Forza Futbol 142: Arch Bell from La Liga Weekly

On today´s episode of the Forza Futbol Spanish Pub, with Elisa away without leave on a sunny beach on the west coast of Mexico, Mando welcomes old friend and guest Arch Bell from La Liga Weekly. We talk the first leg Champions League clasico debacle, Jose Mourinho´s inflammatory comments, and as a twist of lemon on this Forza Futbol daiquiri of fun, we talk relegation and promotion in Primera and Segunda divisions. Whew! Too much show.

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This Week on Forza Futbol

This week on Forza Futbol we will be discussing the upcoming Barcelona derby between RCD Espanyol and FC Barcelona. We will have the usual suspects, Armando and Elisa, plus we will be joined by fellow perico Mark Echezarreta from Mexico City and Nick Puñal, President of the RCD Espanyol Supporters Club (Australia).

Thanks to Nick, the podcast is front-and-center on the RCD Espanyol website here, but here's a screenshot of how it looks on the site.

From Online Edits

If you have any questions for us, tweet us @forzafutbol on twitter, or leave us a message on our facebook page (just click on our facebook icon on the right).

Forza Futbol 121: El Clasico Roundtable

 

On today´s episode of Forza Futbol, we are joined by madridistas and culés alike to celebrate and argue about the most anticipated match of the entire Spanish League season, the Clásico between Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelon, and the morbo you hear in this episode is palpable.

On one side of the table is my partner Elisa, the one match all year that she can let loose her inner merengue and say what she really feels about the blaugrana. Backing her up is our friend and contributer Raphael Harry, from Virginia Beach, Virginia by way of Nigeria and the United States Navy, and one of the most fearsome Real Madrid supporters in the Western Hemisphere. On the blaugrana side we are joined by Señor Segunda himself, Arch Bell who writes the Segunda Focus column for La Liga Weekly and a committed officer of the culé nation, paid up soci, and regular Nou Camp kool-aid drinker. And yet, in his corner is someone who needs no blogs, no podcasts and no weekly writing gigs to support FC Barcelona. Raül has been one of our most fervent listeners and as hard-core, old-skool an FC Barcelona supporter as there ever has been. Would you live in Barrio Salamanca in the heart of Madrid and wear your club´s colors with pride? What if they were the wrong colors?

Ready for a rumble? A classic verbal skype-fight for an hour and twelve minutes or so? Click play and you´ll understand.

       

   
   
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Forza Futbol Podcast: E113: Focus on Barcelona

On today’s edition of the Forza Futbol: Virtual Spanish Pub series, we are joined for some rounds of virtual Spanish cerveza by Emma Cardenas, editor and social media specialist for TotalBarca, Mes que un blog, the center for everything cule’ online. We talk Champions League, Primera Liga and much, much more.

Forza Futbol Announcement

As you may have noticed, things around here at Forza Futbol have changed a bit. The website looks a little spiffier, maybe a little leaner, but the changes really have only begun. In the coming weeks and months you will see many more changes. A renewed focus to bring you the best coverage and opinion about Spanish football. Yes you read that right. Forza Futbol has been edging towards La Liga and we'll be taking the plunge soon enough; both the podcast and the website will take on a decidedly Spanish flavor for the foreseeable future.

We'll have daily columns from Around La Liga, we'll follow Real Madrid and FC Barcelona of course, but since we are a better lens at Spanish Football, we'll primarily be expanding our focus and really getting in touch with the rest of the Primera Liga in Spain. From Andalusia to the Valencian Community, from the western shores of Galicia, to the hills of the Pais Vasco onward to Catalunya, we will bring you the stories that are gripping La Liga, the players that are lighting it up and the managers that are attracting all the attention.

Weĺl follow our teams in the Champions League and the Europa Cup and let´s not forget that La Furia Roja (or the Spanish National Team) are World Champions and defending European Champions, so we´ll be covering them through the Euro qualifiers.

Lest we all forget, this is a website started to host a podcast, so join us weekly for our hour long discussions. We have special guests, interviews and roundtable discussion with some of the most knowledgeable fans and supporters from all around the world, sharing their knowledge about Spanish teams and La Primera.

If you would like to be involved, either in writing for the website, in joining us for the podcast, or even both for that matter, send us an email at:

forzafutbol(at)live(dot)com

Joan Laporta Dances

Joan Laporta dances from BfHerbie on Vimeo.

Forza Futbol Interviews - Andy Brassell

Forza Futbol Interviews - Andy Brassell



Forza Futbol 78 Andy Brassil from Forza Futbol on Vimeo.

An Unfair Judgement

Bear with me for a second if I step back from covering the sport, giving out the news, a bit of opinion, a sharper lens at Serie A, La Liga and the rest of World Football through that lens. That's what we do here, that's what I agree with and frankly what I will continue doing, whether or not Forza Futbol the weekly podcast ever comes back on the air or not, and as you've seen from the previous post, we are indeed coming back for the upcoming season and even expanding our coverage to two very distinct podcasts a week covering the two leagues we love the most: Spain and Italy.

What we won't give you here, on the show or on the blog, is more of the same regurgitated pablum that calls itself soccer writing in this country. We won't resort to copying and pasting other people's work like some often do, and you won't get the same opinions that get bounced around the so-called professional soccer journalists. I don't have anything against them, they have their place, but they take their cue from their bosses, the ESPN's, Setantas and Fox Soccer Channels, media outlets whose primary function isn't to report or comment on the game, but to sell you on their assets, and get you indoctrinated on their product.

No, Forza Futbol is about our opinions first and foremost. We are fans of the sport, not soccer journalists and we reserve the right to criticize and cajole as well as praise, certainly the teams we represent, but primarily the teams we don't. Especially those teams. I write about Real Madrid often, but I also write about Barcelona. I can criticize one for over-spending and the other for being hypocritical at their reaction to the other one over-spending because I do not have to be fair and balanced. Leave that for the biased pseudo-journalism that masquerades as the real thing in this country. Why, because our opinions count in this country and we have the avenue and the ability to speak them and disseminate them online. Read them, listen to them, argue with them or ignore them. That is your right.

You have no right however, to endanger my family, harass and pressure my employer, send hate filled and bigoted emails or threaten my life. And all because I disrespected your club?

Now, certainly this scenario is not real. I would hope that our listeners and our readers know that we consider you our friends and that I wouldn't say something or write something on purpose that would make light of one of the many tragic situations that have befallen players, coaches, managers and supporters in this game. But what if I did? What if I made a statement that offended Basque supporters or Catalan supporters? I have not so don't say I did, but we have all made comments that offended other people before. I called my own Dad a "blind, drunken fool" just recently and I'm not proud of it. I might even say something hurtful about your precious Milan or beloved Juve before the end of the year. I might even say how much I dislike Barcelona. I support Espanyol, so what would you do about it?

Would you endanger my family, harass and pressure my employer, send hate filled and bigoted emails or threaten my life, and all because I defamed the honor of your club or your fellow supporters? Slander or libel, well that's a big proof to contend with and the majority of it is on you. Did I knowingly harm you by what I said. Did I do it on purpose, to harm you or your own.

What I'm getting at is: today a pressure group in the United States that supports Liverpool FC succeeded in getting a show much like our own taken off the air for statements made on the air by the host that defamed the character of a group of supporters that died in one of the greatest footballing tragedies in history: Hillsborough.

It got me thinking. I put myself in the host's shoes. It's what I do. Now, I have no axe to grind. I will make no statement that supports what this other host said. I believe, as a supporter of a club that lost a vital and important member of our footballing family recently, that I am extremely sensitive to the painful memories that Liverpool supporters revisit, every year on the anniversary of their loved ones' deaths. But let's say that I was not an Espanyol supporter. And let's say that I had made an insensitive remark about Dani Jarque's death. I would expect outrage. I would expect our listeners and our readers to condemn what I said. I would expect you to stop listening to Forza Futbol or stop coming to Forzafutbol.com. It is your prerogative, as a citizen, but are you due more? How big should your pound of flesh be?

My job? My family? My career? My life? No one is guaranteed a pleasant life free of disagreeable moments. We are all offended and we all offend. We all make mistakes and when we do, it is very easy to ask for forgiveness for ourselves, but not so easy when it is someone else making that mistake, and that person he is offending is you. It stands to reason that one day even I will offend one of you, certainly not as blatantly or as idiotically as that other guy did today, but it is not out of the realm of possibility that someone will take issue with what I say or write. My answer to you would be, well, what author Fran Liebowitz said once, “Being offended is a natural consequence of leaving the house.” Deal with it.

Real Zaragoza Preview

Coach: Marcelino Garcia Toral, most recently of Racing Santander and Recreativo de Huelva
Stadium: Estadio La Romareda (34,596)
Region: Aragon
Derby: S.D. Huesca (Segunda)

Sponsor: Telefonica, the primary phone provider in Spain.

Kit Description: Home: A white Addidas kit with blue collar trim. Blue shorts with white trim.  Away: Radioactive yellow shirts whith black trim and black shorts with yellow trim. Third kit: looks like the Liverpool home kit with white trip over a fully red kit.

History: Founded on March 18, 1931 by the merger of two pre-existing clubs in Zaragoza, the avispas or wasps of Iberia S. C. and the tomates or tomatoes of Zaragoza CD who played in red shirts hence the nickname. They were given their royal commendation as Real Zaragoza in 1951. The badge is a lion on a red background, the old colors of Zaragoza CD, surrounded by a shield of black and yellow, the colors of their Iberia S.D. Real Zaragoza's nickname is the blanquillos, or little-whites referring to their white shirts, but they are also called the maños which is a term describing the people from Aragon derived from the latin term magnus which eans great or great leader. Their B-team is called Deportivo Aragon. They left their original stadium called El Torrero in 1957 for La Romareda which is located south of the city near the University of Zaragoza.

Trophy Room:

* Copa del Rey (1964, 66, 86, 94, 2001, 04)

* Supercopa de España (2004)

* European Cup Winner's Cup (1995)

* Fairs Cup (1964)

Famous Former Players: Cafu, Pablo Aimar, Fernando Morientes, David Villa, Frank Rijkaard, Jose Luis Chilavert, and the Milito brothers.

Season Review: Second Place in the Segunda Division

Main Story from last year: Securing promotion after being summarily relegated after the 2007 season. Marcelino struggled at first to implement his attacking style, conceding goals, but slowly changed the culture at the club and had them functioning well towards the end of the campaign. Marcelino is getting a reputation of a Promotion Specialist considering he helped in securing promotion for Recreativo Huelva when they returned to the primeraafter the 2005-2006 season . This considering the fact that he was one of the hottest tickets in Spanish Football, attracting overtures from Sevilla to replace Juande Ramos and had signed in Valencia after Ronald Koeman was let go but reneged on his contract when Valencia could not come to terms on personal and professional terms.

Transfers: Granted ex-Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant isn't considered one of the brightest bulbs in the bunch, and on the surface, rejecting AC Milan for a newly promoted side like Real Zaragoza seems like further proof of his mental lapses, but for all accounts the kid (he's only 26) is down-to-earth, grounded, and smarter than the English press have given him credit for. He'll be making about 80,000 pounds a week due to the favorable tax laws in Spain and Pennant could blossom like another ex-Liverpool winger Florent Sinama-Pongolle did under Marcelino.
Squad Overview: GK: Lopez Vallejo will start with on loan-Lazio keeper Juan Pablo Carrizo as back up. DF: Carlos Diogo, ex-Madrid DF Francisco Pavon and Roberto Ayala are familiar faces. The midfield is a weakness with only Jermaine Pennant out wide a talent. They have forwards aplenty: Ewerthon, Ike Uche and Arizmendi are all familiar and talented enough but it looks like they are going to have problems linking well through the midfield, not a lot of spectacular talent there.

Prediction: Bottom third, I'd say 14th considering there age in defense and lack of talent in midfield.

Forza Futbol 69

This week on Forza Futbol Mando and Elisa review the latest from Serie A and La Liga. Get the whole episode here, direct download here or subscribe in iTunes.

Forza Futbol 66

This week on Forza Futbol Mando and Hannah discuss the Champions League Final and review the latest news from Serie A and La Liga. Get the whole episode here, direct download here or subscribe in iTunes.

Forza Futbol 62

This week on Forza Futbol Mando and Hannah review the latest from Serie A and La Liga. We talk about Espanyol and Torino will they stay safe? Milan are now in second place, can they catch Inter? Will Real Madrid catch Barcelona? Get the whole episode here, direct download here or subscribe in iTunes.

Forza Futbol 2.01

Announcements
Thanks for sticking with us everyone. This is a brand new day for Forza Futbol. Things are a little lighter and definitely a little sadder as we say goodbye to our friend Elisa here on Forza Futbol. We want to thank her for her friendship first and foremost and her dedication to the podcast. She will be missed.

Quote of the Week
It's impossible to win at Barca's stadium. They are devastating. I think it is their year." It's nice to talk that way if you're an admirer of the blaugrana, but what if you're the coach of your biggest rival? Either he's, as defender Pepe said, trying to take the onus of the match off his players or he's intentionally setting his head on the chopping block. I think it was a calculated move to salvage a dwindling reputation.

News:
Berndt Schuster is done as Real Madrid coach? Well it's about time. He'd lost the plot, and as usual had lost his head, but hiring Juande Ramos on a six month contract as his replacement? Well, at least he won't anger the reporters. Next on the coaching hotseat? Murcia's Javier Clemente. El Mundo Deportivo readers expect a 5-0 result in the clasico this weekend between Barca and Real Madrid? I know that the cules are out for blood considering last year's championship humiliation Barcelona were forced to witnes at the Bernabeu, but I've always believed that when things seem too one sided, is an upset in store? Milan have signed Brazilian defender Thiago Silva: a great move considering the age of that backline, but Gennaro Gattuso is definitely out for the season with a knee injury. A real blow to the scudetto hopes of AC Milan. Gilardino secures Fiorentina's UEFA Cup spot. Villarreal, Real Madrid, Juventus and Fiorentina were all in Champions League action this week. Santos Mirasierra the OM ultra sentenced to 3 and a half years in a Madrid jail is out on bail? Did someone bow to a violent ultra threat to appease the French?

All this and more on the only podcast that gives you a sharper lens on the top two leagues of Europe: Serie A and La Liga

Media Value in Football

Today's topic of the week is this intangible thing we call player value. Now, I'm not talking about the value that a young Paolo Maldini brought to pitch, orchestrating the great Milan defense under Arrigo Sacchi, or even what Lionel Messi clearly brings to the Barcelona attack. I'm talking about intangibles. Oh, and not the unquantifiable, pitch related abilities of leadership, heart, "quality", even vision which isn't necessarily correctable by laser surgery. I'm talking about the real reason behind the big-name transfers: "Media Value".

Now, certainly I didn't invent the term. My friend Elisa sent me this article from the University of Navarra in Spain. They published a paper on "Media Value in Football". It's a pretty vague term as they describe it, calling it the value "of sportsmen('s) prestige, public attraction and mass media exposure." What I call it is the Beckham factor.

Now, I'm not denigrating the guy's skill on the pitch, certainly not in his youth when what little pace he had was still available to him in spurts, but any other English player faced with the specter of his diminishing skills would have been forced to retire or fall back to the level of playing for Wigan, Charlton or Derby. I would have said Liverpool but that would be mean.

Instead, because of his unparalleled media footprint, he has been able to extend his playing career because of his worth as a global marketing brand. Fiorentino Perez knew it, so did half the companies he brought in to finance his Galacticos. It's process that a club has to follow in the new scheme of global football. A club like Real Madrid essentially became the biggest club on Earth in the 1990's because of the Galactico's. In John Carlin's book, White Angels; Beckham, Real Madrid & The New Football, the author tells of the impact that Beckham had irrespective of playing for the club. Companies that would never have invested in the sport were brought in because of his marketing appeal. It's no wonder, that despite his advancing age, a club in a fledgling league like MLS has taken him in with the same expectations.

What now though? Manchester United have Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez. All three are in the top 10 in the report. Barcelona are well represented for the time being with Lionel Messi and the ubiquitous Ronaldinho but that will change with the buck-toothed one's imminent escape to Milan to join Brazil compatriot and fellow media-value darling Kaka.

Is there a trend? Well, from what I see it isn't just the ability to sell a product, talent on the pitch or definitely attractiveness. It could be tied to a good management team or a savvy gaggle of lawyers. It may even be one's own force of personality. More than likely it's the club that makes the idol instead of the other way 'round.

Chumpeons League

Ugh. Another stupid Chelsea v Liverpool match awaits us in the Champions League. If only, if only. Another dubious penalty awarded at Anfield in the dying moments while Arsenal were still celebrating an amazing cross-field run by Theo Walcott, who setup the defining goal at the time. The only ending that’s clearer is that there’ll be a similar penalty awarded at Old Trafford tomorrow.

Were there mistakes made by Arsenal? Absolutely. Their midfield had no presence to contend with Mascherano and Alonso, they had no pace up front with Hleb and Adebayor, and Cesc was efficiently eliminated from the equation early on by having to take a more defensive role with the injury to Flamini. People will be talking about the penalty, a classic dive arms flailing by Babel through Toure, who was flailing his arms just to avoid contact, but that’s not ultimately what brought Arsenal down.

I know we hardly talk about the Prem here, and with good reason the football is generally atrocious, but Arsenal are re-knowned as a proponent of Continental football in the lump-it-up garbage can that is most of English football, aren’t they? Stop talking that nonsense. They don’t have the players anymore to play the champagne football they played with Henry and Pires and that falls directly at the lap of Arsene Wenger. He has dropped the ball at restocking the side with world class quality players to play the way he wants to play.

He says he can’t compete with Manchester United and Liverpool financially. No, that may have been true 3 or 4 years ago, but they are the most financially stable club of the big 4 as an independent financial entity. Please, if Roman Abramovich went way today, Chelsea would drop like a wet turd.

This marks another year with no chance of silverware, yes I know the Prem is still mathematically feasible but please, when is the criticism going to fall on Wenger for his buys? He had a chance at Torres, a chance at some very talented stars just hitting their prime, why then does he insist on 15 year old starlet? Because he can.

I know I’ll get stick for this, they’ll say that Arsenal have a talented young side with promise for the future. When the loans come in for United and Liverpool they’ll have to pay for it somehow so that’s when Arsenal will strike. Not a chance.

I guess Barcelona are still hanging around...

Learning to Lead

Italy found itself in a bit of a crisis this week. I know, I know, but trust me this one is a humdinger because Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigned on Thursday at the time of writing nobody knows what is going to happen next. Yikes. Italy it would seem does not have a leader. Which brings us quite craftily to the subject of this week’s blog, because on Saturday afternoon even the most hardened cynic could not have failed to be impressed by the heart warming performance of possible leader in the making . . . (drum roll) . . . Antonio Cassano.

I hear laughing at the back.

Now you could say it was only Siena and I am not suggesting for one moment that Cassano is the man to resurrect the flagging economy, fight the gripping tax evasion epidemic and get those streets in Naples cleaned up, I mean the boy has to train - but sticking to calcio, seeing him on the sideline after being substituted, encouraging his team mates, pointing, gesticulating . . . well, it “warmed the cockles” as my Nan used to say.

It looks like he is enjoying life at the Luigi Ferrari and clearly looked “up for it” from the first whistle against Siena. After three minutes, he cut inside from the left and smashed a twenty five yarder against crossbar and when he got a sniff of a chance just before half time, he swept the ball into the far corner past the despairing keeper. No fuss. The kind of goal that’s made to look easy by players of class, the kind of goal that wins matches and 1-0 was how it indeed finished.

He made a point of celebrating with his coach Mazzari and seeing them both on the touchline in the later stages of the game, it is clear a special bond has been forged between the two.

So, Sampdoria captain? Could be. Possibly.

Now granted, the man with the armband for now is midfielder Sergio Volpi who is as much of an unsung name in Sampdoria’s midfield as I’m guessing Alexei Aleksandrovich Mikhailichenko was for them in the early 90’s, but he is a consistent and reliable figure and given that the previous captain was cocaine quaffer Francesco Flachi, it may not seem particularly prudent to hand the armband straight over to the pot-marked prince of petulance from Bari.

But Cassano is growing and hopefully maturing and fans of Italian football must be hoping that the corner being turned is one that leads to a call up from for la nazionale and a telling contribution at Euro 2008.

If all that happens, by the time we reach South Africa 2010, Italy will really have a leader on which to rest their hopes.

-Ross Howard

Boca Juniors Blowup

Diego Armando Maradona is mad. Yes, he wants to meet the President of Iraq and plans on getting a tattoo of Venezuelan supremo Hugo Chavez, but that's not the form of the word I'm talking about. He's angry because the guy he helped bring in to coach his beloved Buenos Aires club, Boca Juniors, Miguel Angel Russo, stepped down recently, when just days after losing the FIFA World Club Cup, Russo walked out of a meeting with Boca chief Pedro Pompilio refusing to fire his top two assistants.

The first names bandied around as his replacement were Gabriel Batistuta and Guillermo Barros Scheloto, who had both talked about getting into club management, but Boca have apparently settled on Carlos Ischia of Rosario Central, a former assistant to Carlos Bianchi when he coached at Boca Juniors. When asked about Ischia, by the Argentinean news agency Telam, Maradona responded, "I don't like Ischia as coach. I don't believe he would be the ideal choice for the team." Why the problem? Both Ischia and Bianchi are close associates of Guillermo Coppolla, who was an advisor to Diego's during his playing days and are both still bitter about their acrimonious split. Some in the Argentinian media are forecasting this as the first of many changes to the xeineixes, which may mean selling players, replacing the entire coaching staff, trainers, shifting tactics, and will more than likely signal the end of Diego Maradona's influence at the club; but the key maybe the changing of the guard on the pitch.

Before the appointment there was some talk of Clemente Rodriguez of Espanyol coming back from Spain to help Riquelme, but it looks like a return to three at the back like Ricardo LaVolpe, and it might mean some of the problems that LaVolpe had with (amongst others) captain Martin Palermo in the dressing room. The experienced players have had a relaxed time at the club under Russo, Riquelme returning was a notch on their belt, but this is not what the player leadership expected or wanted. But the board believe that someone needs to pay for the loss to AC Milan, and if Russo wouldn't fire his assistants, regardless of his winning the Copa Libertadores, then everyone under him and around him would be blamed.

All I can think of, if this marks a new turn to Boca Juniors, with the return of Bianchi as the kingmaker and the departure of Diego, will this lead to the selling of young players like Ever Banega and what of the field generals like Martin Palermo? Defender Juan Angel Krupoviesa has already been sold to Marseilles, the board has already mandated the selling of experienced players, and what then of temperamental genius Riquelme? A return to Spain, a move to Italy or England?

Forza Futbol

"My name is Mando and I'm a Blogger..." Yeah, I know this stuff sometimes sounds like an AA confessional, but relax I'm not trying to be pretentious, I really do talk this way.

I began this cycle writing about American sports and the absurdity of it all, I opened a Blogger.com account and made predictions, wrote about my collective Los Angeles sports obsessions and covered the 2000 election. I lost faith and a bit of passion for all of it. Call it self imposed ex-pat syndrome, or a general lack of trust, but I've come out the other side relaxed and refreshed but maniacally focused on soccer of all sports.

So I deleted my L.A. Dodgers blog, and my general interest political blog and started up a new one about football, Arsenal FC as a general focus, but one where I could talk about Italy or La Liga if I wanted to. Granted, I never knew anything about blogrolls or ways to advertise and link with other related sites, but in the 3 years I wrote about futbol there I got one unsolicited non spam response.

Great, so looked at a different way to connect with people and tried message boards, by this time I had already bought my first iPod and discovered the joys of podcasting, listening I might add, the thought of putting one together seemed too remote to even bother, so I sought out message boards for some like minded people who enjoyed the beautiful game and my favorite podcast: The Treble. Wasn't for me.

Instead, I found myspace and stumbled onto my friends Hannah and Elisa there. Both were frequent callers to the Treble as well, and far more coherent usually than I was. I know the idea is kind of weird, "How much of a friend can you be if the initial connection was electronic?" Still, we all started hanging out there, and then we actually met a few months later at a pub in Pasadena, California during a Manchester United match last year in April. United lost.

Despite the "tragedy", the idea for Forza Futbol began. Hannah had this idea to do a podcast and she thought about us; since her "non-myspace" friends weren't sufficiently committed enough I guess. Elisa immediately said, "We should just talk about Real Madrid." Thankfully we talked her down from the ledge, but we came up with a great idea. We wanted to talk about Spain and Italy, two leagues that are still consistently and shamelessly underreported here in the States, and we wanted to make some friends along the way.

We did. We were privileged in covering last years' exciting final in La Liga. We interviewed all of our heroes and realized they were just great people who loved the game just like us. We got better at doing this podcast thing.

All that we have been doing for the last 8 months has gotten us to this point. Despite some detours along the way, Hannah, Elisa and I are back here at Forza Futbol. I'd like to announce too, that starting in January we are going to be part of Champions Soccer Radio network. The place where I might add we all met originally I might add.

Nice, huh? Thanks for listening.

Serie A 2007-2008

Week Two has come and gone, and while I've been busily working on the podcast, I've skimped badly for the last few months on my day job which is as yeoman blogger. So, after interviewing last week a few notables like Paddy Agnew (author of Forza Italia) and Sheridan Bird (of football 365.com), I've been sooper-excited to get back to blogging about my favorite league: Serie A.

Well, have we learned anything after two weeks and another useless International break? Juventus are better than we thought, or basically luckier than anyone thought, and Roma have had fast starts and lackluster finishes for their 2 wins. Milan looked a tired side after drawing to Fiorentina on Monday, that's after beating Sevilla on Friday in the Super Cup between the Champions League and UEFA Cup champs (but that wasn't saying much as the Spaniards were rocked by the death of Puerta). Inter are, as always Inter, shockingly introspective and in need of some mood altering substances to control the stress. Thankfully they got a bit of azzurrini in a match against Empoli where Nosferatu Cagni looked dapper but angered by his Tuscan brood's performance, or was that at the ref's? In the end, I'd watch out for Fiorentina and Palermo who look to make headway in the table soon enough, as Roma go on a month long buzzsaw run through the top of the table.

Here's an extra bit of sum-sumin'. My friend Elisa requested a review of our predictions, as she wants to taunt the lot of us for doubting the mighty Juve I guess. Therefore, here's a tabulation of our 2007-2008 Serie A predictions we made on our podcast. She wants it in writing. No wonder she likes Empoli's Cagni.

Elisa's

1.Top 6

1.Inter

2.AC Milan

3.Roma

4.Juventus

5.Fiorentina

6.Udinese

2.Relegation:

1.Parma

2.Cagliari

3.Napoli

3.Top Signing/Transfer of the Year:

1.Fabio Quagliarella

4.Top Flop - Signing/Transfer of the year:

1.Bobo Vieri

5.Coppa Italia winners:

1.Juventus

6.Best peformance in UEFA Cup -

1.Palermo - semi finals

7.Best performance in Champions League -

1.Inter in the final

Hannah's

1.Top 4

1.AC Milan

2.AS Roma

3.Inter Milan

4.Juventus

2.Relegation:

1.Napoli

2.Genoa

3.Cagliari

3.Top Signing/Transfer of the Year:

1.Ludovic Giuly

4.Coppa Italia winners:

1.AS Roma

5.Best peformance in UEFA Cup -

1.Fiorentina

6.Best performance in Champions League -

1.AC Milan

The Best (of course by me): wink wink

Mando's

1.Top 6

1.AS Roma

2.Inter Milan

3.AC Milan

4.Fiorentina

5.Palermo

6.Juventus

2.Relegation:

1.Genoa

2.Parma

3.Napoli

3.Top Signing/Transfer of the Year:

1.Fabio Quagliarella

4.Top Flop - Signing/Transfer of the year:

1.Antonio Cassano

5.Coppa Italia winners:

1.Juventus

6.Best peformance in UEFA Cup -

1.Palermo

7.Best performance in Champions League -

1.AS Roma- quarter finals

Me and Madrid

People on our podcast (Forza Futbol where have you been?) have asked what my allegiances are in La Liga, whether I support one or the other super powers in Spain, and I have constantly said that while I like Real Madrid I am not a Madridista. I even confuse myself sometimes. The club buy Fernando Gago or Robinho who bring me into the fold, as ex- Boca and Santos players, then they confuse me (and themselves I guess) by buying Higuain or Ruud Van Nistelrooy, two players despite their long or short track records, that I have never warmed to. Might it be their River Plate or Manchester United connections? Either way, the Merengues brought in Don Fabio Capello, he who lifted a middle finger at my beloved AS Roma to go to Juve despite his promises never to go there.

And despite that, I thought it was an inspired hire for Madrid.

Here was a team that had cliques ripping the dressing room apart, a caste system that excluded Spanish players from foreign players, Brazilians from English players, and at the bottom were cantera players that struggled mightily to be accepted into the first team. The expectations of the supporters, the directors, even the backroom staff, were completely out of sync with the talent on the pitch and how it was blending together. It was not a surprise that the Fiorentino Perez era ended when it did.

The Calderon era heralded some interesting signings. He came in with the same old empty promises, a Kaka signing here or Cristiano Ronaldo, Arjen Robben or Cesc Fabregas later on, but his most interesting signing was the Italian gypsy who left the Juventus gravy train before it caromed over the Calciopoli abyss. Here was a manager that had the ego and the personality to take on, head-on, the complacency that settled in after Del Bosque was fired (some say even before). He clashed with Ronaldo, o Fenomeno, he benched SIr David Beckham, and he flipped off the Madridistas that had booed him mercilessy for his lack of imagination, his lack of style, and frankly his lack of being like anyone else that had come before. Even himself from a previous incarnation, I guess.

They had it coming. That finger was commented on, it was debated and ultimately it led to the events today, that despite winning the league for the first time in 4 years, eclipsed by Valencia and Barcelona respectively, Capello’s handlers at the club decided that he had been too much his own man to continue paying him to fix the errors that had stymied the club for so long.

The future holds much of what brought Madrid to this point. They talk about another wave of Galacticos, Tevez or Kaka or Cristiano Ronaldo, they string their cantera along by loaning them to an Osasuna or a Mallorca or a Real Sociedad, and most importantly just as they’re turning the corner and devising a way out of the woods that they had lost themselves into, they will hire another yes man, a Real Madrid legend but a man that owes his career to los blancos and they will step back into the woods, ignorant of what they have done this year.