International Matches - 15 th October

The second leg of this international stopping is almost over. FC barcelona players had a pretty bad night overall. Lionel Messi's Argentina tasted their first defeat of the campaign. Uruguay were held for a 2-2 draw at Bolivia. In Europe it was much better with Spain and Iceland both registering victories. Belarus whose star player and Barca winger Hleb is absent due to injury wend down to England. The surprise result of this leg has to be the 1-0 defeat of Argentina at the hands of Chile. This is Chile's first win over Argentina since 1973 and their first in a FIFA world cup qualifier. This defeat leaves Argentina at third position. They are tied with Chile in points but with a better goal difference. Argentina missed Riquelme due to suspension and couldn't find their free flowing attacking style with the absence of their creative play maker. Fabian Orellana's 36th minute goal was enough to beat the fancied Argentina whose best chances were produced by Lionel Messi.

Uruguay on other hand did well to fight back to win a point from Bolivia. Martin Caceres started for Uruguay. Bolivia went two up by half time with two goals from Marcelo Martins. But the Uruguayans turned around the game in the second half to snatch a point from the host. Carlos Bueno and Sebastian Abreu scored for Uruguay. In Europe Spain continued their excellent run in the campaign. Spain went surprisingly behind in the 7th minute from the goal of Wesley Sonck of Belgium. But Iniesta equalised in the 36th minute and David Villa as usual grabbed the winner in the 88th minute. Gudjonsen's Iceland also helped themselves with a 1-0 victory over Macedonia. Belarus who is missing Hleb due to injury went down to England. Wayne Rooney scored twice in the second half after Sitko has cancelled the 11th minute Gerrard goal.

Is It Good-Bye Yaya?

Barcelona based news dailies are full of rumours of a possible mid season transfer of Yaya Toure to Juventus. One Juventus based daily has already claimed that FC Barcelona has set a price on this Ivory Coast holding midfielder. The amount is rumoured to be around 10 million euros. These rumours have been strengthened by Guardiola's attitude towards Toure. Somehow Guardiola has already decided that Toure does not fit into his style and there were strong rumours of his transfer during the summer. Somehow Yaya Toure survived it; but the emergence of Busquests has indeed unsettled the player. The worst matter in all these is that we cannot expect Guardiola to persuade the player to stay in the club.

Yaya was our best player along with Iniesta in last season. He showed tremendous commitment by delaying a much needed syrgey and kept on playing for the club. But it was a huge surprise that Guardiola preferred Keita ahead of Toure. Keita from whatever he looked like cannot play the Holding midfielder role confidently. With Busquests playing well and Iniesta occupying the front left; it is difficult to see Toure joining Busquests in the midfield. If Busquests start, then either of Gudjonsen or Keita is expected to start. So it has become a direct fight between Busquests and Toure; a fight which Toure appears to be losing. He hasn't done much of a mistakes; but it is his bad luck that he is in a team whose manager tends to overlook his effort. It is always good to see such great competition for a postion in the team; but with Manager biased towards Busquests it is difficult to see Toure staying. But the choice of Juventus could be a disaster for him; I personally think Wenger will take note of the availability of this talented midfielder. But for the moment it is becoming clear that Toure might be on his way out of the club.

Internationa Matches

The first leg of the international break is over; altogether it can be said that it was a very satisfactory first leg for many FC Barcelona players. As usual we will start with South American Qualifier. Argentina beat Uruguay with a scoreline of 2 goals to one to end their winless streak. Barca players - Lionel Messi and Martin Caceres both started this match for their respective teams. Lionel Messi put Argentina ahead in the fifth minute through a header from the former Barca player Riquelme's cross. After seven minutes Atletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero doubled the lead. Diego Lugano reduced the lead for Uruguay in the 39th minute. From South America to Africa now.

All of FC Barcelona players from Africa had a very successful night. Yaya Toure started in the starting eleven in the 3-0 victory over Madagascar. Boubacar Sanogo scored twice for Ivory Coast and team mate Simon Kalou made it 3-0 for the night. Samuel Eto starred in Cameroon's 5-0 thrashing of Mauritius. Eto scored two goals - one from penalty in the 47th minute and the first goal in the 26th minute. Keita also started in Mali's 2-1 victory against Chad. Tenema Ndiaye and Cheick Diabate were the goal scorer for Mali whereas Leger Djime scored for Chad. In Europe Barca players had a mixed night. Eidur Gudjonsen's Iceland was defeated by a much superior Dutch team. The dutch side had Van Der Saar guarding the goal after coming out of international retirement. Huntelaar and Mathijsen scored for the dutch. France were lucky to grab a point from their match against Romania. Romania went two up with in 16 minutes with help of goals from Petre and Goian. Ribery pulled one back for France in the 36th minute and Gourcuff equalised in the 68th minute to the relief of captain Thierry Henry. Meanwhile Spain continued their excellent run with a 3-0 victory over Estonia. Juanito, Villa and Puyol all entered the scoresheet.