Ronaldinho and Eto’o arrive in Barcelona

By: Isaiah | July 20th, 2007

Normally, this would be the perfect moment to make a crack about Brazil’s supposedly terrible airline industry and how it caused Ronaldinho to be delayed so long he got a week’s worth of scruff on his cheeks while sitting in airports, but somehow it just doesn’t seem quite appropriate on the heels of news that not only did Gremio almost take TAM flight 3054, which crashed in Sao Paulo on Tuesday night, but Ronaldinho’s brother and agent, Roberto de Assis Moreira, was apparently also scheduled to take that flight, but also pulled out at the last minute. So, despite his scruffy look upon arrival in Barcelona (pictured), I’ll chalk it up to being on vacation on a Brazilian beach for a month…

Now for some uplifting news:

Eto’o also arrived in Barcelona this morning, after having played in the “90 minutes for Mandela” game in South Africa this past Wednesday. The game was played on Mandela’s 89th birthday, and was sponsored by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, 46664 (which was his prison number). The game was played between the Africa XI and the World XI, all of whom were retired…with the exception of Eto’o, who still didn’t score. Damn. The game ended 3-3, with Eto’o getting an assist. [I saw some great video of the game yesterday, but now I can't find where I got it from. I'll post if I ever run across it again.]

What a great tribute to a wonderful man. You can’t really say enough about Nelson Mandela, so I won’t even try.

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Category: Barcelona

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Bobby G

I was not hugely impressed with Thuram last season. He was lacking in pace, and looked vulnerable against speedy forwards. And now he's a year older. I see him as a substitute, no more.
Isaiah

John, Thuram should provide excellent cover, but I suppose I've been thinking about an uninjured Puyol -- or, rather, the best starting 11. I'm writing a long-ish post about all this, so perhaps it's best to go ahead and shush myself now.
John

Hi Bobby & Isaiah,
Just remembered that we have Thuram. Why can't he start alongside Milito and have Marquez as a defensive midfielder?
Isaiah

Off the top of my head, John, I would want a defensive midfielder instead of Xavi, but other than that I agree with you and Bobby G on all accounts. I haven't seen Toure either, so I don't know how well he'll do, especially at the beginning of the year.

Preseason should actually teach us a lot about what kind of formations to expect.
Bobby G

John, I like your line-up, but since Puyol is out for the first few weeks of the season, I imagine Marquez will start alongside Milito in the heart of defence.

I haven't seen Toure play, but if he is a defensive midfielder, I would prefer to see him start ahead of Iniesta. We need to have a midfield spoiler to give the defence some cover. Too often last season we ceded midfield superiority to the opposition, and that has to stop. Neither Edmilson nor Motta was upto the task (I'm surprised we haven't sold one or both of them), and I'm hoping Toure will. If not, once Puyol is back, we may want to move Marquez into the midfield holding role -- he's done it before.
John

First time here..cheers to everyone
any of you know what will the 1st 11 be for barca this season? This is my pick..
1) Valdes
2) Puyol
3) Milito
4) Zambrota
5) Abidal
6) Xavi
7) Iniesta
8) Ronnie
9) Eto
10)Messi
11)Deco

Then substitute Eto with Henry, and may be Deco with Toure.
Linda

Good to see everyone back - on time for once!

As for Sammy, I'll chalk his non-scoring up to being up against former Barca great Zubizarreta in goal.