OLYMPICS FOOTBALL: Spain favourites again?

After claiming three relevant titles in succession, the out-of-this-world Spain team will be looking to extend their world reign even further when the Olympics games begin. I have to remind myself that am not a fan of theirs every time I find myself attracted to the poetry-in-motion kind of football that they play.

Forget the fact that a good number of them are from Barcelona, think about how much they have matured as a team.
Torres... rose through the ranks at Atletico Madrid, then joined Liverpool, and then became the most expensive commodity in English football when he joined Chelsea. Lets face it, you do not move to clubs of that calibre if you're not good. And he did repay his manager's faith well. Scored 3 goals when it was apparent that Spain would suffer without Villa
Fabregas... I can only say one word for this lad.... MATURITY. Leaves Barca, joins Arsenal, becomes very integral there, gets loved by the fans, then rejoins his boyhood team. He doesn't really pose that athletic figure of CR7, Torres, Balotelli etc. He's just a humble kid who plays some real good football. Plays a number of positions, CMF, DMF, Striker, Number 10 and he has delivered in all of them.
Silva... He was just another guy in the Spain squad, mostly starting on the bench. Now look what his move to Manchester City has turned him into... a star.
Alba... His left-back spot used to Capdevila's, if you remember, and now he has taken that spot from him. Plus he has just signed for Barcelona. Could life be any better for him??

The only person I don't see making it back into the squad is Puyol. As I mentioned earlier, it looked like Spain would struggle without Villa and Puyol, and well... they scored the most goals in the tournament, and conceded the least. In fact if I'm not wrong, the only goal they conceded was against Italy in the group stage. See how much better they get? Villa could still make it back... he is a goal scoring machine, everyone knows that.

In other news, a few days after Van Persie announced that he wouldn't be renewing his Arsenal contract, Marouane Chamakh is also looking for a move away from the Gunners. He wont hurt them much, that I know. Another player that is hot property right now is Modric. real Madrid want the kid so much... but if you ask me, that's the wrong career move. who is he going to bench at Madrid? Khedira? Alonso? The onlt way he can fit in is if Mourinho changes his formation and have him play as a Number 10. Inter Milan have released Lucio and Forlan, and the former immediately joined Juventus while the latter went to Brazil.

Back to Kenyan football, it looks like Gor Mahia are starting to get their form back and are going up the table again. They beat KCB 3-1 at city stadium. Midweek fixtures this week:

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Mathare United

v

Sofapaka

Nyayo

19:00

Friday 13 July 2012

AFC Leopards

v

City Stars

Nyayo

19:30

Champs League Thus Far

Wouldn't know how to welcome you people to the blog as this isn't a house... at least I know how to entertain guests at my mother's house. That's barely the point here though. We're here to talk about football, and your reactions (those especially), but this is our first blog. You must be wondering who WE is, Kevin and Arthur. 

Right... lets talk football then.

So here we are. Waiting for the Champions League final... In Munich. Chelsea and Bayern of course making it there at the expense of Barcelona(didn't we all enjoy that) and Real Madrid(sadly).

The lead-up to the Chelsea game, I'd say, was more intense, if you asked me. It was supposed to be a duel between the greatest football team of our time against... well, Chelsea. I will not go into details about the huge difference in quality, class, skill or otherwise that separate these two teams. It is key to note though that Chelsea felt hard-done by their last encounter with Barca where Iniesta scored the ghost goal of that fixture in injury time, and am pretty sure Chelsea wanted revenge for that. 

The denied penalties in that game were behind them and they were facing a different Barca, albeit still as good, if not better. And so came the encounter, that am sure many would have labelled a night of negative football. Chelsea played 10 men behind the ball with the eleventh, Drogba, playing as a lone striker. 

Eventually Chelsea came out victorious after beating Barca 1-0 at Stamford bridge and eventually drawing 2-2 at Camp Nou, having played one man less for over an hour. I had stopped watching that game to be frank.. right after JT's red card. I expected Barca to be favored but didn't see Chelsea players pulling any stunts as John Terry's on the night. They got through though. Thanks to a good chipped goal by Ramires right at the stroke of halftime. Then Torres, an unused sub in the first leg coming on in the 80th minute to round the keeper beautifully before tucking home the equalizing goal of the night. I can imagine the headlines the following day.

Real Madrid versus Bayern Munich: 
This was always going to be a boring encounter. two teams that play the same brand of football and equally matched. Ended up in penalties. Shitty game really and a waste of time if you ask me. I feel for all of you(and myself) who stayed up to watch 'stars'(Kaka and Ronaldo) waste penalties while another(Ramos) sent one into orbit. At least we have another planet from that encounter. Hehe

Worth noting though was the fall of Barca. I, (Arthur) loved that. I wish David Villa a quick recovery though. Barca though... they should just stay second.. for a few years. Arsenal fans didn't want them to win anything of course, so that Fabregas stays as trophy-less as their lousy selves. Haha!

Manchester United, Chelsea, Real Madrid fans(if there are any), just wanted Barca to lose. Well, because of their unjust self. Always depending on the refs.... and UEFA. And whats with that Messi kid winning the Ballon D'oR everytime?

Am done hating for now. Lets talk more football another time