La Liga correspondent Rick Minars brought this to my attention during pickup today…
Earlier this morning, the Italian news paper Gazzetta dello Sport published Jose Mourinho thoughts on who should win the Ballon d’or. Apparently Iniesta has now taken the lead to win the prize. Mourinho says, in his own words, that Andres Inesita might have scored the most important goal of the year (or the century?) in the World Cup final but he was injured for most of the long dueling European club season. Mourinho believes that if anyone should win the Ballon d’or it should be Wesley Sneijder. His other preferences are Diego Milito and Xaxi Hernandez, though he makes it clear that Sneijder is tops, followed by Xavi.
He made a point to say that Sneijder was no better than Iniesta, but that the dutch superstar simply had a better season and a great world cup. He concluded that Wesley is number one followed by Xaxi Hernandez.
Despite Mourinho’s bias (and my own bias toward Iniesta), I have to say that the man has a point. Milito wouldn’t have made my top 5, talented as he may be. What do you think?
Futbol is nothing without the little guy. That hometown team, or small nation which achieves immense success without Manchester City’s bankroll or Real Madrid’s players. Turkey during the ’06 World Cup, Uruguay this year, as well as various small clubs that succeed in European competition. For me, that little guy is everything. Hapoel Tel Aviv, my small hometown club.
Although considered by its fans in their chants as an “empire” we are but a small Israeli side with a few known players (Ben Sahar and Nigerian keeper Vincent Enyeama) and a small budget. Therefore, when we won the domestic double last season, we celebrated. We celebrated hard. We were automatically placed in the second qualifying round in the Champions League in which we met Željezni?ar, a small Bosnian team, whom we quietly demolished 6-0 on aggregate. However, next came a tougher challenge – FK Aktobe, the Kazakhstani champions.
In the first leg of the two leg tie, we were beaten 1-0 in Kazakhstan from a penalty that was awarded for a hand ball in the area. Although we were favorites to move on to the next round we had a difficult task ahead of us- beating a team that would come to Tel Aviv to play defensively and try to protect its one goal advantage. On Tuesday, we achieved that task and have positioned ourselves one step closer to playing against teams like Chelsea and Inter Milan. And we did it in style.
Playing in a sold out Bloomfield Stadium, the Red Devils came out strong scoring 3 goals in the first half. Eran Zahavi, Ben Sahar (ex Chelsea, QPR, and Espanyol), and an own goal by Aktobe’s Ba all contributed to my teams excellent first half showing. Sadly, the second half wasn’t as exciting with Aktobe scoring their only goal of the match in the 89th minute.
This game is more than just a small step forward for a tiny club. This victory guarantees that the club will receive in excess of 20 million New Israeli Shekels ($5 million) which for such a club is a huge sum of money. In the playoff round, one before the group stages and Hapoel’s next round they will be drawn with teams like Partizan Belgrade and Red Bull Salzburg. Hopefully my little hometown team will achieve big league fame and glory. 1L!
Here’s a bit of footage from Saturday’s training session at UCLA.
It’s hard to say who will make the starting XI, but we’re seeing plenty of attention paid to Angel di Maria, CR, Pepe, Higuaín, and Lass. Kaká is expected to be out there today, and we hope to see Iker, Ramos, and Xabi Alonso.
The jury is out on Benzema, but we can confirm without any shred of a doubt that the French-Algerian striker is in TOP form.
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Today, we’ll be with Real Madrid at UCLA. If you have questions for anyone on the team, ask away. We’ll do what we can to get them answered.
After defeating Machester City to finish 4th in the Prem, Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp wants to sign Spain’s veteran striker Raul from Real Madrid in a bid to strengthen Spurs’ Champions League chances. Spurs will also sign Craig Bellamy in a £6million deal after he fell out with Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini.
Roberto Mancini is set to stay at Manchester City, though the owners are seeking to acquire England boss Fabio Capello in 2012.
Fabio Capello has made it clear that he will exclude Rio Ferdinand from the World Cup roster if the captain is unfit. Carragher, King, and Terry have all been penciled in to join the 23-man squad. Capello’s provisional 30-man World Cup roster will also include Fulham striker Bobby Zamora.
Fulham may invite Steven Sidwell to Craven Cottage after the midfielder was (basically) laid-off by Aston Villa. Villa are also eager to sign Croatia coach Slaven Bilic should current coach Martin O’neill depart.
Aware of O’neill’s failed relationships at Aston Villa, Liverpool is courting the Irishman to replace current manager Rafa Benitez.
Meanwhile, Manchester City are eager to sign Fernando Torres away from Liverpool. In other City news, goalkeeper Shay Given is expected to return from his shoulder injury in time for the start of Ireland’s Euro 2012 qualifying campaign in September.
UUUUUUUUHHH! Looks like both Machester Utd and Manchester City are looking to bid on the forward. I wouldn’t be surprised to see other teams jump all over this opportunity and bid for his services. Can anyone say bidding war?! OH YEAH!
Too bad, though. Real has a tendency to treat quality players poorly. Examples: Cambiasso and Robben. Look at these guys now! And the list goes on! I mean come on!
For them to let Higuaín go is a huge mistake especially since fellow Argentina international Angel Di Maria is set to join Real after the World Cup. These two work very well together. Just purely a huge mistake and a reason why it is very difficult to build a base and a collective Real when you have club members purchasing and transferring players rather than letting the coach (in this case Manuel Pellegrini) do what they are supposed to do.
But I don’t blame Gonzalo Higuaín. Real is Real for its history and quality players. Quality players on paper, that is. In truth, it’s been a while since they have been able to prove anything in Europe and even La Liga to any extent since Barcelona’s current dominace in La Liga.
It’s funny that Real is willing to pay bench players more than Gonzalo who is the team’s leading goal scorer, provides tons of good play, and trails only Lionel Messi for the Pichichi*.
About the Author:
Rick Minars is a ONELOVE Ambassador and a coach at Beverly Hills High in Los Angeles, CA. He is an Argentine-American who joined the ONELOVE movement during our early pickup sessions in 2007.
*The Pichichi is awarded annually by the Spanish newspaper ‘Marca’ to the highest goal scorer in La Liga.
You’ve got Barcelona and Real Madrid, and a few mid-table contenders, but what has happened to Spanish football!?
Today’s 5-1 victory over Tenerife was almost unfair. Coming off of a loss to Lyon, you have to wonder if Madrid is suffering from a lack of competition in La Liga. Here are highlights.
Barça’s 2-1 victory over Málaga was more conservative, though a 1-1 tie to Stuttgart in the UCL begs a similar question about the quality of their competitors.
The two Spanish giants are expected to win everything, but the quality of their play will almost certainly suffer if they can’t be challenged. All across Europe the title races are getting tighter and tighter with many teams competing for top spots. In turn, we see stunning performances from Lyon, Bordeaux, Stuttgart, and Panathinaikos in the Champions League.
