Spain Crowned World Champion

Iniesta scores the vital goal which earned Spain their first World Championship

Spain won their first World Championship of their history with a 1-0 win against Holland at the Soccer City Stadium in Johanesburg. FC Barcelona'sAndres Iniesta was the hero of the night, scoring the vital goal with just four minutes left for the end of extra time. Spain become only the second reigning European Champions who managed to win the World Cup. The match did live up to his billing of a tight contest, but failed to match his billing as a Clash between two brilliant "Total Football" side. The match was a huge headache for referee Howard Webb, who flashed 10 yellow cards, including two for Heitinga. He overall did a good job, but there were times when he left the game to become more physical. De Jong's kick on Xabi Alonso's chest was a huge moment and the player should have been send off. But Webb flashed a yellow card instead.

Continue Reading...

Guardiola focuses on La Masia to Reinforce Defense

More La Masia Recruits for Barca

With Chygynskiy's and Toure's departure, Guardiola is looking to La Masia for defensive cover for next season. Atleast four Barca Atletic defenders may find more playing time with the first team next season. Barca is expected to release Marquez and Caceres and also is expected to send Henrique out on loan yet again. Caceres performance against Holland in the World Cup semi-final may force the management to think about a loan deal rather than selling the player. He still may fulfil all the promises he shown at a very early age. Marc Muniesa, Andreu Fontas, Marc Batra and Sergi Gomez all are expected to make the cut for the first team this season. Muniesa is widely regarded as the natural heir to Puyol's throne and he should see more playing time than others. Add to this, Jonathan Dos Santos and Thiago, we have two brilliant midfielders also emerging from the academy.

Continue Reading...

Puyol's Header Guides Spain To World Cup Final

Barca Captain Steers Spain To Final

Spain setup a mouth watering World Cup final clash against Netharlands after seeing off a much fancied, but young German side confidently. The Spanish National team dominated the match, depriving their opponents off any meaningful possession. For all their possession it took a second half goal from the most unlikeliest of source, Carles Puyol from a Xavi corner to see off the Germans. This young German side has been on the rampage packing England and Argentina home, scoring eight goals in those two matches. But this Spanish side's midfield is the best in the world, may be one of the best of all time and the Germans had no answer to their tiki-taka style of playing. Barcelona fans would have been extremely happy to see seven of their players starting in the line-up. Pedro came in for Torres and joined his other club mates - Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Villa, Puyol, Pique, who all retained their places. It is a very proud moment for La Masia with five players in the starting line-up.

Continue Reading...

Chygrynskiy returns to Shaktar, another failed Purchase

FC Barcelona has confirmed the agreement of a deal (rumoured to be around 15 million) for the return of Dmytro Chygrynskiy to Shaktar. Barca bought the tall defender from Shaktar at around 30 Million, now does that makes sense to sell him just after one miserable year? Chygrynskiy's lack of pace was always going to trouble him and his performance in each of his appearances strengthened that belief. The coach and Management already had lost faith in him and there were rumours ever since the season ended about a move back. Its yet another transfer failure. The jury is still out to decide whether the Ibra transfer was a failure. The new management has to make sure that the recent pathetic transfer failures are not repeated. The haste at which we arrive at decisions has to be sole reason why these transfer fails. Chygrynskiy was brought after having an excellent season with Shaktar. At that point it made sense, but with Milito coming back and performing well, his oppurtunites were pretty limited. The statement on Barcelona’s website notes that, “the money received for the 23-year-old central defender will help ease the Club’s short-term liquidity problems.” But still don't understand the logic in going for Cesc, especially when we have a liquidity problem and the whole of Spain in recession.

Rosell Starts his Work, Cryuff Resigns as Honorary President

Within days of Rosell begining his tenure, the first change has happened. Media houses in Spain has reported that Cryuff has resigned from the post of Honorary President. Rosell earlier argued that the post of Honorary president is illegal as its against the constitution of the Club. He may be right but the problem is that Cryuff seems to be caught between two presidents - the current and the ex, taking revenge on each other. It was the club's mistake to award Cryuff the honorary president post, if it was illegal not that of Cryuff's. Cryuff returned his badge saying "It hurts to accept it, but it seems I'm a nuisance". That showns a deeply hurt man. What a wonderful display of our gratitude to a man who has been a legend for majority of Cules. Cryuff ealier had said that he tried to call Rosell, but he was not available. Rosell remarkked earlier that sorting out the honorary president post issues was a top priority but it looks like humiliating cryuff was a bigger priority. Many may argue that the post itself was illegal and Rosell was right in action, but the bottomline is Cryuff didn't chose himself to get elected as Honorary president, the bloody board chose that. If this is the way we treat our Legends, than what about the lesser players. It is no surprise that Rosell sees Cryuff as a staunch Laporta supporter.