Archive for the ‘International Football’ Category
FC Barcelona leaves no doubts in The Clasico
The most anticipated football game of the weekend, El Clasico, finished leaving behind any doubts that FC Barcelona continues to be the best team in the world, beating Real Madrid (1-3) at their own home.
The match started, surprisingly enough, with one of the fastest goals in El Clasico history. Víctor Valdés sent a pass into midfield that ended up in Benzema´s feet, scoring just 22 seconds from the start.
But Barça, far from going down, started to play the way they know, being always truthful to their own style. Slowly but surely they started dominating midfield and that´s how in the 30th minute, Alexis scored the equalizer after a great assist from Messi. Another mistake, this time on Madrid´s side, ended up with Marcelo scoring an own goal in the 53th minute. And then, in the 66th minute, a great team play finished up with a diving header by Cesc Fàbregas.
It was an easy win on Barcelona´s side, and a complete shock for Madrid. And now Barcelona is in Japan, ready to win the Club World Cup, but first would have to beat Al Sadd, the Asian Champions on Thursday´s semi-final in Yokohama.
England´s Clasico
Manchester City visits Stamford Bridge. The City are the Premier League leader, and after being kicked off the Champions, they will focus on maintaining their flawless league record. The Blues are 10 points behind and currently on fifth place, but, they did what the City couldn´t, and are still up and running in the European Realm.
England´s optimism
Wembley Stadium, London, was again the scenario of a magical night for England. Yes, it was only a friendly, but the opponent was Spain, the actual World and European Champions. This game was a biggie, and this time, Fabio Capello had it his way.
Spain played better, had the precious ball´s possession, and tried desperately to score, but the incredible England´s defensive performance won the battle, mostly thanks to Phill Jones and Scott Parker that controlled Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta to perfection.
First half showed Spain´s superiority, but just after four minutes of the restart England had their reward for being patient. Bent headed the ball against the post, bouncing back to Lampard that did not miss the opportunity to score on an empty net.
Spain missed three great occasions. David Villa boosted the ball against the post and Cesc Fàbregas missed two opportunities to hit the net on the second half.
There was technical superiority in Vicente Del Bosque´s side, but there was discipline in Capello´s squad that managed to overcome their limitations and got a moral boosting victory.
On the other side, Spain failed again on a friendly against a top rated squad, same thing that happened against Argentina and Italy.
Now, concentrating on matches to come….England will face Sweden and Spain plays against Costa Rica.
One of the stars of Saturday´s night, Jagielka will not play against Sweden on due to a toe injury that has sent him back to Everton.
Jack Rodwell, Daniel Sturridge and Kyle Walker are all ready for their first England starts. Capello is also considering giving goalkeeper Scott Carson another chance in the national squad.
Capello is taking Tuesday´s match seriously. Sweden line-up includes Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a striker Capello knows well since it was him who bought him to Italy as Juventus manager. He knows he is a danger, but after his victory against Spain, for sure he feels more confident and optimist.
Could Zidane be France´s coach?
The former France international and current Real Madrid sporting director, Zinedine Zidane, admits that he is interested on being France´s national team coach in the future. Zidane said in an interview to Le Parisien “Whether I’d like to be coach of Les Bleus? Why not! That wouldn’t be a bad thing. Everything’s possible in life.”
Even though he feels honoured to be considered for the position, he doesn´t believe that the current France´s coach, Laurent Blanc, is going to be replaced anytime soon, since the work he is doing and what he can do in the future is still the right one. Zidane justifies this comment making a direct mention to the disappointment with France´s national team on 2002, when the squad got the worst result ever in a World Cup tournament after being knocked out in the first round.
But still, it seems like Zidane is not wasting any time. He has already mentioned that he is going to start a Sport Management Career in Limoges, and he is already highlighting some of his fellow countrymen Benzema and Varane, both current Real Madrid players. About Benzema he says that “Is the most talented player in France” and about Varane Zidane highlights his fearlessness playing in such a big stadium like Santiago Bernabéu.
We can only wait and see if Zidane would become France´s national team coach in the future. At least he has the will.
