The Eejitry Report

Whisper it, but are Barcelona human after all?

2011-11-28T19:47:00.001Z

Ever before the weekend's shock defeat at Getafe, Barca's play this campaign has looked laboured, and they have developed a worrying knack for giving up cheap goals, says La Liga blogger Joseph Sexton. [More]

Malaga prove the Man City model doesn't always work

2011-11-22T13:09:00.000Z

Monday night is the graveyard shift in the La Liga schedule- the games that nobody really wants to see, featuring the teams that no-one really cares about; except their own fans, of course. Barcelona hosted Real in this slot last December, but that was down to Catalan local elections taking place on the Sunday. That Málaga found themselves in this slot is probably a fair indication of their failure to capture the imagination this term. With their form underwhelming- three heavy defeats from their last five, during which they only picked up a solitary win- this project had failed to ignite. Their hosts, Racing Santander, meanwhile languished in 18th place.

Worse still, for Málaga, was the latest news surrounding Julio Baptista. The former Real Madrid, Arsenal, and Sevilla forward had almost kept the club up singlehandedly following his signing from Roma back in January. For a project that had seen such heavy investment in the summer, his presence remains key. When he plays, and when he plays well- as he had in Getafe- Málaga do well. Without him, they look probably what they are- an expensively assembled ensemble that has yet to fully gel. So, the news that he will be out now for some months and will undergo surgery naturally left coach Manuel Pellegrini with a lot to ponder....................

Continue reading the full article here on The Irish Examiner Sportsdesk Blog

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Two styles clash at San Mamés

2011-11-07T14:30:00.000Z

Joseph Sexton

SUNDAY night, 7pm. As the teams entered the field, a feverish atmosphere engulfed the San Mamés. Any visit of Barcelona to Bilbao is a special occasion, and this is a special stadium.

Soon, Athletic will decamp to a new 55,000 seater adjacent to this cathedral. There is something quintessentially English about this ground. It’s not just the club’s colours, borrowed from Southampton. It’s not just that the crowd sits right on top of the action, forming a part of it. It’s not just that Bilbao are famed for their direct approach, the idolisation of the big, burly centre-forward, currently represented by the hulking handful that is Fernando Llorente. It’s all of this and more.

The rain, falling for some days continued to lash the pitch as kick-off approached. There is something unique about evenings like this. Put simply, to step into the fray on this sort of night is to enter the Spanish equivalent of a wet Wednesday in Stoke with all it entails......................................
Continue reading the full article here on The Irish Examiner Sportsdesk Blog

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La Liga: five talking points from the season so far

2011-09-28T03:21:00.000+01:00

This article originally appeared on STV's Sports Blog

The title race is underway and already the season's main narratives are beginning to take shape. What's being talked about at the grounds and in the bars? Here's our briefing on the main stories:

Atleti: a lot done, more to do

In recent weeks, much attention has been fixed upon Atlético Madrid. New arrivals Diego, Anda Turan and Radamel Falcão García had settled in quickly- very quickly in the case of the Colombian forward.

An industrious display in his first outing against Valencia was quickly followed by goals galore in wins over Celtic, Racing Santander, and Sporting; the latter including a hat-trick, with another chalked off as an own goal following a deflection against Racing. In short, Atlético looked in good shape going into Saturday night’s showdown at the Camp Nou.

Sadly, it was a contest for all of two minutes. Once Thiago smacked the bar, you could smell blood. Within a quarter of an hour they were two down; by full-time it was five.

Lessons can be learned from this defeat. With hindsight, it was suicidal to sit to so deep, leaving Falcão isolated up top. He is more than just a physical presence, and needs players to link up with to be a threat. Instead, Barcelona were allowed to do as they pleased in midfield and Gregorio Manzano never sought to have his team test the home side’s three man backline as Valencia had done so boldly in midweek.

Atleti’s fans have seen too much in the past to get ahead of themselves, but this bruising defeat could help to focus minds and allow the team to make good of their promising opening to the season.

Betis fall but remain on top

It had to happen some time; in the end it came away to Getafe on Monday night. After falling behind to Diego Castro’s strike half an hour in, Betis had no answer. Yet there is much to be positive about for the newly promoted pace-setters.

Incredibly, they remain top of the league with four wins from five. They have been anything but negative, and positively thrilled at times in getting past Bilbao on matchday three. It would be ridiculous at this early stage to start talking of grander ambitions, but the biggest imperative for this season would have been survival; a return of 12 points gives the Béticos an excellent chance now of retaining their top flight status.

We’ve seen evidence that they can continue to impress, with Jonathan Pereira up front looking a willing and intelligent player. Time will tell.

Bilbao improving but need to start picking up points

Athletic played out a 1-1 draw with La Liga’s other “crisis” club, Villarreal. Both remain firmly rooted in the lower reaches of the table, with Bilbao just a point off bottom-placed Sporting.

If they need to start picking up wins, a good way to begin might be by keeping eleven on the field; here Borja Ekiza’s two yellows followed on from Venezuela international Fernando Amorebieta’s straight red the week before against Betis. As with the visitors, another side struggling to find their feet, there are signs of improvement.

That defeat the weekend before had been a riot of a game, with Bilbao certainly playing their part. In going down 1-0 to Málaga on Wednesday, they looked a lot more compact and secure in their shape; many sides will travel south and do worse this season.

For now, Marcelo Bielsa retains the trust and patience of the club and its supporters. But this needs to be backed up with some wins, and fast; a reverse in the Basque derby away to Real Sociedad this Sunday lunchtime could leave the emperor undressed.

Let’s talk about Cesc

It seems like it could hardly have been any other way now. Yet many prophesised that it would be; some scratched their heads. Why would Arsenal’s captain and mainstay be so hell-bent on becoming an expense benchwarmer at Barça? Others still, clinging to a myopic moral high-ground and unwilling to remember just how he’d ended up at Arsenal in the first place seemed to be actively willing his failure.

Cesc Fabregas has shut them all up now; not that many in Spain had ever really doubted him, or his move. It’s not just the critics he’s been shutting up either; last week, he was awarded damages after Sport ran with quotes from an interview which apparently never took place, one in which he trash-talked about his former club. Cesc has far too much class to display such a lack of gratitude and self-awareness.

Whether at the base of the midfield, on the right- even as a withdrawn forward- he’s exuded class on the field. And not just on it. Because if his formative years at La Masia ensured that he would slot into this side with ease, he’s been at pains to remind everyone else of just why he’s excelled to the degree that he has- this he attributes to his years at Arsenal, and Arsene Wenger; his footballing father who gave him his first team debut at 17, and had him running the midfield on their road to the Champions League final at just 19 years of age.

Project Malaga is up and running

There was moaning, accompanied by moral hand-wringing. There was genuine excitement too. There was even a grudging sense of respect, as real football men like Fernando Hierro and Antonio Fernández, erstwhile Sevilla sporting director, were installed to oversee matters. And who- other than certain odious elements at Marca- has a bad word to say about Manuel Pellegrini?

Then came the inevitable laughter as Málaga’s expensively assembled side came a cropper away to Sevilla on the opening day. But since then, they’ve gone about their business in an impressive, understated manner. This is still a side finding its identity, a collective looking to gel. And now after five rounds of games, they lie in sixth; level on points with Real Madrid, and ahead of Valencia and Atlético. Sunday’s draw against Zaragoza marked another bump in the road, but now attention switches the weekend when we’ll see if they succeed where Madrid failed; away at third-placed Levante.

Jose Mourinho can moan but Real can only blame themselves

2011-09-19T13:00:00.000+01:00

Joseph Sexton rounds up the weekend's Spanish action and finds that small team beats big team is the only tale in town.
Read the original article here on STV

Mourinho may moan but Real were undone by an impressive Levante side. Pic: © SNS Group

It is preposterous; ridiculous, even. It’s also shocking, but certainly no shock. But Spain, as they saying goes, ‘es diferente’. Nowhere does that ring truer than in football at the present moment.

We should be talking about many things here. What about newly-promoted Granada popping up to claim their first win of the season against Villarreal? What about last night’s stupefyingly entertaining late kick-off at Betis’ Villamarín cauldron? What about Roberto Soldado, who simply can’t stop scoring (even if one of the four he recorded on opening weekend ended up in his own net)?

No, instead we are left with one topic, one which dominates all the dailies, all the chatter on the airwaves today; big team loses to very small team. In most other leagues in the world this would, of course, be news. But not all the news. And certainly not on a weekend like this.

Real Madrid lost to the club with the smallest budget in the league by 1-0. Their opponents, Levante, made the smart move of exercising their option to buy Man City loanee Felipe Caicedo during the summer for €1m. They then sold him on to Lokomotiv Moscow for a five-fold profit. Last year, in a team that had the third best record of any club in the division after the winter break, Caicedo had the best goals per-shots on target ratio of any player in the league. By far.

They also lost their talented coach Luís García to Getafe. And, barring the odd aberration, the maulings being dished out by the big two to the good, the bad, and awful seemed to dictate that Real ought to win this. Even though this was exactly the sort of ground where points dropped had cost them last season’s title. If not a hammering of the sort Barcelona administered to a hapless Osasuna the night before, then at least three points.

Real did not start with a full strength side. But when you have a squad that would make even Manchester City’s look less favourable, both in depth and in talent, this can be no excuse.

Nor can José Mourinho’s tiresome and hypocritical branding of the opposing team as cheats who instigated Sami Khedira’s sending-off. Yes, the sending off is what turned this game. But Real weren’t looking too hot when the Germany midfielder got his marching orders for a second yellow.

The truth is that Real played poorly, and that they can only have themselves to blame; not UEFA, not UNICEF, not the ref. Not one bit. The match statistics bear this out. Leaving aside Real´s hoarding of possession, all else was pretty much equal; remarkably so. Shots, both on and off target; fouls. Right down the list. Except for the only one that matters of course, the final score. And the red card count, obviously.

Real played very badly but Levante played extremely well. Even against 11 men they were competitive. Their breakaway goal from Arouna Koné was a joy to behold. On loan from Sevilla, he’s unlikely to fill Caicedo’s boots. And their new coach, Juan Ignacio Martínez has arguably bigger shoes to fill. But in a league that is likely to be every bit as tight from the European spots down again this season, if not more so than last, they look well equipped to survive; and- who knows?- perhaps even thrive.

Barcelona won 8-0, as you may have heard. Next.

Roberto continues to excel in goal for Zaragoza; he was instrumental in their surprising 2-1 home victory over Espanyol yesterday. This is all the more remarkable given the fact the keeper, whose ill-starred season at Benfica made him a byword for goalkeeping ineptitude of the highest sort at Benfica season; not to mention that, on paper at least, Zaragoza look to be an absolutely awful side. His arrival, on loan, was a particularly murky third-party deal, involving a Dublin-based consortium with Jorge Mendes, Peter Kenyon and Pini Zahavi all on board. If he keeps playing this well, not many Zaragoza fans will care.

Roberto Soldado scored. Again. That’s 5 in 3 for him now this season; his record over the last 17 games is simply obscene. That was enough to see them defeat Sporting, leaving them top of the table on goal difference ahead of… Real Betis.

Real Betis who beat Athletic Bilbao by 3-2 in a game that defied common sense at times. Not just in Marcelo Bielsa’s bizarre positional selections; at least for those who followed El Loco’s remarkably successful stints in charge of the Chilean and Argentine national teams, that is nothing new. But the manner in which the home raced into a two goal lead was exhilarating, leaving Bilbao still looking like a team getting to grips with their new coach’s idiosyncratic footballing philosophy. They were pegged back seven minutes before the break before regaining their cushion with a penalty right on the stroke of it.

A flurry of second half cards saw Alavarez see red for Betis a quarter of an hour from the end, before being joined by Bilbao’s Amorebieta in stoppage team. Both before and in between, Bilbao looked like they might steamroller their hosts. But a Lopez penalty inside the final five minutes wasn’t enough, and although a lot of goodwill and patience still exists for the Argentine coach’s remoulding project of Athletic remains now, one point from nine means that doubts are already beginning to pierce the surface.

Follow Joseph Sexton on Twitter @josephsbcn

Results:
Granada 1-0 Villarreal
Mallorca 0-1 Málaga
Sporting 0-1 Valencia
Barcelona 8-0 Osasuna
Sevilla 1-0 Real Sociedad
Getafe 0-1 Rayo Vallecano
Zaragoza 2-1 Espanyol
Levante 1-0 Real Madrid
Athletic Bilbao 2-3 Real Betis

Will Falcao appease the Atletico fans?

2011-09-12T14:30:00.000+01:00

La Liga blog: Joseph Sexton says Atletico Madrid coach Gregorio Manzano has pinned a lot of hopes on his Colombian striker. [More]

¡Hay Liga! La Liga – Season Preview 2011/12

2011-08-28T02:35:00.000+01:00

So here we are and the first jornada of the new La Liga season is upon is; or is it? Well, as you all know, the season was delayed by the strike organised by AFE, the Spanish players’ union, and this leaves us starting with the second matchday’s fixtures. Which makes it fortunate for the league that the matter was resolved in time for this weeks fixtures. The LFP might be a travelling fan’s worst nightmare with their inability to confirm the exact time, or even day, that matches start in any given weekend, but boy!

They will not break-up a matchday and leave teams with games in hand; not even when Barcelona were in action in the European Supercup, nor when they take part in this year’s World Club Championships to win the title they snatched in dramatic style from Argentina’s Estudiantes two years ago. The former matchday 1 will be shoehorned in somewhere; shoeing-in two whole jornadas would probably have meant no winter break, and no turrones for the footballers of La Liga.

We won’t dwell too much on the strike, other than to go through some of the main points. Eventually on the Thursday, the league (LFP) acquiesced to the players demands. This had nothing to do with the conditions of superstar players, but they showed solidarity with those further down the chain. Given the unequal TV deal that sees Madrid and Barcelona take a huge majority of the league’s TV income for themselves alone (Third-placed Valencia, a big club in their own right made something akin to West Ham- bottom-placed West Ham- last season. Go lower down the league and many of the smaller teams are lucky to pocket €12m a season. And as for the second division…. forget about parachute payments.

There is no sporting penalty in Spain for clubs which enter into administration; for many, it’s a handy way of washing the club’s hands of debts brought on by their own hideous mismanagement. And who suffers from this primarily? The players. Players who have given their all even when going unpaid for months are then told, sorry, but your contracts are worthless; and then paid far less than they were owed. If they get paid at all. And bearing in mind that this hits the smaller teams more often, whose players are on very small money and might have trouble paying their mortgages, this was a farce that had to be ended. Finally, the league agreed to increase the pot held to pay players’ salaries in the event of clubs messing them about, knowingly signing players to deals they can’t afford. It’s a small stepping stone to introducing financial prudence in La Liga; a lot more needs to be done. This will be a point we’ll return to, no doubt, later on this season.

And what a mouth-watering prospect this season is. Ever since the spell where clubs like Valencia, Sevilla and Villarreal could make serious assaults on the title (Villarreal coming second in 2008 saw the end of that era), this is arguably the most anticipated season in many. Not because the Madrid/Barcelona duopoly will be broken- but that contest at the top could be very interesting indeed- but because the field below them, arguably even including Valencia, is as wide open as its been in years. The competition for Champions League football and the Europa League spots is going to intense, and hard to predict.

Yes, Málaga’s continued investment is a big part of it. But it’s not the only part; and, potentially, maybe not even the most exciting part either. But it’s impossible to ignore.

When Málaga were rescued from administration just over a year ago, their new owners’ vision was to build something. They didn’t splash silly money before the summer window ended, but brought in 5 players, some young and with potential, to supplement their squad. The problem was that under former Porto coach, Jesualdo Ferreira, and with several injuries they were floundering. So they ditched Ferreira, and brought in the ex-Villarreal and Real Madrid boss, Manuel Pellegrini. And some more players. Injuries were still an issue, and relegation still looking likely when they extended Pellegrini’s contract. Then Julio Baptista, signed over the winter, recovered fitness and started banging them in. Young Venezuelan striker Salomón Rondón was a revelation. Given the tight nature of the league, they finished eleventh in the end, and looking like a pretty good team to boot with their new additions bedded down and first team fit.

The amount of money they’ve spent this summer has caught the eye. No club in Spain outside the big two could make a netspend like that. But this looks to be something bigger than just money. Off the field, they have been equally impressive. With an excellent coach at the helm, they brought in former Sevilla sporting director, Antonio Fernández, This is the same Fernández who brought Sevilla to a level where they could realistically compete with the big boys for the title, to two Europa League titles, all this not long after they’d come up from the second division. It was Fernández who discovered Julio Baptista and one Daniel Alves, as well as Seydou Keita and Adriano, now also at Barcelona. He was the man who brought in the likes of Fredi Kanouté when Tottenham wanted shot, and Luis Fabiano when few in Europe would have touched him. This is a man who knows a thing or two about managing a project. Not only that- they also recruited Fernando Hierro from his post as technical director at the Spanish Football Federation. Hierro, Pellegrini, Fernández… these are all football men, with impeccable track records.

Then of course there are the players. I said that they already had a pretty decent team in the offing. But not with depth. Now they have potentially a very good team at hand. More importantly, they have a squad, and it’s a strong one. All of their purchases look sensible too. They’ve bought youth, one a full Spain international already. They bought experienced old heads. They’ve players at their peak, none more so than Santi Cazorla from Villarreal. Once, a player of his calibre would have ended up at two places- either at Madrid or Barça, or in England. Young Isco of Valencia arrives fresh from underage success with Spain this summer, and Macho Monreal a promising left-back with 5 senior caps came from Osasuna. Argentine Diego Buonanotte is a talented attacker who arrives at a good age, 21, for his first crack at European football. Then of course there are the likes Jérémy Toulalan and Joris Mathijsen, at the peak of their careers; along with one Ruud Van Nistelrooy in the twilight of his, but a player who continues to score goals wherever he plays. Pellegrini has form from his Villarreal days of managing comings and goings of players, and finding the perfect blend of youth and experience. This can only bode well.

Valencia made some shrewd moves in the market, and if at one point it looked likely that Juan Mata was going to stay, his purchases will lessen this defection. Dani Parejo from Getafe was a smart signing, and Pablo Piatti excelled at times for an Almería side who were little other than awful on their way to relegation. They’ve strengthened their goalkeeping options and, crucially, central defence with Adil Rami of French Champions, Lille. Then of course there is the loan signing of Sergio Canales after his year in the wilderness at Real Madrid. This kid has real talent, so it will be interesting to see him getting game time in a good side (even if he can’t play against Real).

Villarreal were definitely weakened by the loss of Cazorla and Joan Capdevila, who departed for Benfica. But, despite serious interest at times from both Barcelona and Juventus, they’ve kept hold of Giuseppe Rossi, along with his strike partner Nilmar, and Borja Valero. Coach Garrido will have to rely again this year on an intake of youngsters from the cantera, but with Villarreal’s B team the only playing in the second division (along with Barcelona), there is much promise to be mined there. Their only two money signings of the summer were Javier Camuñas from Osasuna and they pacey Colombia central defender-cum-right back Cristian Zapata of Udinese. Despite enduring a nightmare competitive debut where he gave away a winning goal at Odense in the Champions League qualifiers, his pace, power and technique should be a boon in La Liga after impressing for several seasons in Serie A.

But, outside of the top two and Málaga, the arrival that has generated most excitement isn’t a player. No; it’s the arrival of former Chile and Argentina coach Marcelo Bielsa at Athletic Bilbao. It looked like he might have taken the Internazionale job earlier this summer, and despite the intrigue of seeing what he might achieve at a club with big resources, this could prove to be a much better fit for El Loco.

He arrives at a good moment for Bilbao. Long famed for their direct style which their last boss Juan Caporrós was happy to abide by, they are also blessed with a generation of young technical players to support the excellent Fernando Llorente up front, including the wonder Iker Munain. Ander Herrera, another promising underage international arrived from Zaragoza. There are pros and cons to this job for Bielsa. The biggest pro is that, in many ways, his rigorous style is far better suited to club management; something which makes his international achievements more impressive. The one black mark on his CV was the failure of 2002 with Argentina which can largely be attributed to the poor physical condition of many of his key players, which mitigated against his high-energy style in a big way. Going down 1-0 against an England rearguard action following a penalty won through a blatant Michael Owen dive didn’t help either. Blessed with the players at his disposal day in day out, and young talented minds to mould, he can realistically achieve a level of cohesion that would take a year- or even a couple of years- with a national side.

The downside, of course is that Bilbao’s policy makes bringing in new players a challenge, and fatigue and injuries could take a toll as they compete on two fronts. As for his much beloved 3-3-1-3 formation, Bielsa remains a pragmatist. Three at the back is very useful against the twin-striker formations common in South America, but he has shifted to playing a back four when faced with more European-style 4-2-3-1s, and has used four at the back for the most part in their preparation matches and in training. With his emphasis on playing a high-tempo pressing game camped in the opposing half, there could even be echoes of Sevilla at their peak if they manage to hit the ground running.

But there was, of course, one big name and very exciting signing made late this week. Atlético Madrid finally invested some of their windfall from Kun Aguero and David De Gea to bring in Radamel Falcão García and the promising attacking midfielder Rúben Micael for a combined €46m from FC Porto. Earlier moves saw them bring in the highly rated Arda Turan from Galatasaray and Sílvio of Braga, alongside Gabi of Zaragoza. Finally, former underage starlet Dani Pacheco was drafted in on loan from Liverpool, although they missed out on Espanyol’s Pablo Osvaldo, who joins Luís Enrique’s BarçaRoma revolution in Italy.

The picture suddenly looks a lot brighter for new boss Gregorio Manzano. As a man who believes in building team unity, the departure of one superstar in Aguero and likely move of another (Diego Forlán looking set for Inter), he has a great opportunity to construct anew here. Much will be expected of Falcão, and fortunately here there is much more to the forward’s game than we saw at Porto; where he was asked to play a limited game, holding his position up front to showcase his finishing and sublime heading ability while the rest of the team harried and pressed. With the excellent José Antonio Reyes approaching something close to his Sevilla and early Arsenal form in recent years, they have potential.

Of the others, we expect that bottom half of the table to be just as tigh t- if not tighter! – than last year. The promoted sides all look set to struggle, although Granada continue to benefit from being a dumping ground of promising, young Udinese talent farmed out on loan for development. Sevilla made a smart move in buying Martin Cáceres outright from Barcelona and also good (and decent signings) like Emir Saphic (Montpellier); Piotr Trochowski (Hamburg); Manu de Moral (Getafe); and Coke (Rayo). Under new coach Marcelino, and with last season’s revelation in the run-in, Ivan Rakitic here for his first full season, they can benefit from their early exit in the Europa League.

And that leaves us with the big two. Most of you will already know the comings and goings here, and many more will have caught the enthralling Supercopa clashes between the two over the past fortnight. Several simple things we can say, some of them rather obvious; Real are looking to be a far more coherent unit as José Mourinho enters the second year he always asked to be judged upon. Poor finishing let them down against an understrength Barcelona side they absolutely battered into the first leg, but against a full-strength side they were scarcely less impressive with their aggressive pressing and willingness to attack. That the starting line-up in the first leg (and, bar one change, the second) was the side which were torn apart at the Camp Nou last Autumn tells you a lot about how they are progressing. And Karim Benzema is fit, lean, and looking like the stellar prospect we knew at Lyon.

They have bought little but bought smartly; adding depth to an already impressive squad. Fabio Coentrão came in for big money from Benfica and had an excellent preseason, but not in the roles where most expected him to be tried; instead, he found his home largely on the left of a three man midfield. Raphael Varrane of Lens, stolen from under the nose of Manchester United, is one for the future but physically built for now if called upon. Nuri Sahin of Dortmund is a fantastic passer of the ball from deep, and will make up for the amount of points dropped against lesser sides anytime Xabi Alonso was missing last season, but can also be expected to play alongside Alonso at times. Hamit Altintop and José Callejon, excellent at Espanyol last season add endeavour, purpose and yet more depth.

Depth too has been the watchword at Barcelona, and an acknowledgement of the extreme good fortune they’ve enjoyed with injuries having had such a light squad under Pep Guardiola. It’s no coincidence that their one European failure under Guardiola came when Andrés Iniesta was absent against Inter in 2010. Some observers, mostly in the British isles, have scoffed at the idea of Cesc Fábregas warming the bench. Don’t expect him to; the same was said of Javier Mascherano last year too, yet he played a key role in midfield, centre half, and even at left back as Barcelona claimed a double. Cesc is likely to play a similar amount of games, 35-40, in a season where we can expect Barcelona to exceed the 60 game mark once again. The emergence of Thiago Alcantara makes what was the lightest area of their squad look frighteningly well-stocked. Alexis Sánchez will be bedded in more slowly, and has already show signs that he’s a perfect fit for the Guardiola style. He too will get plenty of action, and his ability to play right across (and indeed, behind) the front three means that Lionel Messi can be rested too.

The gap has narrowed and it’s going to be an epic encounter between these two sides. Don’t bet against them going all the way in the Champions League either.

Jornada 1

Saturday:
Sporting Gijon 1-2 Real Sociedad
Valencia 4-3 Racing Santander
Granada 0-1 Real Betis

Sunday:
Atlético Madrid v Osasuna (13:00 GMT)
Athletic Bilbao v Rayo Vallecano (15:00 GMT)
Getafe v Levante (17:00 GMT)
Mallorca v Espanyol (17:00 GMT)
Zaragoza v Real Madrid (19:00 GMT)
Sevilla v Málaga (21:00 GMT)

Monday:
Barcelona v Villarreal (20:00 GMT)

This article originally appeared in Back Page Football

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The Copa America: the Tabarez legacy

2011-07-25T05:19:00.000+01:00

Joseph Sexton reflects on a tournament that saw the emergence of the underdogs, and underperforming super-powers.

Luis Suarez has been one of the great successes of Tabarez's tenure Pic: ©SNS Group

This 43rd Copa América will be remembered for several things.

Some will point to the low goals per game tally, and justifiably highlight some poor games, particularly in the opening two rounds of fixtures. Others will point to the inexorable rise of the continent’s erstwhile underdogs. Nobody epitomised this more than Venezuela and Peru.

Venezuelan football has come a long way in the last 5 years; once the San Marino of region, a country where baseball has long been the national sport, they’ve now shown they have the talent and nous to mix it with the big boys.

Peru came into this tournament off the back of a disastrous World Cup qualifying campaign in which they finished bottom of the pile without a single away point, were shorn of two of their stars and troubled by injuries to those present.

Both will feel confident now of making a real go of qualification for Brazil in 2014, and both embodied the merits of good coaching. For this was also a tournament about the coaches, and fittingly it will go down as one of the crowning glories of Uruguayan boss, Oscar Washington Tabárez’s illustrious career.

Argentina and Brazil both suffered to varying degrees from poor management. Tabárez, on the other hand, has proven a master of maximising the resources at his disposal. It’s worth nothing where Uruguayan football was when he took the helm for a second time in 2006. Uruguay failed to make the World Cup that year; just as they’d failed in 1994 and 1998. The burden of their glorious past weighed down on them, seeming to suffocate the players. Since then Tabárez has revolutionised their youth development. Victory last Sunday proved that last year’s fourth place finish in South Africa was no flash in the pan, and their recent successes at under 17 and under 20 level gives indications that their future is equally secure.

Here was a team that was tactically flexible, that recovered after a slow start to the tournament, and improved game by game. It is this unity and sense of purpose that allowed their superstars, Diego Forlán and Luís Suárez, the platform they need to showcase their brilliance.

Not that either of that pair are work-shy; Forlán got the goals his performances had merited in the final, but is a genuine leader. Suárez is every defender's worst nightmare. A true livewire, gifted with an exceptional ability to play in tight spaces and display sound decision making, he also chases down opposing players as if his life depends upon it. In a summer where some Liverpool fans have been left puzzled at their club’s transfer strategy, here was further confirmation that John Henry’s first signing is a true gem.

Indeed, so evident has the rise of standards been that not even Uruguay- and certainly not Argentina- will take qualification for the World Cup as a given. Tabárez was quick to point this out on Tuesday. “Winning the Copa América has no bearing. We prepared well for this tournament and won it, but now it’s time to look ahead to future challenges”.

“We will remain faithful to our approach. Our scientific studies reflect well on the work we did here. In the qualifiers the travel and different climates present challenges, and when you add to that the determination of fans and teams to make the finals.... this makes it even more competitive than a Copa América. We cannot just say to our rivals ‘Look, we just won the Copa’. The qualifying series is a new chapter”.

For Diego Forlán it was especially sweet. Off the back of his poorest season to date in La Liga, with his club future undecided, and having failed to find the net since South Africa last year before the final, the win and his brace were a vindication. To claim a record 15th Copa América on Argentine soil, become his country’s joint all-time top scorer, and follow in the footsteps of his father and maternal grandfather- both Copa winners in their own day- only added to his delight. “It makes me so proud to follow them, to continue their tradition. It’s not something that happens every day”.

The continent’s two superpowers have been left with much soul-searching to do. Arguably Brazil came consistently closer to getting it right over the course of the tournament. A lack of competitive games to come remains a worry, but Mano Menezes is secure in his position. His commitment to reverse a quarter century-long shift in Brazilian football by introducing a structured passing game in midfield is both admirable and correct, but more work remains to be done.

At times they were crying out for the passing ability of someone like Lazio’s Hernanes, who was again overlooked yesterday in Menezes’ squad for the coming friendly against Germany. Both Paulo Henrique Ganso and Neymar have a lot to learn at this level, but their progress over the last year shows us they are capable of better than we saw, and we can justifiably expect further improvement.

The machinations in Argentina began in earnest at the weekend. Public anger at the coaching structure, at the AFA and its boss Julio Grondona was palpable. Initially it looked like Grondona would brazenly stick with Sergio Batista; indeed the coach wrote in Clarín before the weekend of his desire to continue his ‘project’.

With the rumour mill in overdrive and elections looming, Grondona made an about turn to quell the unrest. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, it emerged that he’d thrown Batista to the wolves. The same delegates who had rubber stamped his appointment by a margin if 19-1 just months ago voted 16-4 in favour of rescinding his contract. Alejandro Sabella looks set to take the reigns, a choice that would be both shrewd and popular.

The other move was as cynical as it was intriguing. It was announced that the first division would expand to 38 clubs spread across several groups, breaking off into separate promotion and relegation sections in the latter stages. This of course guarantees that fallen giants River Plate will return to the top flight next year, and increases his power base amongst the regional sides. The upside to this is that in the ongoing decentralisation of Argentinian football will gain further impetus, and it’s fair to say this will be the country’s true legacy after a Copa where only the final was staged in Buenos Aires.

Team of the tournament (3-4-3)

Justo Villar (Paraguay); Osvaldo Vizcarrondo (Venezuela), Diego Lugano (Uruguay), Sebastian Coates (Uruguay); Maicon (Brazil), Tomás Rincón (Venezuela), Arturo Vidal (Chile), Álvaro Pereira (Uruguay); Luís Suárez (Uruguay), Paolo Guerrero (Peru), Sergio Aguero (Argentina)

Player of the tournament: Luís Suárez

You can follow Joseph Sexton on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on the STV Sports Blog

Paraguay or Venezuela for Uruguay showdown?

2011-07-20T12:00:00.000+01:00

Uruguay are 90 minutes away from their 15th Copa America title [More]

Grandees of Uruguayan football go head to head

2011-07-19T14:30:00.000+01:00

Joseph Sexton says the exits of Brazil and Argentina are not the real stories at the Copa America [More]

The Copa America wrap: giants fall to master tacticians

2011-07-19T05:30:00.000+01:00

Oscar Tabarez was the brain's behind Uruguay's elimination of hosts Argentina. Pic: © Reuters

The rising standard across the South American continent was a theme touched upon in our preview of this year’s Copa América, but nothing could have prepared us to expect what happened over the weekend.

Argentina exited on penalties to their fierce rivals from across the River Plate. A day later, Brazil exited through the same route against Paraguay. Nobody would have predicted that neither the hosts nor the holders would be present as we enter the semi-finals. And yet it speaks volumes that, in the greater scheme of things, those outcomes were the least shocking that we saw.

Tonight, Peru- the same Peru that finished bottom of the heap in World Cup qualifying without a single away point- will face Uruguay, who finished fourth in that tournament. Tomorrow, Paraguay will take on the vinotinto of Venezuela, who had won just two Copa América matches in their history prior to this years edition. Four very different teams, from very different cultures, hailing from all across the continent. Yet one strand united them all hear; superb management..................

Read the full article here on STV

Brazil bow out in turgid affair, Venezuela pip Chile

2011-07-18T05:45:00.000+01:00

Joseph Sexton on quarter finals shocks and penalty cock-ups in the Copa quarter finals [More]

Falcao looks to add to burgeoning reputation

2011-07-16T05:43:00.000+01:00

Joseph Sexton's Copa America blog: looking ahead to Saturday's first quarter finals [More]

Uruguay mull over Messi conundrum

2011-07-15T05:38:00.000+01:00

BRAZIL went back to the future on Wednesday night to secure their passage to the quarter finals of Copa America.

Mano Menezes reverted to the attack which underwhelmed against Venezuela in their first outing, and finally we some spark. In an open attacking game they were pegged back twice by an adventurous Ecuador

team but claimed a 4-2 victory, and with it the top spot in Group B.

Dani Alves making way for Inter’s Maicon was no surprise, given the chasing the Barcelona man had been on the end of against Paraguay. Crucially, Alexandre Pato and Neymar opened their accounts, bagging a brace apiece; in behind, playmaker Paulo Henrique Ganso exerted a greater......

Read the full article here on the Irish Examiner Sports Desk Blog

Sluggish Brazil sweat on Copa progress

2011-07-13T05:34:00.000+01:00

IT'S taken time, but the Copa América has finally begun to take shape over the last few days. Last night, Group C reached its conclusion. Chile sealed top spot after a last gasp winner in an ill-tempered

encounter with Peru, while in La Plata, Uruguay’s profligacy saw them ride their luck en route to another 1-0 victory over an inexperienced Mexico selection.

This leaves one quarter final pairing confirmed, and what a mouthwatering prospect that is; on Saturday night Uruguay will face hosts Argentina in Santa Fe (23:15 GMT).

The two neighbours have proceeded on differing trajectories in this tournament. Uruguay started impressively against Peru but have stuttered since. Following a disappointing 1-1 opener with Bolivia..........

Read the full article here on The Irish Examiner Sports Desk Blog

The Copa America wrap: Are Argentina a broken team?

2011-07-08T05:26:00.000+01:00

Joseph Sexton rounds up the opening matches of the Copa America and finds the host nation is in crisis.

Has Sergio Batista made a rod for his own back including Carlos Tevez? Pic: © Aflo/Rex Features

‘UN EQUIPO CHIFLADO!’, read the headline Argentina’s biggest selling paper Clarín on Thursday morning- A crazy team; a broken team.

Something is very much broken with the albiceleste right now, something which runs even deeper than the two abject performances they’ve delivered to date in the Copa América. Good teams can play badly, and good players can have off days, but this something bigger, something existential.

It is a collective failure that can be traced back to Argentina’s devastating defeat to Brazil in the final four years ago, in a Copa where they had looked head and shoulders above the rest until the moment of reckoning arrived. Now, we see a team burdened, an ensemble of players who look a shadow of their true selves.

This wasn’t part of the script. They had flickered briefly in last summer’s World Cup before getting tonked by Germany in the quarter finals, the day that Diego Maradona’s side came unstuck having been overrun in midfield and just about every other department. Getting rid of El Diego was the first part of the solution, we were told. And few disagreed..............

Read the full article here on STV

Copa America: the groups, the teams, the players

2011-06-30T03:57:00.000+01:00

Joseph Sexton analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the Copa America contenders.
Pic: © Reuters

With the 43rd Copa America about to kick off, every side has strengths to bring to the table but what could be their downfall?

Group A

Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Bolivia

On the face of it, Group A is probably the easiest of the three groups to call. Argentina, hosts and tournament favourites have too much quality and cohesiveness about about them to have any major worries in topping the section.

Equally, it seems a no-brainer to call Colombia for the second automatic spot. Sleeping giants, the continents’ greatest underachievers may find goals taxingly hard to come by but they should prove too strong for both..........................Read the full article here on STV

Copa America 2011: tournament preview

2011-06-30T03:51:00.000+01:00

My tournament preview for STV

Joseph Sexton gives you the lowdown on the 43rd South American championship.

Gonzalo Higuain will be hoping to make his mark for Argentina. Pic: © Reuters

Just days before the 43rd Copa América kicks off in Argentina, we were treated to ugly scenes in Buenos Aires as the unthinkable happened: River Plate- the Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United rolled into one of this football crazy nation- were relegated to the Nacional B, Argentina’s second tier, for the first time in their history.

Hundreds of hooligans, the notorious barras bravas, rioted as their demotion was confirmed, using the seating of the Monumental stadium as missiles and fighting running battles with police outside the ground. This is the dark side of football in Argentina, whose domestic game is plagued by fan violence and these images were beamed across the planet.

Don’t let this fool you, however; Copa América 2011 looks set to be a festival of a football, and a fantastic tournament for those fans watching around the world or lucky enough to be there in the flesh.

Football violence in Argentina is strictly a domestic affair, largely between rivals of the bigger Buenos Aires sides but also internecine amongst groups within each particular team’s support. Rivalries are set aside when it comes to watching the albiceleste however; the national team unites all supporters behind the same banner.

One of the most interesting things about this year’s Copa América- and we’ll come to the football itself in a moment- is the AFA’s laudable decision to take the tournament to the country, to the far-flung provinces. Football, like the country as a whole, has traditionally been a highly centralised affair with not just River and Boca, but also clubs like Velez Sársfield, Independiente, Racing Club, San Lorenzo, Argentinos Juniors, Hurácan and others from the capital mainstays in the top-flight and the battles for local and continental honours. This is hardly surprising, given that more than a third of Argentina’s 41m population lives in the greater Buenos Aires area. And yet in this year’s tournament only one game will be played in the capital; the final, on July 24th, at the Monumental.

This is to applauded.

Instead this year’s Copa will be spread out across this vast country. Only Córdoba in the centre, the country’s second largest urban centre, could be deemed a major city. Many are not even home to top flight football clubs; neighbouring Jujuy and Salta- in the far away northwestern corner are much closer to La Paz and Asunción than Buenos Aires, and only marginally less further from the Peruvian capital, Lima- both fit into this category.

Further to the south, another two neighbours along the Chilean frontier, Mendoza and San Juan- the former home to Godoy Cruz, one of the most successful provincial sides of recent years- will also host games. The only two cities within striking distance of the capital with that honour are Santa Fé and La Plata, the latter home to the 2009 Libertadores cup winners, Estudiantes. As the traditional big guns struggle, this decision should help further the spread the footballing power beyond the capital.

Of course, most readers here will be watching the games on satellite but there is still plenty for them to delight in. Argentina have named their strongest possible squad, and will be going all out to win this one on home turf. They boast an an attack to die for, including double Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi. So strong, indeed, is there attack that it looked likely until a couple of weeks ago that Carlos Tévez would miss the cut. The midfield also contains more bite and creativity than it did at the World Cup, where they were completely over run in the centre by Germany.

Brazil are at a more transitional stage of their development, but words like ‘transition’ are relative in this context. Up front they boast the current poster boy of South American football, Neymar; fresh from his mesmerising display as Santos claimed the Libertadores last week, he’ll be joined in the starting XI by Milan duo Alexandre Pato and Robinho.

The latter may have disappointed at Manchester City, and has blown hot and cold in Europe at club level over the years, but he always brings his A game for the seleçao. Providing the bullets will be Neymar’s club team-mate, Paulo Henrique Ganso, a clever technician with home the forward has an almost telepathic understanding. With a much more creative midfield and a backline that- both in the starting XI and reserve- no side in international football even comes close to, they would appear to have all the ingredients needed to win their fifth Copa América from the last six contested.

Uruguay were a revelation at last year’s World Cup, after struggling to make it to the finals. With Edinson Cavani on fire, and Luís Suárez carrying on where he left off at Ajax in the Premier League, they have a potentially lethal attack wedded to their overall solidity. And if they might have upset some neutrals last summer in the manner of their victory over Ghana last summer, few teams got the pulses racing of those same neutrals than swashbuckling Chile.

Chile have recently endured a change of coach, with the popular and attack-minded Argentine Marcelo Bielsa stepping down in February, but they have got a stronger squad in place this time round and should add some extra defensive solidity under Claudio Borghi. And that’s not forgetting the emergence of Alexis Sánchez, who is now a truly world class talent.

Though many in Europe rank Uruguay as the best equipped outsider to win (and this would put them back ahead of Argentina as the most successful team in the competition’s history), my feeling is that Chile will present the biggest threat to Brazil and Argentina. At any rate, both look likely to occupy the top two slots in their group, leaving them with an excellent chance of pushing on to make the semi finals.

Paraguay remain solid, and excelled to reach their first-ever world cup quarter final in South Africa, but are carrying some old legs within the squad and lack the same degree of firepower as the two sides in Group C. They will surely follow Brazil out of their group, and their dogged, obdurate nature will make them a tough outfit to break down.

It is difficult to say what we can expect from Mexico in Group C. Having decided to travel with a largely under-23 squad, they had five of their players suspended three weeks ago for testing positive to a banned substance. Then on Monday, amidst celebrations following the senior side’s remarkable comeback last Saturday to claim the CONCACAF Gold Cup against the USA, a further eight of the Copa squad were suspended by their federation for breaking a curfew and brining ladies of the night to the team hotel; including more than one of the overage players selected. With Peru in rag order, you would still have to rate their chances of getting through as one of the better ranked sides finishing third.

Back in Argentina’s group, Colombia look good to claim second place. Remarkably, for a side featuring FC Porto’s prolific Rademal Falcão, they have struggled for goals in recent years. They will have to find a way to better make use of his goal threat if they are to make any headway at the business end of this year’s competition.

So although many will rightly have Argentina and Brazil as their favourites, they aren’t going to have it all their own way. The pressure on Argentina will be immense, both as hosts and also given their 18 year drought at senior level.

Brazil, some argue, may lack the steel of that formidable Dunga side; who were, in objective, results-based terms a match for Spain in last four year World Cup cycle. As unloved as that side was by some for their counter-attacking style, it took a spectacularly uncharacteristic self-implosion for them to throw it away against Holland in that quarter final last june. Such has been the overall rise in the standard of the continent’s less-heralded sides over the past decade and a half, neither can afford to be at anything but their best if we are to see the final that most are predicting.

What we have kicking off with the host’s encounter with Bolivia in La Plata has the makings of a pure footballing pageant. Argentina has the greatest and loudest supporter culture of any country on the continent, full of song, colour and drama. With the violence and ugliness pushed to the sidelines for the next three weeks, everything in place for us to have a Copa América to remember.

Copa América preview

2011-06-28T12:00:00.000+01:00

This was my tournament preview for Eircome Sports Hub

Original article HERE

In recent weeks the world has seen the ugly side of Argentine football. As the most successful club in the country’s history, River Plate, sank to relegation the contemptible scenes- sadly, all too familiar in domestic football there- attracted worldwide attention. In the first leg of their promotion/relegation play-off away at Belgrano, scores of barras bravas (hooligans who infest the structures of the clubs themselves) poured onto the field and threatened the players before making their way back into the crowd. Last Sunday in the return leg, a banner reading ‘Kill or Die’ outside the Estadio Monumental made their feelings clear. As the unthinkable became reality, River supporters tore their seats up in disgust and left a trail of destruction on the streets after the game. Fears that the Monumental might not be ready for the tournament were greatly exaggerated though; indeed the capital will only host one game in this 43rd Copa América, the final itself.

And this brings us onto happier matters; how this might just be the greatest edition of the world’s oldest international tournament to date. Bearing in mind that the scenes which shame domestic football in this country are unlikely to be a factor, the reasons for this are twofold.

One is that AFA has made the enlightened move of bringing the game to the people, and to the provinces. This is no small matter in a country that, despite its size and population, is nearly as centralised as its tiny neighbour, Uruguay. Buenos Aires dominates the local footballing landscape, but in truth this push for decentralisation both recognises and should accelerate existing trends within domestic football there.

And so it is that we will see games in disparate locations like Jujuy and Salta in the far northwest, closer to Peru than the capital. Further down along on the Chilean frontier, San Juan and Mendoza- the latter significantly home to one of provincial football’s great recent success stories, Godoy Cruz- as well the more central Cordoba and Santa Fé. Finally, games will also be hosted in La Plata, an hour south of Buenos Aires, and home to most successful club in recent seasons; Juan Sebastian Veron’s Estudiantes, who won the league last year having worn the continental crown in 2009. From a structural standpoint, it’s going to be a fascinating tournament.

But equally, from a footballing point of view, this year’s Copa América could hardly be more mouthwatering. There has never been a time when the continent could boast such strength in depth. While Brazil and Argentina remain the undisputed favourites, there are many other teams to look for here. For this, we can thank the marathon CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying tournament, which has raised the standard across the continent as a whole to unprecedented levels. Who would have predicted 20 years ago that Ecuador would be producing players of the quality of Manchester United’s Antonio Valencia? They might not have made last year’s world cup, but qualifying in 2002 and 2006 (reaching the last 16 in the latter) was no fluke as that country’s football continues to grow. Even baseball crazy Venezuela, hosts of the last Copa in 2007 and once the San Marino of the region, will be using this year’s Copa as a springboard to making their assault on World Cup qualification in 2014. In the 2010 qualifiers, indications of their improvement could be seen as they held a rampant Brazil side to a draw on away ground. Uruguay, of course, struggled to to even get there via a playoff but turned out to be one of the revelations of last summer’s World Cup.

But it remains true that it is hard to look beyond Brazil and Argentina. The hosts haven’t won this trophy in 18 years, and indeed will be mindful that Uruguay could again overtake them at the top of the role of honour should they triumph here. Their case looks good. Coach Sergio ‘Checho’ Batista seems to have hit upon his own imitation of the Barcelona style, and is finally getting the best out of Lionel Messi. Their options up front are the envy of world football. Despite rumours that Carlos Tévez- so nearly omitted altogether both on footballing grounds and due to his disruptive presence- may start tonight appear wide of the mark. Checho is likely to persist with Angel Di María and Napoli’s Ezequiel Lavezzi alongside Messi, a fluid frontline that has served him well to date. This means that stellar figures such as Sergio Agüero, Gonzalo Higuaín and Diego Milito may well be keeping Manchester City’s talisman company on the bench. With a much more balanced midfield trade-off between tenacity and creativity than we saw in the latter stages of last year’s World Cup, they are also the best served in that area of the field. The backline remains a worry, however. Although Javier Zanetti, a surprise absentee from South Africa will bolster that area, they are poorly served both in goal and at centre back. What a pity that Nicolas Otamendi, impressive in his debut season for Porto, misses out.

Brazil are at an interesting stage in their development. Upon taking the helm, Mano Manezes’ brief was to inject some badly needed creativity in the middle of the park, and while this process has had its ups and downs, it’s beginning to bear fruit. It’s debatable whether a talent such as Santos’ playmaker, Paulo Henrique Ganso, would have ever featured in a Dunga team; and along with Robinho and his Copa Libertadores winning club mate, the current golden boy of South American football, Neymar they will be fluid in attack. Playing Alexandre Pato, hardly an orthodox number 9, through the centre certainly makes things fascinating. And there is still no team in international football with a back 5, both starting and in reserve, to match theirs.

We will deal with the groups in due course, but not to mention Chile and Uruguay at this point would be sacrilege. In a season where Alexis Sánchez has made the transition from promising talent to bonafide superstar, the side whose adventurous spirit captured many a neutral heart last summer look even more dangerous here. It’s a shame that coach Marcelo Bielsa has departed due to political infighting within the federation, but their new coach Claudio Borghi will add defensive solidity without stymying their attacking threats. The astute and tough-tackling Sevilla midfielder Gary Medel, one of the few men in recent memory to make Xavi Hernández flinch, will patrol the middle of the park. For this writer, they represent the most likely side to rain on the establishment’s parade here.

Right behind them will be Uruguay, whom they face-off against in the group stage. Coach Oscar Washington Tabárez’s tactically flexibility was a key component of their success last summer. Aside from a shock defeat in Estonia in March, they still seem to perform better against European opposition than South American; although, in light of their struggles in reaching South Africa they are now well placed to buck that trend. In a side packed with quality, from the front back to the likes of captain Diego Lugano, Diego Godín, Nicolas Lodeiro and Walter Gargano, all eyes will be on Diego Forlán. He went from hero to persona non grata at Atlético Madrid last term, enduring a torrid season. With the emergence of Edinson Cavani and the continued excellence of Luís Suárez, that pressure to lead the line has been lifted. If he can shrug off his club woes and bring spark to this attack, than we’re looking at a unit that runs Argentina’s close for firepower.

Group by Group:

Group A

Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Bolivia

Argentina, quite rightly, will fancy their chances of topping this group. They open the tournament tonight against Bolivia, hoping to erase the painful memory of a 6-1 defeat at altitude away to their opponents two years ago. Colombia should join them, but the continent’s sleeping giants will need to up their game significantly to make a serious impression on this tournament. That a man like Rademal Falcão, who netted 39 times last season for Porto (including a record 18 in their march to the Europa League), has managed a mere 7 in 28 international starts tells you a lot about where their problems lie; they simply don’t score enough goals. Whether their slow, short-passing game suits the striker’s strengths is an open-and-shut debate. In the centre, Freddy Guarín, once a teenage prodigy who lost his way for a while, enjoyed a renaissance in his third year at Porto under the guidance of André Villas-Boas. With all due respect to the remaining sides, Costa Rica will be fielding a weakened selection having just competed in the CONCACAF Gold Cup and along with Bolivia, it’s hard to see either sneaking through as one of the two best-ranked third-placed sides.

Group B

Brazil, Paraguay, Ecuador, Venezuela

Brazil are favourites to progress along with Paraguay, and this is probably justified. But despite reaching the World Cup quarter-finals last year, Paraguay are unlikely to have it all their own way. Like Ecuador, they are in the process of renewal but could be carrying too many of the old guns. Venezuela have emerged as a competitive side in recent years, and will be hoping to rank third. Outside of the group winners, this is surely the hardest group to call.

Group C

Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Mexico

On the face of, this might look to be the most competitive group of the lot, but appearances can be misleading. It would be a surprise if Chile and Uruguay fail to make up the automatic positions. It’s hard to know what we can expect of Mexico. Their stunning Gold Cup victory last Saturday was built on their recent success at underage level, and the idea here was to bring an under-23 squad supplemented by 5 overage age players. Two weeks ago, however, 5 of their players were suspended after testing positive for a banned substance; the Mexican federation is currently fighting their case, claiming that the substance was innocently ingested through meat. Then, just two days after that memorable victory over the USA, 8 more players (including senior defender Jonathan dos Santos) were suspended after prostitutes they brought back to the team hotel in a stopover in Ecuador ransacked the players’ rooms. They should be good to make it as one of the best third-placed teams however, as Peru- already at something of a low ebb- will be without Claudio Pizarro and have key figure such as Jefferson Fárfan, Pablo Guerrero and Juan Vargas all struggling for fitness. Don’t expect much of an impact from the Andean side here.

Ones to Watch:

Ever Banega & Javier Pastore (Argentina)Pastore has come of age this season for Palermo, and although he was included in Diego Maradona’s World Cup squad last summer, arguably the most striking omission then was Valencia’s Ever Banega. Banega struggled to adapt to European football initially, and might have become on those talents who suffer from making the jump too early. But for almost two and a half years now he has consistently gone about his business and developed into the sort of player we’d all hoped he’d become. Squat, with quick feet and a keen eye for a pass, his distribution from the middle has become a defining feature of Batista’s Argentina. But such has been the emergence of Pastore that his place in the starting XI (presuming Checho choose to retain the solidity offered by Javier Mascherano and Esteban Cambiasso) is under real threat. Both players have the capability to light up this tournament. Which one seizes the opportunity to do so will be an intriguing side story.

Neymar & Paulo Henrique Ganso (Brazil)Chuck D once implored us not to believe the hype, but Neymar has shown himself capable of backing up the hyperbolé lashed on him; and then some. With fouls given so readily in domestic Brazilian football, question marks remained about his ability to thrive on the world stage, given his infuriating propensity to dive. But Neymar is more than capable of looking after himself; being offered little protection from the referee but with his Nacional marker on a yellow and looking likely to pick a second in the first leg of the Libertadores Cup Final, Neymar hastened his opponent’s premature departure with a snide piece of revenge, leaving a gash on that hatchet man’s thigh. In the second leg, with Ganso fit again, the pair ran riot in a sublime display of pressing and attacking wizardry which the 2-1 scoreline did scant justice to. Ganso is exactly the sort of midfield maestro the seleçao have lacked in recent times, and his clever, probing passes could really bring the best out of a fluid frontline. With Neymar always looking to cut in from wide, and with his favoured trick of shaping to curl to the far-post before clipping it home near no less bewilderingly effective for being utterly predictable, this pair will give opposing defences twisted blood as they struggle to get to grips with them.

Edinson Cavani (Uruguay)What more can be written about El Matador that hasn’t been already? Well, for those who don’t follow Serie A closely, this man was the success story of the season. Having predominantly played out wide for club and country, Walter Mazzari’s decision to employ him through the middle for Napoli meant Fabio Quagliarella’s defection to Juventus was scarcely noticed. He announced himself with a brace on his Serie A debut, and has hardly stopped scoring since. Whether it be a hat-trick of headers against Juve, another hat-trick in a pulsating 4-3 win over Lazio, or that stunning 95th minute virtuoso effort to clinch a 1-0 victory over Lecce, he has been nothing short of phenomenal. Superb in the air, and good with both feet, it’s not just in front of goal that he excels; his work in the build-up play and defensively are both impressive too. Ireland supporters got a chance to witness his ability at the Aviva last March, and should Uruguay progress as expected, he represents good value to finish as top scorer here.

Rademal Falcão (Colombia)As mentioned already, Falcão has struggled to make the same impact internationally as he has at club level, but that’s not all down to his own efforts. If Colombia have the good sense to play to his strengths, he can have a wonderful tournament here. And if Colombia can manage that, we could see them going deep into the competition for the first time since their 2001 on home soil.

Lucas Barrios (Paraguay)Argentina-born, but part of the Paraguayan diaspora, Barrios last year made the call to turn out for the country of his parents’ birth. Don’t let the fact that he might have struggled to get game time for Argentina fool you (this is a team that were, up until the last minute, looking to omit Carlos Tévez entirely from their Copa squad). He’s had a fine season at Borussia Dortmund where he helped the club to the Bundesliga title, and has all the attributes you could ask for in a centre-forward; powerful, fast, direct and mobile, he also benefits from great technique and knows where the goal is. With Roque Santa Cruz out of sorts, and Oscar Cardozo not even in the squad given his inability to bring his Benfica form to the national side, Barrios is the man Paraguay will be looking to to fire them into the latter stages of the Copa.

Alexis Sánchez (Chile)The figures being bandied around for Alexis Sánchez may appear bewildering to some, but not to those who’ve tracked his career or seen his displays last season in Italy; and not to all those huge clubs who’ve come to recognise that the forward would make a fine addition even to the very best of teams. Udinese boss Guidolin’s decision to move him from the wing into that central trequartista area behind the main strikes has reaped dividends; Sánchez responded with his best season to date, capped by a string of superb individual display, firing his side to an unlikely Champions League qualifier berth. Udinese will hope to retain his services to aid their European campaign next term, but with the player looking for a fresh challenge a move seems nigh-on certain. Whoever wants to snatch away this special talent will have to break the bank though. With Chile looking a good bet to make the semis in Argentina, it’s all set up nicely for the attacker to have a stellar tournament to match the stellar fee he’ll command.

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Copa América Memories: 1999 – EL LOCO’S DARKEST HOUR

2011-06-22T02:40:00.000+01:00

Some call him ‘El Loco’; other prefers ‘El Titán’. Born in La Plata in 1973, he started his pro career banging goals in for his local club- Estudiantes- and he’s barely let up ever since. In a career that’s taken him to Spain via the Federal Capital- and back again- he signed off at home for the club which he became synonymous, Boca Juniors, last Sunday in a 1-1 draw against Belgrano at the Bombonera. 297 all-in-all goals in 609 professional club appearances tells us something as to why he held in such reverence; eight Primera División titles, two Copa Libertadores, and one Intercontinental Cup tells us more.

He never quite cut it in Europe; to be fair, Palermo in many ways does not resemble the prototype of an Argentine forward. Moreover, injuries robbed him of speed. Tall and gangly, he certainly doesn’t stride like a footballer. His first touch remains uncultured. If no-one can deny that there is one thing that defines him, it is his goals; and underpinning that are his two other great qualities- presence; and huevos. Balls.

There were no goals for the blonde-haired centre forward on the day he achieved international notoriety, July 4 1999. The stage was Copa América group C, the opponent Colombia, and the setting Asunción, Paraguay. It is a game that still defies logic. Five penalty kicks were awarded that day, including the one that led to Ivan Córdoba’s opener for the Colombians ten minutes in. Javier Zanetti, of all people, was shown a straight red 21 minutes from the end for a reckless barge; so, too, was his manager Marcelo Bielsa.

That erratic genius of a coach added to the surreality of the night in his post-mast reaction. When asked what he thought of the referee he, characteristically, stared blankly into space for what seemed an eternity before replying. “Well, I usually don’t like to comment on referees, but…”. But. And it’s true, he doesn’t. But, here we went, surely?

But no. “Well. Regarding my expulsion all I will say is that Señor Aquino was absolutely correct because I protested in an such an ill-mannered form”. Crikey.

But no, this match will be remembered for none of that. Not a whit.

Palermo had already opened his account for tournament in the first game versus Ecuador, netting his first and second goals for the albiceleste. WhenArgentina were awarded a penalty with the scoring level in their second game, he was the natural candidate to step forward to take the kick. His presence, more than anything, had forced the Colombian centre-half into this foolish concession by handball. His every move screamed confidence.

Staring down the opposing goalkeeper, Miguel Calero, he smacked a ferocious shot down the centre. With Calero committed, the ball accelerated with such force that you feared for the netting. Instead, the ball hit the crossbar flush before arcing over the end line for a goal-kick. ‘Palo!’ the commentator, Marcelo Araujo screamed. The Colombians had been let off the hook. Within three minutes, the rattled Argentines had presented their unfancied opponents with a gift they were in no mood to pass up. Córdoba, this time, made no mistake from 12 yards.

Yet,Argentina were still the better side and it simply looked a case of when- not if- they would strike back. Watching the re-run on Fox Sport Clásico, they appear superior to their opponents in every aspect. After the tragic failure of USA 1994, Colombia were going through a generational change but were a country without a track record of possessing those key attributes of peerless talent, belief and continuity that mark the continents two super-powers’ ability to manage such transition.

More wedded than ever to the slow short-passing game 0f their erstwhile trainer, Francisco Maturana, they no longer had those deadly technicians or that devastating turn of attacking acceleration which had seen them eviscerate their opponents 5-0 on their own turf six years hence, forcing the Argentines into a humiliating play-off against Australia and an ill-starred recall for a physically ruined Diego Maradona to make the World Cup in the US. Here, Argentina were bigger, more coherent, feistier, and asked serious questions of this dubious Colombian defence.

After the break, it was more of the same. The only thing missing was end-product. If only, you felt, they could pick out Palermo in the right position the Colombians were there for the taking. Yet from one incisive centre-field switch, Zanetti coughed up a cross on the right that looked to be sailing harmlessly away from danger until the referee blew his whistle for a push so devilishly subtle fromArgentina’s central defender, Astrada, that nobody but the official noticed it. Bielsa slumped to the turf and flailed his arms as his defenders protested.

The replay showed that Hamilton Ricard, the man supposedly fouled, had barely been within three feet of his purported assailant at the time. This one was going from weird to weirder, and worse was to come. Ricard, with the look of a man with the church chalice protruding from his satchel, dispatched a poor strike which Roberto Abbondanzieri palmed to his right before clutching unopposed at the second attempt. Justice had been served.

As the game became more open and loose, the rangy young enganche Juan Román Riquelme wrestled control in the centre as Colombia dropped back, his clever through-balls to the predatory Palermo coming closer each time to yielding a leveler. Somehow, dogged resistance, dumb luck, and indecisiveness meant we entered the final quarter mark with Colombia still ahead.

The commentators, Araujo and his sidekick, noted the sheer distraction factor of Palermo, how the entire defence seemed fixated upon his physical presence; and how just- if only- a midfield runner could intelligently use his decoy presence then the entire Colombian strategy of sitting on their 12 yard line could come unstuck.Argentinahas stuck to their philosophy and were doing everything right. Bar the odd Colombian pot-shot, it was all one-way traffic and Riquelme was in magisterial form. Eventually, a mistake would come, and eventually the right opportunity would present itself.

And finally it came. Under sustained pressure, Colombia allowed Kily González and Riquelme to exchange passes out on the left before the enganche swung a deftly flighted ball towards Palermo at the back post. The only way to to stop him was to impede him; the decision was an easy one. “Penalti!” Bielsa, who moments before had had the countenance of a man being told his sister had been abducted by a band of Ratko Mládic’s irregulars erupted, jumping, bellowing and eyes bulging. “It’s ON!”

While the Colombians crowded the the referee on the penalty spot, Martin Palermo looked the coolest customer in town as he placed the ball on the mark, oblivious to their half-hearted protestations. The melee cleared, and just as before but from the opposite end he began his run-up from twelve yards, utterly unfazed.

Fixing his socks in place, he set in motion. “Vamooooo Martín, vamooo Martín!” implored Araujo. Same boot, same situation. This time the ball flew into the stands without ever coming close to the touching the bar. Unbelievable! “Por dios…. Por favor…. cómo puede ser?” For the love of god, how can it be so? intoned the comentarista as Palermo yanked up his nicks like a nappy, that cold exterior finally succumbing to anguish.

The players were losing the plot, just as Bielsa now was losing his. And the referee? He’d never had much of one to begin with. Bielsa was led away from the pitch by a pair of heavies with regulation 1970′s beige military dictator suits and glasses. And yet still, it was a one goal game. Not for long though. A corner on the right saw Palermo lose his man at the wrong end of the field, allowing Edwin Congo to ghost home a sublime finish from the centre that all but sealed the group for his side.

It was some minutes before play resumed. The Colombians, understandably, were every bit as ecstatic as the Porteños were shell-shocked. But the drama wasn’t finished. Bielsa teams know only one way to play, and that is to attack. It is what makes his sides so invigorating to watch, regardless of the outcome. Just as his Chile side did against Spain against all the odds in South Africa last summer, now the selección continued to go toe-to-toe a man short.

They were making good headway through the centre when that clown of an árbitro, Ubaldo Aquino- deciding to do what their opponents had given up on trying- broke up a fine passing move as Diego Simeone sought to feed the ball centrally. Their tails up, the Colombians took maximum advantage as Freddy Rincón fed the 16 year-old wonderkid Jhonnier Montaño who sliced through the off-guard albiceleste defence to plant a golazo worthy of winning any game having spotted Abbondanzieri fractionally off his line from some 30 yards out. 3-0. 3-0! Mad, bad, and insane in every membrane possible. This had been one hell of a game. But yet… but yet.

The crowd oléd every successful Colombia pass. Now the timid had turned tormenter, taunting their opponents as the Scots once did at Wembley safe in the knowledge that whatever happened, they would not suffer the hubristic comeuppance Cruyff’s Holland did when their cockiness kicked in too early in the 1974 World Cup Final. Ping-ping-ping. Now it was Argentina who were chasing shadows and looking a shambles. But there remained one defiant man with unfeasible testicular fortitude who was not willing to take this humiliation sat on his arse; even as yet another colleague ended up on his in the middle of yet another mocking Colombian rombo. Who else could it have been?

Pressing like a man possessed, fighting against a lost cause that would have left Saint Anthony himself aghast, Martín Palermo picked the pocket of melina (that wonderfully Italian protoype of tiki-taka where the defence circulate the ball against an already beaten opponent) to surge into the area.

Surge? Maybe that’s too powerful a word. He was spent. Upon being crowded out by two recovering defenders he simply collapsed to the ground, dead from his efforts. But it was by no means the most preposterous of fouls given by Aquino on the night, and in truth, who would have begrudged Argentina some consolation on a night of such utter insanity? Even the defence barely bothered to protest. But what was this?

Palermo was already on his feet, if not exactly marching, then at least purposefully making his way towards the mark. If any team-mate was so foolish as to insist on stopping this beast from having his shot at at partial redemption, they certainly lacked the pelotas to do so; certainly lacked the pelotas of Palermo himself.

That icy stare appeared again, but this time tinged with a hint of desperation. The Bull from La Plata was panting. It was the fifth penalty of the night. It had been emotional… and then some. But, after all that had transpired before, there was not a hope he would cede duties to any of his shattered team-mates.

Most coaches tell you you must know how to shoot with both feet, but then Martín Palermo has never been one who conforms to what most coaches demand. His run up lacked the pace of his previous two. Surely this was fatigue, so evident, but it also lacked the earlier certainty. He didn’t seek power and height this time. Instead, an equally jaded Calero was grateful to save his left-footed shot in that area keepers always most favour- just off centre to the opposite side off their opponent’s preferred foot. Colombia celebrated again.

Palermo trudged off, bowed but not beaten. Within hours, even CNN in the United States was treating its viewers to this most cruel of tragicomedies. It was the talk of schoolyards from Ireland to Iran, and Japan to Cape Town. For those of us outside of outside of South America, at the dawn of the internet age, it was our introduction to the man.

But even at this moment of failure, it encapsulates what all Argentines love about this guy. Even the River fans, even those who scorned his selections during Diego Maradona’s crazed reign. Here was a man with balls the size of Mexico. A man whose sheer bloody-mindedness and refusal to admit defeat we could all aspire to.

His subsequent career saw highs and lows. In the short-term, his standing in the eyes of European scouts barely diminished. His stellar performance against Real to claim the Intercontinental Cup Final in 2000 proved he still had the power, pace, and finishing ability to make it in Europe.

After some initial success following a move to a Villarreal side looking to cement their newly-found status in Spain’s top flight, he suffered some unfortunate injuries and was never quite the same beast. Following those, his technical shortcomings were exposed at the highest level in Europe. Uncowed, he returned home to become the greatest goalscorer in Boca’s modern history.

When he finally reappeared on the world stage to rescue Argentina’s 2010 World Cup qualification, even that was questioned in some corners by the highest journalistic authorities. He did just that, at the moment Argentina stared elimination from South Africa 2010 in the face even before the flights had been booked.

But no one well ever question the man, his goals, his balls. Or is heart. How fitting that on his fleeting recall he managed to net against Greece in South Africa, becoming the oldest Argentine after the great El Diego himself to hit the mark in a World Cup to do so. Not through ephedrine. Not through natural gifts. But by taking what limited gifts he possessed and making more of them than a lesser man could ever have dreamed of.

Highlights of all three penalty misses.

Extended highlights of the game.

Joseph is a freelance Spanish correspondent for Back Page Football and Scotzine. You can follow him on Twitter @josephsbcn.

This article originally appeared in The Oval Log

Born winners, regular guys and great friends will come out on top in Champions League final

2011-05-27T02:52:00.000+01:00

This was my Champions League final preview for STV's Sports Blog

Pic: ©Reuters

On Saturday night, we will witness two of Europe’s heavyweights go into battle on the hallowed turf of Wembley, the site of the pair’s maiden European coronations.

As preposterous as it may seem on the face of it, both sides could be also labelled as Europe’s great underachievers, alongside Juventus. Both sides bring to the table proud histories: histories of success, and of sparkling football; commitment to developing their own, and imposing their style.

Manchester United enter this final fresh from knocking Liverpool off their domestic perch; Barcelona having emerged the victor of a gruelling series against a Real Madrid side desperate to make amends for last November’s memorable 5-0 manita at the Camp Nou.

If the plaudits for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side have been reserved, qualified even, they are inverse to the unanimity of those bestowed upon the blaugrana. But where there is no divergence is in their eagerness to make up for lost time and write some new history, trailing as they do their principal domestic rivals’ illustrious tallies in the greatest club competition of them all. Bitter foes have been put in their place domestically and now both seek to reel them in here too.

2009’s final may have represented a slap in the face for United, being as it was their first ever defeat in a European final; but Barcelona are no strangers to the pain of defeat on the ultimate stage. It is scarcely believable now that they took the field here at the old Wembley 19 years ago against Sampdoria having never worn the continent’s crown.

The competition had served up a turd on a stick in the final the year before, as a gifted Red Star Belgrade cynically played for penalties en route to victory against Marseille; but as 1992’s final entered the final ten minutes of additional time goalless, nobody could complain of a lack of entertainment.

This was Johann Cruyff’s Dream Team of Hristo Stoichkov, José María Bakero et al with a young Josep Guardiola giving the prompts from midfield. Spoiling tactics simply weren’t part of their vocabulary. Their opponents, with Gianluca Vialli, Roberto Mancini and the flying Atillio Lombardo in their pomp correctly sensed this might be the only chance for Samp, and were keen to seize it.

Nonetheless, as the game edged towards penalties one could sense the Catalans’ growing angst. They had agonisingly lost the ’86 to final to Steaua Bucharest in Seville through that particular lottery, and now the nightmare scenario was looming again.

Those with longer memories cast their minds back the days of Helenio Herrera, and Barça’s great team of that era who had the historical misfortune to coexist with Real during their staggering five-cup European haul. Herrera got the boot for bowing out to the Madrid club at the semi final stage in Europe, and went on to dominate the competition with Inter.

Barcelona’s solitary final in 1961 saw them go trophyless after five goal thriller against Benfica. The hopes and dreams of a nation weighed heavily on the shoulders of the 11 men on the park in London.

With 111 minutes on the clock, they won a free-kick just outside the opposing D. The referee, Aron Schmidhuber, flashed a card as the Sampdoria defence tried to slow things down. The tension amongst both ranks was palpable. Schmidhuber drew on his whistle. Stoichkov and Bakero teed the ball up for Ronald Koeman to blast home. At long last, the wait was over.

It’s possible to speak of a Barcelona before 1992 and after, but one central stand binds both eras and it represented in two figures; Cruyff, the star of the 1970s whose intellectual blueprint imported from Ajax underpins the club’s philosophy to this day, and the man who carries that tradition as he returns to the site of that famous win this weekend, Pep Guardiola.

Through the good times and the bad, that philosophy has been imprinted on the very DNA of the club to the extent where then-president Joan Laporta baulked at the possibility of hiring José Mourinho three summers ago, preferring to promote the untested Guardiola from his post in charge of Barcelona’s B side.

On the field, the team were in turmoil and the last two years of the Frank Rijkaard era had left Real in the ascendent. Having finished third, and 18 points behind a Real team who had hammered them 4-1 before the season ended, the task to turn it around was enormous. Many people questioned whether Guardiola had the credentials to do so.

That seems a very long time ago now.

It is not just that Barcelona have been incredibly successful, though they have. It is not just that they have dished out humiliation upon humiliation on Real, although that helps too. It is not that they won all six available trophies in Guardiola’s first 18 months in charge, but this is a large part of it; victory on Saturday we see him become the clubs most successful coach in its starred history.

Winning is important, and here we have a team of born winners. But is the fact that they been so successful with this unique Barcelona style that brings the greatest satisfaction of all. The players belief in each other and the method is what marks this Barcelona side as being something different, something truly special indeed.

It’s not even about a desire to be remembered as being amongst the greatest of all time, as many outsiders are already keen to label them. All such debate and speculation remains the domain of the press, the blogosphere, and fans. As anyone with the benefit of meeting them will tell you, this is a humble group, with no room for egos. They love each other, and they love winning together. It is this work ethic, this willingness to die for each other, that the club’s sizable contingent brings to most successful national side in Spain’s history.

Born winners, sure; but just regular guys too, and above all great friends. Equally - as anyone in the know will tell you again - any talk of this game carrying extra pressure, as some have claimed, as they seek to cement their place in the pantheon of all-time great sides is wide of the mark. Nobody within the camp is interested in that nonsense. Winning remains the prime objective.

To what degree we can attribute all of this success to Guardiola is the subject of much debate. What should not be up for debate is that there is more to Guardiola than meets the public eye, particularly the Anglophone eye. Polite and erudite, he is also a man of strong will whose first move on taking the reins was to show Ronaldinho and midfield mainstay Deco the door.

Samuel Eto’o, a born winner but equally a prickly and at times difficult presence should have followed suit, but no club was willing to match Barcelona’s modest demands. He put up with Eto’o, who responded with one of his finest seasons there to date as the club swept all. He was still moved unceremoniously on as a makeweight that summer in Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s move from Inter.

It is often said that Barcelona lack a plan B, and it was with that in mind that the Swede was purchased, but that’s not exactly true either. If the incessant pressing game is the most noticeable imprint of Pep on an already gifted team, that does a disservice to his keen tactical mind and micro-managing skills. When needed, he has proven adept at tweaking matters to turn the tide in game, and has surprised us on occasion with his line-ups and starting positions. A motivator, intelligent, an idealist; but also a very pragmatic and shrewd observer.

It soon became clear that in coaching terms, Guardiola has the head of a man ten years senior on his shoulders. But then, even in his playing days, his colleagues likened him to a coach on the field. The burning question in every culé’s mind is just for how much longer he will stay, a question he has repeatedly refused to settle and on more than one occasion this season stoked.

To hear those within the club speak of their opponents shows their genuine respect. Xavi, on more than one occasion and all sincerity has spoken of being in awe at Paul Scholes. It’s unlikely now, as the body begins to fail, that Scholes will play any significant part in this final. But the praise and admiration for Ryan Giggs is only fractionally less effusive.

Lionel Messi singled out Wayne Rooney for praise this week saying "Rooney is a huge player, very skillful and very quick. He's a fully rounded player that can create danger at any time". When they speak of 2009, it is not to express sentiments of superiority to United but a gushing delight across the board of having played exceptionally well. At the same time, they also remember just how badly United rattled them before Eto’o struck against the run of play to put them in front.

Likewise, the players were keen to express their delight at facing another team who like to attack after qualifying from the semi-finals, and we shouldn’t see that as the veiled dig at their opponents in that round that some chose to read it as. When asked on Monday what scared him the most about United, Guardiola replied “Everything”. He wasn’t being flippant, either.

So, although the regard for Manchester United is genuine, there is also a sense that they may be a little off the mark, at least stylistically, in their conception. Specifically, it is as if the 2008 semi final between these teams - where Ferguson’s side set-out to strangle the life out of their opponents - never happened. Given the available personnel, such a catenaccio-style lockdown remains unlikely but what is also unlikely is that United will be quite so dazzled as they were in Rome.

Guardiola’s nascent employment of Messi in the false nine role caught them off guard and ensured it was a night to forget for Ferdinand, Carrick and Vidic who were at a loss as how to pick the double World Footballer of the Year up. Whatever they should expect, they should expect that a more defined stratagem will be in place tomorrow.

Many connected with Barcelona will be surprised to have seen Nani fall out of favour of late. From being their best player for vast swathes of the season, the feeling amongst people in Catalonia is that he should be complementing, not supplanted by, another player who they hold in high regard, the fit-again Antonio Valencia. United will not go out to spoil, that is for sure, but there is a disconnect in the minds of many aficionados here between their image of Manchester United and the sort of Manchester United we are likely to see in the final.

Much has been made of the disruption to Barcelona’s travel plans brought about by fears of a repeat of last season, when volcanic ash meant they had to make a grueling two day journey to Milan to take on Inter in a first leg that effectively sealed the tie. Not that anyone connected to the club ever sought to use that as an excuse. But this week, Xavi accepted that it had not been ideal and the club moved swiftly this time to avoid any complications.

There two ways of looking at this. Under Guardiola, Barcelona have made a point of traveling to away games at the latest possible time. Domestically, this means they fly off to away days the same day, which is not a problem given the amount of 8pm, 9pm and 10pm kick-offs in La Liga.

Sometimes, this caused problems of course; during the Spanish air-traffic controllers strike they arrived on the pitch at Osasuna a minute after the already delayed kick-off time. Guardiola has firm beliefs as to the benefits of this approach, however. He wants his players to be as comfortable as possible, and sees this as another tool towards maximising advantage. As meticulous as he is, the idea of an Italian style retiro, where the players are hauled off and holed up in a hotel two nights before games would be anathema.

So will these extra days spent in London be an advantage of a disadvantage? One school of thought holds that this will, in fact, have upset their routine and may take the players from their familiar comfort zone. Another holds that moving so decisively and swiftly to defuse the chances of anything going wrong was the right move, and that at any rate finals must involve a degree of upheaval inconsistent with their league-style preparations.

This writer’s thoughts are firmly in line with the latter. Besides, anyone following the photographed Twitter antics of Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué at the Emirates yesterday would struggle to argue that these guys aren’t having fun.

On the field, the forward and midfield lines pick themselves. Question marks remain over the defensive configuration. It is a joy to see Eric Abidal back in action so soon after what initially was feared to be a potentially career-ending tumour. During Puyol’s long absences and Piqué’s erratic mid-season form, the Frenchman was a colossus, enjoying comfortably his best season at the club since moving from Lyon.

But doubts remain as to whether he’ll start. The consensus is that Mascherano will partner Piqué in the centre, with Puyol playing left back as he did in Rome two years ago. Sergio Busquets of course is more than capable of playing in the backline, but his centrality to the team and superior use of the ball means he is needed to play the anchoring role.

The mood of relaxed confidence in the camp was epitomised by what club president Sandro Rosell said today “The future of this team doesn't depend on one game. Whatever happens on Saturday, the season is already excellent." They will play to win; but also without fear and without underestimating their opponents in slightest.

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La Liga, última jornada: The relegation showdown that never was…

2011-05-27T02:24:00.000+01:00

Don’t believe the hype.

In another Spanish season where the title march was a procession, where Real Madrid came second in a one-horse race, where the top two shellacked all in sight, dropping a ridiculous total of 40 points (out of a possible total of 228) between them, we wanted something to look forward to.

Villarreal and Valencia had occupied the remaining Champions League berths since the 18th of the December; matchday 16, and the last before the winter break. Almería had been doomed for weeks.

But the relegation battle had proved intriguing. Getafe, who had been close to the Europa League spots in March, had slipped close to the abyss, along with Real Sociedad who’s strong first half showing was too a distant memory. Mallorca, preposterously, had followed them. One place for the drop to the Liga Adelante remained. Six clubs were at risk. The amount of possible permutations, rendered even more confusing by primacy of head-to-head records was simply mind-boggling. We expected something to look forward to as the final day’s relegation battle got underway.

Unfortunately nobody told Valencia’s Aritz Aduriz. A mere four minutes were on the clock at the Riazor when the former Mallorca forward slotted the ball home to put visiting Valencia into the lead. The stadium descended into a deathly silence.

And well it might. Deportivo might just be the most boring team in La Liga these past two seasons, a sad state of affairs for a team once famed for their swashbuckling brand of attacking football. A team synonymous with names like Diego Tristán, Bebeto, Djalminha, Roy Makaay, Albert Luque (stop sniggering, Geordies. He was once rather good; honest!), and Juan Carlos Valeron at his peak is now the team of… Riki. Once Super Depor, they are now just a super bore. They don’t concede much, that it is true- 10 teams who finished above them (including all three of next season’s Europa League qualifiers) have a poorer record in this regard. But they also can’t score to save their lives; literally so, as it proved on the night. 31 goals in 38 matches left them tied with Leo Messi, and 9 behind this season’s pichichi Cristiano Ronaldo. And it’s not just this season either; last year saw a marginally better return of 35, whereas the previous season’s respectable 7th finish saw a moderate 47. Frankly, watching Depor has become something of a chore, and this is why they’ll be plying their trade in the Liga Adelante next term.

And of course, it had to be Valencia. Valencia who had broken their hearts on the final day of the 1993/94 season, denying them a first La Liga title courtesy of Miroslav Djukic’s last gasp spot kick miss. They huffed, they puffed. They threw men forward with an abandon not seen in these parts for many a year. And then in the depths of injury time, Roberto Soldado- a curious absentee from this week’s national squad list- stepped up to administer the coup de grace. Valeron, the one remaining link from a happier time when the Galician club were one of Europe’s most feared sides slumped to the turf as the whistle went. The dream was over. And it was extinguished without so much as a whimper.

It is hard to see where Depor can go from here. The squad is light and distinctly lacking in quality. The money which enabled them to punch above their weight for so long has long dried up. A provincial side, hailing from a city of some 250,000 people, their rise had been meteoric; their fall protracted and painful. Their Galician rivals, Celta de Vigo have languished in the lower tier for several years now and it will be of no consolation to anyone in A Coruña to see that rivalry renewed. They join Hércules and the comically poor Almería in making the drop, with Real Betis and Rayo Vallecano confirmed to go up. Agonisingly, they might not even have a derby to look forward to; for in the final standings, Celta squeezed ahead of Valladolid to make the final promotion play-off place.

As for other highlights, well, there was Kun Aguero’s fantastic hat-trick against Mallorca in what now appears to have been his final game for Atlético de Madrid. Speaking of hat-tricks, Manolito Adebayor signed off from his loan tenure at Real Madrid with one of his own in an 8-1 pummeling of Almería. But of course the real story there was Cristiano Ronaldo notching up goals 39 and 40 of a phenomenal season to finally smash the record held by Hugo Sanchez and Telmo Zarra to the satisfaction of all outside the Marca editorial team. This takes the Portuguese up to preposterous total of of 66 goals in 63 league games since joining the meringue, and a barely believable 86 from 89 in all competitive matches.

Since the final curtain fell on this season’s domestic campaign we’ve been treated to flurry of comings and goings, and signs of plenty more to come. Real Madrid, having already secured the services of Nuri Sahin and Hamit Altintop the previous week, are reported to have secured the services of Benfica flyer Fábio Coentrão, if reports from Portugal’s A Bola are anything to go by. Across town, the story has been even more dramatic. On Monday, talisman Sergio Aguero handed in a transfer request and at this early stage a crosstown switch to el Real looks distinctly likely. Meanwhile, much to everyone’s expectations, goalkeeper David De Gea’s transfer to Manchester United for some €20m was confirmed late on Tuesday. Manager Quique Sanchez Flores exited the club, with erstwhile nemesis and Atleti icon turned persona non grata, Diego Forlán, surely set to follow.

Wednesday’s big news saw Real’s sporting director Jorge Valdano fired, no doubt the great pleasure of José Mourinho. Valdano was at pains to state the move was not of his choosing, “I am not the one who turned Real Madrid into a battlefield. All my efforts this season were directed toward restraint,” he continued. “It has been a long time since I have spoken personally to Mourinho. We greet each other politely, but he sought to deal with people other than me. My responsibilities with the first team were reduced. I did not feel comfortable in that situation.”

Florentino Perez summed the move up as being inevitable given the naked contempt that has existed between the Argentine World Cup winner and the club’s superstar manager. “We have decided to end the contractual relationship with Jorge Valdano. The experience of this season has shown the need for a new organisational structure giving authority to the coach and avoiding dysfunctions” he said, his use of the word ‘dysfunction’ echoing the sentiment of Mourinho in a concurrence that will surely hurt his long time lieutenant as he departs. “I do not want to hide the pain I feel at the exit of Jorge Valdano, but my feelings cannot be a reason for not taking the necessary decisions. There were two people filling a sporting role between whom there was no understanding. Ignoring the evidence is not practical for anyone.”

Recognising such nuanced matters as practicalities? Surely this must be a first for the construction chief.

It’s not just Quique who’ll be looking for a new job before the coming season begins. Sevilla’s Gregorio Manzano- who presided over a fine second half of the campaign after initially struggling to steady the ship having being appointed following the club’s poor start- was stoical in his response to not being offered the extension his efforts had surely merited. “They gave me no reason, and i didn’t ask for any either”, he said. “I don’t feel abandoned. This is how football goes”. Up in the Basque County, Real Sociedad parted ways with Martín Lasarte. His side had endured a brutal finish to the campaign but in truth, hovering around the Europa League spots had represented a false position for a newly promoted side who has barely even bothered to reinforce their ranks in the close season. Staying up was a commendable achievement, but now they will look for a new man to help them push on. Roberto Olabe, Miroslav Djukic and Miguel Angel Lotina- técnicos at relegated Almería, Hércules, and Depor respectively- were the others to be turfed out.

Team of the Season (4-3-3)

Goalkeeper: Carlos Kameni (Espanyol)Consistently excellent over several seasons, the Cameroon international was in fine form again and let’s face it, based on the amount of work he had to endure during his side’s wretched 2011 run, must shade it from the impeccable Victor Valdes.

Full Back: Dani Alves (Barcelona), Marcelo (Real Madrid)

Daniel Alves’ inclusion in this team is the ultimate no-brainer. He may rile opposition fans with his niggle and occasional bouts of theatricality, but nobody can doubt the man’s energy, drive and commitment. In a season where he contributed bags of assists, the fact that he goes into this weekend’s Champions League final as the player with the fourth most touches in the opposition’s half in that competition tells you that even for a Brazilian, he is much more than just a full back. On the opposite flank his compatriot Marcelo, once derided, must surely be the league’s most improved player over the last 18 months. Dropped back from the attacking berth he generally occupied under Manuel Pellegrini, he has added defensive awareness to his game. But he still retains his attacking instincts, and his profitable partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo was devastating throughout the season.

Central Defence: Ricardo Carvalho (Real Madrid), Eric Abidal (Barcelona)

Until suffering from a liver tumour in March, the Frenchman enjoyed comfortably his best season in a Barcelona shirt. Previously preferred at full back, his move to the heart of the defence compensated for Carles Puyol’s injury absence and Gerard Piqué flaky mid-season form. Far from a sympathy vote, this is a fair reflection of a wonderful campaign for the former Lyon man who may yet play against Manchester United on Saturday having recently been eased back into first team duties. Alongside him, it’s hard to look beyond Ricardo Carvalho. I must confess to having a soft spot for the Portuguese. A colleague once described his wiliness, saying that “100% of the time he’s breaking the rules in one way or another; 99% of the time he gets away with it”. It’s true that Mourinho’s trusty compatriot is as clever as they come, but his goal threat, know-how and all round uber-cool composure show that he’s lost little from the time where he made John Terry look like the best defender in the world to British eyes. How Chelsea could have done with him during their winter woes.

Midfield: Xavi (Barcelona), Borja Valero (Villarreal), Ivan Rakitic (Sevilla)

Xabi Alonso, Mesut Ozil and Andrés Iniesta were a hair’s breadth short of making the first selection, but one must recongise the excellence of the three who made the cut. On Xavi, no elaboration is necessary. Borja Valero was the man who made Villarreal tick, combining good defensive positioning and displaying a clever and competent range of passing to bring out the best in the likes of Nilmar and Giuseppe Rossi up front. Ivan Rakitic, singularly uninterested at Schalke, arrived at Sevilla for a modest sum in January, and turned the stuttering Andalusian club’s season around with a string of superb performances. Graceful, direct, cunning with his passes and with an eye for goal to boot, he was a joy to watch for a team who been all too laboured in all they did before he rolled into town.

Forwards: Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)Just imagine for a moment.

You’re a defender, and in front of you see the see the world’s two best attackers, nominally wide but cutting in from the ‘wrong’ flank onto their favoured shooting feet. You can hack, pull and kick all you want. Messi, with that incredible low centre of gravity and admirable refusal to hit the turf will dance around you. Nine times out of ten, you’ll already know what he’s about to do; shift the ball inside to strike it home. You know, and yet you find yourself powerless to effect any change on the outcome. On the other side, any such physical defiance will carry no truck with the Portuguese. Probably, you’re not big or strong enough to match the ex-Manchester United man’s physicality. Try and you’ll most likely bounce off him. Get lucky, and he’s liable to sky the resulting fee-kick into the top corner, or slot home the penalty kick. Sir Alex Ferguson once described the effect a young Ryan Giggs had on opposing defenders as being akin to ‘twisted blood’. Double that. And then double it again for good measure.

In the middle of the pair, this year saw Giuseppe Rossi finally announce his arrival as a truly world class talent. He settled at Villarreal from day dot, and has improved steadily each coming season. Whether leading the line, dropping deep, or working the channels, his intelligence and movement make him a constant distraction to opposing backlines. With the clinical finishing he’s added to his game, the New Jersey-born Italy striker is sure to be a menace to the league’s defences for many more years to come.

Angel Di Maria has also blossomed into a world class talent this term, and Kun Aguero’s continued brilliance is guaranteed to earn him a move to whichever of the continents elite clubs he chooses this summer. Juan Mata’s emergence showed Valencia supporters that there is life after the two Davids last summer, and as for the one who remained in Spain, trekking up the coast to Barcelona, he might have endured his worse goal return in 7 years, but his willingness to embrace the team ethic has shown that there is more to his game than just goals. He still managed 18 of those, incidentally. Lastly, mention must surely go to Fernando Llorente whose emergence will leave Fernando Torres sweating over the chances of holding down his starting berth ahead of the Euros next year. And let’s not forget Roberto Soldado either.

This article originally appeared in Back Page Football

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Exclusive: Jose Mourinho’s translated interview

2011-04-28T23:00:00.000+01:00

If he (the referee) says that he’s sorry to UEFA, I will end my career today. Why can he not, I ask. Why? How can we have Ovrebo, Bussaca, Stark? Why? Every semi-final, it’s the same thing. We are speaking about a FANTASTIC football team. So why is what Obrevo did at Stamford Bridge two years ago necessary? Why what happened against Inter last year? You need a miracle to beat them.

Why not let us try and finish the tie when it could have gone on for three hours and ended 0-0? With our strategy we were not going to lose. So why did we? Maybe it’s because advertising Unicef gets you sympathy, maybe having [Spanish Football Federation chief) Villar on UEFA gets you sympathy, or some form of congratulations for being a great football team? I don't know why. All I can do is leave this question and wait to see if there'll be any response.

I should not have to be here, and it should not have been a red card. Let's see if somebody will explain why because I don't understand. A foul, yes, a free to Barcelona and then? Miraculously, a red. So, next week we'll play in Barcelona in the second leg. If we were talking about something difficult in sporting terms, after what happened tonight it's simply impossible. They have to get to final... and they will get to final. Full stop. Why does such a great team need something every time, something so obvious for all to see? Obervo, Bussaca, and now Stark...

Football is a game that should be played with the rules applied equally to all. And at the end, it should be won by the better team, the team that deserves it most. It would have been better today if we'd drawn nil-all, and if in the second leg Barca had beaten us, we would accepted it is 'fair-play'.

Why in a game that was so finely balanced at 0-0, did he [Stark] have to do what he did? Only the referee can answer that one; but he won’t. Last year, at Inter we had a miracle to to progress with 10 men, but another miracle this year simply wasn’t possible.

Yes; Real Madrid is now eliminated from the Champions League. We will go with total pride and respect. At times it disgusts me to live in such a world, to earn my living in this world that is football. We will to to the Camp Nou proudly; without Pepe, who did nothing, with Sergio Ramos, who did nothing wrong, and without a coach… And if, somehow, we go there and score and perhaps open this tie just a little bit- they’ll kill us all over again. We have no chance no matter what we do. Is it because they are better? Is that why they will win? Or…? They should by football, and football alone. So why not? It must taste different to win, and to win fairly.

I know what people felt about that that Chelsea game, what happened to Inter last year, and now I feel it with Madrid this year. It’s not hypocrisy, I am trying to be honest. It’s not a drama to me, I feel too sad and frustrated by what has happened. Tomorrow is another day. All that matters to me now is to go back home, where my wonderful family awaits me.

I’m sure they’re not bad people, so they must have this feeling in them; to know that win in this way has a bitter taste. We beat them last week in the Copa del Rey final. We know what it feels like to win properly, to celebrate with peace of mind, and this is why Real Madrid is a great team.Yes, I commented on Josep Guardiola’s words afterward freely, but the atmosphere was charged. And Guardiola in turn replied to me freely, with a little bit of politics. I believe that politics should not come into football. But today’s referee was something else!

I’ve won two Champions Leagues; one with Porto, the other with Inter. Both were won ON the field. We won both through had work, struggle and sweat. Guardiola is an exceptional manager, but if I was to win the Champions League the way that he won his, I would be embarrassed. And now, if he wins it this year, the win will be tainted by the scandal of the Bernabéu. I hope that maybe one year he will win a Champions League that will have been totally deserved. I thought that I could address him as ‘tu’… Well, now I see that I’m not allowed to. Okay then. I will call him ‘Señor Josep’. Well Señor Josep, I hope that one day you too will win a clean Champions League, not yet another one sullied by scandals.

This article originally appeared in Back Page Football

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The word from Spain: Entre dos clásicos

2011-04-20T02:13:00.000+01:00

Round one draws to an end. The Bernabéu faithful roared. José Mourinho, as is his wont, chides those journalists who walked on his assistant the day before the game. But now that the dust has settled, what have we learned? And what does all this mean as we approach the bells for the second round?

As ever, it’s all in the eye of the beholder. Real were on a high, and this was entirely understandable. They might have conceded the league, but few doubted they had any chance anyway. “It’s practically impossible now” said Alvaro Arbeloa after the game. As you were, then. “When will I get to take on this lot with eleven men” is the best summation of Mourinho’s sentiments.

But the gap had been bridged- 5 games, and three long years since they stuffed their Catalan rivals en route to a second successive title. A painful sequence of defeats; one by the odd goal, two by a brace, and two utter chasings, but almost all characterised by being out thought, out fought and outplayed all over the field. And to do it have played almost 40 minutes a man down, coming from behind made it taste all the sweeter. The possession statistics certainly told one story, but possession isn’t always everything; even, sometimes, for Barcelona.........................

Read the full article here on Back Page Football

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La Liga – todo mal vuelve

2011-04-05T02:08:00.000+01:00

When José Mourinho decided to pick a fight with Manolo Preciado back in September, who would have predicted that the gruff Sporting técnico would have the last laugh in deciding the destination of this year’s championship, destroying the longest undefeated home league managerial record in history in the process? Not many, is the answer; Joseph Sexton is back to tell us why La Liga really is done and dusted this this time.

It had to happen. Nothing lasts forever. But what a ride it was. No other coach in the history of the sport could boast of such an achievement as that of of José Felix Mourinho; and it’s unlikely anyone else will. 150 home games. 0 defeats. From a 3-2 reversal exactly one month into his tenure at FC Porto on 23 February 2002, until Sporting Gijón rolled into the Bernabéu the day after April fool’s in 2011. 9 years, 1 months, and 10 days it took. And it was fitting that it was Manolo Preciado, the rugged, no-nonsense Sporting coach, who was in the opposite banquillo when the unthinkable occurred.

Read the full article here on Back Page Football

La Liga: Pellegrini in Peril as Madrid march on

2011-03-09T02:03:00.000Z

We’ve come to the end of a particularly hectic spell in La Liga, which culminated in a whopping 10 days of fixtures in the last 11. No less hectic were matters off the field, and two men have loomed larger than everyone else; Manuel Pellegrini and José Mourinho.

It’s a story that’s ebbed and flowed, with Mourinho apparently losing the plot prior to to the return of his Chilean predecessor to the Bernabéu in the face of some rather innoucuous questioning from a journalist during a press conference. “You’re a hypocrite!”, the Portuguese ventured having been pushed on his claims that the fixture compilers were out to get Real Madrid. The resumption of Marca’s vicious campaign against Pellegrini, and the Málaga técnico’s dignified public utterings, in the build-up cast him in a noble light. Erudite, humble, persecuted; how not to sympathise with this man?

Read the full article here on Back Page Football

La Liga round-up: Jornada 25

2011-03-01T22:34:00.001Z

Remontada! One word summed up this weekend’s action in La Liga like no other. This was the weekend of the comeback. Not in the title race, where Real reverted to type by failing to win in A Coruña having broken their 19 year hoodoo in Galicia last term; but elsewhere we saw more swings than a well-stocked playground. So many, in fact, even those arch proponents of the anti-remontada, Atlético got a piece of the action. But it’s with the much maligned Monday night slot that we’ll begin.

Almería sat 19th going into the weekend. They’ve sunk like a stone while the sides around them had, for the most part, been slowly getting their collective acts together since the winter break. Having slipped to a draw that felt like a defeat against Deportivo the week before, they faced off against a Málaga side who’d snatched one that felt like a win at Villarreal in their previous outing. With the Andalusians lagging a point behind them at the foot of the table, neither side could afford to lose ground on Zaragoza and Gijon, who played out a draw on Saturday evening.

It all began so well for Almería. Inside ten minutes they were a goal to the good, Luna jinking his way down the left and his cross ultimately being knocked home by the on-loan Frenchman Sofiane Feghouli. And they continued to impress throughout the opening period, but imploded after the break.

It’s been a desperate time for Málaga’s trainer, Manuel Pellegrini. Unloved and chased out of town by Marca & AS despite securing the highest points haul in Real Madrid’s history last year, his remarkably successful reign at Villarreal seems largely- and unfairly- forgotten. His return to the Bernabéu in midweek can probably be chalked down as a defeat already, and with kinder fixtures awaiting his fellow strugglers, a result here was absolutely imperative.

His response? To turn to his winter signing, the former Juventus and Sevilla striker Enzo Maresca. The Italian’s goal record over the past three years hardly inspires confidence, but six minutes- and some wojus defending- later, he was at hand to level the game.

And here’s where it began to fall apart for the visitors. Leonardo Ulloa and Rodriguez both saw red. In between, Salómon Rondon was left unmarked to head his side into the lead. If the marking was suspect for the second, it was non-existent in stoppage time as Juanmí was given the freedom the penalty box to slam home emphatically. Little wonder then that Pellegrini couldn’t mask his delight after a win that lifted his side off the foot of the table.

“Of course I’m satisfied. We needed this win, above all at home. We’ve improved our situation. Hopefully we can now press on on the back of this momentum”. As for his return to Madrid, he remained inscrutable. “I will always be grateful to the Real faithful, I will always be proud of what we did manage to achieve in my time there. I will always feel lucky to have presided over a record-breaking campaign”.

Meanwhile, his former club may well have blown once and for all whatever slim chance they retained of overcoming Barcelona. Not that Marca, or anybody else for that matter, is clamouring to call for José Mourinho’s head on the back of that. No, with Jorge Valdano sidelined, the special one’s position seems more secure than ever. Even the cowed sporting director was at hand to back up the team’s efforts. The press- and the 70% of those polled on AS’s website who want the former Ballon d’Or winner out the gap come the summer- have channelled their frustrations on Kaká, who endured another poor evening before being hauled off on the hour mark.

In truth, this was a million miles from some of the horror shows Real have suffered over the years on their travels to the Riazor. They played well, probably well enough to have won several games, particularly so after Kaká’s exit. But a heroic display from goalkeeper Dani Aranzuiba- who lest it be forgotten, had scored to earn Depor that draw against Almería a week before- coupled with erratic finishing, and plain old bad luck, saw them slip back to seven points behind the champions. Mourinho blamed the fixture schedule at full time, much to the mirth of just about everybody. Cue a slew of interviews with, amongst others, Sevilla boss Gregorio Manzano telling everyone’s favourite mouthy Portuguese “¡Callate!”. “We’ve played four games in nine days, and you don’t hear me complaining!”. Barcelona president Sandro Rosell rowed in pithily on Monday “Pep never complains about this, and neither do our rugby team, our basketball players, or those in the NBA.”

Barcelona won, again. Well, okay; Mallorca certainly didn’t lie down, but once Messi opened the scoring the result was never in any doubt. Further goals from David Villa and Pedro Rodriguez probably make it look a lot easier than it was though, and their lack of cohesion in Xavi’s absence would have left the culés hoping that their midfield talisman will be well rested ahead of coming challenges.

We might well have seen the game of the week on Sunday, as Valencia staged another remontada against Athletic Bilbao at the San Mames. It was certainly an impressive performance by Los Ches. Juan Mata and recent recruit Jonas turned it around after Fernando Llorente had put the hosts ahead a quarter of hour in. That’s 8 out of the last 10 games where Valencia have scored in the final ten minutes, and their fourth comeback of the new year; not only that, but if Opta José is to be believed, they’ve now gained more points from losing positions than anyone else this season. And Joaquín put in an incredible shift.

Will this match be remembered for any of that, though? Not bloody likely. No, David Navarro saw to that with one of the most laughable pieces of playacting you will see anywhere this year, which had Bilbao’s starlet Mikel San José wondering whether the oscar for best actor should have gone his way, and Marca branding him as public enemy number one. How to even do it justice? You’ll have to view this one on youtube. How Joaquín managed to keep a straight face during when stating that he and his team-mates would defend the niggly little so-and-so “to the death” leads one to believe that he possesses a talent for deadpan stand-up that we’ve managed to overlook up until now.

Back to the comebacks, then. The aforementioned Atlético came back twice to draw at home to Sevilla, with José Antonio Reyes earning the point twelve minutes from time. Sevilla had, of course, staged the week’s greatest comeback-that-never-quite was in winning in Oporto, but bowed out of the Europa League on away goals midweek. Villarreal, who’d had to come back from Marek Hamsik’s opener to progress in the same competition against Napoli were at it again, with Nilmar equalising at the death away to a Racing side who continue to impress under the stewardship of Marcelino.

As for the papers; when they haven’t been screaming blue murder over Navarro or the activities of Arsenal’s youth recruitment policies, Serie A related transfers have been the staple. Inevitably, after his tremendous display in Udinese’s 7-0 routing of Palermo, much of this talk has centered on wideman Alexis Sánchez. Tuesday’s Sport reports that Barcelona face stiff competition from the likes of Milan, Juventus and Manchester United to sign the Chilean maestro for a rumoured 40 million euros. His coach Francesco Guidolin was quoted as saying that “we’ll have to see what happens [with Sánchez]. All this talk is bound to turn his head. What’s certain is that he is destined to become one of the best attackers in the world.”.

Meanwhile, the staggering, gin-slurring old lady Juventus could be planning a double swoop on Barcelona this summer. El Mundo Deportivo, regurgitating speculation from the Turin daily Tuttosport tells us that a move to convince Argentina captain Javier Mascherano and tomorrow’s next big thing, yesterday, Bojan Krkic to trade the blaugrana and trophies for the bianconeri and mid-table mediocrity next term is in offing. This, of course, ties in neatly with growing speculation that former Liverpudlian corner-flag decapitator and graduate from the Paul Scholes school of tackling, Momo Sissoko, will be on his way to Real in in the close season. Oh, and while we’re at it, that renowned attendee of the Bernard Hopkins school of annoyingly-speaking-of-one’s-self-in-the-third-person, Dani Alves, announced that “I can’t imagine a Dani Alves without el Barça”, leaving this column to point out, yet again, that this certainly did not seem the case when his agent was putting out feelers to Manchester City a couple of months back.

And a final ‘oh!’; Kaká’s father (also his agent) was quoted in Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport on Tuesday morning on the subject of his son moving back to his former club Milan, and refused to deny the rumours. “You’ll have to speak to [Milan CEO] Adriano Galliani. Is it possible? We’ll shall see.”

Results:

Atlético Madrid 2 Sevilla 2

Espanyol 4 Real Sociedad 1

Sporting Gijon 0 Real Zaragoza 0

Mallorca 0 Barcelona 3

Deportivo La Coruña 0 Real Madrid 0

Hércules 0 Getafe 0

Levante 2 Osasuna 1

Racing Santander 2 Villarreal 2

Athletic Bilbao 1 Valencia 2

Málaga 3 Almería 1

Midweek Fixtures:

Tuesday:

Espanyol v Mallorca

Sevilla v Sporting Gijon

Wednesday:

Getafe v Atlético Madrid

Osasuna v Deportivo La Coruña

Real Sociedad v Levante

Villarreal v Hércules

Real Zaragoza v Athletic Bilbao

Valencia v Barcelona

Thursday:

Almería v Racing Santander

Real Madrid v Málaga

La Liga: Week 12 Review + Week 13 & El Clásico Preview

2011-02-06T02:32:00.001Z

(This article originally appeared in Back Page Football on November 27th 2010Round 12 of La Liga saw the top two pull ahead of the chasing pack with large victories on Saturday evening, but it was the earlier encounter between Villarreal and Valencia that saw this pair slip behind which provided the most gripping contest of the week. The host’s manager Juan Garrido refused to shake hands with his counterpart Unai Emery off the field. But on it the latter’s Valencia team came close to having the last laugh until Giuseppe Rossi popped up 17 minutes from time to secure a draw which, on balance, his side’s second-half dominance merited.If the second half was Villarreal’s, then the first belonged to Valencia. Emery’s side employed a three man central defence which stifled the opposing attack. Meanwhile, Joaquín was in menacing form at the other end and it was the former Betis man who laid on the opener for Adrian Aduriz. After the winger cut back a tempting right-hand ball from the byline, Aduriz flicked the ball home despite the attention of three home defenders inside the six yard box. It may have taken a touch off a defender, but it would be churlish to deny the beauty of its execution.Pablo wasted a decent chance to extend his side’s leads two minutes after the break, but his effort sailed over the bar. At this point the price of Emery’s robust strategy was beginning to tell, however. On-loan Borja Valero picked up a yellow card for Villarreal, but the overall foul count stood at a whopping 14-1 for the visitors. Valencia were forced deeper and deeper as the half progressed, practically parked on their own 18 yard line as the game entered the final quarter. But Villarreal were getting little change and their chronic inability to create anything from wide situations suggested that the game might be slipping beyond their grasp.They had a weak penalty shout on the hour mark as Rossi burst through the centre, but the Italy striker appeared to have merely fallen over under minimal contact. Exactly ten minutes later, Nilmar sought to breach the blue lines, but having been forced wide and off balance, his shot lacked the power to really test César Sánchez. But then finally Bruno worked his way into some space on the left flank, curling in a superb ball which Rossi struck beautifully home on the volley to make it 1-1. A packed El Madrigal errupted into pandemonium; now the tide had turned decisively and it was all Valencia could do to hang on until the end.And hang on they did, but only just. Stankevicius was sent-off for a second bookable offence after scything down Santi Cazorla on the left; from the ensuing free, Villarreal might have secured all three points. Meanwhile, a yellow count of 8-2 (and by now, 6-25 in fouls) tells you all you need to know of how perilous the visitors’ position had become. They sought and succeeded to turn the game into a dogfight, and managed to prevail. Late on Cazorla saw a powerful effort saved, and a preposterous dive from Ruben was as good as the hosts could muster as added time drew to a close.Down in Almería, Barcelona ripped their hapless hosts to shred, and 8-0 margin matching the record for an away victory in the division. The opening exchanges proved to be nothing more than a phoney war; David Villa got two bites but failed to open the scoring on seven minutes. Right away, Almería broke and Pablo Piatti had a decent near-post effort saved.That was as good as it got for the hosts. Amidst scene of defensive ineptitude that would make a League 2 side blush, they collapsed spectacularly to find themselves five goals down by the time the game had reached the 37th minute. Lionel Messi’s opener was arguably the pick of the bunch, the Argentine playing a neat one-two with Villa to drill home from outside the area. Iniesta doubled the pain two minutes later, before Acasiete turned the ball into his own net. Another double salvo saw Pedro and Messi extend the lead. At the break Guardiola took advantage of the opportunity to rest Xavi Hernández. Substitute Bojan produced two smart finishes, either side of Messi’s third on the night- his 101st league goal for the club- to compound Almería’s misery. Having effectively been given one final chance to save his job, it was hardly surprising to hear shortly after the conclusion that trainer Juanma Lillo would now be looking for a new one.At the Bernebeu, Real were given a stern test yet still ran out 5-1 winners against Athletic. A preposterous scoreline -given the balance of chances and play, particularly in the opening 45 minutes- but one which underlines the growing menace of Real’s attack under Mourinho as the players gel. Higuaín exposed the visitors’ defensive inadequacies to open the scoring, and Ronaldo scored a fine goal to extend the lead on the half hour. But Fernando Llorente, who has been having a storming season to date, was proving a handful for Carvalho and Pepe. It no surprise when he popped up to head home and bring his side back into the game 5 minutes from the break. Game on, then.Or not, as it transpired. On 57 minutes Real were awarded what has been called in some circles (mostly Basque and Catalan, it should be added) a soft penalty. To the chagrin of Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos stepped up to despatch the kick.But the man they call CR7 in Marca is more the incredible hulk than the incredible sulk these days, and this seemed only to spur him on. The force and swerve which he put on his 62nd minute free kick left Athletic keeper Iraizoz flapping in its wake as the pall pinged home. Maybe not the best of goalkeeping, but it would seem harsh to lay all the blame on the poor man minding the net. A late penalty saw Ronaldo match Messi’s earlier efforts, and reach the landmark of 50 league goals faster than any player in the club’s illustrious history.The most striking result of the weekend was Sevilla’s 2-1 defeat at home to Mallorca, who now tail the Andalusians by just two points. Not a good result for the home side, but a great one for coach Gregorio Manzano’s former club, who never had much love for him during his stint there and have even less since he upped sticks to take on the Sevilla post.Fortress Cornelia is the gift that keeps on giving for Espanyol. Yet another victory at their new fortress, 3-0 over Hercules, sees them move in to the Champions League berth bequeathed by Valencia. Deportivo, meanwhile, moved away from the relegation mire with a 3-0 thumping of Manuel Pellegrini’s Málaga. Levante also did their chances of survival no harm, coasting to a 3-1 victory over fella strugglers Racing Santander. Caceido’s brace for the hosts were the pick of the bunch, and Levante will need him in this form in order to remain in the top division. Elsewhere, Atlético continue to impress, with Forlán, Agüero and Simão all on target as the tonked Real Sociedad 4-2 in San Sebastien. Getafe and Zaragoza rounded off the weekend with a turgid 1-1 draw on Monday night’s graveyard shift.Results:Villarreal 1 Valencia 1Almería 0 Barcelona 8Real Madrid 5 Athletic Bilbao 1Espanyol 3 Hercules 0Osasuna 1 Sporting 0Deportivo La Coruña 3 Malaga 0Levante 3 Racing 1Sevilla 1 Mallorca 2Real Sociedad 2 Atlético Madrid 4Getafe 1 Zaragoza 1This WeekendAll of Spain’s three remaining Champions League sides scored big victories in midweek, but the only talking point was the conduct of Real Madrid in contriving to get Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso sent off for blatant time-wasting late on to wipe their card count ahead of the knockout stages. The sheer, brazen blatancy of it all has forced UEFA’s hand, and now charges have been laid at the players, manager and two further players- Iker Casillas and Jerzy Dudek- who appeared to pass on Mou’s instructions to his charges. The feeling in Madrid is that they might get any potential ban quashed on grounds of precedence; several years back, they found themselves in a similar situation but UEFA enacted no punishment in the end. Probably the most likely outcome here will be a fine, one which Real too will probably try to resist.Going into this coming weekend’s 13th round of fixtures, it would the understatement to end all understatements to say games looms largest above all others; Sporting hosting Real Sociedad in Sunday’s 5pm CET kick off. Okay, all joking aside, we will begin without mentioning the big one for there are several other games worth looking out for. Saturday’s late kick-off see a buoyant Atlético host the ever improving Espanyol. Home form has been the key to the visitors success this season, but one feels that Atlético should prove to be too much for them here. Earlier that day, Sevilla will want desperately to get back to winning ways against a poor Getafe side. Likewise Villarreal; having taking just a point form their last two matches (admittedly, the first of those was at Barcelona) they will be presented with a fine opportunity to do so as they visit Zaragoza. Hércules and Levante on Sunday could prove to be a decent encounter, and neither side will want to cede ground as they sit just two and one point respectively above Málaga in the relegation zone.So here we are then. El clásico. The world’s biggest club game, this time being billed by many as the single biggest club encounter of all time. If only those pesky porteños Boca Juniors and River Plater hadn’t already nicked the title ‘Superclásico’ you’d think they’d have gone for that. Surprisingly, for once, the papers and television people have exhibited some restraint in not plumping for El Super-Dooper-Clásico. Small mercies, and all that.Leaving all the hype aside, this does promise to be something very special indeed. Both sides littered with current world cup holders, ballon d’or winners past, present and almost certainly future. The sheer concentration of talent, the contrast in styles, and the presence of José Mourinho on the sidelines, post-ban, all of this means that it couldn’t be anything less.The sniping began almost immediately. When asked after the Bilbao game for his reaction to Almería’s thumping earlier on, Cristiano Ronaldo said “So Barcelona scored 8? Let’s see them do that next weekend”. Real’s defence has been miserly this season, and Barça’s only marginally less so. Both sides have scored 33 goals; Ronaldo leading the way in the league by 15-13 from Messi. Both sides already have more points than they did at this stage last season, when both went on to smash the previous record haul for a Liga campaign. Mourinho, speaking to the press ahead of the Ajax game said that his had been his best 12 days since joining Real, and he intended this to continue.The temptation in some doom-mongering quarters is to suggest that Real will park the bus, and be content with the 0-0 to see them remain on top. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility, and it may well end scoreless, but this writer just doesn’t see it quite panning out that way. Much was made of last season’s Champions League second leg encounter. Necessitated by the expulsion of Thiago Motta, Mourinho’s Inter ceded possession to grind out the narrow defeat which saw them through. But people forget just how good Inter were in the first leg where, after falling behind, they simply blew the visitors away in a powerful, physical and deadly display of counter-attacking football. Last year’s Inter, in terms of the starting XI at least, were a superb team. But there is simply no comparison to be made between the attacking riches Mourinho possesses at Real. Ronaldo is looking unstoppable at present, and Angel di Maria has settled quickly and produced some sparkling football. Pipita Higuáin is scoring goals, and most importantly looking confident. Speaking to Newstalk 106’s Off The Ball, Graham Hunter suggested that it might be a possibility for Real to withdraw the effervescent Mesut Ozil, in order to beef up the midfield. This would make sense as Real will need to cut off the patterns weaved by Iniesta and Xavi in the engine room if they are to be able to bring their own stellar attack into play. Certainly, all the talk from Madrid, from the club and the press is that they feel ready to go to the Camp Nou and win. There will be goals in this one for sure. I’m going to put my neck out and go with the same prediction I made in my local cervesería’s sweepstakes- a 2-2 draw. So there you have it then, a nil-all snore-fest is what we’ll probably get.Fixtures:Saturday:Zaragoza v Villarreal (18:00 CET)Sevilla v Getafe (20:00 CET)Atlético Madrid v Espanyol (22:00 CET)Sunday (17:00 CET, unless stated otherwise)Hércules v LevanteMallorca v MálagaRacing Santander v Deportivo La CoruñaSporting Gíjon v Real SociedadAthletic Bilbao v Osasuna (19:00 CET)Valencia v Almería (21:00 CET).On, and of course, Monday:Barcelona v Real Madrid (22:00 CET)Follow me on Twitter here.

La Liga Round-Up: Week 11

2011-02-06T02:26:00.001Z

9This article originally appeared in Back Page Football on November 15th 2010. )The most eagerly awaited match-up of the 11th round of games in La Liga took place at Camp Nou on Saturday night, with champions Barcelona hosting a Villarreal side in a rich vein of form. This writer was left faced with one of life’s more pleasant dilemmas; to cut the tale short, the lure of seeing up and coming New York hipsters The Drums won out, which means we won’t be focussing on the Blaugrana’s 3-1 victory in any depth. But happily Sunday’s encounter between Real and struggling Sporting Gijón, against the odds and all semblance of logic, turned out to be a cracker of a game with plenty of talking points. As the suspended José Mourinho glared down from the stands, Real, individually and collectively, appeared to fall back on some of their worst habits of recent years. But the manager will surely have cracked a wry smile as his side did what Mourinho sides always do; somehow, when the game and decisions appeared to conspiring against them, their determination saw them literally (note- not ‘literally’ in the Jamie Redknapp sense of word!)scramble over the line and win when the possibility of a humiliating defeat appeared palpable.It wasn’t sexy. It wasn’t pretty. And a sulking Cristiano Ronaldo, whose only tangible contribution to the game aside from one moment of sheer brilliance was to incite the crowd in the aftermath of Alberto Botía’s injury time expulsion, cut a figure more akin to his infuriating 2004 vintage than that of the behemoth we’ve become accustomed to seeing in Real’s colours. Equally, Gonzalo Higuaín, who ludicrously transpired to be the match-winner appeared to be having one of those days which leaves the meringues’ faithful throwing their sunflower seeds to the ground in disgust, muttering all manner of obscenities; and seasoned followers of his precociously talented but at times strikingly ineffective compatriot Angel di María, would have read all the signs and felt this wasn’t going to be Real’s day. Ozil was below par too. But as it was, and with the exception of Ronaldo, the men in white refused to be dispirited and emerged victorious after a mammoth effort from the Rojiblancos.It could have been very different. Aitor Karanka, the special one’s assistant, prowled the technical area with all the menace of a frightened chihuahua. Mourinho grimaced behind the tinted glass of the directors box, at one point flicking a v sign towards the home support. The outstanding Gastón Sangoy, who gave Marcelo a torrid evening on the right flank might have had the presence of mind to centre the ball on instead of blasting wide early in the second half. Moments later, Higuaín had a perfectly good goal ruled out for offside. But it was hard to find fault with Sangoy later in the half. From the same position, advancing in from the right wing, his low effort blazed just inches wide of Casillas’ far post.The contrast between the Catalan and Madrid presses’ reaction was depressingly predictable. The Barcelona dailies recalled last weeks war of words between the two managers. ‘Ganada Canalla’, the insult directed at Mourinho as Manolo Preciado finally lost his temper at Mourinho’s constant provocations, ran the headline in Sport. It’s an antiquated term, but probably best translated as villain. A villainous victory. The Madrid press, not surprisingly emphasised the positives, the winning mentality Mourinho has brought to the club. But perhaps Mou should choose his battles more carefully in future; after accusing Sporting of rolling over against Barcelona, they played out of their skins last night.The game was intriguing. Aside from the level of technique on display, it resembled an exciting Premiership contest. Sporting out-Mourinhod Madrid when not in possession, squeezing the space and cutting off the more dangerous passing options. But they weren’t content just to sit back; every time a Madrid attack broke down, they looked to get the ball forward quickly. But for a lack of guile in the final third, they might easily have broke the deadlock.Meanwhile Madrid were equally manful in trying to initiate rapid counter-attacks. Juan Pablo, perhaps unfairly blamed in some quarters for his part in the night’s only goal performed heroics. Higuaín was thwarted on several occasions, and a rasping di María effort early in the second half was turned behind for a corner. At the other end, Casillas dropped a clanger and played a near-suicidal pass to Carvalho with a Sporting forward bearing down on the Portuguese. It was end to end stuff, and the fun didn’t end when the goal finally came.It was the introduction of the much maligned Karim Benzema for di María that proved to be the catalyst. Moments after arriving, he tested Juan Pablo with a rasping drive from distance. Later he was penalised for handball whilst trying to create an opening for his team-mates, although the ball appeared to strike his shoulder. It appears Mourinho’s harsh words earlier this season about the young Frenchman are beginning to pay dividends. On 82 minutes, Sergio Ramos swung a cross into the box from the right; the sort of cross which had thus far been meat and drink to the Sporting defence. But Benzema rose above his marker at the far post and powered a header towards the goal. Juan Pablo got a strong hand to it, but it wasn’t enough. With the ball already trickling over the goal-line, Higuaín stole the Frenchman’s glory by prodding home.The the fun wasn’t over yet. Barral went close with a header with Casillas grateful to hear the referee’s whistle after he made a pigs ear of collecting the ball. Immediately Higuaín threatened on the counter, but this time the assistant was justified in raising his flag. Ronaldo, who had resorted at times to kicking opponents in frustration- on one occasion, winning a free when a card for the Portuguese would have been more appropriate- drew a foul from Botía deep in injury time. It was cynical and late, the sort of tackle that might merit a yellow in Britain but is generally worth a red in those parts of the world where referees don’t take an á la carte approach to FIFA directives. But his reaction, all pumped fists and beating of chest was a display of motivation conspicuously absent in his preceding 93 minutes on the pitch.In the end, Real closed the game down. Immediately after the goal, Higuaín made way for Lassana Diarra and shortly afterwards Ozil was replaced by Arbeloa. Casillas and assorted Madrid players drew the ire of the home side by taking the proverbial in wasting time at every opportunity, which the referee deigned not to sanction. It had been a marvellous game, particularly in the second half. But, although Mourinho may have been in the stands the late substitutions were true to his instincts and Real closed the deal expertly. It was a hell of a battle. The final statistics showed possession and goal chances to be more or less even, But with just two weeks to go to El Clásico Madrid remain one point ahead of Barça. And for the first time in Pep Guardiola’s tenure, they can justifiably dream of victory, But more on that later.As for Barça, this writer’s temptations to attend were tempered somewhat by the uncertainty of what would transpire. Would Villarreal give it a real go for thirty minutes but end up shipping three or four? In the end they did ship three, but the game was closer than one might have feared. Villa gave Barça the lead on 22 minutes, only for Nilmar to equalise 4 minutes later. Messi and Xavi were imperious throughout, but it took 58 minutes for the Argentine to restore the home side’s lead. A comeback by the visitors still remained a possibility, but Messi finally settled the crowd’s nerves with an 83rd minute strike. Ronaldo’s hot-streak may have cooled this weekend, but the Argentine’s show no signs of slowing.Elsewhere, Hercules secured the points with an impressive comeback at home to Real Sociedad. David Trezeguet turned back the clock to produce a classic finish to level matters just after the break. On 51 minutes, Royston Drenthe struck a belter of a free kick which proved to be the decider. But the game was marred by sad scenes at pitch-side later on when a ballboy collapsed. With the well documented spate of deaths due to SADS and near death experiences in Spanish football in recent times in unprecedented numbers, people feared the worst initially. Thankfully, it transpired that the ballboy had suffered an epileptic fit, and has recovered.Mallorca v Malaga and Racing v Espanyol proved to be bore draws, with Espanyol indebted to keeper Kameni’s penalty save to secure a point. Alavaro Negredo paid back a chunk of his hefty transfer fee to net a last minute winner for a ten-man Sevilla at Zaragoza. Costa scored a stunning opener as Valencia ran out 2-0 winners against Getafe at the Mestalla.The story of the week has really been the war of words before and after the game between José Mourinho and his counterpart Preciado. As Sid Low’s piece which has just gone live on the Guardian’s football site deals fantastically with this entertaining fiasco, we’ll skip that here. But the other main talking points of the week were the rather suspicious happenings at FIFA, where, already under a cloud of suspicion over alleged collusion, the president of the Spanish Football Federation was seen to pass a note to his Qatari counterpart reading ‘Congratulations’ and ‘Hemos ganado’. – “We won!”. Needless to say, both deny that there was anything untoward in this, and in truth the story has barely been mentioned in the spanish press. Finally, the upcoming clásico has been moved to Monday due to the Catalan elections taking place on the Sunday of that week, the originally scheduled date. “We’re going to have up to 80,000 volunteers working for us that day, many of them Barcelona fans”, said a local Politco, understatedly. “It wouldn’t be fair to deny them to chance to see this game”. Quite right.Other results:Athletic Bilbao 1 Almeria 0Atlético Madrid 3 Osasuna 0Malaga 1 Levante 0 (Manuel Pellegrini’s first win at his new post, courtesy a a wonderful strike from Eliseu)Follow me on Twitter here.

This Blog has been dead for long enough!

2011-02-06T02:05:00.001Z

Sorry folks, I stopped posting my articles here quite some time ago. And then, for a while, whilst studying abroad, I just stopped writing full stop.I'm back on the saddle now, and have been covering Spanish football for a variety of outlets. Principally, I am the Spanish Football correspondent for Back Page Football I also write for two other blogs: 90 Minutes Plus Injury Time; And soon, the new site of the vagabond and much-travelled ex-Arsenal player, Rohan Ricketts, Column 10.In addition, I've recently guested on the United States' number one daily Soccer radio and podcast show, World Football Daily.And as far now, I'm going to bring this blog up to date with what I've been writing lately, plus my spot on World Football Daily.

Jon Stewart v Jim Cramer

2009-03-16T22:45:00.001Z

Television gold from Comedy Central.

Yesterday's Observer had this to say:

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America cheers as satirist delivers knockout blow to TV finance gurus

For the past 10 days the US has been gripped. Even President Obama tuned in as the country's foremost TV comic, Jon Stewart, unleashed an extraordinary broadside against TV's top financial commentators for their part in the unfolding economic crisis.

First came the imperial marching music and a fiery explosion. "You've watched snippets of them for days, or meant to after your friends sent you the link," a voice boomed with mock gravity. "Tonight, the week-long feud of the century comes to a head."

It was a comically absurd drumroll for what, on the surface, was merely a squabble between TV presenters. In one corner, Jim Cramer, the closest thing to a celebrity in American financial journalism. In the opposite corner, Jon Stewart, the satirist and host of the fake news programme The Daily Show on Comedy Central. But unlike many a big fight, this one more than surpassed the hype. Nothing less than financial reporting itself was put on trial – and found severely wanting.

Cramer, who dispenses raucous advice to investors on the Mad Money show on the business channel CNBC, was eviscerated by a serious and genuinely angry Stewart. Meek and contrite, Cramer was pummelled like a rope-a-dope over his profession's failure to be an effective watchdog of Wall Street. There was no cornerman to throw in the towel.

The interview was one of those classic television moments that crystallised the public mood in the credit crisis. Stewart articulated the anger and bewilderment of millions of Americans who now feel ripped off and afraid. He framed the question everyone wanted asked: how were the financial masters of the universe allowed to pursue their ruinous behaviour unchallenged for so long?

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Read the rest of the artice here

And see it for yourself below.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Basic Cable Personality Clash Skirmish '09

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 1

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 2

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 3

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

“A tear welled in my eyes”

2009-02-09T02:30:00.001Z

Also from the UCC Express:

Joseph Sexton caught up with former Hurler of the Year Seán Óg Ó hAilpín after the hurling supporters march last Saturday. Humbled by the depth of the public support, this is what he had to say.

12 days ago, you and your fellow players made an appeal to the Cork public for support. Do you feel the players' call for support has been answered today?

"You know what? We more than got it today. It was very humbling. It wasn’t easy at the time asking for it, because it’s hard to quantify a figure for how many would turn out, but this superseded our expectations. There was a tear nearly came out of my eye, because it’s a Saturday in February, people have other things to be doing and other worries with the economy, sport and hurling won’t be on top of the agenda. These people, all these men, women and children came out today to show their support and voice their frustration. We share their frustration. These people want to see the Cork team back, and want to see the best Cork team possible that will bring pride and honour to the jersey. If the support today is anything to go by, then it’s very encouraging."

How important was it for you to receive the public support of the footballers the other night?

"I think it was huge, because up until now people didn’t know what the footballers were going to do. They were staying silent. But you know, I know most of the footballers well and nobody put them under pressure in any way. This time last year, they had their own problems and the hurlers supported them, and I know they’ve never forgotten that. If it’s one problem, maybe you can bury your head in the sand, but it isn’t and now the footballers are saying they’ll down tools now if things aren’t sorted. I think the county board executive have to take a look at themselves, and then come back with actions to resolve the situation before things get any worse."

We’ve heard a lot of speculation in the press that the panel are not united, that the younger players have been intimidated, and suggestions that you should all shut up, get back on the field, and say no more. What do you have to say to people who are saying this?

"I think that was the beauty of the press conference, because there were loads of rumours floating about and we had the chance to put them to bed once and for all. It was a united 30 players on show that night, there was no fellas putting any other fellas under pressure, and it’s simple; the reason why these 30 players are taking this stance and holding press conferences is because there is a problem there. If there was no problem, then there’d be none of this. The problem, as we see it, doesn’t lie within ourselves, it lies within the county board executive. We’ve answered as many questions as we can from our side... The questions have been put to them and they need to answer, not just to the players, but the the Cork public. There are supporters out there who, week-in, week-out, pay money out of their own pockets to attend the matches, and that’s money that goes back to the county board. Hard, well-earned money. They have a responsibility to tell the Cork public what went on with the appointment of Gerald McCarthy, because that’s the source of the problem. They didn’t, in my opinion, appoint him for the right reasons, for the interests of Cork hurling, or those of the people who turned out here today."

How is morale in the camp? Do you think this will be a big boost, seeing this degree of support?

"Before today, I was a bit apprehensive, d’ya know. Would there be a big crowd, because you know, if there was no big turnout, well... it would have looked a small bit embarrassing for us. But we got more than we could have ever dreamed of, and these people... they love their sport, they love their hurlers, and they want the best hurlers back. For a player, looking at that up on the stage, it’s very encouraging. It shows that, despite all that’s been said, we’re still loved, and people appreciate what we’re doing. We have no problem putting in a massive sacrifice, putting in 14 sessions a week, and driving here and there; we have no problem with that, provided we get the support back. We got that here today from the supporters, and we need that to be shown by the County Board executive too. Morale is very good amongst the players. The more the County Board drags its feet, the more strongly the players feel what we are doing is right. There’s a unity there, which was present for all to see at the press conference. If you have three fellas and you try and break them, it’s one thing; but when you have 30 guys, it’s going to be hard, so look... we’re still as united as ever."

(Photography, again, courtesy of Mark Jacob)

Rebels march in support of Hurlers

2009-02-09T02:20:00.001Z

This account of the hurler's march was put together for the UCC express:

12,000 fans braved the bitterly cold weather as they took to the streets of Cork in support of the 2008 Cork hurling panel. The turnout exceeded all expectations, with the players and organisers keen to show their gratitude to the public. Present on stage were several members of the football and hurling panels, the latter having publicly announced on Thursday their intention to strike in solidarity at the end of the league campaign if matters are not resolved satisfactorily.

Rumours had abounded as to the identity of the speakers beforehand. Initially it had been expected that the players would stay away, so as to avoid giving the impression of instigating the march. As it transpired, many key members turned up to thank the public, and they were joined by an old friend; former Cork hurling and football great, Brian Corcoran.

The march began in Emmet Place at 3pm, where a sizeable crowd had already assembled an hour previous. The march proceeded onto Academy Street, left to the top of Patrick Street, and back down the same street before terminating in Grand Parade. Such was the size of the turnout that at 3:45pm- with a large crowd already thronging the area in front of the city library- that there were still people leaving Emmet Place at the back of the march.

“Summer days in Thurles, not hammerings to Dublin” read one placard. Others, distributed by the organisers read “Support Cork’s Hurlers”. Some supporters had made banners urging Frank Murphy, secretary of the CCB, and Gerald McCarthy to resign, but for the most part the messages were positive; full support for last year’s panel.

Players- including hurlers John Gardiner, Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, Donal Óg Cusack, Niall McCarthy, Cathal Naughton, Jerry O'Connor, and Patrick Cronin, and footballers Graham Canty, Noel O’Leary, Daniel Goulding, Anthony Lynch, John Hayes, and Nicholas Murphy, amongst others- took the stage shortly after 4pm to rapturous applause from the crowd.

First to speak was Brian Corcoran. “I take no pleasure in this black period, but I have to defend the honour of these players who I’ve been privileged to play with”, he said. “They’ve been criticised in some quarters, unjustly in my opinion. These guys have sacrificed so much, sweat blood and tears for the cause. I take enormous pride when I see this crowd assembled here today to support these men who are willing to stand up for what they believe.”

“They have been asked to put up and shut up with conditions primed for failure. These guys know what it takes to win; in the four years that Donal O’Grady and John Allen were in charge, they reached eight finals, winning 5. During that period, there was complete harmony in the camp.”

“Some people have labelled these players as difficult, but why was there no trouble then? Four years is a very long time. I was involved for three of those, and the atmosphere was one of total and utter trust. In the last two years, that trust and belief has been eroded.”

“I would like to ask the County Board why, when John Allen stepped down, did they seek to disrupt the set-up? Why did they appoint a manager who didn’t want the job, ignoring others who did? Why, after two years of failure, was there no motivation to change something which didn’t work? These players have the best interests of Cork hurling at heart. Can the County Board say the same?”

“These guys inspired me to come back to hurling. They are my heroes, they are role models. They are not afraid to stand up for what they believe. Cork hurling is lagging behind. The board are killing the senior team. It’s time for the board to prove that they care about hurling. We must support these men. We must ask the board to allow us to believe again”.

The crowd applauded Corcoran’s speech, and a shorter speech read out 2008 captain John Gardiner. Gardiner thanked the fans for their support over the years and during the current crisis. With the players gone, the crowd dwindled, but one remained there more than an hour after events had come to a close; Seán Óg Ó h’Ailpin, who signed shirts, crutches, ugg boots and photos with typically selfless good-humour.

(Photography courtesy of the UCC Express' Mark Jacob)

The slow death of Cork Hurling

2009-02-09T01:42:00.001Z

This is an editorial put together for the UCC Express.

Looking from the outside in, it’s not too hard to see why the present Cork hurling dispute has left the rest of country in a state of flummoxed exasperation following claim, counter-claim, and no little spin. Following on from 2002 and last winter, this is the third major dispute between the players and the Cork County Board executive this decade. Unfortunately, it would appear that the CCB executive (from here on referred to as the CCB) are a little slow of learning and the result is that Justin McCarthy’s words- 'No matter how many Munster or All-Ireland Titles are won, Frank Murphy will never forgive these Players''- uttered at the conclusion of the 2002 dispute ring true. In 2002 the players walked for a variety of gripes, the most infamous example of which came in the 2001 Munster championship tie against Limerick where the players were forced to urinate on towels in the gymasium at half-time because the CCB, for reasons best known to themselves, had commandeered the home changing rooms. In 2007, the issue was the right of managers to pick their own selectors. This year, the issue is what they perceive to be the violation of the spirit of Mulvey agreement, the fragile peace brokered last season.

The timeline for the current dispute runs something like this: at the end of last season’s All-Ireland campaign, Gerald McCarthy’s tenure as manager was up after a series of underwhelming results. Cork had bowed out at the quarter final stage of the All-Ireland champiosnhip in 2007, and last season lost their 80 year unbeaten home record against Tipperary. After a thrilling run through the qualifiers, they came unstuck against Kilkenny in the semi-final. That, most observers agreed, would be that. A new manager would be sought come Autumn.

Once the players representatives sat at the table to play their role in the selection process, it was clear that CCB Executive was of no mind to abide by the spirit of the agreement. The only name put forward for consideration was that of the incumbent. The player representatives voiced their objections, and outnumbered 5-2, stormed out.

It has been speculated that the CCB executive then proceeded to mislead the club delegates prior to their ratification of McCarthy’s appointment, telling the delegates that the players had agreed with the appointment. What we do know for a fact is that the delegates, just as they did last year with the appointment (and subsequent sacking) of Teddy Holland, voted to carry the CCB’s proposal.

All hell broke loose then as the 2008 panel announced their retirement in disgust at the CCB’s manoeuvrings. They had been unhappy with McCarthy’s coaching methods throughout his tenure, and felt that another two years of substandard preparation was more than they could bear. Soon we had a flow of well-crafted press releases from McCarthy, where he attacked the character of certain members of the panel, and claimed that the older heads were bullying the younger players into going along with this latest protest. Most scandalous of all was the leaking of a confidential document- the result of a facilitator's attempt to rebuild morale in the squad after last year’s Tipperary defeat- to the local press. McCarthy has refused to admit culpability on this count; the players maintain that the only other copy of this document lies with the facilitator himself.

Well-know radio host Neil Prendeville questioned the CCB secretary Frank Murphy’s competence in his column in the Cork independent, and was threatened with legal action by the secretary. In the same paper, the CCB’s Bob Honohan issued a vicious ad hominem against former Wexford manager Liam Griffin for the latter’s articles on the issue.

Back on the management side of things, McCarthy struggled to build a new backroom team, with a range of figures turning down the chance to become involved with the set-up. This process reached its nadir as the year drew to a close. Having announced former Irish rugby fitness coach Mike McGurn’s imminent appointment, the Cork boss was forced into an embarrassing climb-down as it emerged that McGurn had no intention of leaving his post with the Ospreys.

Another headache was the process of selecting a team to take the field. Again, scores of players refused to answer the call. As it stands, the current Cork ‘developmental’ panel comprises something close to a fifth or sixth string selection. The new panel were soundly beating in their first outing against an under-strength WIT in January, going down by 0-14 to 0-9. A subsequent outing against a second-string Waterford team gave little further comfort.

McCarthy then sent letters individually to the members of the 2008 panel requesting that they return; but before they reached their recipients the story had been plastered all over the press. The players declined the overture which the Sunday Times' Denis Walsh described as an exercise in 'pure optics'. McCarthy subsequently slammed the door on the 2008 players in an interview broadcast on RTE’s Six One news.

Five days later, the players called a press conference to give their side of the story. Several of the younger panel members made clear their disgust at repeated statements from McCarthy and sources close to the CCB to the effect that they had been dragged into the dispute against their will. ‘It’s a disgrace for them to suggest that”, said Cathal Naughton.

The following day a text poll on Cork's 96FM confirmed stout support for the players' stance amongst the Cork public. The broadcaster’s systems were almost overwhelmed by the flood of responses, with 1000 text messages landing within four minutes. At the close of the poll, with more than 3000 votes cast, the results showed over 90% in support of the players. The same day, well-know Cork supporter Thomas 'Bomber' Roche, announced a march in support of the players.

Last Sunday week, whilst handing out fliers for the march outside of the Cork v Meath National Football League game, Roche and his associates were subjected to a tirade of ‘foul and abusive’ language by Jim Brohan of Blackrock and the CCB, according to several witnesses. Meanwhile, in Galway, the Cork developmental team were humbled in a challenge match against club side Portumna. Three quarters of the way in, Portumna were leading by 4-13 to 0-04. It was only after Portumna made 10 substitutions that Cork managed to restore a modicum of respectability to the scoreline. Gerald McCarthy praised his players for the effort and told us that they were tired. What he neglected to mention was that their opponents had fielded the same side in a match against CIT just 24 hours previously.

On Thursday night, an embattled County Board sought to steal the limelight with a crafted press statement which was remarkably self-serving, even by the board’s own standards. If diverting attention away from the supporters march was their goal, then this was a singular failure; little over 40 minutes later, the footballers announced their intention to join the hurlers at the end of their NFL campaign, should matters not be resolved to the satisfaction of both panels.

This, in broad terms, was the background to last Saturday’s show of support in Cork. If the 2008 panel had not been clear enough in their intentions not to play for McCarthy again, the constant drip-feed of media claims will have seen to that. On Saturday, before the march, we had McCarthy and goalkeeper Donal Óg Cusack at loggerheads on the Marian Finucane show, with the goalkeeper all but accusing his former manager of lying. Such is the level of polarisation that one can see no room for accommodation between the parties. In the meantime, the real victim is the Cork sporting public. A crowd one-tenth of the size of that which marched on Saturday saw the 2009 panel hammered by Dublin in the league the following day. At this rate, relegation to division two and and the Christy Ring cup is all too real a prospect.

For the full text of the player's statement at the press conference on January 26th, follow this link.

The conference can be viewed in full here.

Gerald McCarthy's response to the statement can be read here

The Cork County Board press statement on February 5th can be read here. can be read here.

And the subequent announcement by the Cork footballers here.

Finally, the heated exchange between Gerald McCarthy and Donal Óg Cusack on SATURDAY's Marian Finucane show can be heard here; or via this podcast feed:. The item starts 1 hour and 16 minutes into the show.

The true character of the real Cork panel

2009-01-28T20:06:00.001Z

Letter published in the Evening Echo, Wednesday 28/1/2009

"Below is a letter my club have sent to the Examiner at the weekend for publication along with one from another club in Down, I think this gives a better understanding of the type of hurling people that Donal Og, Sully and their colleagues are than any of the snide remarks being made to try and indulge in character assasination."

"In Newry's experience Cork's Senior Hurlers are true Gaels."

A chara,

I hope you will permit me a few lines to publicly thank members of the Cork Senior Hurling team of 2008 for their continued support for hurling development in Newry and indeed Co Down in general. At the outset I want to state that I'm no apologist for the GPA or with an axe to grind with GAA officialdom as I sit myself on both the Down Hurling Board and Ulster Hurling committee thus I'm fully aware of the valuable role that administrators play within the GAA. However,I have been prompted to write this in the wake of continued attempts, bordering in some cases on character assassination, to portray this group of players as self-centred, interested only in themselves and on some type of ego trip to destroy the fabric of the GAA. I want the Cork hurling public to get some understanding of the true nature of these players and the often unseen efforts they make to promote hurling in the "backwaters" that have been continually ignored by the powers that be whose job it should be to develop hurling! Only last week we had the pleasure of once again hosting Diarmuid O 'Sullivan in Newry for our annual juvenile hurling awards and to launch the building of our hurling wall as part of our continued progress on our ten year development plan. In the past four years Donal Og Cusack and Diarmuid O'Sullivan have been regular visitors to our club, helping to launch our schools coaching initiative four years ago which has proved to be the springboard for the rejuvenation of juvenile hurling in Newry. Before their first visit hurling in Newry was on its last legs but over the following years with their continued support we have reached the situation where our juvenile hurlers are meeting and beating the Ards clubs at U12/10 level and matching the best in Ulster ,not for one moment am I suggesting this is the sole reason but the publicity they create coupled with hugely increased numbers attending training in the wake of their visits to the local schools is a significant factor. When you read all the press reports about senior Cork players being egotistical, interested only in themselves and in some way seeking to undermine the ethos of the GAA I can assure the public of Cork that the reality as borne out by their efforts is Newry couldn't be further from the truth, indeed I genuinely believe that if the GAA hierarchy was as interested in promoting and developing hurling in weaker counties as these two players and their colleagues hurling would be in a significantly stronger position across the country.

Not only have they helped promote hurling in Newry but throughout Down. I have had the privilege of coaching the Down minor hurling team in the past and both players have taken time out to help coach these players on more than one occasion particularly on our visit to Cork in 2006. This visit was almost singly organised by Donal Og, he organised the challenge match for us, the talk with Sean Og who also arranged to take time out to speak to the players along with a training session which Donal Og conducted himself, basically he gave up his whole weekend to help a group of hurlers from over 200 miles away, those actions say more about the true nature of this fellow gael than any number of press statements or media interviews to the contrary. Anytime we have asked Donal Og or Diarmuid to visit they have always agreed often at short notice, last week was a case in point where at very short notice Diarmuid agreed to travel north again not only to visit schools in the locality and conduct our awards night (with over 70 juveniles attending our U14-U8 awards on Saturday) but on the Friday night he also went to Ballycran an additional round trip of a hundred miles to present the medals at their juvenile awards, surely those are the actions of a player genuinely interested in helping promote hurling and what is best for the game we all love.

It is always simple to look at the headlines in the papers or the spin being created by others for their own agenda without looking beyond this at people's actions on a regular basis away from the glare of the cameras and certainly if you asked the young hurlers of Newry and Down their opinion of the Cork Senior hurlers and in particular Donal Og Cusack and Diarmuid O'Sullivan it would be one of fellow gaels committed totally to the promotion and good of hurling who are always willing to take time out for the people that really matter, not administrators or all stars but the youth of Ireland who want to play the greatest game on this earth. Like all genuine hurling people I hope to see these great servants of our game return to the arena they belong in and ensuring that Cork regain their rightful place at the top of the hurling role of honour.

Is mise le meas

Cumann Iomana Iuir Cinn Tra

A chara,

Finally catching up on emails and text messages. I was sorry I missed Diarmuid because the feedback from all at the club was that they thought him an absolute gentleman and everyone enjoyed meeting him. They were particularly appreciative of the interest he took in all the kids and his willingness to chat and to pose for photographs.

I've copied Eamonn and Paul in to this note because of the kind offer Diarmuid made to spend time with the County Development squads in the Spring/Summer. We will galdly take him up on that offer.

My personal thanks to you for helping arrange the visit.

Seamas O hAonais

Cathaoirleach

Naomh Sheosamh Baile Crann

Hall Prove Too Strong For Students

2008-11-03T00:46:00.001Z

Here's my match report for the UCC Express.

Douglas Hall 3 (Wilkinson 45, Rob Hourihan O.G. 71, O’Leary 80)
UCC 1 (Duggan pen. 14)

Munster Senior League, Sunday 2 November 2008.

By Joseph Sexton.

UCC have made a strong start to this season’s Munster Senior League campaign, and went into this game joint top alongside Blarney, with 8 points from four games. Unfortunately, an excellent second-half performance perennial title-challengers Douglas Hall showed that this promising College team are a long way from being the finished article.

It might have been a very different outcome had fortune not deserted the visitors at several key moments. College were more than a match for the hosts in the opening exchanges, and deservedly took the lead inside the quarter hour mark from Daniel Duggan’s spot-kick following a handball by Hall defender Seamus Long.

Hall’s only real chance in the opening exchanges came two minutes later, but James O’Leary’s snatched effort dribbled wide of Bambury’s goal. College displayed a willingness to get stuck-in, with Tommy Earls looking impressively solid at right-back. Ahead of him on the flank, Luke Burgess was more than willing to track back and lend a hand.

Burgess was turned by Hall’s Ronan Stanton just before the half-hour, and although O’Leary got a good head on the ball Bambury was at hand to make a smart save. College’s influential midfielder Duggan had gone down as the ball was played across though, and had to make way for Richard Ryan.

Although Hall created another few chances, most notably when O’Connell glanced a header wide, College were certainly not discouraged. They ought to have increased their lead seven minutes before the interval, but the match referee John Lyne inexplicably disallowed Barry Kirby’s headed goal following a Tommy Earls free-kick. Even the Douglas Hall manager accepted that the decision had been a real let-off for his team, and this proved the turning point in the game.

Although College continued to pin the hosts back, and indeed were unlucky again just moments later as McCarthy had a a header hacked clear of the line, Hall were beginning to regain their composure. That said, it was shockingly bad luck for College to concede in the final minute of the half. The goal came from a corner on the right, with defender Wilkinson getting in front of his marker to head home form the near post.

Hall were a vastly improved side after the interval, and College were forced onto the back-foot. Earls did have to make a goal-line clearance after 58 minutes, but they were coping admirably with the pressure until lady luck smiled upon the hosts again.

With 20 minutes remaining Hall’s Keith Stanton broke free on the right, and whipped in a low cross which evaded Bambury. Hourihan tried to to remove the danger but only succeeded in turning the ball in to this own net. It was a heartbreaking moment for the centre-back, who had given an exemplary performance up to that point.

College tried to pick themselves up, but were looking exposed as the hosts tried to ram their superiority home. The red-haired substitute Gerald O’Donovan, nicknamed Strachan by his colleagues, revelled in the space vacated as the visitors tried to push forward. Haring into space on the right, he played an inviting ball across the 6 yard box for James O’Leary to complete the scoring.

College’s manager Brendan Manley was in stoic humour at the final whistle, refusing to blame the referee for the defeat. “We did play extremely well in the first half, but Hall are an excellent team and they played some great stuff in the second half. We found it very hard once they got going. It was certainly a terrible decision to disallow [McCarthy’s] goal, and conceding just before the break really hurt us. But from the second half, there’s no doubt that Hall deserved their win”.

College will now look to regain their momentum away next Saturday to a St Mary’s team that have made an indifferent start to the season. Despite this defeat, they can take immense heart from the way they put it up to Hall in the opening period, and the potential is certainly there for the team to go on to have a successful campaign.

Douglas Hall

Adrian O’Donovan; Joe Mc Sorley (Gerald O’Donovan), Robert Brohan, Brian Wilkinson, Seamus Long; Ronan Stanton, David Moore, Keith Stanton, James O’Leary; Declan O’Connell (John McCarthy), Mark Murphy (David Hackett).

UCC

Mark Bambury; Simon Hedderman, Rob Hourihan, Michael McSweeney, Tommy Earls; Padraig O’Brien (Stephen O’Brien), Ciaran Forde, Daniel Duggan (Richard Ryan), Luke Burgess; Eoin McCarthy, Barry Kirby (Kieran Corbett).

Cork City win the Setanta Cup 2008

2008-11-03T00:35:00.003Z

Here's my match report for ExtraTime.ie

Original article here

Turner's Cross, Saturday 1 November 2008

Cork City emerged victorious from an absolutely enthralling Setanta Cup final at Turner’s Cross tonight. Second-half goals from captain Dan Murray and wide man Liam Kearney turned the tie in the Leesiders’ favour after Kyle Neill had fired Glentoran into a first-half lead.

It was a full-blooded contest which threatened the boil over on more than one occasion, but the enthusiasm shown by both teams was a great credit to their respective managers. Both sides gave their all, and whilst City’s strong second-half showing was to prove decisive, the visitors exerted an awesome hold on proceedings in the first period.

Sadly, the tie was marred by some ugly scenes both inside and outside the ground. A local publican was reportedly hospitalised after an altercation with a group of visiting supporters, and on one more than one occasion a particular section of the Glentoran support were seen to be throwing objects in the direction of City players.

But despite all of that the true spirit of sportsmanship shone through, with both sets of fans taking turns in applauding their opposition as the medals were distributed after full time.

In a game played a frenetic pace for much of the 90 minutes the visitors opened by far the stronger. Their aggression, physicality and sheer bloody-mindedness clearly unnerved Cork during the opening period, and they deservedly took the lead inside the quarter hour mark.

With the ball moving rapidly from one end of the field to the other mistimed tackles were a frequent occurrence, with Cork’s Joe Gamble the first of five players to see yellow. With 12 minutes played, referee Ian Stokes awarded a free to the visitors just outside the area. Cork protested the decision furiously, but Kyle Neill showed a cool head as he stepped up and drilled the ball home into the bottom right hand corner of McNulty’s goal.

Try as they might, City struggled to break down the resolute Glens defence. Denied time and space on the ball in final third, Cork’s attempts to play around the visitors floundered as they found themselves aggressively hustled off the ball and forced into making hasty passes. When they tried to play a more direct game they found no further profit. Denis Behan may be used to bullying defenders in the Eircom League, but up against Philip Simpson and Sean Ward his physical presence was blunted. Lawrie Dudfield has proven as asset with his back to goal since his signing in July, but all too often he was left crowded out and isolated.

City’s best chance of the half came on 24 minutes from a lofted ball forward. Dudfield cushioned a header into the path of Liam Kearney, but Morris Elliott was down quickly to smother his shot. Two minutes later, City’s Pat Sullivan hacked the ball clear from the line after Neill’s free evaded everyone else.

A Danny Murphy foul on the touchline caused a melee seven minutes before the interval, with the Cork left-back foolishly being booked for dissent after matters had calmed down. Nothing much was going right for the hosts, but if there was any solace they could take from the opening half, it was the feeling that surely their part-time opponents would be unable to maintain the same level of intensity for the full 90 minutes.

It was also going to take a vastly improved second-half showing from the the Rebels and, from their point of view, whatever words Alan Matthews had to say in the dressing room appeared to have the desired effect. They opened brightly, playing with more poise and verve as they began to find their passing rhythm.

A clear telltale sign of the Belfast team’s increasing weariness was the in the incessant time-wasting of Elliott at goal-kicks. Looking leaden-legged as City moved the ball around at pace, they were forced to drop back deeper deeper. The threat posed on the break by Hamilton and Scullion diminished but their determined defending continued to frustrate the hosts.

Clearly, a game-breaking moment was required if City were to get back on terms and on 56 minutes Dan Murray duly obliged. After some tenacious work by Alan O’Connor on the byline, City won a corner on the right. Danny Murphy, taking over the kicking duties from Liam Kearney, whipped the ball across to the back post where his captain, unmarked, was perfectly positioned to prod the ball home. It was a hammer blow for the visitors, and they never quite recovered.

Glentoran tried to stem the tide, bringing on Waterworth and McGovern for Scullion and Halliday respectively. Kearney was in full flow, coming in for some rough treatment from his opponents. Dudfield too was beginning to figure more prominently, and after playing a couple of one-twos with Gamble, fed Behan who thundered an effort over from outside the area.

It appeared to be only matter of time before Cork would complete their turnaround, and the decisive moment came with 15 minutes remaining. A ball floated in from the right found the head of Behan. Dudfield didn’t make the best of connections, but up popped Kearney to turn the ball home. In the jubilant scenes that followed, several objects were hurled at the City players by Glens fans, with the Gardai having to move in to quell the unrest.

Not content to sit on their one goal lead, Cork continued to place Glentoran under severe pressure for the remainder of the game. Behan was desperately unlucky not to make it 3-1 five minutes from time, with Dudfield also coming close to extending the margin.

Kearney was eventually forced off injured in the final minute having become the target of the the visiting side’s frustration, but that mattered little in the end as the hosts coasted home to claim their first Setanta Sports Cup triumph. The final whistle sparked scenes not witnessed at the Cross since Cork’s dramatic last day title win over Derry in 2005.

Cork City 4-4-2: Mark McNulty; Neal Horgan, Dan Murray, Pat Sullivan, Danny Murphy; Alan O’Connor, Joe Gamble, Darren Murphy, Liam Kearney; Denis Behan, Lawrie Dudfield.
Substitutions: Darragh Ryan for Liam Kearney (89 minutes)
Not used: Michael Devine, Eoin Forde, Cillian Lordan, Gareth Cambridge, Timmy Kiely, Sean Kelly.
Booked: Gamble (11 Minutes); Danny Murphy (39 minutes); Darren Murphy (89 minutes).
Goals: Murray (56 minutes); Kearney (75 minutes).

Glentoran 4-4-2: Morris Elliott; Colin Nixon (Captain), Philip Simpson, Sean Ward, Johnny Taylor; David Scullion, Shane McCabe, Daryl Fordyce, Kyle Neill; Michael Halliday, Gary Hamilton.
Substitutions: Andy Waterworth for Scullion (60 minutes); Jamie McGovern for Halliday (70 Minutes); Dean Fitzgerald for Fordyce (78 minutes).
Not used: James Taylor, Darren Boyce, Grant Gardiner, Johnny Black.
Booked: Simpson (22 minutes); Hamilton (82 minutes).
Goals: Neill (13 minutes).

Referee: Ian Stokes

Official Man of the Match: Dan Murray.

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Liam Kearney. Murray was certainty a strong contender for the man of the match gong, providing stout leadership and stepping up to score the all important equalising goal. But a large chunk of City’s improved second-half showing was down to the energy and invention of the impish Conna winger. A succession of tough challenged, some of which surely merited cautions, did little to dent Kearney’s enthusiasm and his winning goal was a fitting tribute to a marvellous second-half performance.

Best Supporters in the World™

2008-10-31T23:28:00.003Z

Here's an editorial piece I wrote for the UCC Express.

Ireland has long maintained a romantic self-image as a nation sports-lovers. And while it’s certainly true that GAA, rugby and soccer dominate chat in pubs up and down the nation, the question has to be asked: are we truly, utterly, madly in love with our sports, or is it just another example of us patting ourselves in the back in that “Ah sure, aren’t we great?” manner in which we excel at in so many other areas? Are we true supporters, or is our support merely a fickle, superficial diversion?

On the surface, the case can be made that Ireland has a vibrant and healthy supporter culture. Croke Park is the fifth largest stadium in Europe, for one. The national rugby team pack the rafters whenever the play. The soccer team, despite lean years, still bring in big numbers and are pitching their corporate packages at rates that would make even the greedy suits of the English FA blush. Munster are, well, a phenomenon at this stage, and even the Leinster ‘ladyboys’ are bringing in respectable numbers in these days. The GAA is part of the very social fabric of this nation, and inspires devotion to an unfathomable degree at every level.

So far, so good.

There is much debate as to which sporting code reigns supreme in this country, but I don’t think it’s presumptuous of me to draw a few rough assumptions. GAA, across both codes, must surely dwarf all others in playing numbers, support, and social penetration. Soccer, although always well supported at the international level, still benefits from the massive influx of ‘new’ support built on the success of the Charlton era. In a similar vein, Rugby has overcome its old, elitist status, and is now widely followed. As with soccer, the unprecedented success of Ireland and Munster has been the greatest contributing factor, along with a certain degree of social aspiration which went hand-in-hand with the rise of Celtic Tiger. And as with the Charlton success, its rise in popularity is sure to outlast the lean economic times ahead.

But this only tells part of the story.

It may be an inconvenient truth for many, but the provincial rugby sides are essentially franchises, which have excelled in responding to the radical changes brought about by professionalism. This is not in itself a bad thing; indeed the benefits for the national team are there for all to see. But, in the rush to greater success, the All Ireland League is dying a silent death. Attendance numbers are paltry. Of course the national league itself is something of a newcomer, having been inaugurated in 1990. But up and down the country every weekend, the core supporters of rugby, those who can remember the days of 5 Nations wooden spoons, where victories over England were a panacea and not mundane, are the only ones there- to support what has become a hugely popular sport- at its grassroots level. This is a far cry from the mid-1990s when Young Munster took on St. Mary’s in a title-decider in front of 25,000 spectators. We’ve all heard of Munster vanquishing the All Blacks in 1978, but in 1992 they also defeated then world champions, Australia; and far from there being queues around the block at Musgrave Park, your erudite narrator can remember ambling in, without difficulty, with ten minutes played. The standing of the provinces then and now brooks no comparison.

Nowadays, great names like Cork Con and Clontarf are no longer the big draw they were in the past. At junior club level crowd numbers have remained static- at best- in the last decade. Indeed a constant (and valid) criticism of this brave new provincial era is that even the mighty Munster have struggled to draw decent crowds to Magner’s League matches; indeed, you only have to go back a few years to find a time when HEC pool tickets weren’t too hard to come by. Is this the mark of supporters, or of event junkies?

Not even GAA is immune this bandwagoneering- contrast the annual struggle in acquiring tickets for the Munster hurling final with the pathetic attendance at this year’s Cork v Kerry football semi-final. (Don’t mention the league)

Soccer in this country, meanwhile, limps on. Not at international level; nor amongst the hordes who make their weekly pilgrimage across the channel to support bigger names. But beyond Cork City and Derry City, attendances at League of Ireland games remain abject. Strangely enough, it wasn’t always this way. The 1950s and 1970s were glory days for the national league, the likes of Shamrock Rovers, Drums, Bohs, Cork Hibs and Cork Celtic were regularly drawing in 20,000 gates. A combination of the increased availability of live English football and sheer administrative incompetence killed this era with a fraction of the effort it will take to ever repair the damage wrought.

Nobody in their right mind would claim that the clubs have their house in order off the field; financial implosion at several top sides (and lesser ones) since the advent of professionalism attests to this. But the football played is attractive, and Ireland remains a soccer-mad country. European results are improving. There are many other countries out there of a similar size, also sharing our mania for the polished sheen of the Premiership, where domestic football is thriving. Supporting a Premier League team and your local team need not be an either-or matter.

One only has to look at what Norway has achieved in the last 30 years, starting from a much lower base. This year the champions of Cyprus(!) have taken the champions League by storm. Two years ago, their champions exited at the first hurdle to a League of Ireland side. Scotland has punched well above its weight for decades because of its entrenched fan culture. With a few more thousand bums on seats, there is no reason why our own league can’t do the same.

Sport, as ever, is all about the big occasion. The last-minute All-Ireland final victory; triumphing at Cardiff in club rugby’s showpiece; beating Spain and Holland, and qualifying for World Cups. But support runs much deeper. It’s not about donning the latest kit, or urging everyone to hush down the pub for a vital conversion-kick. It’s about getting out there and cheering on your team, feeling the anguish of a windswept November afternoon and the joy of a glorious summer evening. It’s about making a connection and becoming part of something. This is the essence of fandom the world over, and it’s what makes those special days taste all the more sweet. So why not get out there and give it a try? You have nothing to lose, but your barstool- well, that and the guy to your right who cannot tell his offside from his backside!

Interview with Stevie G for ExtraTime.ie

2008-09-23T23:27:00.001+01:00

Here's an interview where Stevie G chatted about Cork City for ExtraTime.ie

Original article here

Extratime with ... DJ Stevie G

By Joseph Sexton

Red FM presenter and club DJ Stevie G is a well-known figure on Leeside. Known as the Godfather of the Cork hip-hop scene after his long residency in Sir Henry’s, Stevie has been very active in recent years, organising musical workshops for youngsters and supporting the music community. Although famous for his support of Manchester United, Stevie is a fixture in the stands at Turner’s Cross for Cork City’s home games. ExtraTime.ie caught up with him last week to talk about City’s past and present, as well as its future prospects.

Q: How long have you been going to see Cork City?

Well, I’m old enough to remember the first couple of games. I would have been 8 or 9 back then. Now at that time there hadn’t been any team in Cork for a while. We’d all heard about the heyday at Flower Lodge back in the 70’s, but already by that stage I was already a big [Manchester] United fan. I always loved my soccer, and I went down to the games a lot during the 80’s. Of course it’s a big thing these days, it’s almost as if it has to be one thing or the other when it comes to following the national League or English football, but we never saw it like that. If anything, the two were complementary. I’d follow the Cork hurling and football teams, as well as the national team, and I went to a lot of games in 80’s. Like a lot of people, I found my interest waned during the Bishopstown era, but I still went to games regularly enough. Work commitments have got in the way at times, but for the last few years now I’ve been able to get down to see every home game. I’ll never claim to be a die-hard City fan, of course, but I’ve always followed the club’s progress throughout the years.

Q: Can you remember the first game you went to?

I can’t remember because I was so young at the time. I can remember there being a great buzz around the Lodge back around 1983, when Cobh had a good cup run. But my first City memory would be a cup game against Derry. The exact year escapes me, but I can remember it being a huge thing at the time. They brought a massive crowd down with them, as they always do. The game looked to be petering out towards the end, and then City nicked a goal in the last few minutes. I’ll never forget it. It could be nostalgia, but I remember it being absolutely packed down there that day- maybe more than 10,000. It was madness; people were already leaving, and they had to rush back in. That would be my first real memory anyway.

Q: Who would be your favourite City player over the years?

I’ve always liked strikers, so I’d have to mention Pat Morley. Everyone remembers Dave Barry of course; he was a great player over the years, pulling the strings from midfield. I’d have a lot of time for John Caulfield too, another good, honest forward. Of course, there have been some great defenders down through the years, but I’d always be inclined to go for the front men, or those in the middle.

Q: And what about the current City team? Who would be your favourite?

These days it’s hard because you get attached to players, and then they’re gone. I thought Mooney was unbelievable in the short time he was at the club, but for me it’s got to be Joe Gamble. He’s got great energy levels. It’s great to see Colin Healy playing here too, but for me Joe Gamble epitomises the last few years. I know he was close to leaving recently, but he’s been here now for a while and I hope he stays put as the team rebuild.

Q. What would be the highlight for you in the history of Cork City FC to date?

Obviously, there’s the Bayern Munich home game [UEFA Cup in 1991], and the away game too. Galatasaray also [1993]; being a United fan as well, United ended up losing to them just weeks later. City ran them close, and could have gone through, and that was great. You only have to look at what those Galatasaray players went on to do in later years. Then we had those great Euro runs in recent years, but for me it’s got to be winning the league in 1993 and 2005. I know they’ve won a couple of cups, but I just don’t find it to be the same thing. Winning leagues is the ultimate test for any side, so I’d have to go with those.

Q. What are your thoughts on the present uncertainty surrounding the club?

It’s unfortunate, but there’s so much good feeling towards the club. Of course, there is a fantastic hardcore support, but we do need bring in the wider public in Cork. I know there’s a huge ‘barstool’ thing; people go on about the bandwagon, and I know some people don’t want them. I can understand that. If you look at Munster, they were getting really low crowds even just a couple of year’s back, despite reaching European finals. We’ve seen situations with very low numbers heading up to follow the football side in All Ireland semi-finals, and then everyone’s looking for a ticket when they make the final. Even hurling, the real top dog for support, isn’t immune to this. City will have to look to draw in part of this element to grow. It’s important to keep the community thing going, and the hardcore is already there. Even through the last few months, the attendance has remained solidly above 3,000 a game.

I think the raw materials are there. With a bit more acumen, with a bit more support from the business community and some stability, the club can come through and improve in the future. The supporters trust is a massive thing; it’s great to see the fans pulling together. Maybe the club will end up following the Barcelona model, maybe not; but I don’t see the club going to the wall. Rumour has it that there are one or two people with muscle and ability looking to step in too, and I’d welcome that. These people apparently welcome the idea of getting [supporters trust] FORAS on board, which would be great. I’m sure it will all work out one way or another. Let’s not forget the mess Ramblers are in though- I think the FAI and the league have got to look after things a bit better but it can be done.

Q. Finally Stevie, what does Cork City mean to you?

It’s our local team. It’s the community. As I’ve said, the way it happened for me by the time Cork City came along, I’d already been crying when [Manchester] United lost. There was no City, there was hurling and football, and the stories of the great days of Cork soccer in the 1970s, Miah Dennehy and the like. So while I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t already formed the allegiance to United in my formative years, I’ve never had time for the whole barstooling thing. I can’t watch games in pubs myself, it does my head in. But what City means to me is the local banter. I’ve travelled to Old Trafford for years, but when it’s in your own town it’s just that extra bit special. You can’t beat that. We’re a sporting town, and it’s soccer right in the middle of town. Turner’s Cross is the place to be, I don’t think it was ever going to work in Bishopstown. It’s about local soccer, and the players we’ve seen especially in the last couple of years, but even going right back.

There are ignorant people out there who’ll say, ‘oh, I went there and the quality was crap’, but it’s not a bit like that. There’s better quality than a lot of top level soccer, all these hyped-up games on Sky and internationals; games with teams dogging it out for 120 minutes to get to penalties. Most teams in the league play good football now. Sure, there were times back in the day where there was a bit of hoofing, but sometimes you’ve got to hoof it too! But there’s quality football down there and a good vibe and I would encourage anyone to try it out. It’s fantastic. The Friday night thing is great also. For me it means that even with work I can make it down. It’s the perfect way to kick off the weekend. But most of all it’s about going down and getting behind your local team.

Stevie's Blog can be found here.

Cork City v Dungannon Swifts Match Report (22/09/2008)

2008-09-23T23:07:00.001+01:00

Here's my match report for ExtraTime.ie

Original article here

There were no surprises at Turner’s Cross as Cork City emerged with a fairly comfortable 4-1 victory over Dungannon Swifts in tonight’s Setanta Sports Cup encounter. City led by two at the break, with goals from Darren Murphy and Liam Kearney doing little justice to a game which resembled a training match for the hosts throughout most of the half. It was a much improved performance from the visitors after halt-time, however; indeed, they had the Leesiders on the ropes for a short spell early in the second period. But on balance, Cork will believe, with some justification that they ought to have won by a greater margin. But the result, combined with Drogheda’s 2-0 victory over Cliftonville means that Alan Matthews’ side will have to be content with an away tie in the next round.

The hosts started brightly, with Lawrie Dudfield volleying narrowly wide from an acute angle in the third minute. Just two minutes later Darren Peden made a last minute lunge to hook the ball clear from the goal line. The clearance only went as far as Joe Gamble who teed the ball up for Denis Behan, but the big striker’s effort crashed back off the bar.

In the 8th minute, Behan produced a cool finish from a Lawrie Dudfield cut-back, but the assistant referee signaled for offside. It was a marginal call, and a couple of minutes later City were unlucky again. This time, a miscued cross from Alan O’Connor had Swifts’ keeper Nelson in all sorts of trouble. As the ball came back off the angle of the goal frame, Dudfield pushed it the wrong side of the post.

Behan came close with a beautifully struck volley following a Kearney corner, but it took until the 24th minute before the hosts finally translated their overwhelming superiority into a goal. Danny Murphy curled a glorious free kick in from the right and Darren Murphy stepped across the line unmarked to glance his header home past the stranded Nelson.

On 39 minutes, Cork caught the dozing Dungannon defence with a training ground corner routine on the right. Kearney played the ball short to Sullivan, and as the Swifts defence stepped forward, he played it back on to the sprightly winger. Kearney carried the ball into the area, beating Nelson at his far post with a placed finish.

Behan and Darren Murphy both came close for City following a brace of early second half corners, but the visitors switch to 4-4-2 was giving them an extra dimension in attack. With 52 minutes on the clock, Michael Hegarty’s chipped free-kick found Aaron Baker in acres of space. The hosts were still contesting the decision when Baker lifted the ball over the onrushing McNulty with ball dropping inches wide of the goal.

If there was a lesson to be learned about the pace of the Swifts front men the home defence seemed to be especially slow of learning. Baker was again on hand, skinning Corks defenders following a lightning break by McGerrigan. Once again, the striker’s effort dropped agonisingly wide.

Within seconds, it proved third time lucky for the visiting side. McGerrigan burst clear of the defence and with McNulty failing miserably to smother the ball on the edge of the area was left with a tap in. Suddenly it appeared a very different game. Cork were now looking shambolic in the face of Dungannon’s increased intensity.

With Sean Kelly injured, Alan Matthews brought on Darragh Ryan and moved Danny Murphy across to centre-back. With Dungannon playing it on the ground, the upshot was that Murphy's pace helped negate Dungannon’s attempts to break through the middle.

63 minutes in, City were awarded a penalty after McMinn wrestled Dudfield to the ground. Behan stepped up to the spot and made no mistake, dispatching the ball home with ease.

A few minutes later, Nelson caught his studs in the turf clearing the ball and looked to be in serious trouble. He tried his best to play on but it was clear that he was in no position to continue. On 69 minutes he rushed out, blocking a shot from Liam Kearney with his hands. Inexplicably, match referee Alan Kelly waved play on; Nelson had been a good 7 yards outside of his own area. By now, the keeper was visibly struggling; and as Gamble broke into the area on the right, he was left rooted to the spot as the ball reached the far post. Substitute Ryan was left was the simplest of tap-ins. Nelson was immediately re-placed by Brandon Regan.

That took the wind of the Swifts’ sails, and City now pushed on hoping to complete the rout. Kearney was give licence to roam and was causing consternation in the visitors’ ranks.

In the 78th minute, he played a wonderfully measured pass to Dudfield in the area. With the former Notts County man ready to pull the trigger he had the ball lifted off his toe by a visiting defender. Two minutes later, the winger was at it again. Collecting a throw in from the left, he burst into the area and cut the ball back for Ryan. This time, the full-back couldn’t keep his shot down.

With 7 minutes remaining, Kearney played another great ball from the left, this time picking out Alan O’Connor. The ball fell to O’Connor’s weaker foot though, his leaden touch sending the ball straight back out to the wing.

Further chances were to follow, with City’s Behan again hitting the bar and Dungannon having an effort cleared off the line, but neither side were able to add to their tally and the game finished 4-1.

Cork City (4-4-2) Mark McNulty; Pat Sullivan, Dan Murray, Sean Kelly, Danny Murphy; Liam Kearney, Joe Gamble, Darren Murphy, Alan O’Connor; Lawrie Dudfield, Denis Behan.

Subs: Darragh Ryan for Sean Kelly (61 mins); Gareth Cambridge for Joe Gamble (84 mins); Timmy Kiely for Lawrie Dudfield (88 mins).
Not used: Michael Devine, Neal Horgan. Billy Woods, Cillian Lordan.
Booked: Murray (76 mins).
Goals: Darren Murphy (23 mins); Kearney (39 mins); Behan (63 mins); Ryan (70 mins).

Dungannon Swifts (4-5-1) Dwayne Nelson; Ryan Mullan, Adam McMinn, Darragh Peden, Joe McKee; Jamie Tomelty, Michael Hegarty, Fergal McAliskey, Darren Murphy, Shea McGerrigan; Aaron Baker.

Subs: Aaron McIlwee for Darren Murphy (61 mins); Brandon Regan for Dwayne Nelson (64 mins); Timmy Adamson for Michael Hegarty (86 mins).
Not used: Rodney McAree.
Booked: McMinn (63 mins).
Goals: McGerrigan (54 mins).

Referee: Alan Kelly.

Man of the match: Liam Kearney.

Photo nicked from CorkCityFC.ie

Cork City v Bray Wanderers Match Report (22/08/08)

2008-08-23T15:05:00.001+01:00

Here's my match report for ExtraTime.ie

Original article here

On an emotional night at Turner’s Cross, the home side’s dismantling of Bray Wanderers seemed a mere side-show to the 3,800 strong home support’s show of defiance amidst Cork’s mounting financial problems. Shorn of their leading goal-scorer, City made light of Dave Mooney’s €250,000 move to Championship side Reading as they romped home to a three nil victory against Eddie Gormley’s side.

The atmosphere was more that of a vigil than a game of football with the chant “we’re in the wrong hands” reverberating around the ground for much of the second half. Lest their message be unclear, the hardcore shed support unfurled a banner which read “Arkaga Rot In Hell”.

Official man of the match Denis Behan stepped in to fill a Dave Mooney sized gap in the home attack, scoring twice and creating another, as well as rattling the woodwork. But it was Joe Gamble, recently retained despite the interest of St Patrick’s Athletic, who stole the show with a typically gutsy performance, capped off by a very untypical goal.

The former Reading man opened the scoring in the 15th minute, lifting the ball over the onrushing Alan Gough after a back post flick-on by Behan from Pat Sullivan’s cross.

In truth, it was a lacklustre opening period. City controlled proceedings without ever creating too many genuine openings. Bray were game as they sought to to play on the counter, but their neat triangular passing floundered whenever they reached the final third.

It was Behan who came closest to extending the home side’s lead on 31 minutes. Having collected a sensational Liam Kearney ball from deep in City’s own half, he cut inside the defence before slamming the ball against the bar.

Immediately after the interval, City came close as Gough pushed a Colin Healy free-kick into the path on Lawrie Dudfield. Unfortunately for home side, the recent recruit from Notts County couldn’t turn the ball home under pressure from the visiting defence.

Dudfield was desperately unlucky in the 66th minute with a diving header from Cillian Lordan’s cross, drawing a fine reflex save from Gough. Five minutes later, he header narrowly wide from a Danny Murphy corner.

With 76 minutes played and the Cork crowd’s protest now in full voice, City struck again. Danny Murphy swung an inch-perfect cross in from the left wing, and Denis Behan powered an unstoppable header past Gough at the far post.

Bray introduced Andy Myler and Gareth Coughlan for Aidan O’Keefe and Colm Tresson at the restart, but 5 minutes later the game was ended as a contest. Cork won a free-kick on the edge of the Bray area, and Danny Murphy’s effort was adjudged to have been handled by the referee. Denis Behan stepped up and slipped the ball home confidently to make it 3-0. An already standing crowd offered Dudfield a standing ovation as he left the fray to make way for John O’Flynn.

As the game wore on Cork toyed with the visitors, and Behan came close to completing his hat-trick in added time, shooting narrowly over as he burst into the area.

A cloud of uncertainty hangs over the very existence of Alan Matthews side. At the full-time whistle, the home players lingered to pay their respects to home followers in a poignant display of solidarity. Some ten minutes later, the banners began to fall as the home support filed disconsolately out of the ground, which speculation rife as to what the future may hold for Leeside club.

Cork City (4-4-2) Michael Devine; Neal Horgan, Dan Murray, Pat Sullivan, Danny Murphy; Liam Kearney, Joe Gamble, Colin Healy, Cillian Lordan; Lawrie Dudfield, Denis Behan.
Subs: John O’Flynn for Dudfield (83 mins); Darren Murphy for Healy (85 mins); Darragh Ryan for Kearney (89 mins),
Not used: Mark McNulty, Sean Kelly.
Booked: Danny Murphy (57 mins); Pat Sullivan (58 mins); Dan Murray (68 mins).
Goals: Gamble (15 mins); Behan (76 mins; 81 mins, pen).

Bray Wanderers (4-4-2) Alan Gough; Derek Pender, Derek Foran, Colm Tresson, Gary Cronin; Gavin Whelan, Daryl Robson, Mark Duggan, Paddy Kavanagh; Ger Rowe, Aidan O’Keefe.
Subs: Jake Kelly for Tresson (76 mins); Gareth Coughlan for Aidan O’Keefe (76 mins); Andy Myler for Ger Rowe (89 mins).
Not used: Gabriel Sava, David Webster.
Booked: Derek Foran (81 mins).
Referee: M. Gough.

Official man of the match: Denis Behan.
Extratime’s man of the match: Joe Gamble.

Pics nicked from CorkCityFC.ie

South Ossetia Isn't Kosovo

2008-08-21T01:57:00.001+01:00

I had to steal this rather excellent piece by Christopher Hitchens from The Slate.

Original article here

Whatever Moscow says, there are at least six significant differences between the two situations.

By Christopher Hitchens
Posted Monday, Aug. 18, 2008, at 12:00 PM ET

While it is almost certainly true that Moscow's action in the Ossetian and (for good measure) the Abkhazian enclave of Georgia has been, in a real sense, the revenge for the independence of Kosovo (on Feb. 14 Vladimir Putin said publicly that Western recognition of Kosovar independence would be met by intensified Russian support for irredentism in South Ossetia), it is extremely important to bear in mind that this observation does not permit us the moral sloth of allowing any equivalence between the two dramas.

Perhaps one could mention just some of the more salient differences?

1. Russia had never expressed any interest in Ossetian or Abkhazian micronationalisms, while Georgia was an integral part of the Soviet Union. It is thus impossible to avoid the suspicion that these small peoples are being used as "strategic minorities" to negate the independence of the larger Georgian republic and to warn all those with pro-Russian populations on their soil of what may, in turn, befall them. This is like nothing so much as Turkish imperialism in Cyprus and Thrace and Iraq, where local minorities can be turned on and off like a faucet according to the needs of the local superpower.

2. Kosovo, which was legally part of Yugoslavia but not of Serbia was never manipulated as part of the partition or intervention plan of another country—the United States, in fact, spent far too long on the pretense that the Yugoslav federation could be saved—and, for a lengthy period, pursued its majority-rule claims by passive resistance and other nonviolent means. NATO intervention occurred only when Serbian forces had resorted to mass deportation and full-dress ethnic "cleansing." Whatever may be said of Georgia's incautious policy toward secessionism within its own internationally recognized borders, it does not deserve comparison with the lawless and criminal behavior of the Slobodan Milosevic regime. And in any case, it is unwise for Moscow to be making the analogy, since it supported Milosevic at the time and has excused him since on the less-than-adorable grounds (barely even disguised in Russian propaganda) of Christian Orthodox solidarity. It also armed and incited the most extreme and least pacifist forces in Ossetia and Abkhazia.

3. Does anybody remember the speeches in which the Russian ambassador to the United Nations asked the General Assembly or Security Council to endorse his country's plan to send land, air, and sea forces deep into the territory and waters of a former colony that is now a U.N. member state? I thought not. I look at the newspaper editorials every day, waiting to see who will be the first to use the word unilateral in the same sentence as the name Russia. Nothing so far. Yet U.N. Resolution 1441, warning Saddam Hussein of serious consequences, was the fruit of years of thwarted diplomacy and was passed without a dissenting vote.

4. The six former constituent republics of Yugoslavia, which all exercised their pre-existing constitutional right to secede from rule by Belgrade, are seated as members of the United Nations, as, indeed, is Georgia. Twenty out of 27 states of the European Union have also recognized the government of Kosovo as an entity de jure as well as de facto. The Kosovar population is estimated at 1.8 million, which makes it larger than that of some existing E.U. member states. Does anyone seriously imagine that Russia ever even remotely intends to sponsor any statehood claims for the tiny local populations of Ossetia and Abkhazia? On the contrary, these peoples will be reassimilated into the Russian empire. So any comparison with Kosovo would have to be not to its breaking away but to its potential absorption and annexation by Albania. And nobody has even proposed this, let alone countenanced the unilateral stationing of Albanian armed forces on Kosovar soil.

5. Heartbreakingly difficult though the task has been, and remains, the whole emphasis of Western policy in the Balkans has been on de-emphasizing ethnic divisions; subsidizing cities and communities that practice reconciliation; and encouraging, for example, Serbs and Albanians to cooperate in Kosovo. One need not romanticize this policy, but it would nonetheless stand up to any comparison with Russian behavior in the Caucasus (and indeed the Balkans), which is explicitly based on an outright appeal to sectarianism, nationalism, and—even worse—confessionalism.

6. The fans of moral equivalence may or may not have noticed this, but the obviously long-meditated and coordinated Russian military intervention in Georgia comes in the same month as explicit threats to the sovereignty of Poland and Ukraine, and hard on the heels of a Russian obstruction of any U.N. action in the case of Zimbabwe. Those who like to describe Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev as reacting to an "encirclement" of Russia may wish to spill some geopolitical ink on explaining how Kosovo forms part of this menacing ring of steel—or how the repression of the people of Zimbabwe can assist in Moscow's breakout strategy from it.

If it matters, I agree with the critics who say that the Bush administration garnered the worst of both worlds by giving the Georgians the impression of U.S. support and then defaulting at the push-comes-to-shove moment. The Clintonoids made exactly that mistake with Serbian aggression a decade and more ago, giving the Bosnians hope and then letting them be slaughtered until the position became untenable—and then astoundingly, and even after the Dayton Accords, repeating the same series of dithering errors in the case of Kosovo. The longer the moment of truth was postponed, the worse things became. But this in itself argues quite convincingly that there was no deliberate imperial design involved. Will anyone say the same about Putin's undisguised plan for the forcible restoration of Russian hegemony all around his empire's periphery? It would be nice to think that there was a consistent response to this from Washington, but I would not even bet someone else's house on the idea, which is what President Bush has given the strong impression of doing in the low farce and frivolity of the last two weeks.

Cork City v Bohemians Match Report

2008-08-09T14:28:00.001+01:00

Here's my match report for ExtraTime.ie

Original article here

A classic smash-and-grab raid at Turner’s Cross saw league leaders Bohemians move a step closer to securing their first title since the advent of summer football. With the hosts having battered the visitors for much of preceding 75 minutes, Cork’s supporters were left stunned by Glen Crowe’s cool finish.

It could easily have been very different, for the hosts unleashed a hurricane upon Bohemians in the opening 45 minutes. Within 20 seconds, Dave Mooney managed to get on the end of Denis Behan’s knock-down, forcing Bohs custodian Brian Murphy into a full-stretch save.

Two minutes later, after a clearance ricocheted back towards the danger zone, Mooney charged down Brian Murphy’s attempt to clear and again the Bohemians keeper was forced to make a sharp intervention to deny Denis Behan. The ball again broke to the burly Cork centre forward, but his failure to react quickly enough gave the besieged visiting defence some welcome respite.

City kept up the pressure, willed on by a crowd numbering close to 4,300. On 20 minutes, and as the ball fizzed around the Bohemians area, captain Dan Murray headed narrowly over from Danny Murphy’s cross.

Liam Kearney was popping up everywhere for City, cutting inside at will to test the visitors’ ponderous central defence. Their hesitancy in that area was badly exposed by the winger on 34 minutes, when his through ball found Dave Mooney. The former Longford man slipped a low shot past the advancing keeper, but Anthony Murphy intervened at the crucial moment to prevent the striker’s effort from crossing the line. Following the resultant corner kick, Colin Healy struck a powerful volley over the bar.

A further scare when Brian Murphy cleared a hospital pass from Thomas Heary just in time to deny Behan left the Bohs keeper in need of attention from the physio, and a few minutes later his own erratic clearance spread further panic amongst his defenders. Clearly, the half-time whistle couldn’t come a moment too soon for the visiting side.

Regardless of what Pat Fenlon said to his charges at half-time, it was again City who opened the half with more purpose. Behan had a volley saved, and Joe Gamble had a shot blocked down before the home side had their first real scare of the match. A ball from Mark Rossiter caught Liam Kearney in two minds and he almost turned a header into his own goal. Bohs failed to capitalise on this rare foray forward though, as Devine pushed Killian Brennan’s corner kick clear with ease.

But Bohemians were slowly beginning to get a grip on the game, and began to pose an increasing threat on the break. On 57 minutes, Neale Fenn made a clever run to collect a ball over the top from Jason Byrne. The former City favourite drew a fine reflex save from Devine before Murray turned the ball behind for a corner. A minute later, Fenn played a cross to the back post which Brennan headed over uncontested from the 6 yard line.

By now Cork were lacking the incisiveness that had characterised their earlier play, and manager Alan Matthews made a bold call when hauling off Darren Murphy for John O’Flynn in 67 minutes. Just as they seemed to be regaining their gusto, disaster struck. Colin Healy’s late tackle on the recently introduced John Paul Kelly almost resulted in some ugly scenes, with the visitors incensed by the challenge. Tempers had barely cooled when Anthony Murphy’s free-kick found the home defence napping. Killian Brennan headed the ball to find an unmarked Glen Crowe, who lifted the past Devine to the disbelief of the home support.

With the home side already flagging, Matthews introduced new signing Lawrie Dudfield for Liam Kearney. But Cork never looked like recovering from Crowe’s body blow as Fenlon’s side coasted home to what may well prove an invaluable three points in their title quest.

Cork City (4-4-2) Michael Devine; Neal Horgan, Dan Murray, Pat Sullivan, Danny Murphy; Liam Kearney, Joe Gamble, Colin Healy, Darren Murphy; Dave Mooney, Denis Behan.
Subs: John O’Flynn for Behan (67 mins); Lawrie Dudfield for Kearney (83 mins).
Not used: Darragh Ryan, Cillian Lordan, Mark McNulty.
Booked: Colin Healy (75 mins).

Bohemians (4-4-2) Brian Murphy; Mark Rossiter, Thomas Heary, Owen Heary, Anthony Murphy; Killian Brennan, Stephen O’Donnell, Gary Deegan, Jason Byrne; Neale Fenn, Glen Crowe.
Subs: John Paul Kelly for Fenn (70 mins); Mindaugas Kalonas for Byrne (84 mins).
Not used: Chris Konopka, Conor Powell, Sean Byrne.
Booked: Killian Brennan (37 mins); Stephen O’Donnell (78 mins).
Goals: Glen Crowe (76 mins).

Referee: Ian Stokes.
Man of the match: Brian Murphy.

Pics nicked off CorkCityFC.ie

Cork City v St Patrick's Athletic Match Report

2008-07-28T20:14:00.001+01:00

Here's my match report for ExtraTime.ie

Original article here.

A lively encounter at Turner’s Cross between Cork City and St Patrick’s Athletic ended in a scoreless draw on Sunday evening. With both sides keen to make ground on leaders Bohemians neither will be entirely happy with the outcome, but perhaps St Patrick’s will be the happier having been under the cosh for much of the opening hour.

The 3900 supporters in attendance were in good voice on this fine summer’s night, no doubt buoyed by Cork’s success in the afternoon’s hurling quarter-final.

Denis Behan started up front alongside Dave Mooney, who was looking to continue his remarkable run of goals, and the hosts also had Joe Gamble back from suspension. The visitors started with Jamie Harris paired with Ryan Guy up front, with new signing Jason Gavin starting at the back, and were quite content to park the bus in the first half.

In a game played with good tempo and spirit, remarkably few clear chances were created. Mooney had a couple of half-chances early on, and on 17 minutes Joe O’Cearuill just diverted the ball away from Denis Behan after Darren Murphy tried to find the striker at the back post. On 29 minutes, Joe Gamble came close with a shot from outside the area which went just wide of Barry Ryan’s right-hand post.

A minute later, as City began to exert greater control over the game, Neal Horgan caught the St Patrick’s defence napping with a superb ball over the top to Dave Mooney. However, having timed his run to perfection and controlled the ball well with his first touch, the former Longford man will have every reason to disappointed with his meek finish.

St Patrick’s rarely threatened, and might well have made better use of Ryan Guy’s willingness to run at the home defence.

The best chance came the hosts’ way four minutes before the interval. Danny Murphy whipped in an inviting free-kick from the right, but captain Dan Murray couldn’t take advantage of a free header from 2 yards out.

In the opening phase of the second half, City upped the tempo further and were virtually camped in the visitors’ half for long periods. During this siege, Gavin’s presence and leadership at the back proved vital to the visitors. The former Drogheda man gave a flawless performance, dominant in the air, and impeccable in timing his tackles. On this evidence, his €20,000 move looks to be a shrewd piece of business for the Inchicore side.

The closest that City came to translating their overwhelming territorial superiority came on 58 minutes. First, Dave Mooney made a great run to latch onto Denis Behan’s flick-on, and protested that he had been brought down by the visiting keeper. From the resulting corner, Darren Murphy headed narrowly over at the back post after another great delivery from his namesake Danny.

John McDonnell moved to stem the green tide with a tactical reshuffle, and this soon paid dividends. Having taken O’Cearuill for Glen Fitzpatrick on 56 minutes, he brought on Bobby Ryan for Derek O’Brien with 25 minutes remaining. Guy moved out to the left, with Damien Lynch moving back to right back, and soon City found themselves pegged back in their own half.

Winning every 50/50 ball in the middle of the park, Pat’s made things difficult for the hosts but failed to create much of note. Harris had the ball in the net in the 83rd minute, but the whistle had already gone for offside.

Right at the death, both sides came close to breaking the deadlock. In the final minute, with the hosts piling forward, Darren Murphy drew a fine save from close range from the Pat’s keeper. As the ball pin-balled round the area, Behan’s shot was blocked for a corner.

In added time Pat’s had their best chance as they broke away, but Keith Fahey dragged a decent effort just wide of Devine’s left post.

Cork City (4-4-2): Michael Devine; Neal Horgan, Dan Murray (Captain), Pat Sullivan, Danny Murphy; Liam Kearney, Colin Healy, Joe Gamble, Darren Murphy; Denis Behan, David Mooney.
Subs (all unused): Darragh Ryan, Dave Mulcahy, Cillian Lordan, Mark McNulty, Alan O’Connor.

St Patrick’s Athletic (4-4-2): Barry Ryan; Des Byrne, Jason Gavin, Stephen Paisley, Joe O’Cearuill; Derek O’Brien, Gary Dempsey, Keith Fahey, Damien Lynch; Jamie Harris, Ryan Guy.
Subs: Glen Fitzpatrick for Joe O’Cearuill (55 mins); Bobby Ryan for Derek O’Brien (65 mins).
Not used: Brendan Clarke, Dave Rogers, Stephen Brennan.

Referee: David McKeon.
Official man of the match: Pat Sullivan
Extratime’s choice: Jason Gavin.

(Photograph 'borrowed' from Cork City's website)

Cork City v Cobh Ramblers Match Report

2008-06-21T02:02:00.001+01:00

Here's my match report for ExtraTime.ie

Cork City romped home to a 5-0 victory over local rivals Cobh Ramblers on a fine June evening at Turner’s Cross, with Sunderland boss Roy Keane amongst the 3,900 in attendance. Braces for Liam Kearney and top scorer Dave Mooney followed John O’Flynn’s 24th minute opener, with the home side barely having to get out of second gear in a match which they controlled from start to finish in the absence of suspended midfielder George O’Callaghan.

The Leesiders’ only real scare came during the scrappy opening minutes. Gavin O’Neill tapped the ball home for the visitors, but Brian McCarthy was adjudged to have pushed City captain Dan Murray from the preceding corner.

In truth, it was poor fare throughout the first half, with City dominating the territory without creating too many clear-cut openings. The opener came after a fine ball played in from the right by Joe Gamble, with John O’Flynn hitting a first time effort to beat James McCarthy at his far post. Just minutes later, Dave Mooney came close as he stretched to meet a Darren Murphy cross.

In the 35th minute, City were denied what seemed a clear penalty, with Liam Kearney bundled to the ground inside the area. The referee was unimpressed however, and booked the winger for protesting.

With the game petering out five minutes before the interval, Dave Mooney burst into the area, jinking past two defenders before slotting home after being played through by the irrepressible Kearney.

City opened the second half playing with greater tempo and purpose. On 52 minutes, Darren Murphy’s header was cleared off the line by Ramblers’ Captain Alan Carey. It was during this period of sustained pressure that the hosts made the game safe. Just two minutes later, Liam Kearney got on the end of a through pass as the keeper charged out, and despite a clumsy first touch still had the presence of mind to slot the ball home cooly from the left hand side of the goal.

Oddly, going a third goal down seemed to liberate the visitors somewhat, as they began the push more men forward in search of a consolation strike. Mulconroy was replaced by Conor Meade, and Gareth Cambridge came on for Alan Kearney, but City clearly had the wind in their sails and began to pick holes in the visiting defence. Gamble played Mooney through on 63 minutes, and the former Longford man produced a smart finish only to have the goal disallowed for offside.

It was a poor decision from the linesman, but the vibrant home support didn’t have to wait too long for number four. With 67 minutes on the clock, a clever ball dinked over the top by Kearney had Mooney through on keeper. Having looked to have taken the ball too far wide, he blasted home from the left with the defence haring back to take his tally for the season to 11 in all competitions.

Now looking for his hat-trick, Mooney blasted a long range effort over the bar three minutes later. Cillian Lordan replaced Neal Horgan, and Joe Gamble picked up a yellow card for a stiff tackle on John Kearney, which means he now faces further suspension. Mooney came close again with thirteen minutes remaining, putting the ball wide of the near post after an excellent ball from John O’Flynn.

Mooney turned provider on 85 minutes, cutting the ball back from the right for onrushing Liam Kearney to complete Ramblers’ misery. The result leaves goal-shy Cobh mired in the lower reaches of the table, but for the hosts the season is beginning to look more positive as they now lie seven points off the top of the table.

Cork City (4-4-2): Michael Devine; Neal Horgan, Dan Murray, Pat Sullivan, Danny Murphy; Liam Kearney, Colin Healy, Joe Gamble, Darren Murphy; John O’Flynn, Dave Mooney.

Subs: Cillian Lordan for Neal Horgan (73 mins); Dave Meyler for Darren Murphy (81 mins); Denis Behan for John O’Flynn (86 mins).

Not used: Mark McNulty, Alan O’Connor.

Booked: Liam Kearney (35 mins); Joe Gamble (76 mins)

Goals: O’Flynn (24), Kearney (40, 54), Mooney (40, 67)

Cobh Ramblers (4-5-1) James McCarthy; Alan Carey, Johnny Meade, Brian McCarthy, Shane Guthrie, Davin O’Neill, Michael Mulconroy, Mikey O’Shea, John Kearney, Alan Kearney, Gareth Cummins

Subs: Conor Meade for Michael Mulconroy (50 minutes), Gareth Cambridge for Alan Kearney (64 minutes).

Not used: Kenny Coleman, Shane Barrett, Ray Lally.

Booked: John Kearny (9 mins)

Referee: A Kelly

Man of the match: Dave Mooney

(Photo shamelessly thieved from RTE)

Ireland: perverse argument

2008-06-04T23:47:00.001+01:00

Here's an article of mine which got published in the Index on Censorship:

Original article here.

Gay sex, moral crusades and Desperate Dan: the Mayo Echo row has it all, writes String

A popular community-based website in the west of Ireland was forced to cease operating last week in the fallout that followed the publication of an inflammatory article in a local newpaper attacking alleged gay ‘perverts’.

The article, penned by Tony Geraghty, editor and proprietor of local free freesheet, the Mayo Echo, provoked widespread debate on Irish web forums. This quite startling front-page article, which reads like a bad Onion spoof, told the story of a recreational area in Castlebar, Co Mayo being transformed into a latter day Sodom, with hundreds of men visiting on a weekly basis to have anonymous sex with strangers, propositioning young boys, and getting their rocks off whilst thumbing through children’s magazines. Perhaps most horrifying, the article described ‘drooling perverts getting off whilst watching children’ playing at an adjacent playground.

‘Castlebar lake attracts hundreds of perverts’, read the headline. Mr Geraghty’s appeal to outrage, spread across several pages, contained terrifying conclusions, noting these sordid shenanigans ‘might lead to sexual attacks in the future’. Not content with such bristling polemic, Mr Geraghty decided that the public interest would best be served by the publications of photographs, which included one of an alleged ‘pervert’; a car, which, lest the reader be short of sight, was accompanied by a close up of its registration plate; and the truly gruesome sight, sure to shock befuddled of Ballinasloe, of discarded condoms and tissues lying close to pages from a ‘boys’ magazine’.

Men, the reader was informed, were travelling from as far afield as Galway and Donegal, to cavort in the bushes in broad daylight, just yards away from a playground, in the west of Ireland’s number one cruising spot. The Irish police force, the Garda Siochana, we were told, had been conducting an undercover operation for many months, leading to several recent arrests, and had received numerous complaints (although clearly not as many as our intrepid reporter). But more on this later.

Castlebar.ie was a tremendously popular local website, receiving as many as three million hits per month - or at least it did up until last Saturday, when the site announced on its main page that it had been ‘forced to cease operation after more than 10 years of publication [due to] threats of legal action received from a commercial publication based in Castlebar’, which it identified as the Mayo Echo. Editor Geraghty had objected to critcism of his article, and him, on the site’s very active forum. Indeed, an email from Mr Geraghty, previously available on Castlebar.ie, read:

‘I would like to express my utter disgust at postings placed on your website www.castlebar.ie on the ‘Online Forum’… There is lengthy discussion of an article published in the Mayo Echo this week, and some of the comments are completely unacceptable, untrue, and completely defamatory to myself…

‘I am completely in favour of the principle of a free press, freedom of expression, and the free exchange of ideas, but with such rights come responsibilities, both legal and moral.

‘I hereby formally call on you to ensure the following:

‘That the offending postings are removed immediately.

‘That at the first opportunity, a mutually agreed full and unequivocal apology be made to myself, and to the Mayo Echo, admitting that the comments made are unsubstantiated, untrue and are withdrawn forthwith.

‘I am also seeking any information or data that might identify those persons that contributed these postings, IP address etc. I am also requesting the identities of the moderators that monitor and vet the postings.’

The offending posts were removed, and, it is understood that the website issued an ‘unreserved and unequivocal apology’ - the first time in its history it had done so. But the unremitting cloud of legal threats finally forced that site administrator’s hand into shutting the site down entirely.

RTE’s Liveline, presented by Joe Duffy, is one of the most the most popular radio shows in Ireland, offering a platform to the indignant and the irritable to vent their spleen. Covering issues from Spanish exchange students conversing too loudly on buses, to more serious matters like political corruption, fraudulent trading, and medical malpractice scandal, the show has long been compulsory listening. Tuesday’s show opened with Mr Geraghty, in bullish form, reiterating his allegations and attempting to copper fasten his new found fame as a zealous crusader for public morality.

A flood of calls followed.

One of the first to respond was Frank O’Grady, a representative of regional gay rights group OutWest. Earlier in the week, his organisation had issued a statement claiming that Mr Geraghty’s allegations were ‘unfounded’. We didn’t just have to take Mr O’Grady’s word for it, however, because O’Grady had taken the eminently sensible step of making official contact with the Garda Siochana. A superintendent had confirmed to OutWest that, not only had no arrests been, but there was no ongoing operation regarding the matter. In fact, the Gardaí had not received a single complaint.

A local councillor, Michael Kilcoyne, went on the record stating that he was appalled by the allegations, ‘which [have] no basis in fact whatsoever’. Several further callers, many locals, both gay and straight, called to register their disgust at the article and its casual linking of homosexuality to paedophilia. One caller, who claimed to live a ’stone’s throw away’ from the lake, expressed his disbelief at the allegations. Councillor Brendan Hennigan was particularly scathing in his criticism, claiming that the allegations were ‘outrageous’, and had scared local people away from their recreational area. When he pushed Mr Geraghty on the matter of the photographs, the editor’s excuse for publishing the registration number bordered on the absurd; claiming that the type of car was ‘rare enough’, but many people drove similar cars in the area, and he feared reprisals against their innocent owners. More incredible still was Mr Geraghty’s claim that it was his duty to ensure that families should ‘be aware of what their fathers and brothers’ were up to.

There were isolated expressions of support for Mr Geraghty’s bravery, although tellingly, none of these came from Castlebar natives. The majority were more or less united in objecting to the shrill nature of the piece, labelling it as incitement to hatred. One elderly caller spoke of his sadness at having his community site, a window to the world and a source of business, closed down by the legal threats. Another caller forced Mr Geraghty into furious backtracking regarding the nature of the images from ‘boys’ magazines’ found at the site, which turned out to be nothing more malign than the Dandy, home of Desperate Dan and Beryl the Peril. Nonetheless, Mr Geraghty made the bizarre claim that the comic had been used for ’sexual gratification’.

As it stands, Castlebar.ie is still offline. Meanwhile, in this week’s edition of the Mayo Echo, Geraghty has treated us to a further two-page polemic concerning the response to last week’s sensational piece of journalism. ‘One of the principles of good journalism is that the journalist should not become the story,’ it begins. With an apparent absence of irony, he pontificates further on the issue of free speech, before railing at the injustice of it all:

‘It seems in this modern day that there are certain groups we simply are not alloyed [sic] to discuss. When we talk about issues of concern with some members of the travelling community, we are immediately labelled as anti-traveller, despite the issues raised being completely true, and of legitimate concern to the public. When we raise some societal challenges being faced due to the sudden influx of foreigners (almost a no-go word in itself), we are accused of being racist. And when we raise issues clearly of concern to our own community concerning a practice among some members of the gay community, we are accused of being anti-gay. In this era of over-the-top political correctness, it seems the only acceptable topic for discussion is the weather, and GAA.’

Cork City v Shamrock Rovers Match Report

2008-06-04T23:43:00.001+01:00

This match report was done for League of Ireland news site, ExtraTime.

Original article here.

Cork City supporters were left shaking their heads at another two points squandered, as Sean O’Connor’s 81st minute strike secured what had seemed an unlikely draw for Shamrock Rovers.

Credit must be given to the visitors for their tremendous work-rate throughout, but with City controlling the game for most of a wet evening at Turner’s Cross, Liam Kearney’s opener looked to have provided the home side with a strong basis to take the three points.

The Cork leg of Munster’s Heineken Cup coming certainly took its toll on the attendance, with only 2,500 supporters turning up for a game that has traditionally proved a big draw. The Leesiders fielded an unchanged eleven after their comfortable win at Bray, which meant that Joe Gamble, just back from suspension, had to be content with a place on the bench.

From the beginning, the home side looked the more lively, with Pat Scully’s side content to close down the space and hope to catch the hosts on the break. The match referee, Richie Winter put down an early marker on dissent, having words with Rovers’ Stephen Rice as early as the fourth minute.

Chances were few and far between in the opening stages, with City playing at a high tempo but being frequently let down by their final ball. In particular, Danny Murphy was guilty of being wasteful on several occasions, the full-back being all to eager to hit quick ball forward when a more structured approach might have proved more profitable. Rovers actually did have the ball in the back of the net after 10 minutes, but Padraig Amond had already been flagged offside by the time he collected Alan Murphy’s through ball.

As Rovers dropped deeper, City created a series of openings, most notably in the 34th minute when a speculative ball from Danny Murphy looked to have John O’Flynn through on the edge of the area. The slightest of tugs from Aidan Price led to yellow card for the Rovers defender and George O’Callaghan came close from the resulting free, with the ball dipping just wide of Barry Murphy’s right-hand post.

For the most part though, Rovers reduced their opponents to half-chances, with their defence remaining as disciplined as the opposing attack was erratic. Liam Kearney went close on a couple of occasions, and Barry Murphy was down quickly after spilling a long rang effort from Colin Healy on the stroke of half-time to ensure matters remained level at the interval.

City almost made the breakthrough in the 49th minute, when O’Callaghan was desperately unlucky to see a superb free-kick come back off the bar from 25 yards. Just four minutes later, Rovers’ Murphy scooped a John O’Flynn effort off the line to the disbelief of the home crowd.

The elusive goal came after 58 minutes, with Liam Kearney tucking away a diving header at the far post following a Dave Mooney flick-on from Pat Sullivan’s throw-in.
City now upped the tempo, pegging Rovers back on the edge of their own area for long spell, with the impressive Darren Murphy flashing a header across the face of the goal on 63 minutes. Rovers made their second substitution of the night, David Tyrell replacing Aidan Price, as they sought to stem the flow. As it was, now pressing higher up the pitch, they struck a peach of a breakaway goal. Just moments after Dave Mooney had struck the base of the post, having been played through by O’Callaghan, Sean O’Connor found the back of the net from just inside the area, after Alan Murphy’s pass caught the City defence napping.

With just three minutes of regulation time remaining Alan Matthews replaced Kearney with Denis Behan, switching to 4-3-3, but in the end his side were left to rue earlier misses as the game fizzled out to a one-all draw.

Cork City (4-4-2): Michael Devine; Neal Horgan, Dan Murray, Pat Sullivan, Danny Murphy; Liam Kearney, Darren Murphy, Colin Healy, George O’Callaghan; Dave Mooney, John O’Flynn.

Subs: Denis Behan for Liam Kearney (87 mins)

Not used: Joe Gamble, Cillian Lordan, Mark McNulty, Alan O’Connor.

Booked: Behan (45).

Goals: Kearney (58).

Shamrock Rovers (4-4-2):Barry Murphy; Danny O’Connor, Corey Tracey, Aidan Price, Barry Ferguson; Darragh Maguire, Eoin Doyle, Stephen Rice, Alan Murphy; Padraig Amonda. Seam O’Connor.

Subs: Tadhg Purcell for Eoin Doyle (50 mins), David Tyrell for Aidan Price (69 mins).
Not used: Mark Langtry, Darren Stapleton, Karl Coleman.

Booked: Price (34), Doyle (43), Maguire (48).
Goals: Sean O’Connor (81).

Referee: Richie Winter
Man of the match: Darren Murphy.

A bitter disappointment

2008-04-24T23:19:00.001+01:00

Awful, awful, awful game.

Unfortunately, Ferguson did exactly what I suspected he might which was to play it cagey and see how things went. Even allowing for that, it was absolutely shocking to see how deep the defence were at times. The selection was wrong. Fair enough about Vidic, but Ronaldo up top was a big mistake. He was isolated for the entire game, had no support, and no decoy runners to create space to move into. I can see the logic of playing Park in a tie like this, but it didn't work and he should have been taken off at half-time for Nani. The RTE panel raved about Scholes, but I think he just did what you would expect from someone in that role- maybe it's because it's the wrong role for him and he still did well, but when it came to the things you usually expect of him, he didn't do it. His passing wasn't up to scratch, although the team was so poorly set-up it made little difference.

United should have approached this game on the front foot- with their record in home second legs, 0-0 is not a good result. Barca have been awful of late, and a score draw (at the minimum) should have been the aim. a 2-1 or 3-2 loss would have been fine also. Instead, they made a shambolic Barcelona look decent. As it happened, they just didn't have the ability or the confidence to do to United what they deserved. One thing you can say is the defence performed brilliantly, maintaining their concentration throughout, and restricted the opposition to a handful of half-chances. Scholes and Carrick should been pressing much higher up the field though, in the end they just ended up inviting too much pressure on the defence and were too far away from the frontmen when they did get posession to create anything. They relied upon, and might have profited better from, lapses in concentration from the opposition- but the problem with that is that when the other side in controlling the game, there is a far greater likelihood that you'll be the team to make the mistake. Risky stuff. Even the Italians don't play like that anymore.

As for Barca, I thought they were pretty poor as well. For a team that had 62% of the ball, they did nothing. Messi did alright; Xavi played well; Deco, for me, was fantastic- anyone (and there are many, it would seem) who doesn't recognise what he brings to the table knows nothing about the game. As for the others? Eto'o- poor; Iniesta- looked out of place so far up the pitch. Abidal was poor also, Zambrotta put in a good shift though. Henry, I think, should have come on earlier, and in place of Eto'o. As it was, I thought he did reasonably well, in that position which he doesn't enjoy much.

As for next week, it's a tough call. If United play anything like they did last night, they'll be poxed if they get through; if they play it as if it's a premiership game, and get the selection right, they'll cream them. Anderson and Nani have to start. Ronaldo must be allowed to run from deep. I think the whole Rooney thing is a red herring. He can start up front, play off Tevez, or come in from the left. What matters is that the deeper lying midfielders can link up with the attack, and that Evra can overlap. It's all about the attitude- fuck playing chess. Play football.

(Photography shamelessly stolen from http://football.guardian.co.uk )

Neal Horgan interview, UCC Express November 2007.

2007-12-09T06:43:00.001Z

Ahead of his side’s clash with Longford Town in this Sunday’s FAI Cup final, Cork City right-back and UCC graduate Neal Horgan returned to his alma mater to talk to String about study, slaggings and step-overs

UCC graduate Neal Horgan is a fixture in the Cork City defence, and was part of the outstanding team that brought the Eircom League title back to the Capital of Culture in 2005.

Almost as impressive as their domestic achievements were their achievements in Europe, where, punching well above the Eircom League’s weight, they defeated Swedish champions-elect Malmo and Djurgarden in consecutive seasons.

They also shocked Dutch first division side NEC Nijmegen, then under the tutelage of the 1970’s Dutch footballing legend and current FC Barcelona assistant manager Johan Neeskens, as well Cypriot champions Limassol, and putting up commendable displays against the likes of FC Nantes, Red Star Belgrade, and Slavia Prague.

Horgan’s former team-mates such as Kevin Doyle, Alan Bennett and Roy O’Donovan have since moved onto Premiership football and City subsequently found it difficult to build on their success.

But this year, Horgan has helped the side to the final of the FAI Cup, in which they will meet Longford Town this Sunday, and rebel hearts will dare to dream again.

Sadly for the right-back, a booking in the semi-final victory over Bohemians means he will be forced to watch the game on the sidelines, but with new investors in place and a strong second half showing this season, the future is looking bright.

Off the field, Horgan has been very busy academically. He graduated from UCC with a BA in history ad geography in 2001, and went on to do a hDip in management and marketing at the college.

He continued his studies by taking a diploma in legal studies, passing his Blackhall exams in 2006. At the start of the current season, he toyed with the idea of continuing his studies in law in the US, and trained with Major League Soccer (MLS) outfit Colorado Rapids.

However, the strict salary caps governing MLS playing contracts means that player wages can be very low, even compared to Eircom League clubs.
After much deliberation, Horgan felt that his interests would best be served by remaining with Cork City, where his current contract runs up until the end of the 2008 season.

He is an advocate of footballers taking the opportunity to study instead of risking everything by moving to England in their teens, insisting that it provides a valuable safety net.

“I obviously don’t know first hand, but once you come through trials there it’s all football from a very young age,” he says.

“It’s nice to able to study, and I’m glad I was lucky enough to have the chance to combine both. A lot of players from here head over to England when they’re 16 or 17, and not all of these players are going to make it.
“The English clubs have the money, and it’s a numbers game. It’s great now that the Eircom League is full-time and can absorb some of these lads. But the problem is that the league still works to short-term contracts.
“So you come back, but what then if you get injured, or maybe lose your place, and then your contract isn’t renewed? Suddenly you find yourself having to start again from scratch without so much as a Leaving Certificate to back you up. It can be a cruel game.”

Having sampled life in the lecture halls of UCC and the hallowed turf of Turner’s Cross, Horgan believes there is great potential for a link-up between the college and his club.

“It’s a shame that nobody has brought it about yet. Why not give fellas an alternative to heading over to Britain? Instead they could stay here and get their qualifications,” he says, adding that the Eircom League is now a viable stepping stone to the Premiership.

Even before he chose to study at UCC, Horgan had links to the college. His late father Patrick lectured in Law at the College, and coached the UCC team back in the day.

“I grew up supporting College in the Harling and Collingwood cups, and my favourite player back then was Dave Morley [brother of City legend Pat]”” he says.

“The day before a City game, I used to take a stroll through the main campus. It was a great way to relax and get away from it all.”
He cracks a smile as he recalls the stick he got in the City dressing room on account of his studies.

“God, yeah, The lads are still calling me the student!” he laughs. “Some of the lads were very well turned out, so they used be mocking my ‘student’ clothes. Neale Fenn used to rip me apart. It was all good craic though.”

Horgan was too busy with his City commitments to play with College, but did join up with the 32-county Irish Universities team to compete in the World Student Games in China.

The team was coached by UCC’s Canice Kennedy, and featured fellow UCC students such as David Spratt and Alan Weldon, both currently playing in the Munster Senior League, as well as Michael Mulconnery and Tony Tynan, who recently helped rivals Cobh Ramblers’ march to the Eircom League first division title.

“The lads are still calling me the student! Some of them were very well turned out, so they used be mocking my ‘student’ clothes. Neale Fenn used to rip me apart. It was all good craic though” – Neal Horgan on getting stick in the Cork City dressing room during his time at UCC

He has come up against some quality players in his time. But who were the standouts?

“[Drogheda’s] Ollie Cahill is a great player. He’s won so much since he left City, and he plays on the left so he’s a direct opponent,” he offers.
“Outside of the Eircom League, I played against Nikola Zigic [6’7’ Valencia striker, then of Red Star Belgrade] in the Champions League qualifiers last year, and I was pleased with my performance. I even beat him to a header!

“I can remember coming up against Bolton’s Jay Jay Okocha a while back too. He used to have this trick, a sort of double step-over with a change of direction. He was in front of me and I knew exactly what he was going to do. “So I thought ‘right, I’ll show him’, but we both ended up colliding, and quick as that he was on his feet and gone. But it’s a real privilege to play against players of that calibre.”

It’s been a difficult season for Cork City, who found it difficult to find form early on and have underachieved since their title win two years ago.
“We’ve lost so many players since 2005, and haven’t really been able to replace them,” he says.

“But getting the likes of Gareth Farrelly and Colin Healy has been a massive boost. Both of them have played for Ireland, and of course Joe Gamble has made international squads, so we’re very strong now in the middle of the park.

“Getting the investors on board should help us in a big way too next season. It’s been very frustrating, contending first with Shels and then with Drogheda, spending big, stockpiling players they didn’t necessarily need, and weakening other team’s squads.”

City missed out on the fire sale at relegated Shelbourne due to lack of funds, but Horgan clearly feels that things are looking up for the future.
“The cup final is going to be great, even though I can’t be out there,” he says. “Unlike in England, the FAI Cup’s significance hasn’t been diluted by the focus on Europe. It’s still a major thing. It won’t be easy. Longford are a good team, and were very unlucky to be relegated. The point deduction killed them in the end.

“It must be a sickener to have finished as strongly as they have, so they’ll be up for it. Some of our lads have been there and lost [in 2005]. That really hurt. So they’ll be looking to put that right”.

Looking ahead to next season, Horgan says that City can maintain their league challenge provided they hang onto their best players and compete in the transfer market. Long-term, he’s unfussed about what the future holds.

“My contract runs to December next year. So we’ll see how it goes. If I don’t end up extending it beyond that, I’ll begin my apprenticeship as a solicitor. It’s nice to have that option. Going to college and playing sport compliment each other massively. It simply cannot be recommended strongly enough.”

(Photography by the UCC Express's rather marvelous Eoin Tyrrell )

Inner City Cut Down in its Prime

2007-05-28T13:22:00.001+01:00

The Report was shocked and saddened to hear this week of Inner City's untimely demise.

An incredible lack of foresight from Feddies.

The following press statement was issued by the Inner City crew just over a week ago:

The LAST Innercity; Friday May 25th
After more or less 3 years of running both BASS and Innercity we have decided to lay our weekly nights to rest for the foreseeable future. Our last night is on May 25th so please do come and say farewell at a special resident’s night.

We have all had a great laugh over the past few years; be it playing to thousands of people on Patrick’s Street, getting Derrick May to hold a lecture in Cork or just going to Innercity every Friday and watching 350 people turn up to see local DJ’s.

We want to say thanks most importantly to all our loyal regulars who have attended our nights religiously over the past few years. It is due to them that we got to hold all the weird and wonderful events.

Also thanks to all our sponsors, venues and supporters who have helped us to promote and bring some of the best names in electronic music to play in Cork.

You can see us this week at both Fast Eddies on Friday and Electric City in Dublin on Thursday and most importantly at our last Innercity on May 25th.

You can still of course catch us at the Bodytonic Tent @ the Electric Picnic in September where we will be sure to give everything a huge send off.

Cheers,
The Innercity Crew

Except, we didn't even get that in the end. Feddies pulled the plug on the final night, as the following posting informed us:

So I got an e-mail from club last night to say they will not be hosting Innercity this Friday @ Fast Eddies.

I don't actually know why they have decided upon this as I did not receive a reason.

So sorry but there will be no last hurrah for Innercity in Cork it seems.

So I guess that's it from Inner City for the time being at least. Sad to see Cork's most exciting and freshest club-night having the plug pulled on it, at a time when there were talks with Carl Craig, amongst others, to play in the coming months.

A sad day for music in Cork.

Hopefully the bass crew will get another night up and running before too long.

Music Is My Hot Sex

2007-05-28T12:54:00.001+01:00

It’s hard to keep living a life of charmed eejitry whilst being criminally underemployed, but here at the Eejitry Report we always endeavour to do our best. Given that the report’s tastes have evolved somewhat, making such laudable pursuits as mixing with silly Electronic Engineering and BIS types who like to don lampshades and dance after one too many Praszkys a no-no, sustenence must be sought elsewhere. So, after an extended bout of not-very-much-at-all, the prospect of an upcoming Cansei De Ser Sexy (Calling them CSS is so JCL) gig promised to be a welcome diversion from an otherwise uneventful agenda.

It all began when the Report checked out the bands MySpace a few months ago, hoping to find a date in Dublin, or even London, to finally get to catch them live on. Cork? Savoy? Surely not. Nothing on the Savoy’s website. But then the Report spotted the greenspheres part. Long story short, the Report deemed three separate regsitrations on heinekengreenspheres.ie necessary to avoid dissapointment, and duly found itself rewarded with a total of 9 tickets. Always handy for the oul’ influence-peddling.

So it was off the Mutton to catch up for a few pre-gig schcoops with Dextrouser and his bird, Pako and the Georgian Minx. DJ Francese would be making a long overdue appearance as well- not a DJ anymore, it transpired, but he will forever remain DJ Francese to this Report.

We got to the Savoy for 11 O’Clock, just in time to catch the rather woeful support act. Thankfully, they were off the stage before too long to make way for CSS.

They whizzed through the set in about 45 minutes and, shocking sound quality (as per usual) notwithstanding, they rocked it.

Beginning with ‘Alala’, the worked their way through such numbers as ‘Off The Hook’, ‘Meeting Paris Hilton’, ‘Fuckoff Is Not The Only Thing’, and this Reports’s own personal favourite, ‘Acho Um Pouco Bom’, before finishing off with ‘Let’s Make Love…’.

Cracking stuff. Cracking night. Cracking atmosphere. Unfortunately the delay between event and post had blurred the Report’s memory somewhat beyond that.

Afterwards, a trip to the Bróg was in order, followed by a trip to a rather bizarre (and dry) party. Here at Eejitry central, we’ve got nothing against weirdoes who cover their walls in tin-foil, and their faces in orange paint, but at least have some beer in the fridge while you’re doing all that- the basics must be covered before the grander schemes are put into place.

Your Feedback.

2006-11-29T22:00:00.000Z

At the offices of The Eejitry Report, we appreciate your input in all shapes and forms. Even you spammers posting links to no strings-sex friend finders and Russian gambling sites which we keep deleting. Interactivity is everything in the Web2.0, you know. Just to show how much we do value your input, here's a recent message we received from an annonymous poster:

"what a fucking eejit. really. and i realise that you know this already, going from the blog title. ya big retard"

What can we say? Keep 'em coming folks.

This month, The Eejitry report has mostly been listening to Cansei De Ser Sexy, Almamegretta, The Rapture, âme, and copious amounts of Sir Henry's classics.

Update due as soon as we can be arsed.

Peace out!