EPL - Liverpool 4 - 4 Arsenal
La Liga - Real Madrid 3 - 2 Getafe
KNVB Cup (Eredivise) - FC Twente 3 - 1 NAC Breda
Coupe De France - Grenoble 0 - 1 Toulouse
We all know the story of the Trojan Horse - after a fruitless 10 yr siege of Troy, the Greeks built a figure in shape of a horse in which a select group of soldiers hid. The Greek army then pretended to sail away which tricked the Trojans who pulled the horse into their city in a show of victory.
Under the cover of darkness, the army sailed back into town, their hidden soldiers emerged from the horse statue and opened the city gates for waiting Greek soldiers.
While Valencia is neither a Greek army nor engaged in a siege against fellow La Liga teams, the team has finally turned the tide following a tumultuous 3 months.
“The only thing we want is to win to reach second spot and reduce the points advantage that Barca have…” Those were comments made by club goalkeeper Renan Brito in the new year prior to the team’s mauling of Atletico Madrid and the subsequent downturn in fortunes. Yet almost midway through this season, things looked rosy for Los Che; they sat in 2nd place, looked heavy favorites in the UEFA Cup and looked assured of Champions league football the following season.
Then the well dried up. The bottom came falling out. Valencia was in a financial meltdown, the club was effectively doomed. Idiomatically, Valencia was a fool who soon parted with her money as she had put all her eggs in one basket, resulting in her becoming as poor as a church mouse leaving a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Ex club President Juan Soler’s ill conceived plan sunk the club to a tune of over €600m.
In 4 years, fresh off from winning the league and UEFA Cup in 2004, the club had gone through five sporting directors, spent €30m on getting rid of 3 managers, banished its 3 longest serving players, faced a €60m lawsuit by one of its players and quintupled its debt with no trophies to show for it.
Furthermore, Valencia were stuck with 2 stadiums - an old one it couldn’t sell and a new one it couldn’t afford to finish, - 2 training grounds, - one it desperately needed to sell and a new one it might never get to use. In addition the club owed €60m to the banks, due ASAP. The players hadn’t been paid in 2 months, the club was without a win in 9 games and lay 8th in the table. As Tommy Smyth would say, “The club has nothing left in the old onion bag”.
But it did. Not in the old onion bag or any other porous pockets but in the shape of local business group Fomento Urbano de Castellon. The club secured a €50m loan from the construction magnet which was set aside to pay outstanding wages. Three months after receiving their last paycheck, a hapless locker room turned jubilant and the club began to win once again. The agony and grin on player’s faces were gone, replaced with joy and congratulatory hugs. Since then, the club has won 4 on the trot and occupy a Champions league spot on the table.
Golden boy a la world’s best striker David Villa looks magnificent on and off the pitch with 5 goals in his last 4 matches. David Silva is playing out of his skin, former Real Madrid cast away Juan Manuel Mata just earned himself contract and Joaquin’ s petulance is at an all time high as evident by his sheer pubescent reaction following his substitution during the weekend’s theatrical performance against Sevilla at the Mestalla.
Theatrical performance you ask?
Yup, the Valencia - Sevilla encounter swung along the lines of a Shakespearean novel rather than a football match, needless to say it was a sight for sore eyes. Oscar winning performances - check! Animosity against fellow stage actors - check!! Inept authority figure – checkaroo!!! In what Guardian journalist Sid Lowe referred to as “a game that was a cheat-fest, packed with scything challenges, dreadful dives, utter lunacy, appalling refereeing, and some shameful play-acting,” Valencia and Sevilla’s ill-tempered affair resulted in 15 yellow cards and a solitary disappointing red card.
Here’s a recap of the drama aptly titled:
Stacking the Deck
Act 1, Scene 1
With 8 minutes on the clock Jesus Navas’ right field corner finds the head of Escude, 15 - Love to Sevilla. A little later Jesus Navas earns a silly yellow as he blocks David Silva from taking a quick free kick.
Act 1, Scene 2
Mere minutes later Valencia captain Albelda leaves a flailing arm which conveniently finds the head of Renato. Blood streamed out. Albelda professed his innocence, the referee bought it. Albelda plays the role of good Samaritan by kicking the ball straight at Renato following the restart. No harm, no foul.
Act 1, Scene 3
Seconds later, Rojiblanco midfielder Duscher fouls Silva. The yellow card is shown. Right after, Villa nutmegs left back Adriano. Adriano is called for the foul and receives a yellow card. Sebastian Squillaci protest earns him nothing but a card. Tempers continue to flare as Baraja adds a sore ankle to Renato’s sore head. He gladly accepts a booking. Valencia right back Miguel receives a yellow card for … well for being himself.
Act 1, Scene 4
A minute till half time and Adriano received his marching orders following a rough challenge from behind to David Villa. Interestingly enough Sevilla manager Manolo Jimenez reckoned he’d wait till the second half to make a defensive substitution but sees his plan goes awry when Mata, doing his best effort to levitate feels the effects of gravity by a not so grave clip by Escude. Valencia 1 - Sevilla 1, thanks to a David villa penalty. Immediately after, Manolo chucked out left winger Perotti for defender Aquivaldo Mosquera - better late than never.
Act 2, Scene 1
€25m record signing turned flop Joaquin is put out of his misery with the introduction of Pablo Hernandez 10 minutes into the second half. Joaquin isn’t happy, neglects a pat on the back by Coach Unai Emery and heads straight down the tunnel with heavy eyes. Did someone once say grown men don’t cry?
Act 2, Scene 2
Valencia continued to press 10 man Sevilla and are rewarded when Fernando Navarro relives the memories of Paco Hervas - the famous Spanish Volleyball player - by volleying the ball in his own box. Mata slots in the penalty to give the home side the lead.
Act 2, Scene 3
Sevilla’s night gets much worse as manager Manolo Jimenez receives his marching orders after chastising the referee for not allowing him to make a quick change in personnel.
Act 2, Scene 3
With injury time left to play, the newly introduced Luis Fabiano gets in on the violent spree as he catches Valencia’s Raul Albiol with a high boot.
Act 2, Scene 4
Morientes reckons it’s best not to be the last kid to get chosen during a pick up game and gets his name in the book.
Act 2, Scene 5
Pablo Hernandez secured all 3 points for punch-drunk Valencia with a near post strike 3 minutes into added time. Valencia run out 3-1 winners.
The win puts David Villa and co. five points behind 3rd place Sevilla with 7 games left to play. And for the 1,250th time, Villa stated his desire to remain at the club. Stick that where the sun don’t shine Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea and a bunch of other clubs i can’t seem to recall.
(Article published on Soccerlens on Apr21, 2009)
Bordeaux 1 - 0 Lyon
“I am not the coach but it’s true that with all those changes we sometimes find it difficult to get our bearings… It would be a catastrophe of the prospect of Lyon not winning an eighth consecutive title.”
Das Eisen schmieden, solange es heiß ist. The famous proverb - make hay while the sun shines - aptly applies to several clubs aiming to strip Bayern of consecutive Bundesliga titles, its 22nd in waiting. Wolfsburg, Hamburg, Hertha and to a lesser extent Stuttgart harbor title hopes in the most exciting Bundesliga season, and perhaps the most captivating league in Europe .
After last year’s dominance by Bayern Munich - aka the Toni & Ribery show - many, if not all, expected the Bavarian giant to strengthen its hold on German football, and with the arrival of former national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann, the odds for another league crown were firmly in Bayern’s favor. However, in what can only be described as a cataclysmic series of unfortunate events, the Klinsmann era has been, for lack of a better word, SHIT!
Klinsmann’s club/managerial debacle has given heed to a crop genuine title challengers; the surprising (Hertha) and the not so surprising (Wolfsburg & Hamburg), who either have a massive
amount of luck (Hertha), talent (Hamburg) or both (Wolfsburg). Hoffehneim, shocking Bundesliga supremos of the first half of the season, have tailed off since the beginning of new year with just a win in its past 10 games and find themselves 6th in the table, four point adrift of Stuttgart for a Europa league place. Ralf Rangnick, club manager, has attributed the decline of his squad to the season ending injury to hit-man Vedad Ibisevic and the slowly but surely ever growing inflated ego’s of his squad. “The boys have been hyped-up like pop stars for the last three months and are being asked about everything, not just football. They are only human and it’s no surprise if they sometimes believe they are little Riberys,” said the Hoffenheim coach when asked about the team’s run of disastrous results. Yup, its the same Frank Ribery; the newest addition to German footballing hyperbole.
Hoffenheim’s fairly tale season has been replaced by Hertha Berlin, the Tottenham of the Bundesliga — figuratively, not literally. Despite being based in the German capital and one of the founding members of German football, it’s been 77 years since Die Alte Dame (Old Lady) won the Bundesliga. Self acclaimed “sexy-chest” footballer Andriy Voronin, on loan from Liverpool, has been a revelation for the Berliners. His double against Bayern Munich in fixture 20 lifted the club to top spot and his hat trick against 3 weeks later gave Hertha fans unexpected title hopes. Since his 11th league goal against Bayer Leverkusen three weeks ago, the club has lost 3 straight games and have dropped to 4th place, 5 points behind Bundesliga table toppers Wolfsburg.
Surprise league leaders Wolfsburg, — not in a fairy tale “Hoffenheim” way but in a rather ” f***!, we actually are this good” — have been blessed with the league’s best strike partnership. Former Le Mans striker Grafite hasn’t stop scoring since his move to the Bundesliga side last year and Bosnian youngster Edin Dzeko is nailed on as the Bundesliga young player of the year. Grafite’s 20 goals along with Dzeko’s 16 have propelled the Wolves to 9 straight league wins; the 5-1 demolition of Bayern Munich producing the GOAL OF THE SEASON.
Under the stewardess of the “Quälix” (torturer) , sporting director, CEO and club manager Felix Magath’s winning mentality from his championship seasons as Stuttgart and Bayern Munich boss has provided much needed balance to a side that narrowly avoided relegation in the 2005/06 & 2006/07 season. In his first season, Magath revamped the squad with over 20 new signings, most importantly the additions of the aforementioned Grafite and Dzeko, veteran defender Ricardo Costa, highly rated youngsters Marcel Schafer and Christian Gentner and former Freiburg midfielder Sascha Reither. Last summer’s coup d’etat of Palermo’s defensive duo, Andrea Barzargli and Christian Zaccardo, along with the capture of Bosnian playmaker Zvjezdan Misimovic has molded last year’s UEFA cup participants into a major title threat.
However, the Quälix’s master stroke was the recruitment of Sao Paulo’s Brazilian holding midfielder Josue. The unsung hero has been the club’s “Makalele”. He has shored up its defensive frailties, and thus provided much more freedom for the club’s attacking threats which has resulted in the concession of 33 goals - second only to Schalke’s 27 - and a league’s best 60 goals. Magath’s men havent’s lost since the second week of November and remain the league’s only unbeaten home team with 12 wins and a draw.
The big fella has worked wonders since his arrival at Bundesliga Dinosaurs Hamburg. With the imminent departure of former coach Huub Stevens to PSV, deposed Tottenham manager Martin Jol took reigns in the summer hoping to steer the club into a possible champions league spot. Armed with the “Red Shorts” check book, the Dutchman has added depth to a leaky, vulnerable defence with the signings of Alex Silva, Dennis Aogo and Marcell Jansen. Thiago Neves, fresh off from leading Fluminense to the final of the Copa Libatadores, joined the club along with €5 mil goal poacher Mladen Petric. The team has overcome the loss of influential playmaker Rafael Van de Vaart to Real Madrid with Piotr Trochowski taking over creative midfield duties. While Jol still suffers mildly from the “no plan B” syndrome - a la Sven Eriksson, - he has been lauded for his non “gung-ho”equilibrium style of play which has helped a goal shy team keep pace atop the table.
Hamburg missed a chance to stay on level points with Wolfsburg last weekend with a 1-0 loss, courtesy of over-rated striker Mario Gomez, whose €20mil price tag is jaw dropping. Hamburg face Europa League hopefuls Dortmund and Leverkusen in the run up to the climax of the season. Martin Jol’s title credentials will be heavily tested at an away tie against Werder Bremen in round 31, their most important game of the season. Should lady luck smile on Hamburg, they will relish their final three fixtures against teams with nothing to play for.
Wolfsburg, unlike Hamburg, have a tougher fixture list with matches against next season’s European football hopefuls Hoffenheim, Leverkusen, Dortmund and Stuttgart. On the last day of the season, Wolfsburg host Werder Bremen. The result of that game might decide the Bundesliga coronations.
Worryingly for both Hamburg and Wolfsburg is Bayern’s relatively easy end of the season matches. Klinsmann’s men face a trio of relegation candidates (Bielefeld, Mönchengladbach and Cottbus), have a home date against an out of form Schalke side. On the slightly gloomy side of things, Hoffenheim and Stuttgart are Bayern’s last two opponents of the season; the former on a free fall, the latter rather unpredictable.
Truth be told, the Bundesliga crown is there for the taking and this might be the best chance Wolfsburg and Hamburg have to knock Bayern’s off its perch. Magath may find it incredibly hard to hold on to his beloved Dzeko who has been heavily linked with Arsenal and Villareal. Barzargli continues to rebuff rumors linking him back to Italy by under-whelmingly declaring he’s happy in Germany. Martin Jol is set to lose Ivica Olic to Bayern next season and €10 mil summer signing Thiago Neves hasn’t settled in Germany and has thus been loaned back to Fluminense till kingdom come.
Even if Bayern lose Ribery in the summer, the addition of Anatoliy Tymoshuck (Zenith St. Petersburg), Ivica Olic, world class defenders not named Van Buyten or Demicheles and maybe a change in management will make Bayern far too strong for its peers in the years to come.
(Article published on Soccerlens on Apr17, 2009)
“I’m an honest man and you’ve got to say that Marseille and Bordeaux have worked well these past two seasons. This year maybe they deserve to go all the way…”
Those truly sincere words were uttered by Lyon’s Juninho following the team’s 2-2 draw last weekend which saw the seven consecutive domestic champions lose top spot since week 4 of the Ligue 1.
There have been two very close calls for the Stade De Gerland side in its relentless grip on French football - Lens famously lost the title on the last day of the 2001/02 season (Juninho’s first season & Lyon’s first league title) and Monaco lost its footing with 4 games to play the following year to hand Lyon its second title.
Since the onset of the 2003 season, the defending league champions have all but strolled in the domestic league withstanding timid attempts by P.S.G and Bordeaux - much to little surprise of anyone.
The 2008/09 Ligue 1 season began like the previous seasons as Lyon faced Bordeaux aiming to win its 7th successive Trophee Des Champions (a la Community Shield or Supercoppa Italia). Unlike preceding occasions, Lyon lost. Victors Bordeaux, via penalty shoot-outs, signaled their intentions to challenge Lyon at the helm for the upcoming season as they completely bossed the entire match and were justly rewarded.
With owl eyes on European glory, club Chairman Jean Michel Alaus and new manager Claude Puel strengthened the side to a tune of €60m with re-enforcements in the likes of promising talents Miralem Pjanic and Hugo Lloris. The club splashed €15 for Brazilian playmaker Ederson, apparent heir to fellow country mate Juninho, and highly rated defender John Mensah - replacement for Sevilla bound Sebastian Squillaci.
Lyon recouped half of its summer transfer kitty with the sale of gifted youngsters Loic Remy and Hatem Ben Arfa to Nice and Marseille while “jet-setter” Milan Baros clocked more travel miles as he was sold to Turkish side Galatasaray. On paper Lyon looked unstoppable, on the pitch, the were unbeatable.
Carefully tucked away in the Sud-Ouest region of France, twice league runners up to Lyon (2005/06 & 2007/08), Bordeaux under the management of former French footballer and reigning Ligue 1 coach of the season Laurent Blanc just about derailed Lyon’s train as they battled with the champions till the end.
But almost doesn’t kill a bird, yet when there’s hope, there’s always whispers of a “new Zidane” in the wings, and thus Blanc brought in highly rated French playmaker Yoann Gourcuff, on loan from AC Milan. Following in his footsteps was near homophone namesake, Yoan Gouffran, (€6.5m from Caen) - both deemed necessities if the club hoped to capture its first domestic championship in a decade.
Despite not having the financial prowess to challenge Lyon, Blanc assembled a solid lineup capable of enduring ardous campaigns (domestic & European front) and with a tad bit of luck, thwart Lyon.
“Allez Gerets, Allez Allez Gerets” rained down at the Stade Veledrome. It been half a decade since L’OM were outright leaders - Week 6 of the 2003/04 season to be exact - and light years (17 years) since L’OM were French champions, but those memories were short lived as manager Eric Gerets shrieked following Lyon’s draw against Monaco which saw his team hold a point lead in the Ligue 1 table. With 8 domestic championships as a player with Standard Liege and PSV and 5 championships as manager (Lierse, Brugge, PSV (2) and Galatasaray), Gerets is no stranger to success and the resurgence of Marseille under his helm is testament.
Football pundits and bookies put Marseille as third favorites to win the Ligue 1 title, behind Bordeaux and Lyon, rightfully so if I might add. Despite a good showing last season, the team lost influential playmaker Samir Nasri to Arsenal and prolific yet unsettled striker Djbril Cisse was loaned out to Sunderland.
Club President Pape Diouf (European football’s sole black President, much praise) stood by his vows to challenge for honors by giving manager Eric Gerets a sizable transfer kitty. The club took proclaimed dressing room “trouble maker” Hatem Ben Arfa off Lyon for €12m, diminutive pacy Ivorian forward Bakari Kone was brought in from Nice to partner runner up player of the year Mamadou Niang and veteran defender, Hilton, joined the club after 4 seasons with Lens.
Perhaps the most surprising addition to L’OM was the loan capture of Derby County’s Tyrone Mears. The Jamaican international reportedly made his way across the channel by sneaking out the bathroom window at the club’s training ground without the consent of manager Paul Jewell. As they say, the end justifies the means, and in the case, it surely did.
Two wins, a draw and two losses. That was Bordeaux’s record after 5 games into the season. In all fairness, Blanc’s men had the hardest early fixtures as they succumbed to losses on travels to a new look P.S.G side managed by Paul Le Guen and the league’s best home team, Lille. Marouane Chamakh canceled out Bakari Kone’s 2nd minute goal to earn Bordeaux a draw at the Stade Chaban Delmas during fifth round of games.
With 9 games played, things looked rather rosy at the L’OM camp. Along with an unblemished spot in the loss column, the team had scored 19 goals (thanks to 4 each from newcomers Kone and Ben Arfa) and were a point behind league leaders Lyon.
Blessed with the easiest start to the season, Lyon looked comfortable after 14 games despite a shocking 3-0 loss to a Mickael Pagis hat-trick away at Rennais. Claude Puel’s men had a 7 point cushion above Marseille and had only conceded 9 goals. It was another case of Deja vu as Lyon, like fellow title hopefuls Bordeaux and Marseille, lost to P.S.G. in week 15. Midway through the season notwithstanding a slender 3 point lead over Bordeaux, Les Gones were odds on favorite.
That was then and this is now.
Undoubtedly the turning points of the Ligue 1 season were week 27 & 28. In week 27 under a Ligue 1 record crowd of 78,056 at the Stade de France, Lille defeated Lyon 2-0 with a brilliant Michel Bastos chip two minutes from time. That same weekend, Toulouse hammered Bordeaux 3-0 while Marseille could only manage a goalless draw with lowly Valenciennes.
P.S.G. capitalized on everyone’s stutter with a 1-0 over Lorient narrowing the gap to a point behind Lyon. The Parc des Princes supporters were ecstatic, alas P.S.G. could really have a shout in the title race. The next week Lyon succumed to its second straight loss at the hands of Auxerre - its first since weeks 20 & 21 of the 2006/07 season, Bordeaux bounced back with a 2-1 victory over Nice while Marseille briefly derailed P.S.G title hopes with a 3-1 win.
Lyon’s 5 point lead over Marseille at the beginning of week 26 had been shrunk to 1 while Bordeaux had narrowed the gap to 3 points at the end of week 28.
Over the past 3 weeks, Bordeaux and Marseille have kept pace with Lyon. Bordeaux made light work of relegation bound Le Havre, and looked in good form as they scrapped by AS Nancy, thanks to a late strike by Chamakh. Lyon snapped its run of consecutive losses with a 2-0 win over Sochaux which was followed with a Benzema double to sink Le Mans 3-1. Marseille followed suit by trashing relegation candidates FC Nantes and AS Saint-Etienne. Over the weekend as Frederic Piquonne saved Lyon’s blushes by securing an unjust 2-2 draw against Monaco, Fernando and Wendel put Bordeaux past Auxerre. However Marseille stole the headlines with a 4-1 demolition of Grenoble to knock Lyon off the helm.
With 6 games to play, things look far more complicated for Lyon as it aims to secure another title. Next week, Benzema and Lyon travel to wine country to face Bordeaux which is followed by a tough home date against P.S.G. An away trip to Valencinnes is followed with a home tie to Nantes, both must win encounters.
Claude Puel’s future might lay at the Stade Veledrome on week 36 as Marseille welcome Lyon, a loss will all but spell the end of Lyon’s title credentials. Should Marseille fail to in its title quest against Lyon, all eyes will be on Ligue 1 revelation of the season - Andre Pierre Gignac - as Toulouse welcome Lyon to the Allée Gabriel Biénés on the final day of the season.
Marseille’s run in at the end of the season is arguably tougher than Lyon as they are still involved in the never ending UEFA CUP as Shaktar Donetsk travel into town tonight with a 2 goal lead. Meanwhile on the domestic front, Eric Gerets’ men have an almost impossible task as they travel North to Lille in week 33, a team with just one home loss all season. Next is a home fixture against Europa Cup hopefuls Toulouse followed by a massive encounter against Lyon with 2 games to spare. L’OM round out the season at home with Stade Rennais hoping to swing the 4-4 thriller in the first game of the season in its favor.
In theory, barring any abnormal results or “Tevez’s”-like West Ham miracles, Bordeaux have the easiest fixture list for the next 6 games, a reward for having the toughest fixtures at the beginning of the season. Apart from a tough home tie against Lyon next week, Laurent Blanc’s have an away postponed fixture against Stade Rennais. The final 4 games are against teams battling to avoid the drop - Sochaux and Caen - and teams with nothing to play for - AS Monaco and Valencinnes.
Lyon should count itself quite lucky if its secures 11 points from its last 6 games. Marseille will be very fortunate to secure draws away at Lille and at home to Lyon, and thus should come out with about 10 points. On the other hand, even if Bordeaux lose to Lyon at home, they should easily pick up about 13 points from 18, enough to secure its first Ligue 1 title since Sylvian Wiltord’s 22 goals led them to their 5th championship - a point ahead of Marseille.
Coincedence? nah… it’s just a certain Je ne sais quoi.
(Article published on Soccerlens on Apr16, 2009)
