Champions League draw
By: Isaiah | August 1st, 2008
The Champions League draw is out and Barcelona will be playing the winner of the Beitar Jerusalem – Wisla Krakow second round matchup. Currently Beitar holds a 2-1 lead after hosting the first leg in Jerusalem’s Teddy Stadium. What a cuddly name.
Beitar, known as מועדון כדורגל בית”ר ירושלים in Hebrew (thanks Wikipedia!), is apparently Israel’s richest club, are the defending league champions, and they have on their roster one Sebastian Abreu. If you’re not familiar with this now 31-year old Uruguayan striker, you might go ahead and get acquainted with him via YouTube or Wikipedia. Abreu has spent most of his time in the Mexican Primera division, bouncing from team-to-team. His most successful stint, and the one I mildly remember him for, was his time at Cruz Azul. Other than that, though, I actually don’t know any of the players on the roster.
Wisla Krakow is, of course, Polish and so it’s real name is Wisła Kraków, with that line through the lower case L and the accent on the o. And now I’ve copied it, so I can write it whenever without worrying about switching my keyboard or remembering the ASCII code: Wisła Kraków. See? Wisła Kraków.
I recognize none of Kraków’s roster, to be honest, so I can’t really discuss them. Not even at the superficial level that I did Beitar’s. Kraków did win their league as well, though, so neither can really be taken lightly.
It’s nice that FCB avoided the three teams that I mentioned before, so San Leo’s departure for the azure skies of Beijing shouldn’t be too big of a deal.
Does anyone out there in Commentland have any inside information on either of these two teams?
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How many chances did Eto’o get to play against a top 5 team? he had that very long injury in the beginning of last season and the African cup in January. it might be a mis-leading statistic.
Posted from
United States
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also i am wondering if the reason eto’o was the man on the outside is because he took a knock on the head (with victor vazquez) a couple days ago and is just now resuming training. i dont think he is fully back 100%. if he is on the outside for some other reason, well that just makes me sad. if the toure interview is real, the players want him to remain.
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btw, tyvm to kevin for the little report on what he saw at the training — very cool.
Posted from
United States -
does anyone know why Gai Assulin and thiago aren’t playing for the first team?
Posted from
Qatar -
Dunno, ballbeav. Eto’o looked fit as a fiddle from my very close view. They all did.
We had a visit from an either stoned or dim-witted Chicago Cubs fan, who staggered in, sat down and proceeded to ask two stupid questions:
“Is Ronaldinho here?”
“Which one is Messi?”My reply to second question was, “He’s the one in Beijing.” He left pretty quickly, once he realized that neither Ronaldinho nor Messi were in attendance. Ah, star power.
Forgot to add a very nice thing. It was requested that people be quiet and respectful during the practice. Well, THAT didn’t happen. Spontaneous cheering and applause would break out during particularly nice plays, including a very well-taken Krkic goal during the scrimmage. Toyota Park personnel gave up trying to shush the audience, one that frankly was small for such a rare event.
So at the end of practice, the players all turned the crowd and applauded in appreciation as they left the pitch, with big grins on their faces. It was a very nice touch.
Oh, and look for limited minutes for Yaya on Sunday. He got spiked during a scrimmage, and the trainer was paying lots of attention to his right foot. Not sure if the skin was broken or something else was going on. He looked fine after the first trainer visit, then increasingly gimpy as the session progressed. I’m sure they won’t want to take any chances.
Good question, JC. My guess is that Guardiola didn’t think them quite ready for prime-time. We should get on the stick with those two, to prevent another Fabregas. I’m sure they’ll be called up for first-team duties over the course of this looooong season. Plus of the B teamers with the squad now, Pedrito is the only one I can see who has a chance of sticking. Lots of pace and energy, and very good with the ball under pressure.
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Excellent report for Kxevin there. I have heard other very positive comments about the radical change in atmosphere from Barcelona-based sources, and have very high hopes for the Guardiola regime. Let’s hope the Eto’o telenovella comes to a conclusion one way or the other very soon.
Citizen, by bad on Jeffren. An Italian report on the Fiorentina match had described him as Tunisian, which would be close enough to Palestinian to make the Beitar wackos unhappy. They shouldn’t have a beef with a Venezuelan.
Posted from
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Wow, very cool, Kevin. Thanks for the rundown on the practice.
The game will be broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel and Telemundo at 7pm Eastern (6pm Central, 4pm Pacific). Awesome!
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I’m looking up the stats on Eto’o’s scoring rate against top clubs (I can’t find the specific comment you are referring to, Kevin), but it’s worth remembering that Eto’o has scored at least once against every team that he has faced in the Primera. Not necessarily every time, of course, but that means that he has scored at least one goal against the top 5 clubs (including Barcelona).
Now, as for last year, he scored 16 goals in 18 games. He failed to score against Racing Santander in the opening game of the season, Deportivo La Coruna in December in his first game back from injury, Real Madrid in the December Clasico, Villarreal in March, Getafe and Espanyol in April, and Valencia in May during the 6-0 destruction.
Of those, Villarreal finished 2nd, Real Madrid 1st, and Racing finished 6th. He scored in both games against Mallorca (7th, one point back of Racing) and once against Almeria (8th, 7 points back of Mallorca). Against woeful Levante, he scored a hattrick. He only played in one game against Sevilla, in the Copa del Rey, and he didn’t score.
That’s all I’ve got right now.
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My pleasure, everyone. It was such a great atmosphere. The energy and determination were palpable. Pep is much more involved with the players, and doesn’t seem to miss much.
I figure you folks will all be watching the match, so you won’t need my live report for that one. Weather is going to be beautiful, and the only seeming difficulty will be negotiating the hordes of Lollapalooza fans.
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any pics from the training session Kxevin??..I hope they allow cameras into Soldier field for tomorrow’s game!
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Txiki went in to a little bit of detail on the striker situation in an interview with El Mundo Deportivo. Mentioned Adebayor, Drogba and Berbatov. My guess is that if we find anyone crazt enough to pay us and Eto’o what we want then we’ll move for Berbatov.
http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=801881The Silva thing looks ever more likely as Valencia look to have lowered their asking price to €25million. An offer of €22+3million looks like it’ll be enough and that would probably be a fair price. He has potential and who knows, he may prove to be the business in a good side
Posted from
Ireland -
it seems more and more likely that eto’o will remain with us. as the article mentioned it should be resolved in the next 10 days, and since there is nothing happening as of today, i dont see it happening in that time period.
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I think our latest offer was 18+4, Ciaran. Sounds like there’s some working room.
I didn’t bring a camera, Mat. I just spaced it, because I’m not usually a camera kind of guy. But I was sitting there, watching the keep away drills which were taking place maybe 75 feet away, Guardiola laughing his head off as part of the Gudjohnsen group, Hleb goofing off with Keita and Alves turning tricks with a high-powered group that included Krkic, Xavi, Iniesta, Pique, Henry and Puyol, thinking “Man, I should have brought a camera.”
Ah, well.
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I agree ballbeav, and I think it’s unfortunate. In this case, time=money. It doesn’t matter what kind of season he has for us this year. If he stays the full season, he will cheaper next year in the final year of his contract, than he is right now. Laporta will have been ousted by then, as I don’t expect him to survive the September delegates meeting. But his potential successor can’t be looking at this Eto’o situation with anything other than trepidation.
As I see it, there are a number of options:
1. Keep him on the roster, play him in Champions League and take the fiscal hit next season when the “Eto’o must go” sale nets 10-20 million Euros.
2. Keep him, but don’t put him on the Champions League roster. That way a CL-caliber club might have an injury or a rough time in the group stages, and want to buy him in the January transfer window.
3. Keep him, period, and lose him on a free transfer at the end of his contract. (The least likely option.)
The interview was interesting, because it is clearly saying that Eto’o has to move to make this thing happen. If he persists in his insane salary demands, nothing can or will happen. He knows that. Is this spite? Good question. Personally, I wouldn’t put that past him. You sit and remain stubborn, nobody bids on you seriously, then your contract term ends and you flip the club management whom you so dislike the bird, as you leave on a free transfer.
Stuff like that can cost club presidents their jobs. Laporta isn’t going to cut the price too much, with the delegates meeting coming up.
I think Eto’o devotees will get their wish, and he will be with the club this season. That decision isn’t the best one financially for the club, in my opinion, because of that time=money equation. The longer we have him, the cheaper he gets for the outside world.
Best case, he has a bumper season, scores tons of goals, pumps in goals like they’re going out of style in Champions League, and we do the double. But even after all that, he’s still a player in the last year of his contract, and club presidents are shrewd businessmen. They’ll just sit and wait. Why pay full price, when you don’t have to?
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FCB website said that in addition to the head knock, eto’o also had a tweaked ankle, so he was not practicing fully yesterday PM, but that he should be back at it today.
i looked at the link that ciaran posted (thanks) and decided to look at the actual interview in El Mundo Deportivo. i translated a bit here:
“The situation continues as Pep has said. He trains like one more member of the team and the truth is that he is dedicated as always. He trains seriously and he plays all out. Eto’o is having a exemplar behavior. And like this we are going to continue.”
Will you call him up for the 3rd qualifying round of the champions league?
“Our idea is that yes we will, but we will see at the last minute if he plays or not. If he doesn’t, in the case that he leaves, we can substitute him for another player in accordance with the rules of UEFA. We must be careful, because neither is it of interest to him to play, because if he does, he would be impeded from doing so with another team for the rest of teh Champions. But if it is not an absolute necessity, I believe he wont play. altogether I hope that his situation can be resolved soon, somehow or another. It would not be any tragedy if Samu continues with us, to the contrary, but his desire appears to be to leave. We will see.”
Will there be a signing if he leaves?
“Yes, absolutely. Just as if he stays, there will be no signing…”
“the market is very closed, there are no #9s that are interesting and accesible. There are a few players that we like (Drogba, Adebayor y Berbatov) but their respective clubs dont want to sell them at any price. We all hoped that there would be a “domino effect” in the matter of these signings, but nobody moves, and each day there is less time to sign.”
Is benzema still your unattainable dream?
“Yes, it is no secret thta we have tried various times but this season there is nothing that can be done. …he has decided to continue with Lyon. It is his personal decision…i hope that it changes in the future.”
…
If Eto’o leaves, won;t we be lacking a goalscorer?
“Yes and no. I already said how we are going to try to replace samu if he goes to another team, but i trust in henry and bojan, who is going to have much protagonism and minutes with Pep. he will be an important player and of henry i insist that he is going to comply with expectations.”
it’s a long interview i only translated part of it. not much new here, the strangest thing is, txiki makes it sound like eto’o was the one who wanted to go, when other reports have said eto’o wanted to stay and it was the club that was nudging him out.
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Oh, and my only issue with Silva is that he will make other people sit. Where does he play? If he’s a left winger, unless we’re allowed to play with 12 men, Iniesta and Hleb are on the pine, if Guardiola’s preferred midfield of Yaya/Keita/Xavi sticks.
If not, that means a choice of Keita or Yaya in the midfield, which will of necessity change Xavi’s role. Xavi liked the offensive freedom afforded him by the dynamic duo.
But Silva, who will require first-team football, suddenly changes the midfield equation in a way that isn’t to the good of Hleb, Keita or Iniesta. The first and third are too good to sit, and the middle guy is too good coming forward to play deep defensive mid as Yaya does.
So it’s a starting XI, from front to back, that looks like (in my ideal world if Silva is signed): Silva, Henry, Messi, a midfield of Keita, Yaya, Xavi, and a back line of Alves, Caceres, Puyol, Abidal.
What about Hleb and Iniesta? Even without the Silva signing they’ll probably be sharing time. And then there’s the Gudjohnsen question.
I dunno about this one….
Man, sorry about being Gloomy Gus today, everyone. Isaiah will bring back the sunshine, as he figures out the scenario in which we can sign Villa and keep everyone happy, and keep Eto’o and still sell him for a bucketful of Euros next season.
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And thanks for that Eto’o injury update, ballbeav.
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What’s strange is that Xavi was dominant as the orchestrator of the Spanish offense Euros despite having only one hardman behind him. If we get Silva, then wouldn’t it kinda work to have Keita/Touré rotate and Iniesta/Silva/Hleb rotate too? It would kind of be like Spanish national team offense, with Torres = Henry and Messi playing as a forward again like against Fiorentina.
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And Kxevin, to your list of possible things we can do with Eto’o, I would like to add:
4. Keep him, and renew him if he plays well.
Also, remember, even if we don’t put him on the roster for the Champions league group stage, we can still add him for the knockout stage rosters if no one buys him in the January transfer window.
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Anyone interested in understanding more of the Beitar Jersualem story should read the story here (and if possible listen to the linked radio program by David Goldblatt, who wrote The Ball is Round). Highly recommended.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/7363259.stm
Posted from
Italy -
so i’m headed off to the game in the morning. actually, at 5:30AM to catch that train. the things we do for love of the club, eh? but expecting a lot of fun. to everyone else that’s going stay safe and cheer loud!
and if you pass by anyone in last season’s Messi shirt (solidarity for the missing Mudo) grumbling about our transfer prospects, be sure to say hi!
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Look for me, BA. Section 239, black keeper’s shirt. I’ll be the only Thuram clone running around.
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United States -
To answer Mat’s question, Soldier Field will allow still cameras and binoculars…no video equipment. Those are the rules in most, if not all US sports venues. But as you, I, and the most of the rest of the world know, digital cameras (and, hello, phones, too!) are capable of taking videos. Apparently, whoever makes the rules at these venues are not exactly tech savvy–and let’s hope they never are–because with enough memory you could film the whole game or at least the good bits. Not that-ahem!-I’ve EVER attempted such a thing. But with an ultra-zoom lens on a mid-sized camera you could do many a favor and post it on YouTube.
But regarding the team’s appearance in Chicago. I was at Niketown, off to the side, behind the tallest blond kid imaginable, and heard some heckling of Eto’o. I guess some fans are frustrated cause they were yelling, “Vete con Ronaldinho!”(Go with Ronaldinho!). This seriously pissed me off because just a second before they were calling his name, saying ¨Viva Camerun!¨so he would turn so they could get a picture. Some people.
But, seriously, it was cool to see the entire team (or all that could be here)and especially the new recruits. For the most part only Pujol and Rafa spoke at any length probably because 1) Pujol’s the captain, and 2) Rafa’s huge Mex-Am following in Chicago. He got the loudest cheers. Some Nike and charity publicity, etc. Then Henri and Samu answered a couple of questions and that was it. I wish I was at a better spot to get pics of the entire team but I got some pretty good shots of the guys I could see. Oh, and no autographs. Just free posters. The stage and the path the team walked was roped off and the stage had an armed Chicago police officer and there were security guys in suits all over the place. I hear the line outside had armed police, too. It was kind of funny since I never saw this much security when they exit/enter Camp Nou. What was kinda hilarious was how small the stage was. It had some in the crowd wondering if how the whole team would fit. But the fact that it was so cramped meant that from where I was, you could probably have reached out and touched the players, if only there wasn’t that armed cop. We were also close enough to see that a certain Cameroonian wasn’t thrilled to be there. Alves was a lot friendlier to the crown. And I agree with Kxevin, Yaya IS huge.
A lot less people showed up than I expected, but that’s understandable since I don’t think the event was publicized very well outside of the Latin-American market. There were people that had just come to shop at the store and stayed for the event even though they had NO CLUE. “Oh, it’s some soccer team from Europe” was heard. I’m lucky that a friend who gets emails from Niketown told me about Barça being in town. Otherwise I would have been oblivious until it was too late to go to the event and get tickets for the game. As it is I had to scramble to get my seats. I don’t mind wasting my 3-day Lollapalooza pass to go see my team the first time they’re in town. Kanye who?
Well, I hope it’s a good game even if it’s just a friendly. I’m glad they decided to kick off their tour here. Shoot, I’m glad they decided to come here at all. Can’t wait to see Alves and Henri do their thing live. Doubt Eto’o will see any action because of the knock on the head and his ankle. It’s always good to see my hero, Pujol. Anyone else happy to see Gudjonsen stick around? Maybe Pep will use him right and he won’t look so freakin’ stiff on the pitch. Still think he got a raw deal when he first joined the team.
Well, for those of you going or watching, enjoy the game. Can’t wait to read what you guys write about it.
Visca Barça!Posted from
United States -
ChiChicago, in answer to your Gudjohnsen, question: No.
Eto’o has been looking cranky the whole trip. He wasn’t exactly a barrel of laughs during an otherwise very jocular practice, either. Of course, having your future sussed out for all the world to see wouldn’t make one exactly ready to make like a happy lad, right?
Sounds like a very cool event. Thanks for the write-up. A colleague was asking me why there wasn’t the same degree of hysteria that was present when a certain Evil Empire was in town. I replied that Beckham is, despite his rather limited footie gifts, a global personality who was, at the time, working for a global brand. Our beloved club is heading in that direction, certainly, but they aren’t there yet. Even for all the popularity of Ronaldinho, he wasn’t that world-galvanizing icon in the same way as Beckham, who even non football fans know and wanted to see.
As I recall, the EE visit almost sold out Soldier Field, with somewhere north of 60,000 paid butts in the stands. Don’t know how tomorrow’s match will fare, but when I checked for a friend on Wednesday, there were still pretty good seats left, the spendy ones right down by the pitch.
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United States -
At 5PM on Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at Chelsea Waterside Park (23rd Street and 12th Avenue, across from Chelsea Piers), the stars of FC Barcelona will be playing in a 4-on-4 tournament to benefit Malaria No More.
The event will be free and open to the public and will last for approximately one hour.
This intimate environment will not only allow fans the potential to get autographs and photos with their favorites players; BUT we will be offering a lucky fan in attendance the MEMORY of their LIFETIME, a CHANCE TO PLAY SIDE-BY-SIDE WITH PLAYERS FROM FC BARCELONA.
To be eligible for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, fans will have to purchase raffle tickets. Each ticket will cost $10 dollars and all proceeds will benefit Malaria No More. The $10 is significant amount as this is the cost of one bed-net, which can protect an individual from malaria, thus, saving a life.
Each raffle ticket purchased (fans can purchase multiple tickets) will enter a fan into a drawing where a winner will be chosen at random. The lucky winners will then be plucked out of the crowd, be given an official FC Barcelona jersey, put on a team with FC Barcelona stars, and get to participate in this tournament and play side-by-side with their heroes. If that wasn’t enough, Max Bretos and Christopher Sullivan from Fox Soccer Channel will be calling the games!
We will start selling raffle tickets at 3:00 PM at Chelsea Waterside Park. The last ticket will be sold at 4:45 PM (or until supplies last) and we will draw the winning ticket at 5:00 PM.
We encourage people to get out early so they can:
1) Get prime seats to see the stars of FC Barcelona in action, up-close and personal and hopefully get an autograph or picture with their favorite player
2) Enter early and often to win the experience of a lifetime – playing side-by-side with the stars of FC Barcelona
3) Get some of the exciting prizes we will be giving away from 3:00 PM on (FC Barcelona jerseys, soccer balls, t-shirts, etc.)Posted from
United States
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