all the way to wins.

But the real eerie weird bitterness came courtesy of the Nigerian team. They'd only had their coach for a few short months. They were booked last minute into an economy hotel until the coach supposedly-intervened. After their quick dispersal from the tournament, the team returned to Nigeria, their president Goodluck Jonathan ordering their suspension for two-years. FIFA stepped in and put that political involvement down within a day.

ah, yes.

FIFA also stepped in to silence Sarkozy for his proposed investigation of the French national team following their total breakdown. BROKE DOWN!!! The team collapsed completely amid coach-player(s) scandal: 'You're an asshole' 'You're going home' 'You can't send him home, we're going on strike'...Guess what? They lose; Everybody goes home.

Japan had a good showing. They played with guts and were the first team to get the hang of the ball on free-kicks. The blond guy for them who plays for CSKA Moscow was badass. Their loss to Paraguay in penalty kicks was one of the most moving of the cup. The Ghanaian loss to Uruguay was another heart-wrencher. A shambling bitter disaster that was awash in lost opportunities for the last African nation left for the quarter-finals.

But Uruguay was too strong. The most competitive and driven team at the cup--at least visibly. They wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Their captain, Diego Forlan, was coming off his best season of professional play. He blew the doors off until the team's fourth place finish two days ago against Germany.

The Germans were fantastic. They were these young guys that seemed really focused and driven to the goal. To see the Germans rout Argentina's team was stunning. Argentina had played with guts and seemed very confident in the tournament. Leo Messi showed his creativity with the ball and even captained the team to a 2-0 win against Greece with Maradona playing his B-team. But no goals for the pitúfo.

Diegito throws the new ball back

Germany broke down Argentina with twice the effectivity and none of the shady-calls that worked to Argentina's favor when they knocked out Mexico. 4-0, Germany made them look like petulant punks. The German team was younger than the Argentine super-stars, and they took the big-dogs to school. Bad as the Germans were, they had to settle for third after falling to Spain.

The spanish team under-performed for the most part. They relied too much on the midfield. The constant patter of their passing --back-and-forth!--back-and-back-and-back-and-forth! - it was great to watch, but it nullified their opponents so effectively that it took out the goals from the equation. Consequently, every Spanish win ends in like 1-0 or occasionally 2-1.

Watching Spain, we were basically watching Barcelona play with a greater goalie (the intensely talented keeper from R. Madrid, Iker Casillas), and a Messi-less attack. Seven players from Barça on the field at anytime. The midfield routine that Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets have been developing has been focused almost entirely on Messi. So where did the goals come from? David Villa. The new pre-cup signing from Valencia. He lit it up. His first goal was a stunner, along with a fun shot from way outside after he caught the Chilean goalie out of the box.

But the baddest of the Spanish goals weren't from the usual strikers. It was Carles Puyol in the header that beat Germany. Barça's captain had a fucking great cup. He proved to be the man to beat for would-be strikers from all over. His locking up with Pique was almost always a wall.

The true master player of the team had to be Andres Iniesta. Though Xavi is key to make-plays, he very rarely shoots and scores. When Iniesta won the cup with a Goal at the end of overtime, he pulled off his shirt and ran to the corner as he did when he scored the extra time goal for Barça that sent Chelsea packing and advanced Barcelona to the Champion's League final (where they beat Manchester United) in 2009.

Iniesta and Eto'o celebrate in London, 2009

While David Villa settled into a groove with his future Barça boys, no one at all seemed to click with Fernando Torres, himself no exception. The Liverpool striker had terrific goals before injuries recently took their toll. So for the last two games of the cup, as I hoped, the coach Del Bosque sat Torres and started with Pedro. My man from Barcelona who was born in the Canary Islands. Why hasn't Anthony Bourdain gone there yet? Can I go there?? They eat little bony fish. I'm sure of it.

Spain is an easier place to hate if you haven't been there. The conquest history is too brutal to forget over football. But to hate the Spanish team is like hating Picasso and Miró. It is to not walk through their Southern streets and find them so familiar to ones we know from Mexico and Puerto Rico, Cuba and Colombia.

It's the nationalism about the cup that is distasteful. Even more so than hand-balls and vicious kicks on the field. It's the old-world beef that we bring to the game that is supposed to be beautiful. When you break through the crushing coal and the diamond shines in front of you, the cup is better than gold.

Miró

Your Arsenal

Barcelona are going to London to meet Arsenal on Wednesday in the Champions League. The top eight teams in Europe are playing each other this week and the next, all leading up to the finals--set to take place in May at Madrid's Bernabeu.



The Bernabeu, Madrid's football colliseum, is always the site of memorable play for the team. The long-standing cultural rivalry between the Catalan side and the Castilian seat of power held in Madrid. The Franco years. Barça has made the trip north with fists firmly in pockets. Though the team want to be there for the Champions league final, their own local concerns still have them tied in the hot race for La Liga.

The team cannot win the treble this year (Spanish Copa del Rey, La Liga and Champions League) because they were knocked from the Copa Del Rey a few months back. I don't know how many possible cup titles there are for a team. They'll count them up at the end of the season and punch them into the fact machines.

On the 11th is the R. Madrid/Barcelona match in Madrid. El Clasico was played in the autumn in Barcelona and this is the second and final game of the season against their great rivals. Tied for first but behind Real Madrid in goals scored; number one is a tenuous draw. The two teams upcoming game in Madrid looks decisive to the Spanish League.

Madrid were knocked out of Champs league so they are trying to steel their grip on La Liga. Barça, however, are still in the running for Europe and are gearing up for Wednesday's game.

Emirates Stadium, London

In London, Thierry Henry will take perhaps his last stand against the team he cut his teeth on. Family, adulthood. It's tough growing some and going back home. We'll see how much he plays. Here's to hoping he looks fit in training.

Iniesta will be out for the game after tearing his calf muscle in Sunday's win against Mallorca. The good news is that Ibra has scored in three straight games, and that one saw his return to form as a striker. He has been getting caught offsides above defense a lot lately. Messi has been taking it to the goal from any place. He cuts through the backs like a slick finned fish and takes shots on the goal through befuddled defenders.

Pedro is playing hard and getting goals, and young Bojan has made an impression in his limited minutes on the field. This mediates the glare on the three marquee names. Although Barça routinely keep possession for 60% or 70% of the games, the goals are what keep the appearance of invincibility. Ibra's bad streak is breaking just in time.

Like the song says, You're gonna need someone on your side.

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