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chelsea v. barca

OBITUARY-Soccer-Playing well beat winning for Santana.link

Apr 21, 06 2:33 pm  · 
 · 
Medit
dream on

ask der Kaiser .. or read La Gazzetta, "il gioco ossessivo e ipnotico dei catalani"... or l'Equipe, "Le FC Barcelone a réalisé une énorme performance" .. or check out the most prestigious soccer newspaper in Argentina, Olé, "la solidez de la mejor plantilla de esta Champions", or the brazillian Gazeta Esportiva, "Ronaldinho tem magia"..

so yeah, 'moral winners' .. if you like soccer and know this game you've got no choice but to admit that (unless you're one of those chauvinistic brits a la Mou -well, he's portuguese-, still thinking the rest of the world can't play 'fútbol')

all ready to show the USA how to play soccer this summer

Apr 21, 06 2:43 pm  · 
 · 
doberman

hey dude, chill.
i'm not saying barca are not a good team or anything and for all i know they're red hot favorites to win the champions league this year. It's just that football games are won on the pitch by scoring goals and not on who is strongest on paper, so spare us the 'moral winners' bullshit. let them get to the final first, let them play it and maybe they'll be the winners. The actual winners. Anything else is pure arrogance. For 'moral' winners don't make it to the history books nor do their names get etched on the cup.
And remember that Arsenal haven't exactly been bad either, having beaten Real Madrid and Juve and sustained 9 clean sheets in a row (a record). so you see i won't admit shit, i'll just watch the game next week in the hope that Arsenal beat Villareal and get to the final.

Apr 21, 06 4:05 pm  · 
 · 
Medit

hey, sure Arsenal is doing a great job this year... but:

For 'moral' winners don't make it to the history books

what?

check out abra's link a couple of posts above... Santana, just another example.. most people who love soccer tend to remember the glorious players/coachs/teams: how good they were, not how many cups they won...

Tele Santana, who died in hospital after an illness on Friday, coached arguably the best team not to win the World Cup. [...] "I would rather win playing well than lose playing badly," became his catch phrase. [...] Santana's teams were a joy to watch

its not the competition that matters, its the game, the art.. (e.g. Ronaldinho) .. most people don't know how many cups did won players/coachs like Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Platini, Van Basten, Ferguson, Didi, Zico, Matthaus or Best, all they know is they were the best.. as people in the future will remember Barça's Ronaldinho for the way they played not for how many titles they won..

I frankly can't remember how many leagues or cups has Henry won up until now, all I know is that he's one of the most dangerous forwards in Europe and that's what matters -I bet he appears in most Villareal fans' worst nightmares- .. and, also, that's why maybe he will end up playing in Barça next year, after Larsson's departure

I really don't find any other kind of interest/motivation in soccer than the game itself ... Brasil's wonderful "jogo bonito".. Cruyff's Clockwork Orange "total football" .. etc.. its nice to win from time to time too, and to have some cups in your CV (national, international), and we already have some.. but the drunken asshole hooligan part, the competitive side of this sport, the ugly boring catenaccio, the nordic and eastern brute force, doesn't mean anything to me (and to most of Barça's crowd), not now and not in the past.. we're futbol elitists, always been, since Kubala in the 50's..

that's why Ronaldinho's magik and Rijkaard's successful strategies makes us "moral winners" this season, at least to people who appreciate good 'fútbol' (starting by that international media I quoted before).. and even if we eventually don't reach the final or lose in Paris, we'll be happy and delighted enough (we'll win the Liga this sunday or next weekend anyway.. back to back)

Apr 21, 06 5:32 pm  · 
 · 
PsyArch

For all the talk about the game, I remember (way back when) Arsenal last won the English League. I live between the present Arsenal stadium and what will, next season be the new Arsenal stadium. The town turned red. Normally angry looking youths smiled, people waved flags. The ethnic mix (of English, Turks, Greeks, Irish, East Africans, West Africans, all sorts of Asians) mixed. It was glorious whether or not the sun shone.

Go on Arsenal, bring home some glory.

Apr 21, 06 6:28 pm  · 
 · 
sporadic supernova

wow .. what happened here ? ...

anyway ... waiting for the second leg ..

Apr 23, 06 12:49 am  · 
 · 
sporadic supernova

in the mean time .. chelsea got a shocker last night , huh ?

Apr 23, 06 1:05 am  · 
 · 
rayray

hammers vs scousers...should be a very
volatile cup final in terms of both the fans
and the football.

good luck to arsenal on the second leg

Apr 23, 06 1:44 pm  · 
 · 


he trashed us yesterday...

Apr 23, 06 4:01 pm  · 
 · 
Medit

WOOHOO!! Paris here we come!



Apr 26, 06 4:54 pm  · 
 · 
upside

hell yeah,

supernova, sorry, was away for a week, dunno about leaving them out, but attack hasnt really been a problem, plenty of options, its the midfield where we are a bit thin on talent.

Apr 26, 06 8:50 pm  · 
 · 
sporadic supernova

yep ... some crazy games ....

Frankly .. I though Arsenal were lucky to get to the finals ... they played below par in the second leg ...

but the barca - milan game ( though it was 0-0) was a cracker of a game.. brilliant. both the teams played really well and barca did deserve to get through. that Ronaldhino ... is PURE MAGIC ... he's the best thing at mid field !! ..

incidently .. this i sthe first time that AC Milan's losing in a semi-final since 1952 !! .. well, so much for that ..

Apr 27, 06 7:31 am  · 
 · 
Medit

well, well, weeeeeeeeeeeellllllllll ....... ;)



Arsenal did a pretty good job -specially Henry-, but this was our year.. since the beggining, since we beat Madrid 3-0 in the Santiago Bernabeu in November, after the games in Stamford Bridge and San Siro, we were already the moral winners and now we're also the real ones....
One of the best moments of the night: Oleguer with a catalan independent flag on his back raising the champions cup in front of the spanish king........ what a f*ckin' orgasm .. Nirvana!! .. 25,000 Barça fans in Saint Denis > and not a single Spanish flag!... not a single one!!! and still some people have the nerve to deny what Barça means for us and for Catalonia.... "Més que un club".

Jogo bonito... salute the new european giant








May 18, 06 4:30 am  · 
 · 
doberman

Henry did a good job??? you gotta be fucking kidding me. He missed 2 golden opportunities and then blamed that on the fact that he was tired, the ref, blah blah blah. What an ass. His post match interview was a disgrace. For all i care he can fuck off to barca next year, you can have him, i couldnt give a shit anymore.
but anyway, congratulations to barca, in the end they were a stronger side and deserved to win, they're a class act no doubt about that.

May 18, 06 4:51 am  · 
 · 
Medit

yes, he missed a couple of good opportunities against Valdés, but in the end he was the only one that had or created any chance to score -no wonder he ended up completely exhausted in the last 15 min-.. where were the other Arsenal players? .. I only remember Ljungberg having any other chance.. Cesc was pretty much out of the game.. can't remember anything Reyes did..
and I can understand Henry's reaction after the game actually, you can't pretend to win a Champions league with just one man ahead and the rest of the team waiting behind, it may be a practical strategy but awfully boring.. -I would suspect he was much infuriated with his own team than with the referee- .. still, that's what the catenaccio is all about and that's how a lot of scandinavian and north-europeans teams play... a thousand light years from Brasil or Barça > you don't only have to make it work to win, you have to make it beautiful... just like architecture.
anyway, wether he stays in Arsenal, comes to Barcelona or goes to any other team he's just up there with the best, with Ronnie and Eto'o, and I'm sure he's been the man that took Arsenal to the finals.. kudos to him.

May 18, 06 5:39 am  · 
 · 

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