How quick things change in the world of football? Last December every Barca fan were complaining about how disappointed were they with the performance of the little Bojan Krkic; now they can't stop praising him. Indeed Bojan Krkic has been in a tremendous goal scoring streak and have impressed everyone including his manager. Guardiola suddenly started to believe in him, which explains why he was preferred in place of Ibrahimovic in two of the most crucial away games against Villareal and Sevilla. Every Barca fan is swearing by his name and would like to see him replace the 70 million Ibrahimovic in the last game of the season. But it was not so bright and shiny for Bojan at Barca this season. Till recently he was struggling to find any meaningful playing time under Guardiola. Forget having a lack of confidence in the young striker, Guardiola's approach earlier gave a picture of having o belief in his talent. He was overlooked for Pedro on numerous occasion. Even when Ibrahimovic was struggling Guardiola never called upon Bojan, not even as a substitute. The only piece of action he was seeing was the Copa del Rey actionl; but with Barca going down to Sevilla he was virtually warming the bench. I earlier wrote a piece arguing why Bojan should move out of Barca for the good.
May 14, 2010
Why Bojan Krkic has been so good lately?
How quick things change in the world of football? Last December every Barca fan were complaining about how disappointed were they with the performance of the little Bojan Krkic; now they can't stop praising him. Indeed Bojan Krkic has been in a tremendous goal scoring streak and have impressed everyone including his manager. Guardiola suddenly started to believe in him, which explains why he was preferred in place of Ibrahimovic in two of the most crucial away games against Villareal and Sevilla. Every Barca fan is swearing by his name and would like to see him replace the 70 million Ibrahimovic in the last game of the season. But it was not so bright and shiny for Bojan at Barca this season. Till recently he was struggling to find any meaningful playing time under Guardiola. Forget having a lack of confidence in the young striker, Guardiola's approach earlier gave a picture of having o belief in his talent. He was overlooked for Pedro on numerous occasion. Even when Ibrahimovic was struggling Guardiola never called upon Bojan, not even as a substitute. The only piece of action he was seeing was the Copa del Rey actionl; but with Barca going down to Sevilla he was virtually warming the bench. I earlier wrote a piece arguing why Bojan should move out of Barca for the good.
May 12, 2010
National Coaches goes Crazy with World Cup Squad Announcement
A host of footballing nations has announced their initial World Cup squad for this year's footballing extravaganza in South Africa. The latest to announce was the Argentinian coach Diego Maradona. As expected Maradona has surprised many by omiting a host of this season's best performing players. You may be excused, if you believe that Maradona has gone crazy after over-looking the Inter Milan duo of Zanetti and Cambiasso for the initial 30 man squad. He now has to trim it to the 23 man final squad list. When you see the names of Fabricio Coloccini and Heinze, a player seriously in the end of his career, you will be forced to question the logic of omitting two of the most sensationally performing defensive midfielders in world football. Another high profile name who is missing is FC Barcelona's Gabriel Milito. But it should be upto the lack of playing time, but seeing how Martin Demichelis have performed in recent Bayern Munich's matches in Europe, I would have seriously preferred Milito. Another name which is missing is Real Madrid midfielder, Fernando Gago. He was never expected to make into the first eleven, but was widely expected to make the trip to South Africa. Maradona looks like have preferred players who play in Argentina rather than the usual trend of picking Europe based players. This could backfire spectacularly as the quality experience could be handy in the World Cups. For the record Lionel Messi has been named in the 30 men squad and let's hope Maradona won't cut his name out.Crucial Updates : Jonathan Dos Santos makes into 26 men Mexican Initial Squad along with his brother Giovanni.
May 9, 2010
Barca - 3, Sevilla - 2; One Hand on the Trophy
Barca beat Sevilla in a nervy encounter.
It may not be arrogance to say that we have one hand firmly placed on the La Liga title following our 3-2 victory against Sevilla at the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium. At the end of penultimate week of La Liga, Barca stands one point clear of their bitter rival Real Madrid. Coming to the last four matches of the league, we had two risky away encounters against both Villareal and Sevilla. Now with those test passed, only Real Valladoid stands between FC Barcelona and the La Liga title. In the preview of this match - Barca vs Sevilla Preview, I have written about the necessity of our players being at the best. And indeed they were at their best for the first 65 minutes notching up three goals and starving Sevilla off any meaningful chance. Then in the spate of three minutes, we decided to make the encounter more interesting - conceding two goals in three minutes and almost conceding the equaliser in the end moments. But in the end the team prevailed the momentary lapse of concentration and emerged deserving winners. As expected Bojan started the match instead of Ibrahimovic. He formed the attacking trio along with Pedro and Messi. The midfield consisted of Keita, Busquets and Xavi. The defense had the expected look with Alves, Pique, Puyol and Maxwell.
May 8, 2010
Barca vs Sevilla Preview; Failure is not an Option
After the year long drama, the La Liga season is coming to an end with only two games remaining. But we may not have to wait for another week to know who will emerge the winner. With Barca visiting Sevilla, this has to be the most pivotal moment in this La Liga season. A win at Sanchez Pizjuan stadium will more or less guarantee us the title, but anything other than a win will see Real Madrid running away with the title. Simply put, the La Liga title is Ours to lose. Usually a visit to Sevilla evokes mixed emotion. Sevilla has one of the best home records in the League and will be real tough customer to negotiate. Our last visit to Sevilla was the 1-0 victory in Copa del Rey, but that wasn't good enough for us. Last season a Lionel Messi inspired Barca have beaten Sevilla 3-0 in the corresponding fixture.
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