Root for Tito and Root for Barça.

The news about Tito needing to take some time off from coaching to treat his cancer medical problem caught us all by surprise. Nevertheless, we all need to root for Tito. At the same time, we also need to root for Barça. This is a tough situation for the club but it’s not the first time. Barça went through this before during Cruyff and came out as winners and nothing should change that as these current players strive to win titles this season.

Barça’s Tito is going to take some time off to deal with his medical condition. It is a dangerous condition. Cancer is one of those words where you really stop in your tracks whenever you hear it being uttered by anyone. We all are worried about Tito and his health. This is a serious medical problem that unfortunately Tito has to face again. Everyone will be and should be rooting for Tito to beat this again. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. What’s important is that he beats it and is fully recovered for his and his family’s sake. Football is secondary.

Nevertheless, us Cules still love our football and the show must go on. The club did the right thing by allowing Tito’s right hand man, Jordi Roura, to take over in the meantime. There was no need to start panicking and hire another manager such as Pep or Luis Enrique. This is still Tito’s team and unless otherwise, it will be his team when he returns in six weeks if the medical predictions go through. Tito still needs to take his time with his recovery and not rush it.

As for Jordi Roura; I highly doubt this is how he envisioned managing Barça someday. With that said, he is now the man in charge. Fortunately for him, he’s not the first to take the hot seat following the manager’s illness. Back in the 1990-1991 season, Johan Cruyff had to undergo an emergency procedure on his heart that ruled him out for the remainder of the season. His right hand man, and also club legend, Carles Rexach took over in February and took the team all the way to the league title. Just like today’s team, that team back then were also league leaders after 16 matches and never relinquished their spot atop of the standings.

This is not the time to panic and lose hope. The team is full of players who are also leaders so I don’t expect a dip in performance from this bunch. This players will want to win for Tito. This is the time when the team needs its supporters. This is when we need to show our love and support for the club more than ever. This club has been in a similar position before and overcame the difficult situation. It won’t be easy without the watchful eyes of Tito but the leaders on this team won’t squander this great lead that they have over Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid. We still must support them and this is a stern reminder that no one is invincible so don’t put off seeing your doctor or changing your diet or unhealthy lifestyle. Life is too short to throw it away, especially when you’re a Barça fan and have many reasons to follow what this team is on the cusp of accomplishing.

 

Messi - Caution v Obsession

Messi finally did it. 86 goals in one calendar year is truly a remarkable achievement by the 25 year old player who keeps finding ways to astonish us with his record breaking feats. However, perhaps it’s time for us to be cautious now and focus on what is best for Messi and the team. The obsession for this record might have affected Messi and his teammates' style of play. Now that the record is over, there should be a shift to caution.

Messi should not play today. He would be making his fourth appearance in two weeks. There is no need to play the Copa match against a side that is not in La Primera. This game should be used to give players who are going through a tough spell in terms of performance or ending their goalless streak. Pedro, Alexis and David Villa should be playing these minutes. They need some goals to give a boost to their confidence.

Some would argue that their goal scoring is down because of injuries or bad luck. Perhaps, they were also too focused on making sure Messi broke that record. The obsession for this record might have somewhat affected his teammates but now that is over with, it’s time for others to step up. I would prefer to see the likes of Pedro, Villa and Alexis scoring 15-20 goals a season to Messi’s 50 than seeing him score 86 while David Villa and Alexis only have close to 10 goals each in all of 2012.

The injury scare against Benfica made us all second guess Tito’s decision to bring on Messi. He shouldn’t have stepped onto the pitch, record or no record. This was a meaningless game against a team desperate to advance to the next round. Sure, he wanted to break the record. Lovely! Imagine if he was gone for the next 6 months with an injury in a meaningless game. Sure, he could have been injured against Betis but if you want to get down to it, which game do you prefer a player to get injured in? In a game that counts or not? Let’s not forget how Eto’o got injured and how David Villa got injured. One was in a friendly and one was in a serious fixture. Injuries happen but if the game doesn’t mean much, then rest the player and decrease the chances of wear and tear which could lead to fatigue. Thus, rest Messi today, Tito.

 

Blame the Owners for the NHL Lockout.

Christmas is almost upon us and we are still waiting for the NHL owners and players to reach some sort of agreement so that we hockey fans can enjoy some hockey again. As is customary whenever there is a lockout in a professional league, fans are often asked to pick a side; owners or players. Some fans would pick neither and blame them altogether for what has happened. However, I put the blame squarely on the NHL owners.

We had a lockout a few years ago and when both sides reached an agreement, the NHL owners were declared the victors. They got their way in terms of salary cap, salary reductions and the sharing of profit. Well fast forward to now and the owners are back to asking the players to give up more because the current deal isn’t good enough.

Just like I mentioned here during the NBA Lockout last season, the players have every reason to object to conceding more power to the owners. It’s not about greed but about principle. How many times can you keep being forced into accepting bad deals? The owners cannot have my sympathy when they overspent and failed to remain fiscal. It’s hard for me to sympathize with them when a team signs players to $100,000,000 deals that most of the public wouldn’t recognize if they stood in front us at the Wal-Mart checkout lane.

Sadly, the players will have to sacrifice some more again. The good news, it will be on their terms.  For the love of this sport, they have to reach an agreement. However, one of their conditions should be that Gary Bettman must step down. It’s high time this league got a worthy commissioner.  Any new deal would be worthless if that man is allowed to return and be commissioner of this league.

Hopefully a deal can be secured and we’ll have a half season like we had back in 1994-1995. If not, then the owners are the ones who will be killing this league. Us hockey fans have other ways to get over the absence of the NHL via minor league hockey, college hockey or busting out with the NHL ’96 on the Sega Genesis (yeah, fighting is one reason why I picked ’96 over ’94). Get it together NHL Owners and reach a deal with the players this time and then dump Gary Bettman. I want to see my beloved Tampa Bay Lightning back in action.

Blame the Federations and not FIFA.

Another unnecessary and poorly timed international fixture break was bestowed upon a few days ago. It was sandwiched in between league games. Of course, some of the matches were important such as the Asian World Cup Qualifiers but the rest were meaningless friendlies with a few memorable performances and inexcusable trips across the globe. Of course, FIFA picked this date but they should not bear the brunt of the blame. The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the respective country’s federation.

The FIFA Virus reared its ugly head again a few days ago. Barça players had to play in meaningless friendlies which required them to play on a few days rest and training with their national teams coupled with flights across the Atlantic Ocean. Alexis Sanchez was the biggest FIFA Virus casualty when he suffered yet another injury that will keep him out up to four weeks. Barça players representing Spain flew all the way to Panama for a friendly while Dani Alves traveled to New York with Brazil to face Colombia. Messi traveled to Saudi Arabia to represent Argentina.

All the Barça players had to return and get ready for a match today.  Today! Not tomorrow, but today! So Barça players, and other club players too, had to return and get ready for another match on two day’s rest. I am sure that is exactly in the best interests of the players and the game. Many would love to spew venom at FIFA for such a meaningless decision to have International games played in such a manner but I don’t think they should bear the brunt of the blame.

They are not blameless either but I wouldn’t have objected if this window was used solely for Asian World Cup Qualifiers. However, since these games were scheduled on a Wednesday and not over a weekend, why did the rest of the world decide to schedule friendlies? This is why I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the country’s federation. RFEF, Royal Spanish Football Federation, and other country’s federations decided to schedule the games. RFEF has been cashing on Spain’s success by scheduling them to play in friendlies in Argentina, Puerto Rico, and just recently Panama the past few years.

Countries do not have an obligation to schedule a friendly. FIFA only provides the window but the final decision lies with the Federations. Mexico, a side that is well known for playing way too many friendlies, did not participate in the glutton of friendlies on Wednesday. Obviously, the Mexican league playoffs played a part in that decision but they could have scheduled a friendly and fielded C team too. They did not! Therefore, it is possible to not see your country play a friendly on a day set aside for friendlies. So, the next time you complain about countries playing meaningless friendlies; don’t blame FIFA, but blame the Federation head honchos who decided to cash in and schedule the friendly.

Fix Camp Nou or Build a new one?

To build or renovate? That is the question that Barça president Sandro Rosell brought up last month in the General Assembly was the suggestion of building a new stadium. This sparked a great debate about what should Barça do regarding their home. Should they renovate the Camp Nou or time to build a new stadium?

Last month, the club presented a proposition to the members about the status of the Camp Nou.  Javier Faus, the vice-president of the Economic and Strategic Area of the Club proposed two options regarding the home of Barça; Renovate the Camp Nou or build a new one. The first option would cost close to 300 million euros, and the second option wouldn’t surpass 600 million euros. He also assured that if a new stadium was built, it would not be built outside of the Barcelona city limits. Ultimately, 89% of the socios approved on having a referendum about this topic.

This topic struck a nerve with many passionate Blaugrana fans. Many, including myself, were not in favor of seeing Barça play at a new stadium, but to stay at the Camp Nou and just go ahead and renovate the stadium where it is needed. Others though believe it’s time for a new stadium.

The argument for the new stadium wasn’t just an argument about a new playing surface but it was also more of a sign that the club needs to step forward and become more modern like other teams. A new stadium would mean more VIP seats – reminds me of the Sky Box seats arguments US franchises used to build new arenas/stadiums – and could also generate more income by selling the naming rights of the stadium.  Bottom line, the new stadium would mean a step in a direction of the club becoming more of a professional organization and not just a club.

However, there are many, including myself, who believe that Barça’s only home should be the Camp Nou.  The Poll on the Miami Penya website saw 5 out of 20 in favor of building a new stadium. Most of the responses I got from fellow fans were that the club should stay in the Camp Nou. Why? The stadium is magical with such a vast history. This is stadium that has seen the likes of Kubala, Luis Suarez, Cruyff, Krankl, Simonsen, Maradona, Lineker, Stoichkhov, Laudrup, Romario, Koeman, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Guardiola, Ronaldinho, Eto’o, and the current crop of amazing talent such as Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta and Messi call home. We have also witnessed great games at this pitch with the likes of a few 5-0 wins against Real Madrid, the magical comeback of Barça against Atletico Madrid in 1996-1997 Copa Del Rey encounter, numerous Champions League victories, and many great celebrations.

I think part of the reason why some of the fans said don’t build a new one is because they have yet to experience a match at the magical stadium, including myself.  For those who have been to the Camp Nou on numerous occasions, perhaps the magic aura of the Camp Nou has rubbed off and it is just another stadium to them. So is that selfishness on our part not to have a new stadium built? Probably yes. However, I also have a tough time believing a new stadium is really needed. The current Camp Nou holds 99,000 seats and supposedly the new stadium will have 10,000 additional seats and of course, the ever so important VIP seats. However, the club only averages close to 75,000 fans in attendance so what guarantee is there that the new stadium will have more fans? Will there be more amenities?

If the club is averaging close to 75,000 fans to see one of a kind amazing talent such as Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and company, then I shudder to think what will happen in the new stadium when most of these players will be done with football and working on their golf games or working on their coaching badges.

The Camp Nou is not only the home of the football team, but it also contains the club’s offices, the Botiga – Official Barça shop, and the FC Barcelona Museu, the club’s museum. In the end, money talks, especially under this president who wants to make the club more fiscally responsible. However, I don’t know if spending 600 million euros for a new stadium is the right approach. The New York Yankees decided to leave their own Camp Nou and built a new Yankees stadium and some would say that the move has not been as successful with overpriced seats, empty seats, and a lackluster fan atmosphere that no longer intimidates opposing teams.

In my opinion, you can’t replace a landmark. VIP boxes area a great idea and great source of income but with the current state of the Spanish economy is going, what guarantee is there that those seats will be sold off to corporations since they are the ones who usually buy those types of seats and US teams suffered during the poor economy because companies couldn’t afford those tickets. Also, if the club is not selling out every match now with this great team, then what guarantee that a new stadium with 10,000 additional seats will have a higher attendance? By the time this stadium is built, the great era of this team might be over so fans won’t be paying to watch the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, and perhaps even Messi. If it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it. However, if minor repairs are needed, then renovate.

In the end, the fans will have the final say on what should happen. Part of me wants to have the club remain at the holy grounds of the Camp Nou and part of me thinks that the club should always be proactive and reactive to change such as modern facilities and modern approaches in how a club should be run. So if you’re still waffling on when to go to the Camp Nou, you might want to do it sooner than later because it seems that the Camp Nou days are coming to an end.

 

Time for Barça to slay Madrid.

Barça have had their chances to put a big dagger into the hearts of their arch rivals, Real Madrid, under Mourinho while they were going through internal turmoil. Barça failed to do so on every occasion and allowed Madrid to stay alive and gain momentum. Tomorrow will see Barça face Madrid with an eight point lead over them and a win would only sink the Blancos even further away from the league summit. However, with Barça possibly playing without Puyol and Pique in the heart of the defense, will Barça give Madrid another stay of execution or finally slay them?

El Clásico has been called one of the biggest games in the world. It sure has become more prestigious, and at times infamous, ever since Jose Mourinho joined Real Madrid. Last season saw both teams face each other in the Supercopa, League and the Copa Del Rey before we hit the spring season. Barça got the better of their arch rivals in the Supercopa, the first league encounter and the Copa del Rey. It was the latter that I believe ultimately cost Barça the league title.

That was the first time that Barça had a chance to wreak havoc on Real Madrid. It’s no secret that under Mourinho, Los Blancos have had internal problems in the dressing room. Back in January, Mourinho and Sergio Ramos erupted in a huge row following Barça’s 2-1 victory over Real Madrid in the first leg of the Copa del Rey in Madrid and things looked like they were about to unravel for them. The second leg saw Barça race to a two goal lead before the half for a 4-1 aggregate at the Camp Nou and you could feel that things were about to get more unraveling for Los Blancos if Barça piled it on and ran up the score.

This was their chance to drive a giant wedge between Mourinho and some of his players. Barça’s chance to slay the dragon though failed thanks to their lethargic second half that saw Real Madrid fight back and score two goals and claim a draw. The result meant that Barça eliminated Real Madrid but some, including myself, thought Barça would pay dearly for this result. They had them down and did not go for the kill and gave Madrid a boost of confidence.

Like the old sports saying goes, “Winning is the best deodorant.” Well, Madrid’s come back to draw 2-2 was the deodorant that masked their problems and allowed them to forget about their squabbles and focus on the league and Champions League. Barça could have made their lives more difficult by continuing the ongoing internal strife along with the negative press from the Spanish capital. Instead, Pepe stepping on Messi’s hands or Ramos’s leaked comments were a thing of the past because of their strong half performance and they recouped and moved on.

Barça’s second chance to slay the beast came a few months in April when Barça hosted Madrid in the Camp Nou. Madrid had seen their big lead of 10 points reduced to 4 before their clash at the Camp Nou. A Barça win would have seen them shrink Madrid’s lead to just one point with just a handful of games remaining.  Once again, there were stories of problems going on in Madrid after they dropped six points and Barça were presented with a golden opportunity to chop off the head of the monster and exert more pressure on their arch rivals by making them sweat it out the rest of the season. Instead, Guardiola’s lineup decisions back fired and Madrid and Mourinho finally overcame their lack of success in the Camp Nou with an important victory and raced away with the league.

Barça’s latest opportunity came in the most recent Supercopa. Unlike other editions, this year’s edition was scheduled after the league kicked off. Sandwiched between two league encounters were the two Supercopas ties. Madrid kicked off their season with a fortunate 1-1 draw at home to Valencia and then traveled to Barcelona where they lost 3-2 in the first leg of the Supercopa and then suffered their first league defeat when they lost away to Getafe 2-1.

This presented Barça with a great setting. Inflict more pain and trouble for Mourinho and Madrid in front of the Los Blancos fans. Instead, Madrid raced to a quick two goal lead thanks for some poor defending and withstood a Messi goal to defeat a shorthanded Barça side to capture the Supercopa. Once again, Madrid found the correct deodorant stick and briefly covered up the stench of their poor season start.

Tomorrow, Barça hosts Madrid while enjoying an eight point lead over their arch rivals. With Barça missing the services of Puyol and perhaps Pique, some are hoping for a draw to keep the gap at eight points. The idea of seeing defensive midfielders as centre-backs are not that reassuring.  However this is a must win game for Barça. Also, this is Barça; anything but a win in any game is unacceptable, especially in El Clásico.

Barça are presented once again with a great opportunity to add more misery to Madrid as they once again deal with internal issues between Mourinho and some of the players. A victory stretches Barça’s commanding lead to 11 points and one can only imagine the sort of backlash the Madrid press would unleash on Mourinho and his players.

A loss tomorrow means that another team from Madrid, Atlético, would become league leaders if they defeat Malaga in a game scheduled after the Clásico. So Barça have been presented with another golden opportunity to cause some serious damage to Real Madrid. Will they do it or will they give Real Madrid another reprieve and allow them to regain some confidence along with some mojo which could inspire them the rest of the season again? Opportunity is knocking again and it’s about time Barça answer.

 

Time to play Bartra.

Is there a Center-Back in the house? Barça’s great start to the season has suffered the disappointing news of losing both starting Centre Backs Puyol and Pique to injuries. Even though there was a need to sign another centre-back this summer, the club opted to sign another Defensive Midfielder who could play the role of a centre-back. Well, there is a young talented player on the bench waiting for his moment. The moment is now and it’s about time that the club played Marc Bartra.

First it was Puyol and then it was Pique. Barça fans have been accustomed to seeing their best players suffer an injury here and there over the years. However, we were not ready to see both our centre-backs out with injuries so soon. We went from a club that had two starting centre-backs and one young centre-back to basically one young centre-back in need of minutes with defensive midfielders sharing the load in the back. Marc Bartra has been patiently waiting for his chance to prove himself and the time has come.

I have never been a fan of Pep’s decision to rely on the likes of Yaya, Mascherano and Busquets playing in the centre-back position. Those were great ideas for a quick fix but not for the long term. As much as I enjoy watching Mascherano play, I think his time as centre-back should come to an end. The warning signs were there last season in the big matches where he was shown to be a liability such as his poor header clearance in the San Siro that lead to Prince’s goal against Milan; Ronaldo sprinting past him to scoring the game winning goal in the Camp Nou, not picking up Drogba during the counter attack that lead to Chelsea’s only goal of the game, his poor tackle on Lampard that resulted in a counter attack goal for Ramires; and more recently his poor clearance attempt in the second leg of the Supercopa. Just watching him partner Song against Spartak Moscow on Wednesday showed us that the club should have bought defenders to re-enforce the back four.

Mascherano has been a great player and person for Barça but he is not a centre-back. I don’t care that he helped the club win the Champions League when he started against Manchester United. A few good games do not wipe out a recent string of bad displays in big games. If his name was Oleguer or Rafa Marquez, fans would be all over him. The club should have bought a centre-back and I don’t believe the talk that the club never wanted to buy one because they have Mascherano so that’s why they bought Song. They wanted to get Thiago Silva or Javi Martinez but were scared off by the price tag. Unfortunately, they could have signed Botia, who is a former youth player currently on loan with Sevilla, Chico, former Barça B player who played for Pep and played a key part in helping the B team gain promotion and is currently playing for Swansea City, and Jan Vertonghen, former Ajax player who just went to Spurs for €12.5 million, for maybe half of the cost of one of those big named stars.

What’s been done has been done. Perhaps the club will sign someone when the winter transfer window opens or wait till next season when they go after the likes of Dortmund’s Hummels.  I hope the club does eventually sign a centre-back. I am tired of watching Barça repeat history by suffering from some dreadful defending too. We saw it during the final days of the “Dream Team” when Koeman was past it and it hurt this team. Rijkaard's last 2 years saw a lot of poor defenders around Puyol and now we are subjected to watching history repeat itself as we watch this team concede silly goals from poor defending. Pique still has his head in the clouds from time to time and Mascherano can't clear with his head and will get burned by a speedy forward.

If you think that this team wins on its offense alone, then look back at their triumphant Champions League titles and see how many blowouts they had in the semi-final stage, 0-1, 0-0 against Milan; 0-0, 1-1 against Chelsea; 0-2; 1-1 against Real Madrid. They relied on keeping clean sheets when they won those titles and not by winning 4-3 or 3-2 every game.

Barça’s legacy has always been on relying on their academy products. We have already seen that Montoya is ready to compete for the right-back position and in my opinion is the heir apparent to Dani Alves. Puyol was thrown in as a right back when he was young and he turned out alright. Chapi Ferrer, Pep, and Sergi were all thrown in as youngsters too and the “Dream Team” benefitted from it. Puyol was 21. Chapi was 20. Sergi was 22. Montoya is 21. I'm not saying bench Alves but I prefer to see Montoya start ahead of Adriano in that position and rotate with Dani Alves to give the Brazilian fullback some rest.

We have had a history of giving young players a chance. Xavi and Iniesta turned out alright. Messi turned out alright. Valdés turned out alright even with his odd brain farts. Busquets was how old again when he got to play ahead of Yaya? So it’s time to give minutes to Bartra. We've seen him play in Champions League games and Copa del Rey games before. He is a promising 6'0 centre-back who was also the captain of Spain’s national team at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup. More importantly, he showed us that he's no Fontas with his decisions and his thinking. He deserves to be playing and he deserves playing minutes now that the club is without any centre-backs. Unfortunately, we will never know unless we see him out there on the pitch getting the minutes in matches. Today, Barça host Granada and this is the perfect moment to get him out there and gain some experience and shake off some rust. The moment is now and it’s about time that the club played Marc Bartra and not another defensive midfielder in the heart of the defense.