Copa Preview: Barça – Benidorm, Wednesday 3pmEST [Updated]

By: Isaiah | November 11th, 2008

[Updated Version] It’s back to the Copa del Rey once again, this time in the second leg of our draw against Benidorm. My first leg preview is here (there was no review). We come in ahead 1-0 on aggregate, thanks to a Bojan goal. We’re certainly not out of the woods yet — though we could be forgiven for thinking that starting first teamers is a good idea since Schuster is apparently leaving out Guti and Casillas their match today against Real Union even though RM is down 2-3 on aggregate — so expect Guardiola to fire the boys up and get them to put the boot into the proverbial hiney.

They should be ready for the challenge after their — ahem — pep talk. Get it? A little play on words never hurt anyone. That and Benidorm is a Segunda B team that we should be able to beat in our sleep.

This match comes after a 6-0 goalfest against Valladolid, a game which was over quite early. Despite this being a Segunda B team we’re facing, I think complacency like we saw against Basel may creep in. Players like Pedro should be given time, but we’ll see because Guardiola may want to put out first team lineup in order to win it early and coast home.

I’m getting a little ticked at Guardiola for not releasing his squad lists so that I can look at them and pick the wrong starting 11. Honestly, Pepster, what are you doing to me? I’ve got this blog to run, you’ve got championships to win…they’re basically equivalent so cut me some freaking slack, will ya? It’s 8:30pm your time right now and you haven’t put out a list yet. What, am I supposed to get up at like 4am to see it? Jeez, why does it have to be about you all the time? Please make it about me from now on. Okay, thank you.

So no squad list, but do we really need one? Here’s my Guardiola-ed lineup:

Pinto, Alves, Cáceres, Márquez, Sylvinho, Victor Sanchez, Busquets, Gudjohnsen, Pedro…um…Peter Parker, John Cena

Yeah. That’s what I’m talking about. It’s not technically handball if you use a web, right? Damn you, Guardiola! But wouldn’t Spiderman be better in goal? Hell, just put Team Shaolin out there and get it over with. It’s not like they’d score more goals in the league. [And yes, by including Team Shaolin, I am definitely suggesting that Calderon is the equivalent of Hung and RM is Team Evil -- Raul is totally this striker.]

[It's now 3:30 and Real Union is up 1-0 at the Bernabeu. Oh holy christ!]

Update! Update!The starting lineup appears to be headed for a full-on first team affair. Pep Guardiola is not going to start any B-Teamers because it’s time to let the whoopass out of the can, especially after yesterday’s Real Madrid debacle. I’ll post the actual lineup as soon as I see it.

Here is the starting lineup (thanks again, Andrew): Pinto, Alves, Cáceres, Puyol, Sylvinho, Busquets, Gudjohnson, Keita, Hleb, Bojan, Messi

Also, readers Andrew and ballbave have suggested the following link as a place to stream the game: http://www.justin.tv/confutbol_com (specifically http://www.justin.tv/badtv2 )
http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=23916&part=sports