Archive for the ‘International Week’ Category
November 19th, 2009 | 
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That's Something You Don't See Everyday
It has been 9 days since we saw the last glimpse of domestic football. Yes, it was the Copa del Rey match against Cultural Leonesa in which Barcelona proved to be too much for the rather inferior team. Not to degrade them, of course, but they did get their behinds handed to them in a timely manner. Well, 9 days later and we’re back; but this time for good, because there will be no more International breaks in 2009! I know that doesn’t come as a shock, seeing as to how we have Atheletic Bilbao, Inter Milan and Real Madrid to face and all in the coming week and a half. We end 2009 with matches against Xerez, Deportivo and Dynamo (all away 
) and a match against Espanyol at the Camp Nou before the holidays. Christmas holidays are always jolly, there will be more jolliness this season simply because we have another tournament to win 
! Yes, it’s the Club World Cup Championship in Abu Dhabi!! We enter the competition, as all European champions do, in the semi-final stage. The semi-final is going to be on the 16 of December while the final will take place on the 19th of December. 2 matches that I will be personally attending in Abu Dhabi, and will provide the pictures and experience after the competition comes to an end. No International break seems like a blessing for us, but while other player’s will be resting their legs this Christmas, we will be playing the competition, then traveling to Kuwait to play a “prestigious” friendly against Kazma Sporting Club. We will tackle all these issues in due time, but for now let’s tackle the internationals..
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That's How It's Supposed To Be
So here we are folks, it has been a magnificent week for us in footballing terms. We have (supposedly) rediscovered our eye for goal, scoring 9 goals in just 2 games and conceding only 2. International break has, once again, been bestowed upon us and to our gratitude.. most of these games are going to be meaningless, which means.. no fatigue and hopefully no injuries as well. We cannot be 100% sure that everything will go smoothly but we can be sure that it will be better than the previous International break. For starters, Messi isn’t travelling 22 hours and Xavi isn’t even leaving his own country. There are 2 sources of concern though. The first is that our very own Chygnasty is going to be away playing an official game in Greece. Yes, it’s the World Cup Playoffs and things tend to get a little messy in World Cup games. My other concern (which is far bigger than the previous one) is France. France also have a playoff game against the physical Irish who wouldn’t mind breaking an attacker’s ankle. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so if you see Henry trying to get past you just kick his shin and that’s that! 2 matches for Ukraine and 2 matches for France will decide whether or not they will be eligible to play amongst the best of the best in South Africa, come 2010.
We have the following players away with their national teams. Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Pique, The Yaya, Dani Alves, Chygnasty, Henry and Abidal. The players that will be missing their respective national side’s games due to injury are Keita and Ibrahimovic.
