Spain News Archives

Uefa’s Under-17 Championships have revealed many a burgeoning young talent to a wider audience in the last six years. It is the stage where Wayne Rooney (2002), Cesc Fabregas (2004), Nuri Sahin (2005), Toni Kroos (2006) and Bojan Krkic (2007) strutted their stuff and won the ‘Golden Boy’ award.

You have to wonder what happened to David Rodriguez after his 2003 performance, such is the mark of quality that goes with the recognition of being the best player on show. But who are this year’s likely lads ? Who cares which nation takes the trophy, we all want to know where the next generation of star names are going to come from!

From what I hear, he could come from an area of Liverpool called West Derby, via Madrid and Argentina and go by the name Gerry Brown (local translation), but we will have to wait and see. I’ve picked out eight names to keep an eye on for the duration of the event - May 4-16 in Antalya, Turkey.

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In recent seasons, we have witnessed (and continue to witness), slowly but surely, the elegant destruction of what we know as the ‘big’ teams. Spain, Italy, France, England, Scotland, Germany, Holland, Russia, Greece, and Turkey have all fallen to the inevitable rise of the ‘middle’ teams. Let’s review the movers and shakers:

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Euro 2008 kicks off on Saturday 7 June 2008 and Soccerlens will be covering it every step of the way, from the on-pitch action to team news to the wonderful fans that will be traveling to Austria / Switzerland.

Here’s the full list of Euro 2008 fixtures, bookmark and share away. Once the tournament starts, we’ll use this page to list results as well.

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Can I begin with an apology? This is my first post on Soccerlens about La Liga and its turned in to a bit of a rant. Sorry.

You know that feeling of mild surprise you get when you look up from your newspaper and suddenly realise that the train you had been waiting for has arrived on time? Well, that’s kind of how it feels in Spain when the football authorities actually get something right.

Unfortunately, there have been no pleasant surprises in Spain ahead of this weekend’s match between Real Betis and FC Barcelona: a match that, in the time it has taken me to write this, has just been moved from Madrid to Seville.

When I started writing this an hour ago at three o’clock on Friday I had no idea where this Saturday’s game was going to be played.

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Euro 2008 promises to be massive - with or without England. Along with team beer and several exciting stars expected to leave a mark on the event, there’s also the small matter of football fans (if anyone forgets, this is what we had in Germany 2006).

I know a lot of bloggers will be covering Euro 2008, so this post is for them - while preparing Soccerlens for Euro 2008 coverage, I realised that there was no one place to get all the team flags (we already have the Euro 2008 kits, if anyone’s interested). Don’t know about you guys but I like to have images on my posts and flags / team crests are quite useful to have when you’re covering an event, even if some of them look the same (damned Europeans).

Alright then, here we go:

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Spain 1-0 Italy
Wednesday 26 March 2008, Elche, Spain

David Villa’s 78th minute strike helped Spain to a friendly win over Italy.

Full match report and video highlights here.
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In June, 16 of Europe’s best national sides will descend upon Austria and Switzerland for the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, or as most people call it, Euro 2008. While many of the continent’s top teams will be on display, some of Europe’s - and the world’s - best will be as well, so even if your team isn’t in it, you still have plenty reason to watch.

With that in mind and before the tournament begins, we (as in I) have conjured up the juggernaut of juggernauts, an All-Star Euro 2008 Starting XI.

There are several players you won’t see on this list, like Francesco Totti, Fernando Torres, and others, but I compiled this list with one major rule - no more than two players from one country, for the sake of diversity. Keeping that rule in mind, I did try to include the best players, both promising youngsters and experienced stalwarts alike. So, while all of the names below are recognizable, you may not agree with all of the selections. Then again, you’re not supposed to.
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When last season the Spanish title race was pulled down to the wire with three teams in contention for the trophy going into the ultimate round of matches, there was a whisper of hope rippling across the nation and especially among the Spanish football commentators that the duopoly could be broken at last.

Real Madrid might have won their 30th La Liga trophy in history and FC Barcelona might have finished second level on points but Sevilla FC had finished third 5 points off the pace and Valencia CF had been in the title chase until the last weeks of the season in what had been one of the most exciting Spanish championship campaign in years.

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In today’s video roundup we look at yesterday’s friendlies.

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Whilst the whole world and his mother are hypothesizing about Don Fabio and his crew, I thought it might be a good idea to look at some of the other fixtures in what looks like a (dare I say it) appetising week of international friendly football, with fifteen of the sixteen Euro 2008 qualifiers in action, including six ties between the Euro 2008 competitors.

Here’s hoping that there are no injuries to top players, and no compensation paid out – although these days, so tight is the dialogue between club and national managers (a perquisite not available in days gone by) that players may be rested or asked by royal decree to play just half a match. That said, as a Spurs fan, I wouldn’t be too miffed if some divine force threw a lightning bolt or two at Cesc.
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No, we’re not talking about WAGs here, let’s get things straight right away.

What is the latest invention of the world of soccer for making money? In the Iberian peninsula, the game is called “Caca de la vaca“. For those familiar just a bit with the Spanish language, you’ve already got the picture of what we’re talking about, and it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to think something about luck is involved. You know, the stepping-into-with-your-left-foot kind of thing. Okay, a few more clues: the idea is the initiative of the president of a Spanish amateur club, the club’s name is Amoeiro, and Amoeiro is indebted for large sums of money.

Still no clue? Here I’ll give you the answer: it’s a lottery designed to bring money into the club’s finances. But how? And why on earth is cow manure involved?

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“I’m out for presidents to represent me; I’m out for dead presidents to represent me” - When the rapper Nas wrote these lines in the early ‘90s, lyrics later popularized by the ironically more commercially successful Jay-Z, he was talking, of course, about money.

However, looking at the lines from the perspective of football, and Spanish football in particular, it is easy to see why dead presidents can be preferable to living ones.

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What happens when your best ever player not so much as leaves the club as is walked to the departing train by your manager and President? What happens when the central piece of the jigsaw is pulled out? What happens when the player who almost single-handedly Midas-es your club from an also-ran to one of Europe’s elite overnight is banished for good?

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The big clubs in Spain have long defended the seeded, two-legged format in the Copa del Rey which means that even if they do lose to a second-level team in the first game, they can be sure to turn the tie around on their own pitch in the return match. This may appear to serve them well as after last night’s return game not one second division team had got through to the next round. However, the big clubs were not exactly basking in glory after last night’s performances.

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For many teams across Europe, the second biggest tournament to qualify and win would be the Euro. Behind the World Cup, of course. So it is a big time for all teams across the continent to unveil kits that will be worn for this event only, or for a couple years following. Though some of the kits have not changed since the 2006 World Cup, there are some that have, so I have created a collection of the kits here.

However if you want a brief synopsis of the teams kits, here you go:

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Tradition dictates that as the clock counts down to midnight on New Year’s Eve, Spaniards all over the Peninsula stuff twelve of those sumptuous Spanish grapes their mouths, in tune with the twelve strikes of the bells signalling the birth of the new annum. Quite often this has comic consequences; for instance, two years ago, a national newscaster almost choked live on air as she attempted to masticate a bunch of grapes simultaneously. The moral of this story? A tenuous one, I’ll give you that: maximise your potential, find the right mixture of elements, and don’t bite off more than you can chew.

Spanish players and managers have proved wonderfully adept at maximising their potential over the last couple of years, and Spanish football (if not the Selección, which is itself improving) – perhaps it would be more accurate to say Spanish footballers and football managers currently find(s) itself/themselves near the top of the world football market. Notwithstanding the lack of Spanish teams in the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League last year – a one-off phenomenon that I would expect to be corrected this time round – Spanish football is in an immensely healthy state, and this success is at least to some extent linked to English influences.

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Real Madrid and FC Barcelona would be hammer and nail at each other as always for La Liga title, Atletico Madrid should possibly be there barging onto the duopoly, Villarreal, Real Zaragoza and Sevilla FC would be trying to smother each other for the remaining UEFA Champions League place.

That was the popular conviction at the start of the season and although a sly glance at the league table confirms that such predictions haven’t been wholly wrong, there’s one piece of the jigsaw that refuses to fit. And that piece is a certain Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona, the other Catalan club long submerged in the shadows of their more illustrious, more popular, more acclaimed FC Barcelona.

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This might be the final round of matches before La Liga 2007-2008 submerges into a two week hibernation but boy, isn’t this weekend a rocking one! It’s El Clasico time mates and read that as war.

El Clasico is the biggest club fixture in the world and is played out between the two most successful teams in Spanish football, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Real are the Castilian side and represent the autocratic and historically oppressive Spanish state while Barca are the symbol of democracy and freedom of the region of Catalonia. So more than 3 points are at stake on Sunday evening when Real travel to the Camp Nou even though neither team would like to lose.

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Once upon a time I was falling in love
But now I’m only falling apart
There’s nothing I could do
A Total Eclipse of the heart

— Bonnie Tyler

Total eclipse of Joaquin, more like. Once upon a time everyone was falling in love with the boyish faced footballer from the heart of Seville; now the myth that he could be one of Spain’s very best is fast falling apart. Once upon a time everyone flocked to the Ruiz de Lopera to watch one of Spain’s most exciting promises in action; now they just hope to catch a glimpse of his old self in the white-and-black of Valencia.

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The odds have been set for next summer’s Euro 2008. The favourites out of the 16 nations to win the tournament are Germany, Italy, Spain, Holland and France. Co-hosts Austria and Switzerland have been seeded first along with defending champions Greece as the race for the final in Vienna on June 29th begins.

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Such a shame for Italy! The Azzurri Futsal team did all they could against current World and European Champions Spain, but in the end the Furia Roja proved to be too strong in the Euro 2007 Futsal UEFA Championship final game.  For those of you who are wondering, FUTSAL is an indoor version of football (soccer) whose name is derived from the Portuguese futebol de salão and the Spanish fútbol sala/de salón, a.k.a. ‘indoor football’.

It is decidedly a Spanish curse the Azzurri are under: just like in the 2004 World Cup, the clash between Italy and Spain turned to the advantage of the Iberians. In the end a deserved result for a team which, perhaps, was better able to deal with difficult key moments of the match. Italy, contrary to their performance in the tournament so far, committed a few mistakes and was immediately punished by the Spaniards, who kept a tight lock on their own goal thanks to a near perfect performance of goalkeeper Luis Amado Carballo.
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The wife is easily influenced by the mainstream media. Ever since the BBC first aired ‘Heroes’, she believes she has supernatural abilities. I’ve tried to explain that ‘sensing’ I’m not in a romantic mood does not equate to a ‘power’; she’s merely deduced that I haven’t been drinking heavily.

I, however, have a genuine gift. I can make kitchen appliances spring to life just by talking to them. Just last night, I switched the oven on by staring it and growling, “Cook…Cook now…Cook now or else.” It was a pressure cooker.

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It’s that time of the year again. The time when a random (ok, let’s call it ‘well-respected’ if you prefer) football publication makes an “All Time Best” ranking that never fails to create controversy and offend a few people.

FourFourTwo did one of those last month, this time it’s the turn of the ‘Association of Football Statisticians’ to make its Top 100, after studying every fact and figure from the beautiful game over the past 100 years.

Points are given for goals scored by forwards and clean sheets for defenders. Players also get awarded marks for trophies won, captaincy and the level they played at throughout their career.

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Welsh manager Chris Coleman, sacked from his last post at Fulham, was appointed manager of Real Sociedad de Fútbol in the summer of 2007, although judging from the lack of coverage the news received, it would be fair to say that the move was swept under the carpet somewhat, and managed to avoid the elitist football radar.

Sociedad had just been relegated and UK-based Spanish football pundits chose instead to focus on the massive transfer fees being shelled out by the “big clubs” Real Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona [and Sevilla]. Such a focus is endemic in modern football, a real shame for those who still cling to the wilted remains of “grass roots” tradition.

The lack of attention paid to the news seems even more bemusing considering the fact that Coleman is one of the few British managers currently working abroad, a fact which ought to have made his fate of huge interest to the British media.

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Luis Aragonés decision to leave out Real Madrid captain Raúl is looking even more impetuous after the misery of David Villa’s absence was compounded by Fernando Torres’ withdrawal from the squad with a slight tear in his right thigh muscle.

Torres will be out for at least eight to ten days, which is bad news for Liverpool fans too. The atmosphere surrounding the Spanish camp is one of negativity and bemusement, although the players are claiming internal unity. Aragonés has been involved in numerous incidents with fans over the last few days, the most recent coming yesterday after the plane landed in Aarhus, the coach shouting at a fan “how many European or World Cups have you won?” after being questioned about Raúl’s absence.

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When the smarmy and ever-rictus-wearing Steve McClaren was handed the sticky reins of the England bandwagon, his first statement of intent was to drop one David Beckham from not only the team, but also from the squad altogether.

Beckham’s high-profile was alleged to have isolated some members of the team, and his status as an “untouchable” under Sven Goran Eriksson believed to have upset both fellow players/challengers for his place, as well as England fans up and down the country. However, we all know how this story has ended; with a recall for Beckham and a serious amount of damage done to McClaren’s already-wavering credibility.

Faced with a similar situation, Spain manager Luis Aragones (he of the “let’s call Thierry Henry names” fame) has stuck to his guns, refusing to call upon record goalscorer González Blanco Raúl despite the Real Madrid captain’s recovery of form at the beginning of this season (one gets the idea that in actual fact, a comprehensive and irreversible decision was taken immediately after the Belfast debacle) and in spite of the injury to top striker David Villa.

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This article is a submission for the Soccerlens Football Writing Competition; to participate, please read the details here.

With Fernando Hierro having just been appointed director of the Spanish Football Federation, with a view to rejuvenating a set-up which is seen as hackneyed and stuffy, I thought it high time we took an in-depth look at the Spanish team (7th in the latest FIFA World Rankings), comparing it position-for-position with other top sides such as France, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Argentina and finally, fellow perennial-underachievers, sunny Steve McClaren’s England.

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