Espana's Ups And Downs

Brazil Beat Spain In Confederations Cup!!!!!!

        After Spain and it's top clubs (Real Madrid and Barcelona) were king of the hill for the last few years, it looks like the tables have turned.  As Spain came into the Confederations Cup very confidently, with only Italy, Brazil and Uruguay to challenge their title.  As they blasted through the group stages and Italy in the semis, they walked out onto the pitch against Brazil with winning spirits.  Neymar with Pato, Paulinho and David Luiz doused those spirits.  Brazil's one-touch pass and cross strategy beat Spain's pass and shoot tactics 3-0.  Del Bosque and Espana left the game with a winning streak broken and with a slightly different strategy in mind.
        Many others fans, reporters and players have one question in mind.  Could this be a preview of the World Cup 2014?  If you trust my judgement, keep reading.  If you don't you're a... I mean skip to the next paragraph.  My answer is no.  Even if Brazil do win, it will be closer.  Though Spain's Senior team lost both the Spain's U21 and U20 teams both won their last major tournament with likes of Isco, Rodrigo, Thiago, Iker Munian, David De Gea and Alvaro Morata who are all available to play for Spain in 2014.
         Enough with the Spain international team, let's go to the Spain's giants, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.  Barcelona, although they have recently acquired fantastic youngster Neymar Da Santos, have been scarred by the loss of their manager Tito Vilanova and the loss to German giants Bayern Munich three times out of the last three, and didn't score one goal.  Many football followers also ask, Will Neymar and Messi make a good team.  I say yes, as long as Neymar gets used to the passing strategy Neymar and Messi will have a good dribble pass, dribble pass, shoot tactics once the midfield passers get the ball up to the front.
           Real Madrid have the upper hand in luck of the Spanish giants although they lost what many would call the best manager in football: Jose Mourinho.  Mourinho said his goodbyes to Real Madrid after three years of perfecting them to return to his old club Chelsea, making them Premier League favorites along with Manchester City.  Though they lost Mourinho, they got another great manager, Carlo Ancelotii who was the manager that brought PSG to their Champions League spot claim.
The whites also have found a huge future star!  Joshua Pynadath from America, at age 11 is the first American ever to be on Real Madrid.  He's the new Cristiano Ronaldo.  More on him in a post coming up soon.
           Spain has many things to fix, and many to look forward to.  

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New update!

   Hi guys, I'm sorry but today this is not a very soccer related post.  It will be about a ritual I will start doing on my blog.  I will sign almost all (if not all) posts with a picture that will be the same every time.  It will look like this:
                                                                                                  

(This is Manchester City's logo if you haven't noticed.)  Thank you for looking at this short post. more posts coming soon!!!!!

Winners!

The winners' post will be made every year, where I talk about the winners and losers of the most important tournaments and leagues.

WINNERS! :

6. WIGAN ATHLETIC 

Wigan, though relegated from the premier league they had one surprise victory this year, winning the FA Cup.  They beat Arsenal in the quarter- finals and Millwall in the semis to get to the finals where they beat heavily favored side Manchester City with a last minute header from Ben Watson.  The performance of in-form Wigan goalkeeper Joel also helped with a number of important saves to lead Wigan to the first underdog FA Cup victory since Wimbledon beat Liverpool 1-0 in 1988.


5. ATLETICO MADRID
The Madrid underdogs had a reason to celebrate winning the Copa Del Rey for the first time in 19 years.  With their new-to-fame striker Radamel Falcao they Sevilla in the semis 4-3 agg. Los Rojiblancos came from 1-0 behind to 2-1 in extra time.  Real Madrid's star Cristiano Ronaldo got sent of during the game, leaving Falcao and his men working to a victory. Coming in third in the league under Real, they got their payback against their madrid neighbors.  Atletico have one glory to bring to 2013-14.


4. AZ ALKMAAR

  AZ and their surprise American star Jozy Altidore beat league winners Ajax Amsterdam in the semi finals with two netted by Altidore and then went on to the final where they beat PSV 2-1.  The competition's top scorer was Altidore, who had just broken a record set by Clint Dempsey for most goals by an American player in his first season at a European club with 17.  AZ lifted the dutch cup for the first time since 1982. AZ have been playing better since 2011.  Altidore and his men will bring sure success to next year's Eredivisie. 


 3. JUVENTUS
   Italian football wasn't very closely watched this season, with the world cup looming over the minds of all international team players.  But those fans who are always watching Serie A have seen that Juventus has won for the second consecutive year.  Their new youngsters like Paul Pogba helped "the old ladies" lift the trophy again.  They blew away the challenging opponents like AC Milan and Inter with a lead over 10 points.

  
2. PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN

   Paris's fame got started a few years ago, and has grow rapidly since then.  After a surprisig run in the Champions League, PSG won this year's Ligue 1 and went on to buy David Beckham, who unfortunatly wet on to retire.  Many players who had not been known before now have fame on PSG.  Now, PSG will try to buy many great players as they are mega-rich. Paris Saint-Germain's success has brought them to a Ligue 1 this season, in years to come I expect PSG to appear on this list for many reasons.


1. BAYERN MUNICH    

  It is extremely fitting that Munich is the best or most winning team this season.  Munich had a season treble, winning all three tournaments they competed in.  In the Bundesliga, they (as routine), won as they do every year.  They blasted away rivals Borussia Dortmund in the German league (Bundesliga) by an amazing 10 more wins or 25 more point

   The second win in Bayern's treble is their win of the DFB Pokal, A.K.A. German cup.  Bayern Munich were high favorites (no more this time than in all the other all-German football competitions though).  They squeezed past rivals Dortmund in the quarter-finals,(1-0), absolutely crushed Wolfsburg in the semis (6-1) and then pulled off a narrow win in the Pokal final against VFB Stuttgart 3-2.
   Bayern Munich's most important win was the UEFA Champions League.  They surprisingly destroyed Messi and Barcelona 7-0 agg.  Munich then found themselves facing rivals Dortmund.  Munich star Arjen Robben scored a last second goal to win Munich their trophy.(Right top and bottom.)  Die Roten have also had success in the summer transfer market so far, as they purchased Dortmund star Mario Gotze.  I won't be surprised to see Bayern in my winner's post again.






That ends this year's winner's post.  I'm sorry for the wait.   More posts will come out faster.  See you next year for another winner's post!!!!!     
 

Scouting Report

Isaac Cuenca  

Age 20  
Ajax
 
     Cuenca has talent that many young players don't have.  At age 18, he got taken in by Barcelona's Pep Guardiola.  At age 19, Cuenca had 30 appearances and 12 goals in his time at Barca.  In 2013, Barcelona's Tito Vilanova loaned Isaac out to Ajax, where he has already scored 4 goals.  Winger or forward, Isaac Cuenca is an amazing young player.  Nothing like Neymar or Wilshere, but this Ajax player has big potential, and in 5 to 6 years, Isaac Cuenca will certainly be a star in the FC Barcelona starting lineup.


Ola John 
Age 20
SC Benfica

Ola John is an emerging star,  at age 19 he made his debut for his country, Holland.  He played one game in the euro, assisting a header by Robin Van Persie.  In his first two professional seasons for FC Twente, Ola scored 10 goals, assisting 23!  In 2012, he moved to Benfica where he helped them get to runners-up in the UEFA Europa League scoring 1 goal and making 1 assist in the tournament.  At Benfica, Ola John has scored 4 goals and made 9 assists in a so far total of 36 games.  The pacy winger is a definite star, making a show at Benfica, Ola John will be playing on a big money team as he has a has a huge 45 million euro release cause with 5 more years in his Benfica contract.







Tonny Vilhena
Age 18
Feyenoord 

 
  Tonny Trindade De Vilhena made a regular starter for Dutch club Feyenoord this season helping them to 3rd place in the Dutch league Eredivisie so far playing 23 matches, scoring 4 goals and assisting 6.  One of his best games was against Ajax, as he assisted both goals in his team's clash in Amsterdam(right).  On February 3, 2013, Vilhena became the youngest player ever to score two or more goals in a single Eredivisie match, as he netted two goals in Feyenoord's 3-1 defeat of Willem 11.  He accomplished this record at 18 years and 31 days.  The number 21 wearer is not well known, but at only 18, he will become a sensational football player.



Julian Draxler
Age 19
Schalke 04

  FC Schalke's backup for loaned left-mid Afellay became Schalke's youngest player ever to appear in 100 competitive games while scoring in his side's 2-1 win over second place Bundesliga rivals, Borussia Dortmund.  He scored 13 goals in his 39 appearances for Die Knappen (the miners) in 2012-2013 helping his team to 4th place in the Bundesliga this year with 4 matches left.  In 2011, Draxler netted the opening goal in Schalke's 5-0 DFB Pokal win against DSV
Duisburg, hitting a beautiful volley from outside the penalty area.  When Julian made his debut in 2011 he was the fourth youngest player in the Bundesliga ever at 18 years.  One week later, he became the second youngest non-goalie player to ever start a Bundesliga game in Schalke's 1-0 win against Hannover 96.
Julian Draxler is on a road to be the next Zinedane Zidane, and soon, he will be on the starting 11 of Schalke or another world class team!
        

      



   

The Final

The end of the soccer (or football)
season is ending.  Many leagues are at their last games, almost every cup at it's final if not over.  The Bundesliga has five more games with an already sealed winner, La Liga has a sealed 1st, second and 3rd places, when the premier league has a sealed first and second place the 3rd, 4th and 5th places are a battle with one game left.  The FA Cup final was played the 11th of May, as Wigan had their surprise 90th minute 1-0 win against favorites Manchester City.  Three more major European tournaments are left.  The UEFA Europa League final is the 14th of May, 2:45 ET.  The Copa Del Rey (or Spanish Cup) is on May 17th, a Madrid derby (Real Madrid vs Athletico Madrid).  And finally, the most important or popular club tournament in Europe or maybe even everywhere, the Champions League final will be played on a Saturday, May 25, between two German teams, Borussia Dortmund (BVB) and Bayern Munich at 2:45 ET (above)*.  Try to watch.  All the leagues are ending, so check in soon for a "winners' post."

*Go BVB!!!!!        

A Change of Power

The Uefa Champions league is at its end, but the very tip of excitement.  A few days ago, the second leg of the semi-finals was played.  The results of the first leg was Bayern Munich 4, Barcelona 0 as well as Borussia Dortmund 4, and to quite surprise of the favorites fans, (Real Madrid) Madrid only scored 1.  The first game was predicted that it would be close, but Munich would win.  One part of that is wrong.  It was not a close game.  In the second game, it most likely would be the complete opposite of the real score.   In the second leg both German teams pulled off the score that they needed to go through to the finals.  But why did Real Madrid lose to Dortmund?  And why did Barca lose to Munich?  The answer to the first question is very simple.  Robert Lewandowski.  The Polish struck all four out of the four goals Dortmund struck in the semi-finals.  One of the most wanted players today, Lewandowski drove Dortmund to the finals.  The second question is more complicated.  In the last month, Munich has been working better together.  Bayern Munich have sealed this years Bundesliga as well, thus giving them a big morale boost.  The last reason is because of the change of starting strikers.  Mario Gomez is good, but has been slowly decreasing and finally, his starting spot has been taken by pacy striker Mario Manzukic.  Manzukic has helped the team hugely.
         But the real thing that shows here is that Europe has taken a big change of power.  Here are the power rankings from 3 months ago:
1. FC Barcelona
2. Real Madrid
3. FC Bayern Munich
4. Paris Saint-Germain
5. Manchester United
These are the power rankings now.
1. FC Bayern Munich
2. Borussia Dortmund
3. FC Barcelona
4. Real Madrid
5. Paris Saint-Germain


The power has changed.  The Spanish have handed it to the Germans!
  

Match-fixing Discovered!

 
        Match fixing has always been one of the ugliest parts of "the beautiful game".  Organizations FIFA, UEFA and more have found a total amount of 680 games suspicious of fixing.  The European intelligence agency have sent police on a 19-month investigation.  It seems soccer itself has not recognized any match fixing since the 1965 AC Milan vs Juventus game in the final Serie A match of the season.
        Many players have been approached by match-fixers.  One memorable account is from former Argentine linesman Juan Bava,"We landed in Medellin, Colombia, for the Copa Libertadores semi-final between Nacional and Uruguay's Danubio.  It was 1989 and the peak time for drug trafficking in Colombia, with all kind of stories and rumours-a scary time to be a referee.  After checking into our hotel with my fellow referee and linesman, we hear a knock on the door of our room.  As soon as I open it, I'm punched in the face so hard it nearly knocks me out.  Several men enter the room and throw a suitcase over the bed.  'That money's for you.  Take it or don't take it; it's not our problem.  But tomorrow Nacional will win or you're dead,' they told us.  It was a terrible moment.  Carlos Esposito, my colleague who was to referee the game, didn't know what to do.  So I said: Carlos, if tomorrow we are in the 75th minute and the game is still 0-0, I will go into the area and head the ball home myself!'  Fortunately, Nacional thrashed Danubio 6-0; we left the stadium and went directly to the airport.  The suitcase remained in the room."
        Match-fixing is a bad part of football (soccer) and people are working to fix it.  (Ha ha.) Really liking soccer is good, but liking your team too much that you pay people to make them win is not a good thing.



P.S.  I'm very sorry it took very long to complete this post.  The next posts with be published faster.  
              

Messi Saves Barca's Reputation with Shocking Win!

F.C. Barcelona looked to have no hope making it through to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League after a surprise loss against the Italian Giants, A.C. Milan.  Allegri's black and red side had pulled a 2-0 win out of the first game of the knockout stage.  The 2010 champions would need to win the second match by a 3-goal margin.  Barca's manager, (Tito Vilanova ), is currently in the hospital, making Barca's life even harder.  Many had lost faith in Barcelona.  Those who didn't, did know if someone could save them from Barca's reputation crashing to the ground.  Lionel Andres Messi.  And once again, he has pulled them out of a ditch, scoring two and assisting one in a 4-0 win, making the score 4-2 on aggregate.  The two other scorers were David Villa, and Jordi Alba.  Messi was named Man of the Match.  Barcelona is only one of the six teams qualified so far.  Barcelona's lineup was missing two key players during this match, (Carlos Puyol and Cesc Fabergas).  This is Barcelona's sixth consecutive time reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League.  Two more matches are left in the round of 16.  Bayern Munich vs Arsenal and Malaga vs Porto*.  Barcelona's rivals Real Madrid have also made it to the quarter finals.  Barcelona are favorites of the tournament now that Chelsea, Manchester City, and Manchester United are gone.





*Both matches are at 3:45 pm ET on Wednesday, March 13th.     

The Top 10 January Transfer Window Moves

This article is my opinion on the top 10 moves in the 2013 January Transfer Window........................

 No. 10 :  Alexandre Pato : 
A.C. Milan to Corinthians

  Pato, the Brazilian striker has moved back home to take it easy in the Brazilian league.
With very few players to compete with, (the top players being Neymar and Ronaldinho)
Pato will make Corinthians a hard team to beat as Corinthians already has had an underdog win against Chelsea to win the World Club Cup.  Pato went to Cornthians for 15 million euros or $10.98 million dollars.  Pato's leaving from A.C. Milan left them in the dust but A.C. Milan has made up for it (see later in the article).  "Pato is a great player.  He is definetly worth the money.  We were all sad he left.  But he wasn't happy, and he got his way.  Back living in his home country." says Massimiliano Allegri, A.C. Milan manager.


No. 9 :  Lucas :
Sao Paulo to Paris Saint-Germain

 Lucas, short for Lucas Rodrigues Moura Da Silva wasn't quite so happy having a easy time in Brazil.  He wanted more money, and more of a challenge.  He left Brazil on January 13, 2013 to go to the richest club in the world.  Paris Saint Germain.  He made his debut for Paris on January 19, 2013 against Olympic De Marseille, scoring one goal and making one assist as PSG won the game 2-1.  In the first 4 games he has played Lucas has already claimed a spot in Paris Saint-Germain's starting lineup.  The Brazilian 20 year old got sold for the most money in the 2013 January transfer window as Paris bought him for 45 million euros or $61.48 million dollars.


No.8 :  David Beckham :
L.A. Galaxy to Paris Saint-Germain

  David Beckham, 37 years old has decided that he still isn't done.  After 5 years of taking it easy in the MLS (Major League Soccer) Beckham is taking up more of a challenge, leaving to France to play on PSG.  The English legend used to be a very popular player when he was playing for Manchester United or Real Madrid.  He even has a movie named after him, Bend It Like Beckham.  Beckham is PSG's second signing of the January transfer window going to Paris for 7 million euros a rounded amount of 10 million dollars.  Beckham is yet to make his first appearance for PSG as he has many other good midfielders to compete with.


No.7 :  Loic Remy :
Olympic De Marseille to Queens Park Rangers

   Remy has shown his full talent in the last years in his home town, and finally when Remy is 26 he started becoming an interest to other clubs.  Newcastle United was very interested in him, and offered Marseille 8 million euros.  Remy definetly looked to be moving to the magpies.  At the last moment Queens Park Rangers (QPR) put in a 10 million euro deal for the Frenchman.  With Remy also getting the 70,000 per week, Remy and Elie Baup,(Marseille manager) excepted the offer from QPR.  Remy has played two games for QPR already, (both games in the Premier League) against teams West Ham and Aston Villa.  Remy has scored 4 goals for QPR already, scoring a hat trick (3 goals) against West Ham and 1 against Aston Villa.  Remy has found his talent, and his place in the Barclays Premier League.


No.6 :  Frank Lampard :
Chelsea to LA Galaxy

Frank Lampard, age 34 has departed from the English league.  On December 23, Lampard played his 500th game for Chelsea.  Lampard has played for the blues for 12 years, since 2001.  A few games after , coach Rafael Benitez announced Lampard would be leaving the club.  Benitez set a 6.5 million euro price tag for Lampard.  Meanwhile, David Beckham was leaving for Paris Saint Germain from LA Galaxy.  Who would fill the spot?  LA Galaxy jumped in with a 7.5 million bid for the 34 year old Englishman and offering 48,000 dollars per week.
Lampard decided to leave England on January 17th.  " He is, and was a great player.  If I were still in charge, I would keep him.  He's played for the blues for such a long time.  But now he needs a rest.  It would be great if he came back one day."says former Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo.                                                                                                    

No.5 : Didier Drogba :
Shanghai to Galatasaray

Drogba, after a short term stay at Shanghai decided he wasn't done yet.  In 2012, Drogba moved from Chelsea to Shanghai.  He moved right after the Champions League final.  In that final, he scored the goal to keep Chelsea in the game in the 88th minute, then he scored the penalty kick.  After that, why should he move?  Drogba has realized he still has a place in European football (soccer).  He was the hero of the champions league (right), and moving to Galatasaray is giving him another chance.  Galatasaray have already reached the champions league knockout stage.  Drogba will be an important part of the team, and will most likely work very well with Galatasaray's other new signing, Wesley Sneijder. 

No.4 :  Wesley Sneijder : 
Internazionale to Galatasaray

 Sneijder is tired with the Serie A.  After playing in the same league for 4 years he wanted a change.  And the perfect place to do it is in the January Transfer window.  After a short conflict between Sneijder and Inter manager Andrea Stramaccioni, Stramaccioni put him up for 10.8 million euros.  Galatasaray reacted quickest  putting money up, they offered 11.5 million euros.  But they couldn't agree with the contract terms.  It took 5 days before Galatasaray could find a deal Sneijder liked.  The deal was sealed at 11.5 million euros and 57,000 euros per week.  Sneijder played his debut on Febuary 3, coming on as a sub and scoring the winning goal in a 2-1 win against rivals Besiktas. 


No.3 : Daniel Sturridge :
Chelsea to Liverpool

 Daniel Sturridge, age 23 wants to get into the game.  He spent most of his time on the bench for Chelsea, watching players like Drogba, Torres, and Mata take the space he would of occupied.  Sturridge decided to leave.  Sturridge was not in new Chelsea manager Rafael Benitez's future plans so he was gladly let go.  He left the blues early in the transfer window, moving to Liverpool for 12 million pounds.  Sturridge has already played 6 games for Liverpool, and has scored 4 goals.  Sturridge had his debut in a league game against Wigan Athletic scoring 1 goal and assisting another.  For Sturridge, athleticism runs in the family, as his father and uncle, (Dean and Simon Sturridge) both used to play soccer. 


No.2 :  Mario Balotelli :
Manchester City to AC Milan

 Mario Balotelli, who is only 23 years old has taken advantage of the 2013 January transfer window.  Getting himself off the bench was his new years resolution.  Unfortunatly, it was a hard goal to reach.  Balotelli was "an exciting prospect, but not needed" in the words of Manchester City coach Roberto Mancini.  But things didn't go well. (right.)  (In my opinion, Balotelli is a jerk, and now you see why.)  Finally AC Milan finalised the deal with City and Balotelli for 20 million euros.  Milan needed a striker after they lost their main striker Pato to Corinthians earlier in the Transfer window.  Balotelli has made 1 appearance for Milan scoring 2 goals in his debut.  Balotelli will most likely work well with fellow young, Italian Milan forward Stephan El Shaarawy.  Balotelli earned himself the nickname "Super Mario" in his time at Manchester City.


No.1 : Demba Ba :
Newcastle United to Chelsea

 The Senegalese footballer Demba Ba has made a very big name for himself in the Premier League, being considered as one of the best strikers in England.  Always the most feared or looked out for player if you were to play against Newcastle United.  His age 27, is indicating he will be going into his 30s soon.  Usually where soccer players stop playing.  But in Ba's words, "I'm not looking at stopping any time soon.  I will keep playing and keep up my reputation at Chelsea."  As Ba just indicated, He has moved to Chelsea to fill up the spot of both Didier Drogba and Daniel Sturridge.  He has moved for 15 million pounds to the Champions League winners.  "Ba has a huge future at Chelsea" says Chelsea Manager Rafael Benitez.  Ba has played 9 games and has scored 8 goals for Chelsea already.  Ba is the first Senegalese footballer to ever play for Chelsea.  Ba is an AMAZING striker and has a very promising future at Chelsea.


That is the Top 10 Transfers.  I will post one of these every transfer window.