CWC: Barcelona Cruises to the Final [Examiner.com]

Posted on December 15th, 2011 by admin

FC Barcelona walked through to the final of the Club World Cup against Santos FC of Sao Paulo on Sunday after a 4-0 win against Al Sadd. The Qatari team never had any hope of scoring and were unable to make a shot at the Barça goal even once. According to Examiner.com:

Barcelona proved to be too much for a Qatari team that opted to defend in order to prevent a thrashing at the feet of the Catalans.  However, Barcelona, with Messi creating several opportunities slowly overcame Al Sadd’s defense.  What Al Sadd coach Jorge Fossati intended to prevent is exactly what happened.  With methodical playing, Barcelona was able to pick apart Al Sadd and take the game 4-0.

The first two goals were scored by Adriano in the first half, with Keita and Maxwell scoring one each. The bad news is that David Villa will be out of action after breaking his leg during the match. While that may not make that much difference to barcelona at the moment, it will impact the Spanish national selection.

Read “CWC: Barcelona Cruises to the Final” at Examiner.com

Tags: Adriano, Al Sadd, Club World Cup, David Villa, Keita, Maxwell

Victory for Barça thanks to Villa

Posted on September 23rd, 2010 by admin

David Villa scored the only goal of the match last night when Sporting Gijon visited the Nou Camp.

With Messi injured Barcelona seemed to lack something vital, and it wasn’t until early in the second half that Barcelona was able to score, despite dominating possession throughout.

The result takes them to third place in the league, behind Real Madrid and Valencia.

1-0 Villa (min 49)

Tags: David Villa, Sporting Gijon

Noble Spanish Are Also Masters of Game’s Dark Arts [The New York Times]

Posted on July 2nd, 2010 by admin

An article in The New York Times argues that the Spanish selection has two sides to it; a good side, typified by Xavi and David Villa, while Joan Capdevila and Fernando Torres represent the dark side in getting members of the opposite team sent off unfairly.

Comparing today’s Spanish squad with the 2002 Brazilian team the article says:

“Like Spain, that team had players who were happy to seek free kicks at the slightest sign of interference, as Rivaldo infamously did in a group game against Turkey. Maybe Spain has surmised that to win a World Cup, you need a full array of the footballing arts, including some of its dark ones; the truth is hidden somewhere behind Vicente del Bosque’s Great Barrier Reef of a moustache, and it isn’t emerging anytime soon. What we can reliably say is that the Spanish, with their careful manipulation of both ball and referee, are in the World Cup quarterfinals.”

Read “Noble Spanish Are Also Masters of Game’s Dark Arts” at The New York Times

Tags: David Villa, Fernando Torres, Joan Capdevila, Spain, World Cup, Xavi