Wisła Kraków – Barcelona: CL Qualifiers 2nd Leg, Tuesday 2:45pm EST

By: Isaiah | August 25th, 2008

It’s 4-0 to Barcelona on aggregate heading into the second leg of this Champions League qualifier against Wisła Kraków, but this shouldn’t be a cakewalk if recent league form has a say in the matter. Wisła is 3-0-0 in the league, with 5 goals scored and one allowed. Naturally it’s Paweł Brożek that has scored 4 of those goals, so just like the last time, shut him down and we’ll shut down Wisła.

The team that will be charged with this task should be the same one that obliterated Wisła in the first leg at the Camp Nou, including the previously injured Dani Alves, who was slated to miss even the league opener at Numancia, but will instead be rocketing up and down the right flank.

Here’s a look at the 20-man squad: Valdes, Marquez, Alves, Abidal, Xavi, Pique, Iniesta, Puyol, Caceres, Sylvinho, Bojan, Eto’o, Henry, Hleb, Keita, Gudjohnsen, Toure, Pinto, Pedro, and Miño.

Who’s Miño? He’s a 19-year old keeper, apparently. No doubt he’s along for the ride just in case and will see no playing time, though it should be fun for him to hang with the first team. Even if the score is 100-0, he won’t be able to sub in like my favorite late-game replacement…All of the Valdes detractors out there will be hoping that this kid is the answer to their prayers, but I’ve never seen him and haven’t even heard of him before reading the official squad list. Has anyone out there in forum land seen him play for Atletic or any youth teams?

There is, unfortunately, little to say about this match that hasn’t already been said. However, to lose this game, to lose the tie, would be more than a disaster, more than total insanity hitting the Catalan region…not to make too big a deal about it…Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together…mass hysteria!*

Not that there’s much of a chance of Wisła making such a turnaround, even if Getafe was able to to do it in the Copa a couple of years back. There was something inevitable about that moment, but this one has the opposite feeling, as we recover Dani Alves, have Messi back from the Olympics with a gold medal around his neck (though still in Barcelona getting a much-deserved rest), and we’re holding a decisive lead.

There was little from the previous game to suggest that Wisła can handle the super-charged attack that Guardiola seems to be able to bring to the table, but they may have watched some of the Gamper match and seen a few tactical moves they thought could benefit them. Namely, fouling.

Let’s hope that Kevin’s dream comes true (depicted in the photo at the right) in the end; I think that this is the perfect game for Henry to root through his locker, find his scoring shoes, tie them tight, and go to town on a poor Polish team that wants nothing more than to keep from being humiliated in front of their home fans. Because of Alves’ reinclusion, there should be much more forward movement on the right, so more space on the left for Henry. I think we’ll see him net one and set up another.

Official prediction: 1-2, goals by Paweł Brożek, Henry, and Iniesta. It’s precisely these types of game where we need to put heels on throats and push, but we’ll see what happens in Guardiola’s first “final”.

Watching:
The game takes place at 2:45pm EST (8:45pm local time) and will be broadcast live on ESPN Deportes. I have not found any rebroadcasts on Tuesday so it looks like yours truly will miss out on it. But don’t worry, it’s on for the Numancia game for sure. If you have to stream it online, you can go to Roja Directa, LiveFooty, or at myp2p (suggested by reader eklavya). If anyone has any other suggestions, please post them below and I will attempt to add them to this post before the game starts.

Just a quick request to wrap this whole thing up: If any of you can contribute to the small, but growing list of places to watch Barcelona, it would be greatly appreciated. The rules for getting something posted are so simple, even Kevin can follow them: write an email to barcelona[at]theoffside[dot]com and include the name, location, and a brief description of the bar/restaurant. So far we’ve got places in Boston, Indianapolis, Montreal, New York, and Seattle, but we could use a more international selection as well as an increased domestic one.

If there’s any interest, I’ll be organizing some Offside get-togethers in various New York bars to watch the league games, especially if people suggest new bars! If you are interested, feel free to send me an email to say that you would be down (again, email address is barcelona[at]theoffside[dot]com) and we’ll go from there.

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*the scene is worth reproducing in its entirety:

Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, “biblical”?
Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff.
Peter Venkman: Exactly.
Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes…
Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!
Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!