Betis - Sevilla

The "eternally inferior" team of the city of Seville faces tomorrow the most grandiose team of southern Spain in this order. Last time they played Sevilla FC won 5-1. Could we repeat the feat?

Any Sevilla FC fans in St.Louis?

It may be a little late to publish this just one day before the Copa del Rey semifinals, but it would be fun to get together with more "sevillistas" to see how the best team in Andalucia gets to the finals... again!

Sevilla - Betis. Historic 5-1 to humiliate the white and green squad!

You can watch the highlights of this historic game in this video by Jesús-Creations. This could have been the most embarrassing derby for the other team of the Andalusian city if any of the multiple occasions in the first half would have ended in goal.
Enjoy!

Sevilla F.C. 5 - Real Betis B. 1

SEVILLA FC 1 - REAL MADRID 0

Very early the German midfielder Piotr Trochoswki scored the first and only goal of the game, finishing a strategy play practiced during the week at Seville's "Ciudad Deportiva". Sixty eight seconds, the fastest goal this year in La Liga. What followed was more than ninety minutes of serious work from the Sevillian squad or, depending on how you look at it, Madrilian impotence.
Cristiano's team was impregnated with the Portuguese star's "sadness". It never gave the impression that it could  overcome Michel's team. Sevilla's coach sure  knows the team whose shirt defended for so long, and today he proved himself to be able to make Sevilla FC a serious candidate to fight for the Champions League again.

What teams will play the Eurocup final?

Spain is in. What is your guess for the second team? Italy or Germany? Germany is the safe bet, but nobody gave a ice cube chance in hell for the azzurri at the beginning of the tournament and they got to the semifinals...

What if Italy does not win today?

After a long vacation break, I'm back. The Eurocup 2012 is on, and today, everybody seems to be worry about a potential pact between Spain and Croatia (2-2) that will qualify both teams, and leave Italy out of the quarter final. Ireland is one of the weakest teams of the tournament, but the fact that they are in the Eurocup is a big enough reason not to forget that the Irish can still beat Italy. For some reason, everybody take for granted an Italian victory... we'll see!

Protests against (Real Madrid and Barcelona) favoritisms in La Liga

This video is in Spanish, but if you are a soccer fan and want to see what's going on in La Liga, and why Real Madrid and Barcelona are always ahead of the rest of the teams, you should check out the following video: Tennis Balls protests in Sevilla-Levante's game.

This game was delayed half an hour just because Mourinho and Guardiola had a press conference  after the game! Sevilla and Levante had to start the game at 10:30 at night on a Sunday. Therefore, the fans who had to get up early for work on Monday, kids, etc. most likely had to miss the game, all for the sake of a bunch of questions and answers that, except for the hardcore Real Madrid and Barcelona fans, nobody is interested in, or sure could listen to them at any other time. This is what makes Real Madrid and Barcelona ruin what is considered the "best soccer league in the world".

It would have been great...

...but Athletic played better than Sevilla FC. The game could have gone to either side, but in the 47th minute Fernando Llorente headed a perfect cross from the right to beat Palop. Winning would have meant to Sevilla FC getting  close enough to the Champions League positions, and coming from a four wins strike, the best team of southern Spain would have been unstoppable. Today, Sunday, Champions League positions are six points away, and Europa League one. Tomorrow, the Champions League may be farther away depending on what Malaga does against Racing. I like Malaga, but tomorrow I'm all for Racing!

Michel: New coach for Sevilla F.C.

The ex-Real Madrid player, Michel, is the new coach for Sevilla after Marcelino's destitution. Unfortunately, Marcelino has not been able to make the midfield work in the best team of all time in the south of Spain. That, together with the strikers attrocious streak (two points in the last seven games!) has turned into the Asturian coach being fired. Michel would have not been my first election, but he knows very well two key players in the roaster: Manu del Moral and Alvaro Negredo. If these two start playing as they know, I don't doubt that Sevilla will be playing the Champions League next year again. The best of luck for Michel!

Happier day!

Today, La Liga, which is considered to be the best soccer league in the world, started. Curiously, it was the second game day. Last week, the players were on strike. It worked, they are back, and the world is happy!
On top of that, Sevilla FC defeated Malaga, a team that many saw as a possible alternative to the two giants Barcelona and Real Madrid, with two goals of Alvaro Negredo. The former plays tomorrow against Villareal, the latter beat Zaragoza 6-0 playing away, showing off its power. As I said a happier day!

Sad, sad day!

Today, Sevilla FC was eliminated from the Europa League by Hannover 96. I cannot comment on the game because I was at work, and therefore could not watch it. I have read the articles about the game in both newspapers and the blogsphere. Everyone coincides that Sevilla deserved more but that is not enough in soccer. I’m almost glad that I did not watch the game, I know I would be even more devastated right now. The only thing that all Sevilla supporters can do right now is keeping their spirits up and think about the next game in La Liga. If we want to think positively,  after 7 consecutive years playing 3 competitions a year, Sevilla will play only two. It will be easier on our players’ legs. However, there is no excuse to either win the cup or at least qualify for the Champions League. In any case, a very sad day…

Soccer

As you probably have already noticed, I am a huge soccer fan. Now, being originally from Spain, most of you are probably thinking that I am either a Real Madrid or Barcelona fan. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! In my opinion, you should only support these two teams if you are NOT a Spaniard, if you are from Madrid or Barcelona, or if, for some reason, you are intimately related to any of these cities.
For me, there is nothing more shameful and ridiculous than being from a city that has a team in La Liga, or even in the Spanish Second division, and still support any of these teams.
Now, that does not mean, I can enjoy watching a game where these teams are present. That, also, would be ridiculous.

I do support, Sevilla FC, and by the way, today we beat SSC Napoli, 1- 2. It was the presentation game for the Italians.

Did you know... that one of the best players of all times, Diego Armando Maradona, played for these two teams?

Political bipartidism and soccer

This is an example of how human stupidity works. Spain is a country where people are experts on ruining excellent opportunities to excel (Before nationalistic heat starts blooming among readers from Spain, I have to say that I'm originally from Spain). In 1977, the newly pro-democracy government allowed for a system that allowed a multitude of parties to be contenders in the political race (about the the Spanish electoral system and the application of the D’Hondt method I may talk in the future). Now, any legal political party can run, but in reality, only two parties PSOE and PP have any chance of winning the elections. Spain has ruined in a little over 30 years the opportunity of having a country with a wide representation of political ideas. In exchange, we are stuck with two sides of the same coin, where a few corporations and "Lords" control the country, represented by half-wit politicians.

The analogy with soccer lays in the boring Spanish La Liga, the strongest league in the world according to FIFA. In the last few years, the difference between the two soccer giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, and the rest of the teams has grown so large that world-class teams as Valencia, Sevilla, or Villareal, or historic teams as Athletic de Bilbao or Atletico de Madrid, talk only about the possibility of finishing third in the so called“other Liga”. (I reserve another post to talk about the share of television revenues among the Spanish teams)

As in politics, people who stop for a second to think about the situation, do not want to have bipartisan systems like these. However, if you do not care too much about politics or soccer, you will try to establish an alliance with one of the powerful sides, no matter how little they have in common with your own conception of politics or soccer. I am not implying that only people that do not have the capacity for deeply analyzing different situations support these two parties or these two teams but, definitely, they make for a high percentage of their mass support.

Uruguay beats Paraguay 3-0 to win Forlan's Cup. Long live Forlan!

That's it, Uruguay won Forlan's Cup! Diego Forlán, the 32 year old striker from Atlético de Madrid, brought home another Copa America for his family. Folán's maternal grandfather won 2 as a coach (1959-1967), and Forlán's father, won it also in '67 with his father in law as coach. That means that 4 out of the record 15 Copa America conquered by the charruas, as the Uruguayan squad is known for, had the family history engraved in them.
Forlán is not dead, as many Atleticos depicted him last season. If he wants to end up his career as the star he has proven to be, Forlán must leave Atletico, a former renowned team that, once again, let down its fans last season. Fans that were hoping more than a seventh position in La Liga, for a team that was the 3rd richest, and that counted in its roster with players like Kun Aguero, J.A. Reyes, De Gea, or Forlán himself. The history repeats and Atletico de Madrid's horrible management reveals the true face of a team's caricature.
Diego Forlan scored twice today, he did not score before in the tournament. He played his game and reappeared when he needed to, and, most importantly, when he was needed, as stars are supposed to do. Will Forlan go back to his graveyard or will any smart team make an economic effort and take him out of that deadthly hole Atletico has turned out to be in the last two decades?