SPANISH NATIONAL TEAM: DEL BOSQUE CALLS UP BOJAN, AMOREBIETA, IRAOLA & CAPEL AGAINST DENMARK

New Spanish National Team Selector & Coach VICENTE DEL
BOSQUE (pictured below) has handed in his first list of players for
next Wednesday´s friendly game against DENMARK. Del Bosque was
faced beforehand with injuries to Goalkeeper Palop, defender
Marchena & midfieder Cesc Fabregas, all members of the winning
European Nations Cup Team.

Added to this Del Bosque has dropped Sergio Garcia (Zaragoza)
& Arbeloa (Liverpool) also members of the European Champions
Team.

The news is that Bojan (Barcelona), Amorebieta & Iraola (At.
Bilbao) & Capel (Sevilla) have been called up to fill in the gaps
& make up the final list.

Here is the FULL LIST of Spanish players:

Goalkeepers: Casillas (R.Madrid) & Reina (Liverpool)

Defenders: Sergio Ramos (R.Madrid),Puyol (Barcelona), Juanito
(Betis), Albiol (Valencia), Amorebieta (pictured; At.Bilbao),

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BARCELONA SECURES ITS CHAMPIONS PRELIMINARY 1º LEG AGAINST WISLA WITH VICTORY (SEE VIDEO)

It was new Coach Guardiola´s debut for FC BARCELONA in its
Preliminary 1º Leg game to qualify for this years Champions League
against Polish side WISLA CRACOVIA, & his side did not disappoint.

The “new look” Barça dominanted throughout the whole game, &
although the final score was 4-0 it could have been much, much
more than what the final score reflects. Barça played well & moved
the ball in the stylish fashion they are famous for with Alves, Keita,
Henry, Puyol, Iniesta, Xavi & Eto´o standing out. However, it was
XAVI HERNANDEZ that deserves a special mention as he is
definately Europe´s best midfielder at this moment. So much so, that
Xavi got on the scoresheet tonight with his teams 2ºgoal in the 24th
min with a powerful “crack” from outside the box.

SAMUEL ETO´O showed why he has earned his place at Barça
& has made the Club “eat their words” by scoring two great goals:
in the 17th & the 83rd min. He is one of the World´s best Center
Forwards & Barça has earned itself money & regained a value
asset for its team. He is having an outstanding pre-season!

Great news for THIERRY HENRY who was mobile, in action,
quick, smart & scored Barça 3ºrd goal in the 50th min. He could
have scored more, but was unlucky & it was enough to show
everyone that he is motivated & that this could be his year.

Great victory for FC Barcelona & the 2º leg should be a
formality for them as they head into Champions League 2008/09

See Video of highlights ( if YouTube does´nt pull back due to rights):

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Was Hughes right to enter the Man City soap opera?

Manchester United fans once popularised the old Monty Python song ‘Always look on the bright side of life’ as a stadium chant but it is their neighbours at Manchester City for whom those words have become almost a way of life during the past 32 years without a trophy.  

It looks like City supporters may need to draw on their famed reserves of black humour once again given the current uncertainty surrounding the future of their club.  

When former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived at Eastlands during the 2007 close season — having passed the Premier League’s ‘fit and proper person’ test for club owners — there was bold talk of City playing Champions League football in the not-too-distant future.  

Hopes of a bright new dawn were enhanced by the installation of Sven-Goran Eriksson as manager and a spending spree of around 40 million pounds. 

Although the fans may not have liked Thaksin’s treatment of Eriksson — the Thai dismissing him for his failure to achieve a top-six finish - the appointment of the highly-rated Mark Hughes in June went down well (despite Sparky being a former United hero and often mentioned as a possible successor to Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford). 

The new man’s vow to “challenge at the top table, not only in this country but in Europe” persuaded many fans that further progress lay around the corner.  

Two months on and Hughes must be wondering just what he has got himself into. His arrival after a successful stint at Blackburn Rovers came at a time City were spending a record fee on Brazilian striker Jo and making loud noises about signing Ronaldinho. 

The former Barcelona man is now at AC Milan and City appear to be in limbo. Thaksin’s announcement that he has gone into exile in Britain may spare his wife Potjaman a jail sentence for tax fraud — she had been freed on bail pending an appeal — but it also means most of his assets remain frozen in Thailand.  

Where this leaves City’s spending plans remains to be seen.   

“I was at Blackburn for four years and I knew exactly how things were done, the lines of communication, what have you. At the moment, it’s not quite as it was at Blackburn,” Hughes was quoted as telling the Telegraph. 

PHOTO: Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin and his wife Potjaman Shinawatra wade through an army of photographers at criminal court in Bangkok. July 31 REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang

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SPANISH FOOTBALL TRANSFER NEWS 2008: REAL MADRID & FC BARCELONA

The Olympics are monopolizing the World news, which is natural
& understandable, however locally Football news continues as the
Spanish League ( as other leagues) gear up to start the new 2008/
2009 season.

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A Ronaldinho revival? Don’t speak too soon

Ronaldinho’s two-goal performance against New Zealand in Sunday’s Olympic Games has already been hailed as some sort of revival after his miserable last season with Barcelona.

The former World Player of the Year showed flashes of his best form in the 5-0 win with plenty of cheeky flicks, shimmies and stepovers. And, of course, he grinned.

“This was a reward for everything which I have done and for all the people who believed in me and helped me to start playing again,” he told Brazilian media.

But the performance needs to be put into context.

The Olympic soccer tournament is an under-23 competition and Ronaldinho is competing as one of the three permitted overage players per team.

Brazil’s opponents qualified from a group in which Fiji were their strongest opponents. They have only three professionals in their 18-man squad. Most of the other players are university students who play football for fun.

Ronaldinho has just signed for AC Milan. He will play in arguably the world’s most unforgiving league and is going to have to fight hard just to get into the team every week.

There are some much tougher battles ahead and it remains to be seen whether he has the motivation to return to his best.

Any talk of a Ronaldinho revival is way too premature, isn’t it?

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