November 19th, 2009 | 
Author: 
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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La Masia
Welcome back to the second edition of “The Ones Who Made It.” The image that you’re all probably wondering about is of a young boy who is walking through the gates of La Masia. This is where all the players who feature for Barcelona’s youth teams stay. From Juvenil A to Barcelona B, if any player wants to make it to the first team, he has to walk through these gates first. This gate has seen many faces over many years, such as Guardiola, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Valdes, etc.. The list goes on, so in this edition we will tackle another 5 players who made it from Barcelona’s one of a kind youth system to world football. Buckle up for safety, sit back and enjoy the ride. First up…
That's How Successful We Are
You’re sitting at home with nothing to do, waiting for the international week to pass you by.. waiting for normality to resume and your beloved Barcelona to rock it out on the pitch in front of millions of fans.. Well that ain’t happening for quite some time, but until then I thought I’d entertain you people with this article. The picture above is an analysis of the national players that are playing for each respective club. You can see clearly that we have the most Spanish players from our youth system playing for us (although some are not shown) We have 8 players who are Spanish and are products of our youth system and astonishingly, 9 players who are part of our first team who were also produced by our extraordinary youth system. Believe it or not folks, Arsenal.. despite Arsene Wenger’s huge fetish for children does not have one English player from his youth team who can start! All the English players he has are poached (yes I’m not afraid to say it 
) Anyways, enough basking in our never-ending glory and lets get this party started!
Pfft!
Yep, this is no joke. It has been sensationally revealed that FIFA have imposed a 2 month ban on the Argentinian dumb-ass who couldn’t keep it in his pants after Argentina qualified last month for the World Cup. Everyone had doubts about whether or not Maradona would be cut out for the job. It was one thing when people saw that he couldn’t coach if his life depended on it, but it was a completely different thing when they saw what kind of nut is controlling the dressing room. I am referring to the rather explicit scenes we saw after Argentina beat Uruguay 1 – 0 to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. It’s no secret that they were struggling their assess off.
It took only a minute for Maradona to come onto the pitch after their decisive win over Uruguay. He practically told the media to join in on his sexual act and continued to do it in front of the fans, the attendance and, of course, (my favorite) the entire world . I mean what kind of idiot would do that on INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION! Makes you wonder if he’s still doing drugs. But anyway enough of that. He left the pitch with his team (the players looked rather perplexed) and made his way to the team bus. Before the bus started moving, he moved aside a curtain and looked directly at a TV camera. He performed the same damn act in front of millions of viewers.
Well guess what he did after that? HE APOLOGIZED ! But that didn’t stop him from being fined 14,800 pounds for his outburst on and off the pitch and banned from world-wide football for 2 full months. That means he is not allowed to be active until the 15th of January 2010. Happy New Year dude ! The disciplinary committee chairman said that they had taken into consideration Maradona’s “sincere remorse” (if such a thing exists ) but also stressed that if he ever repeated these actions again then his future punishment would be much harsher than the current one.
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.
FCBB is proud to present to you the first edition of El Periodico. El Periodico will act as a direct link between the fcbarcablog readers and Johan Cryuff. El Periodico will cover the latest thoughts of Cryuff regarding Barcelona and the players. In today’s edition of El Perdiodico we will observe Cryuff’s thoughts about:
- Why the critics have pounced on Barcelona this season.
- Why Barcelona needs to score and win games, instead of demonstrating their beautiful football.
- Whether or not Barcelona will make it to the next round of the Champions League.
- His Age .
- The taxation in Europe and it’s toll on Cryuff in his playing days.
- The adolescence of the Barcelona players and how they have much to learn.
Barcelona has been suffering much criticisms of late after having swooped all the titles before them last season. It is much easier to get somewhere than to keep yourself in that position. This is the reason why it is better not to go on the pitch and promise that you are going to win it all again, the better thing to do is to return to normal. The beautiful things will be yet to come. On the 9th of December we will rid ourselves from any doubts. Or perhaps before, if things are done well. I’m referring to the Champions League, we will see if Barca will be going into the next round. There will be 180 minutes filled with absolute passion, two games that will be either bring success or failure, onto which the best will be precisely this: that all things should be clear. You rather do the correct thing or you’re out. You are in a small League of four teams, with six games to play, and without a doubt you seem to have taken a leap back in time to the old European Cup. Two football games, 1st leg and 2nd leg. Everything to be decided in 180 minutes. The only difference here is that the 1st Leg you will play it against one team, and the 2nd Leg against another. Either you pass to the next round, or the other team will. The same here as in the old European Cup. With one thing to keep in mind: you have been warned. Read the rest of this entry »
Jonathan dos Santos
Name: Jonathan dos Santos
Date of Birth: 26th of April, 1990
Nationality: Mexican
Born In: Monterrey, Mexico
Height: 1.80 m (5 foot 11)
Position: Midfielder
Although originally from Brazil, the dos Santos family also has origins in Mexico. Jonathan dos Santos is the son of former footballer Gerardo dos Santos (a.k.a. Zizinho). He also is the younger brother of former Barcelona starlet Giovanni dos Santos, who is now plying his trade at Tottenham Hostpur and previously on loan to Ipswich Town. Jonathan dos Santos’ playing style differs completely from his brothers. Not only do they play in different positions but they also have a very different approach to the game. Giovanni had a direct approach that involves dribbling the opponent and trying to get past him. Jonathan, on the other had, enjoys tactical dribbling more than direct dribbling. As we all saw in the match against Cultural, he prefers to hold on to the ball until he has a sure pass. He manipulates his opponent’s momentum turning it into a weapon. Some people see no need for Cesc Fabregas to come back if this little guy keeps weaving his magic in the midfield. Barcelona’s youth system is known to produce replicas of their players and they have done that with the likes of Xavi (in the form of Iniesta) and Guardiola (in the form of Xavi!) This guy here, seems to the next Fabregas, the one who DIDN’T get away.
Jonathan dos Santos was scouted by Barcelona in a tournament in France when he was representing Monterrey. He began from one of the lowest youth teams, Infantil B and rose through the ranks of Infantil A, Cadete B, Cadete A and Juvenil B. At the beginning of our historical season, 2008/2009, he was playing in the Juvenil A (as captain). Underage players are not allowed to play for the first team unless they have a Spanish passport. He got the passport in that same season, making him eligible to play for the Barcelona first team.
