After Spain equalled the record held by Holland and France of 14 consecutive victories in official competition with their comfortable 3-1 win against Scotland on Wednesday, among the many platitudes meted out by players and staff of La Roja was a rather frank appraisal by Santi Cazorla. “The way we are playing at the moment we are favourites to win the European Championship,” the Málaga midfielder said in an unusual instance of a footballer voicing an opinion. It was a far cry from the standard Spanish players’ fare of slightly awkward modesty and explaining to the camera that it’s one game at a time. But Cazorla is quite correct. Spain will be the overwhelming favourite when the … [Read more...] about Why Spain are still the team to fear
Spanish soccer
Mourinho’s mad magic loses its lustre
José Mourinho has always insisted that his antics, provocations and pre-match hyperbole are an unselfish gambit, aimed at drawing attention away from his players. Let’s take him at his word, and examine not the state of Real Madrid, but the state of their coach. Mourinho’s appearance has always seemed to speak volumes about his state of mind. When he started at Chelsea, he dressed like George Clooney, kept physically trim and his haircuts were frequently more fashionable than those of his players. When his relationship with the London club’s owner, Roman Abramovich, started to deteriorate and the team’s performances declined, not only did Mourinho start to look tetchy and disgruntled, his … [Read more...] about Mourinho’s mad magic loses its lustre
Hands up if you find Barça’s beautiful game boring
There was something rather strange about Señor Antonio Lahoz’s half-time whistle at Estadio Anoeta in San Sebastián last Saturday. It sounded like a reasonably normal whistle, as whistles go. The short blast, followed by the longer one. Goals: Barcelona 2, Real Sociedad 0. Goalscorers Xavi Hernández and Cesc Fàbregas. Possession: 75 percent to Barcelona. No, everything perfectly in order there. Except it wasn’t. In most football matches, the referee’s half-time whistle precedes a collective expulsion of breath and a moment of calm to reflect on the 45 minutes of play just witnessed. This is so much of the beauty of football, the frenetic nature of this most exalted of pursuits means that … [Read more...] about Hands up if you find Barça’s beautiful game boring
La Liga dances to the beat of super-agent Mendes
One name dominated this summer’s transfer window in Spain, which closed on August 31, and it was not a player, manager or club president. Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes was everywhere, with his clients starring in many of the biggest, and also most curious, La Liga deals. The largest outlay by a Spanish club was the €40 million paid by Atlético Madrid to Porto for Mendes’s client Radamel Falcao. Falcao had a record-breaking season last year, scoring 17 goals in the Europa League, including the winner in the final. His signing was a real coup for Atléti, who had just lost Sergio Agüero to Manchester City, but the €40-million fee raised eyebrows given the Colombian’s lack of top-level … [Read more...] about La Liga dances to the beat of super-agent Mendes
Stable Valencia dreams of challenging Spain’s top two
A couple of years ago, Valencia CF were staring into the depths of an abyss that included foreclosure of their assets and potentially the end of their very existence as a football club. The club’s debts were huge, they had finished out of the Champions League places in sixth, and the departure of their prize players, David Villa and David Silva, looked a certainty. Enter Manuel Llorente, the latest and apparently looniest of a long line of very loopy Valencia presidents. Llorente’s ingenious policy towards tackling Valencia’s money troubles seemed to be to pretend they didn’t exist and hope they would go away. Behold the mysteries of the times we live in, it seems to have worked a … [Read more...] about Stable Valencia dreams of challenging Spain’s top two
Mourinho’s second coming suggests serious title tilt for Real Madrid
“Por qué?” he asked. “Por qué?” came the question again. It was a moment to define José Mourinho’s first season at the home of Spanish football’s most successful club Real Madrid, where in recent years silverware has been lacking. Coming after the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against their eternal rivals FC Barcelona, his comments were an attack against UEFA and the purported unfair treatment dished out to his players who had seen themselves down to 10 men for the fourth time in as many clashes in El Clásico last season. It was also during a run of games that would see the two teams meet four times over the course of three weeks and this was exactly the reason why the … [Read more...] about Mourinho’s second coming suggests serious title tilt for Real Madrid
Barcelona seek to extend Liga dominance
With respect to the other 18 clubs in Spain’s top flight, the one and only major debating point at the moment seems to be: will Barcelona be good enough to again thwart the ambitions of Real Madrid? Certainly that’s how many other pundits see the forthcoming season in Spain. The headline in the annual guide to La Liga published by the Spanish sports daily As was: “The first two and then all the rest.” It sums up the current situation in the top flight of Spanish football. Not since Villarreal had their ‘año milagro’ in 2007-08 and finished second behind Real, has anyone broken the hegemony of the two giants of Spanish football. In fact, apart from when Villarreal upset the odds, … [Read more...] about Barcelona seek to extend Liga dominance
Football strike threat highlights Spanish cash shortfall
There remains a very real danger that the Spanish football season will not kick off as planned this weekend. Last Thursday, the Spanish players’ union announced that its members were downing boots for the first two games of the new season, unless the Spanish league leans on clubs to pay back-wages owed to many players at La Liga’s top clubs. The football players’ association (AFE) president Luis Rubiales told a press conference that 200 first and second division Spanish league players are owed wages, some going back a number of years, totalling over €50 million. He called for the Spanish football league (LFP) to put in place a larger emergency fund to help players not being paid by their … [Read more...] about Football strike threat highlights Spanish cash shortfall
Mourinho shuns headlines to underline Madrid’s new balance of power
The faces of two young footballers have dominated the front covers of Spain’s two biggest-selling sports newspapers this summer. In just two months, AS featured Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (or Neymar for short) 28 times and Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero’s 20 times in their leading photograph and/or story. Neymar also battled Agüero for top spot on the front page of Marca, which led with the Brazilian 22 times and the Argentinean on 15 occasions. One or both players was prominent on the front page of AS and Marca 41 and 34 days respectively. AS readers were met with Agüero’s face five mornings in a row from June 9 to 13. Neymar matched that run with Marca from July 6 to 10. The fun began within … [Read more...] about Mourinho shuns headlines to underline Madrid’s new balance of power
Athletic Bilbao’s golden generation stands at the crossroads
It’s a pivotal week for the future of Athletic Bilbao. On Thursday, July 7th, the club holds its presidential elections, with former Athletic midfielder Josu Urrutia challenging current president Fernando García Macua for control of the Basque club. Urrutia’s candidacy started with a bang when he announced that former Argentina and Chile boss Marcelo Bielsa would be manager should he win. Bielsa, who recently rejected the chance to take over at Inter Milan, is a managerial heavyweight. A deep football thinker, he is known for sending out tactically astute, but sometimes mentally brittle, teams. While his unbalanced Argentina flopped at the 2006 World Cup, Chile were one of the stand-outs … [Read more...] about Athletic Bilbao’s golden generation stands at the crossroads