Village Idiot

How has this affected the whole Catalan situation? Are those that want autonomy from Spain still celebrating this win? I'm a bit confused about the whole thing tbh, do they consider themselves a completely seperate nation, sort of like Scotland wanting freedom from the UK? Celebrations in Barcelona were smaller than when Barça wins trophies, should tell you something. Support for the Spanish NT in Catalonia has always been small. However, with so many Catalans in the lineup and the spine being Barça's, support is bigger than usual and I think it's something to be proud of. They couldn't have done it without us. Then again this very same week Spanish courts have curtailed our autonomy so a lot of people are quite not feeling like celebrating Spain. There's a lot of debate around this and it's a messy subject to be frank. Me, I just take the sporting glory and don't care for politics.

If we ever got a team, we wouldn't be seeded so qualifying for the WC wouldn't be that easy. This is probably the most potent Catalan team in my lifetime too, not a real mesure of our usual potential. We have never dominated the Spanish NT the way we do it now, one third of the squad was Catalan and we have around one seventh of the Spanish population.

Madrid were sniffing around Navas, but presume signing De María and León has put that to bed. Great winger, would honestly love him at Barça for his speed and penetration. Has to work in his end product a little bit still.

No depth though. Cesc should be in there too, but missed the last squad due to injury.

Never had much against Casillas to be honest, less hateable Madrid player in some time. Hate the trophies he's won for them but the man has always been classy. Alonso is new so I haven't developed feelings for him yet. My hate for Ramos was suspended and will be resumed starting today, f***ing c*** Much better question for Real Madrid fans what they think about Spain winning the WC with Barça players scoring every single Spanish goal and making up the spine of the team. Man, imagine if it had been Raúl lifting that cup instead of Iker

Colace left Barnsley? Where is he at? Always thought he was just way too good for them. His wiki says he's still there.

Keirrison to Santos on loan

Getafe lost Granero last year and they plugged along nicely. Good knack for picking up cheap Spanish players with potential. I agree that a Valencia/Atlético would have been much better for León. Although Mou doesn't buy into the Galáctico bollocks this doesn't even seem to be his signing so I can't see him playing much.

Getafe's coach has confirmed the sale of Pedro León to Real Madrid, although it's still pending on Mourinho approving it.

Problem is that as long players think that unless they go down like a sack of s*** they will be getting squat from the ref, they will keep doing it. If we do video refereeing at least for game-changing incidents and card divers that try to get penalties, etc... it will do a lot I think. I like that this WC has brought up the debate about officiating the game. Hopefully it won't fall on deaf ears (FIFA's).

Aye, because the moment Casillas touches the trophy he is going to wait 10+ seconds until Blatter leaves and nobody in the Spanish team is going to celebrate.

He would be 4+ years by the time of the next Euro, so makes sense retiring him now.

The third place game was the only end-to-end "you hit I hit back" goalfest. And that's because teams threw caution to the wind. As a football fan I was actually entertained by the tactical battles that were presented, but I admit as purely an spectator it wasn't that great. But there a few good games still, and 2006 was a bore.

How long do these animals live anyway?

Blatter is a cunt, but unless you propose he tosses the trophy from 10 feet away I don't know how he is supposed to not be in the photo

Zidane isn't PL-proven either. Go Rooney!

Casillas/Ramos haven't won the Spanish cup (Real Madrid hasn't won that in a looong time). Pedro didn't really play much the treble season for the first squad. But yeah, the Barça core have won every f***ing trophy possible. Mind numbing. I also profoundly agree with people saying that the Euro winning teams (2000 and 2008) were far better than the WC winning ones. And I think Spain edges that.

Also, apart from how Zidane schooled Brazil in the final, France wasn't that dominating. I think people take the final's performance (indeed one of the finest) and extend it to the whole tournament.

to be fair, it's not that far away...also the french team died of old age after 2000 - there's plenty left in this spanish side Didn't the 1998 side still provide the backbone of the team that came 2nd in 2006? No. Henry/Vieira/Pires had very secondary roles in the 1998 win. Only Zidane links both teams really.

This. France were a surprise in 1998 and nobody had planned for them which allowed them to express their football freely. Everybody has tried to pull an Inter on us in this WC.

Capdevila http://i29.tinypic.com/5wz7ux.gif

Drinking beer and posting on forums.

My Spanish friends work tomorrow so they have left me with a case of beer

He won't contribute much this season though, but if you hang in there I think he can be a pretty good player. Liked what I have seen of him at Everton. A great coup getting him on a free.

Must add that I'm drunk and getting myself in conversations without probably knowing fuck all I'm talking about.