Julio!

Real Madrid wins El Clasico 1-0 against Barcelona. And more equally important is the 7 point gap heading into the winter break in the la liga.

It’s been a tough few years being a madrid fan. Constant changing of managers, under-performing superstars, dressing room unrest and coupled with Barcelona’s coincidental unearthing of the talents of Ronaldinho meant Real was in the shadows for the past few years. Sure enough i miss watching the world class acts like Zidane and Ronaldo playing for Real, most probably because they are one of the best sides ever assembled. But this season’s team looks like nothing of the past.

Defensively, we look absolutely solid with young blood Pepe and Sergio Ramos justifying their multi-million transfer fees. Cannavaro’s a natural leader and Metzelder looks to replace him once his days are over. Marcelo seems like a prospective replacement for Roberto Carlos and Heinze is good for enough for now at left back. Not to mention, we have one of the best keeper in the world in Casillas.

And we’re blessed with a wealth of midfielders. Diarra reminds me of Makelele. And his role is similar as well as a defensive midfielder, breaking up attacks and disrupts the opponents’ flow of the game. The only difference is that Diarra will score like 4 goals a season while Makelele will score a goal every 4 seasons. Gago and Guti are fantastic passers. Baptista finally looks like the 20 goal per year midfielder we signed from Sevilla. We need Robben to stay fit. Sneijder needs to stay consistent. And of course, when is our no. 10 gonna blossom into a world class act he so often promised to be. Ronaldinho had his days. Now’s Kaka for the moment. So who’s next? I sure hope it’s Robinho.

We look extremely stretched upfront. Maybe we can squeeze a couple more good years out of Van Nistelrooy and a few more out of Raul. Saviola don’t seem good enough to replace any of them as first team striker. So maybe we’re looking at a new striker soon. Drogba maybe? Or Lyon’s Benzema looks really good too.

Now the signing of the season? No doubt, Bernd Schuster the manager. I’m fine if Capello stayed beyond last season, but Schuster inherited a disbanded Galaticos and moulded a team like we’ve never seen in the past few years. Young, spirited, hungry and most importantly, they’re starting to look like a unit. I’ve always admired clubs like Man United because they seem to retain their core bunch of players and management and so there was this sense of continuum in the squad. Real would do good by not switching coaches so often and start building a squad around several players.

So if you’re a madrid fan, the good days are back.

And,

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

The Chelski Story.

Well obviously i was caught up with the weekend of soccer action, amidst my mad rush to digest a fair bit of international history lecture notes for my impending exams. So, while reading my lecture notes off the laptop and watching Fulham hold Abramovich Chelsea to a goalless draw, this idea came to mind out of the blue(okay bad pun). Uncanny, as i was reading the decline of the Soviet Union. Coincidentally or what, Chelsea has a totalitarian, Russian billionaire sugar daddy backing their (dodgy) operations.

My point is, doesn’t the Chelsea seem to mirror a certain failed and shamed regime?

Well first of all look at the insane amount of money being thrown into the football club from day one. The few hundreds of million of transfer revenue simply did not obey any law of economics. No way the business of a modern football club should be ran the way it was done. Chelsea haven’t tasted financial profits for what, 4 years now? All that make-believe that they are eventually going to break even and they are all healthy financially is all the more disturbing. Like the old self-delusional rulers, they should really stop deceiving themselves and everyone of their financial ‘prowess’.

Then we look at the despotic ruler of course – Roman Abramovich. Reasonably rich, ambitious, megalomaniac, oil tycoon and (i’m sure coincidentally) Russian. Well he sacked his manager, probably the strongest character at the club at that time (and appointed a feeble figurehead) to assume control of the dressing room matters. In a way, he got rid of his opposition. Well well.

And last, but most imperative, the whole issue of £30 million Shevchenko. Abramovich’s supposed friend. Well he broke the bank to bring a ‘friend’ to the club. (Okay he didn’t break his, but for most of us £30 million means the breaking the bank several thousand times over)

Shevchenko = Ukrainian.

Well well. I’m sure good friends like Roman Abramovich and Shevchenko got better things to talk about than erm, the Chernobyl Disaster right? I mean, their conversation can of course include team tactics and management, which is obviously beneficial to the club. Oh, then suddenly Mourinho gets sacked, and Shevchenko starts for Chelsea(albeit playing like he’s born with two left legs). I know he’s a fantastic player in Milan. Well even if you leave a piece of top grade beef in the open, it still becomes rotten beef. Sheva’s just a diiferent piece of meat in Chelsea.

All this was supposed to make him/the club great and dominate European football. Hold on. Hold on. What is this shit? His brand of tyrannical C*****ism! management la, what else?

Sad for Chelsea and Chelsea fans. They can’t do well with Roman, and they can’t survive without him. Just like how Soviet was quite crappy with or without Stalin.

Conversely, look at Manchester United with the American Glazer family in charge. Businessmen, smart, capitalists, and the ultimate ‘champions of democracy’. United are the current champs and look in way better shape to win the title than Chelski.

Oh i sense a Cold War brewing in English Football.

Or is it over already?

“Hey baby, we’re trashing Hull City 4-0! We’re dominating Europe!”

Oh please don’t get me wrong. I love Russians.

Here’s why:

What?! She grew up in America?

Champions!

Victorious Real Madrid

3 straight wins.

Wesley Sneijder 4 goals in 3 games.

No time and impetus to type coherently in the wake of immense exam stress (bad excuse, haha).

Enjoy the music on the right column. Good stuff indeed.