La Liga Week #1 Kick-off times

And finally they are here.

The self-proclaimed "best league of the world" has announced the kick-offs for Week#1 of the season 11 days ahead of the games. Incredible. Irony aside, let us look at the kick-offs

Game	Date	East coast	West coast	local (CET)
Espanyol x Granada	20-Aug	Noon	0900	1800
Levante x Zaragoza	20-Aug	Noon	0900	1800
Villarreal x Sporting	20-Aug	1400	1100	2000
Osasuna x Valencia	20-Aug	1600	1300	2200
Rayo Vallecano x Mallorca	21-Aug	0600	0300	Noon
Racing x Getafe	21-Aug	1000	0700	1600
Real Madrid x Athletic	21-Aug	Noon	0900	1800
Málaga x Barcelona	21-Aug	1400	1100	2000
Betis x Sevilla	21-Aug	1600	1300	2200
Real Sociedad x Atlético	22-Aug	1500	Noon	2100

Major changes from last year.

1. No 5pm (local) kick-offs on sunday.
2. 9 different kick-off times
3. The noon kick-off is geared at the Asian markets, they tried a game last season at this hour, Mallorca x Villarreal. Probably the wrong game in the wrong town at the wrong time. Fans and players alike seemed to have played through that game, hung over.
4. The Andalucian derby is scheduled for the 10pm kick-off on Sunday. Sensible because the temperatures in Andalucia are close to 40s in the early evenings in August
5. The other two big games, Madrid x Athletic and Málaga x Barça are also on Sunday.
6. Villarreal play on the Saturday as they have the return leg of the CL playoff on Tuesday Aug 23rd.

It will be interesting to see how this spread-out kick-offs work. It will definitely screw up schecule of the radio programs like Carrusel, Marcador, Tiempo de juego etc.. because now they have to spend more hours and with less games going on simultaneously.
All in all, glad that the schedule is out, now let us see if they do kick-off with the players union threatening a strike.

¡¡¡Viva La Liga! Viva España!!!

La Liga Transfer Report: Best of the Summer Sales

The Winter transfer window is opening up soon. The clubs are ready, willing and able to sell, but are the buyers ready? Have they made up their minds that their Summer signings are booming or busting? That's up to individual interpretation, but before you consider needs in the Winter market, you need to consider the effectiveness of your Summer signings. Which team and which player has benefited the most? All others need to reconsider.

What ever the result, to determine a player's worth over the Summer signings, you either have to look at the league leaders and see if any new signing has contributed the most at that level, or look at which player has made the most difference to teams at mid-table or recently promoted. You can talk about Nelson Valdez or David Trezeguet at Hercules CF and the impact they've made, beating Barça at the Camp Nou, but they are only 5 points out of relegation. Joseba Llorente has been a relevation in his return to Real Sociedad, and they've secured sixth place for now, but he's only as influential as the players who get him the ball, and 4 goals for a striker to date, is no great feat. Their success is more to do with what they already had in place rather than any additions in the Summer, and that means Raul Tamudo to boot. For the same reason, I can't really decide if David Villa or Javier Mascherano deserves the case for best Summer signing. Both have been instrumental in several games so far, but both have struggled to adapt to their new club. Mesut Ozil for Real Madrid then? He's the only one of the slew of Mourinho signings that have actually made a difference to the side that played before last year. Ricardo Carvalho? There's a synergy there with his Portugal colleague Pepe, so is it one or the other or is the duo in tandem that has shut the Real Madrid door at the back. I can't say that Carvalho is anymore valuable than Filipe Luis for Atleti, Aldo Duscher for Espanyol, or Drenthe for Hercules.

What I do know is that the one club that has benefited the most from the Summer transfer window is Valencia CF. They have been able to maintain their relative position despite losing some of the best players to have ever walked out onto the Mestalla pitch. Lose David Villa to Barcelona, but pick up Aduritz and Soldado as subs? Great. Lose the more important Silva, sure, but gain Topal and Tino Costa, well that's genius in the market. They even picked up goalkeeper Guaita from Recreativo Huelva as Cesar's eventual replacement. Hats off to Los Che.

As for the best individual signing of the Summer, well that that goes to Villarreal CF. Borja Valero came through the Real Madrid cantera and as all canteranos at the capital club, they are eventually either sold or loaned to gain experience. He spent two years at Real Mallorca either owned or on loan, with a stint at West Bromwich Albion inbetween, and now he is on-loan at Villarreal. Not a true permanent signing, but the Yellow Submarine are very interested in keeping his services, the midfielder has also drawn attention from much larger clubs than Villarreal CF. With Marcos Senna on his last legs, Borja has taken to the small-market giants like a duck to water.

There are more high profile signings. Greater salaries and transfer fees spent on more media-centric personalities, but this year, so far, Borja Valero's loan-deal for Villarreal has been the best Summer signing to date.

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?