Village Idiot

So... we played and lost a friendly against South Africa 1-0 During the game, Valdés was injuried (out for 6 weeks, yay) and we made a sub over the limit to bring Reina in, after consulting with the FIFA delegate. Now, because of this FIFA has voided the game, meaning that we won't lose FIFA ranking points, and SA won't earn them. So effectively they have favoured the "transgressor". FIFA

Zlatan is a guy that certainly won't get the recognition he would deserve for his levels of ability alone.

Also think it will do Messi a lot of good to not win this thing this year. He definitely isn't as hungry as he was.

No. Hasn't scored in this season's to begin with, and I recall quite a few others where he hasn't scored in the recent 2-3 seasons. Didn't score in the CL semis in 2010 either, which were arguably the biggest Clásicos he's played. Personally I don't really know what the Ballon D'Or is supposed to mean anymore, but Ronaldo failed in the big games this year. Failed in the Cup final against Atlético, failed in the CL semis against BVB. Granted Messi didn't fare too better (was injuried against Bayern though) but I'm party to looking to Munich this year.

What a disappointing set of results for my personal phobias. Not a single of the sides I want to advance is doing it at the moment.

Metaphorically speaking only.

Pedro and Alexis are both workhorses, too. Neymar does put in a shift although he tends to bounce off people he tries to mark. Imho one of the resons Alexis and Pedro had both two average to bad seasons was they tended to do too much defensive work, Martino has changed the defensive setup a bit and has enabled them to have more freedom to go forward.

One of the reasons Messi was moved central is that a 4-3-3 allows for the CF to be a bit of a lazyarse, which enabled him to play every fucking game and not tracking back. Martino seems to be changing that a bit though.

From now on, every time Zlatan comes out with some over the top quote I'll picture him like this: http://img02.mundodeportivo.com/2013/11/18/Zlatan-Ibrahimovic-FOTO-Ibra_o_54393584167_54115221154_600_396.jpg Legend

We are linked with half a dozen players every week though. Wouldn't read too much into it. Pretty sure if we sign a striker it will be a Plan B type guy. I like Berba though.

That looks a lot like the luxury taxes in some American sports.

It's drawn quite a stir; it's well known (and derided) that the Spanish FA will whore the team out to the highest bidder; and there's a long story of shady nonsensical friendlies to prove it. I personally don't think playing in Guinea is that shocking given that the players have stayed away from making photo-ops with the dictator; as my mother said, "It was already sucky enough living under Franco without the Rolling Stones refusing to play here". If it brings enjoyment to the locals, there's owt wrong. Much much worse was the fake Haití charity game and it didn't cause the same ruckus, tbf.

Vive l'Ucranie.

Villarreal played Cosmos yesterday in the Senna testimonial. Wish I had known beforehand, Villarreal is just three hours by train from here.

So, what's this shit about a single color? Why the fuck are Spain wearing Bayern Munich kits?

Can see this working out for Mexico and all the country going berserk demanding that the same to be made in the WC, with erotic consequences.

Did a good job with the Spanish youth; became little else than Mou's mouthpiece in his tenure as RM's AssMan so I can't judge much from that.

They said yesterday that the physio team that managed him had been the same up until this summer. Could be an explanation (the new ones aren't necessarily bad pros but don't know Messi's body* as well). Martino has been resting him far more than Pep or Vilanova ever did. *in a professional capacity only

Looks more a black Hannibal Lecter with all the blood and the mask like.

Özil pulling the disappearing act in big games is his only "but" as a footballer though.

Those mascot photos

It's not been in the same leg; but Messi's been fucking his hamstrings since the game against PSG last season.

Messi out for 8 weeks. Really...

Jonny Evans over Piqué too.

Tbf though, most of our games against Betis seem to follow the same pattern; they give us a hard game and then end up conceding 3-4. Same with Rayo Vallecano.