The weekend is coming (and Schuster sucks!)

By: Isaiah | August 20th, 2007

There really isn’t that much news coming out of the Camp Nou these days, as the team warms up for its disbanding at the behest of a bunch of FAs who are going to suck most of the major teams dry in the lead up to the La Liga opener. 12 Barcelonistas are going to play in internationals this weekend and Bojan, the lucky thirteenth, is in South Korea playing in the U-17 World Cup (he scored twice in Spain’s 2-4 victory over Honduras, their only game to date).

Deco joins Bojan as the only other culé who will play in a competitive match, assuming he recovers from a thigh injury. I hope they rest him and allow him to get back to full strength for the league.

The others on international duty are: Xavi and Iniesta for Spain against Greece, Ronaldinho for Brazil against Algeria (I saw an ad for the game this weekend and I read it as Brazil vs. Alegria, which is happiness in Spanish, and I was mightily confused for a split second before I realized my idiotic error — after all, isn’t Brazil supposed to be joyful on the field?); Henry, Abidal, and Thuram for France against Slovakia; Zambrotta for Italy against Hungary; Messi and Milito for Argentina against Norway; Touré for Ivory Coast against Egypt; and Eto’o for Cameroon against Japan (very far away!).

That is quite annoying since, naturally, these are our best players. I’m not complaining, really, it’s just annoying that either the RFEF or FIFA just doesn’t care enough to get their schedules right or at least a little bit more in sync.

Anyway, with Puyol, Gudjohnsen, and Edmilson all out with injuries, this leaves a precious few second-team members to train away. Marquez is perhaps the only shout for first team who remains in Barcelona and with all the other injuries and absences in the back, he’ll most likely get the start on Sunday.

Thuram has some sort of knock that is going to get him out of the game against Slovakia, according to Sport, so that probably means he’s a doubt for the weekend, especially since Milito will miss through suspension (earned at the end of last season). Gio Dos Santos probably can’t play either since he doesn’t have EU citizenship and all 3 of Barcelona’s “foreigner” spots are taken up (by Ronnie, Eto’o, and Touré). So if Eto’o doesn’t play, I suppose Gio could, though I’m not quite positive if the “foreigner” rule is for squads, games, or what. If it’s first team squad, then he wouldn’t be able to play until at least the 28th, the day he’s supposedly going to receive dual citizenship, but if it’s just per game, then if he’ll be available should Eto’o not return from Japan match ready. Jet lag is a bitch, after all.

If Motta and Ezquerro remain out of the squad, there will be even fewer options for Rijkaard and a “rough” start to the league is definitely possible, though not necessarily likely. It’s Racing, not Atlético…

As for Bernd Schuster, I was laughing so hard at the 5 goal embarrassment he received at the hands of Sevilla. Not a pretty game (definitely a preseason match), but definitely enjoyable from my perspective. The worst part of it was that I didn’t realize it was on the Spanish channel and spent the first 65 minutes watching via a choppy internet feed that happened to black out for the exact moments when Drenthe was blasting his absolutely fantastic shot in. He’s a good player and if they ever get their defense together, Madrid is going to be very dangerous with Drenthe and Robinho combining well down the sides. Sevilla looked like the exact same team from last year, to be honest, and that means they’re going to be contenders yet again.

More to come as the week progresses, including a look at some of the other teams around the league.