Sevilla v Fenerbahçe–The Recap?? Sort of.

I don’t know about everyone else out there, but I’m not just a fan of the beautiful game, I play it. 5 nights a week in fact.

I remember last season in the Tehel Cup in Buffalo (the oldest Amateur soccer tournament in the country) and we were up 2-0 going into the second half of our game. The feeling I had going into that second half was the same feeling I had in the second half of this Sevilla game. I remember stepping out onto the pitch, trying not to win, but NOT to lose. We ended up drawing 2-2 after extra time, and losing in penalties 3-2 to be outsted from the tournament.

The same thing tonight happened to Sevilla. A terrible first half from both sides, in reality, saw Sevilla with a 3-1 advantage thanks to 2 gifts from Volkan, the Fener keeper. Lack of defending lead to the first Fener goal, and to a 3rd Sevilla goal before the half ended.

That 3rd goal from Kanouté essentially ended Sevilla’s thoughts about scoring, and they did not see another quality chance the rest of the game.

The second half was where it all went wrong. Sevilla came out and didn’t want to put the nail in the coffin. The game got very chippy and closed in, a far cry from the previous free flowing football in the first half. They then decided to go out and ‘not lose.’ This involves not attempting to play any type of attacking football and be content to clock watch until the whistle sounds at 90 minutes. The entire second half had a strange feeling attached to it, as if I was just waiting for the Fener goal to go in.

One-Liner guide to La Liga- Jornada 25

The One-liner Guide to La Liga is back like a Rolling Stones reunion tour.  Let’s go.
Your Spanish Cosita

Each town in Spain has their own feria. Feria is basically, a carnival. But they are the most intense week long carnivals you will ever be a part of in your life. Spain’s most famous feria is ultimately the Feria de Sevilla, which is always held in April. The Feria de Sevilla was started in 1847 as a cattle trading fair, but quickly escalated into the party that it is today. This is one of the most traditional ones where women still dress in the typical flamenco dress. The ferias are also well known for having casetas which are the typical ‘little houses’ along the streets were people go and dance and eat.

Champions League-La Liga Edition: A Tale of 3-2’s

Le Sigh. =(

Fenerbahçe 3 – Sevilla 2

A Sevilla side with no excuses couldn’t defend worth a damn and still almost came out of Turkey with a win. Three Fenerbahçe goals scored on TERRIBLE defending by Sevilla.

I’ll spare a recap of the game since everyone knows how much I hate doing them. But I’ll still give my two cents.

Fenerbahçe v Sevilla – Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Sevilla take on Fenerbahçe Wednesday in a stadium that is reminiscent of the Winter Classic played between the Buffalo Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins on New Years Day. The current ‘blanket of snow’ aptly named by AS.com is in the process of being cleared.

Sevilla left the homeland for Istanbul with 20 players in tow.
Palop, De Sanctis, Daniel Alves, Mosquera, Drago, Crespo, Fazio, Escudé, Adriano, Renato, Poulsen, Maresca, Keita, Jesús Navas, Tom De Mul, Duda, Diego Capel, Koné, Luis Fabiano Kanouté.

The starting 11 will be:

Luis Fabiano–Kanouté

Capel-Poulsen-Keita-Jesus Navas

Drago-Adriano-Escude-Dani Alves

Palop

 

Today, Sevilla were allowed to practice in the stadium for around 70 minutes. The players described the pitch as ‘not frozen’ but said it was ‘irregular’ (aka It was a mess). Half of the stadium was available to Sevilla, and the other half was busy being cleared off for the match tomorrow.

On to the match itself. Sevilla head into this game unbeaten in their last 4 games (3-1 with the draw coming to Barcelona). Many of the pundits are talking about Sevilla finally <em>finding their form</em> and in fact, Sevilla find themselves sitting in 6th place, which gains them a UEFA Cup spot.

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But this game isn’t about <em>La Liga</em> it’s about the Champions League. I remember watching Liverpool play Beskitas in Turkey during the group stages. I’ve never seen a group of fans as crazy as the Beskitas fans were during that game. For 90 straight minutes the fans never stopped chanting, nor needed any part of their seat as they were standing all game long.

After starting physical therapy at the University at Buffalo Sports Medicine center, I met one of the graduate students, who is Turkish and just so happens to be a Fenerbahçe fan. The last 2 weeks have been nothing but cheap shots at one another, but I’ve also learned something about this Turkish team that I can safely say I knew NOTHING about before meeting him.

He says ‘We love Brazilians’. <em>Marca</em> has an article today entitled ‘Fenerbahçe dances samba’ (in reference to all of the Brazilians on the team. The most notable Brazilian on Fenerbahçe is Roberto Carlos, but they are rather stacked with Brazilians, with <strong>Zico</strong> is in his second year at the club as trainer while <strong>Aurelio</strong> speaks Turkish and is a naturalized Turkish citizen.

On to Sevilla. As mentioned earlier, we are on a 4 game unbeaten streak and want to continue that run through Turkey on Wednesday night. It would be stupid of me not to say the snow could play a bit of a role in the outcome of the game, but fortunately for the game of soccer in general, it is not meant to be played in the snow. Both teams will be struggling if the white stuff starts coming down.

Sevilla have no real injuries to talk about, except that <em>el capitan</em> Javi Navarro is still out and I still have no clue when he’ll be back. Chevantón is also out injured for a month, but will not really be of any necessity with both Luis Fabiano and Kanouté ready for the challenge.

Hopefully Sevilla can keep the scoring boots on and find the back of the net while on the away leg. Away goals are always a premium in these home-at-home series.

Some talk has been made of Diego Capel’s diving ability. As I posted on here a few weeks ago, Capel draws a yellow card every 69 minutes he is on the pitch and has 22 yellow cards against him in the first half of La Liga. That’s an insane amount of cards. He isn’t a diver. In the games I’ve caught this season, I have only seen him dive once or twice, not any more than your normal professional footballer.

That’s all I’ve got as I have a soccer game myself to catch. Let me know your thoughts about Sevilla in the comments!

My Interview with Jesus Alvarado

A few people have asked me about my interview on Sevilla FC radio. I uploaded it and put it into a video, since that is really the only way to do it.

The interview took place last Friday with Jesus Alvarado, one of the most respected Sevilla FC followers and bloggers out there. He runs his own blog at Jesus Alvarado and also is the president of the Sevilla Supporters Club ‘Hasta La Muerte‘

The interview was about 30 minutes long, complete with me getting cut off twice due to the snow. The interview is in Spanish, but give it a listen. It really was an honor to interview with Jesus on his show and hopefully I’ll be invited back again.

Sevilla FC Supporters Club–Information Here and I’m Being Interviewed on Spanish Radio

The Asociación Sevillista Puerta de America (aka Sevilla FC Peña (or Penya))  is now up and running.  If ANYONE is interested, please shoot me an email at rjknapp19 at gmail [dot] com and I’ll email you back info and attach you to the mailing list.  Here is what’s new with us so far.

• We’ve been approved for not-for-profit status meaning that we can be recognized now in the United States and have all of our ducks in a row so to say.

• We are now collecting yearly dues, which are only $25 for the year.  This will allow us to get the website up and running (which I am currently designing at the moment) and also allow us to pay our dues so we can be a fully recognized ‘penya’.

• The higher-ups at Sevilla FC are excited that we have formed a penya in the US and we are attempting to set up a videoconference with Jose Maria del Nido (president of Sevilla FC) to recognize our official opening and founding of the penya.

• The Penya will be centered in NYC, but will have members throughout the US (e.g. Me, since I live in Buffalo NY, but we have a few strong members here so we will try to do our best in the B-lo).

On a personal note for me.  I’m being interviewed by Jesus Alvaredo, who runs a show on Sevilla FC radio called ‘Sevillistas por el mundo’ (Sevilla fans throughout the world) which follows all sorts of Sevilla fans who are spread out all over the globe.  He found my Sevilla site on ‘The Offside’ and contacted me about doing an interview about the blog and what it’s like being a Sevillista in America.  The date is still TBD, but it should be around the 11th of January.

I’m excited about this opportunity and can’t believe I’ll be interviewed by the club I religiously support.  When I figure out the date and time I’ll let everyone know.

One-liner guide to La Liga–Jornada 4 ¡Qué guay!

In my constant quest to indocrinate the Western World in the joy that is the Spanish culture, I present to you sangria. Now, you can make sangria in lots of different ways, but I give you my recipe, which I find to be the best. It’s adapted from a few Spanish recipes, but I find it to be the best tasting, sometimes a bit strong.

1 bottle 750ml red wine (white just isn’t the same)
1 to 1.5 cups of Brandy (no rum!)
2 oranges
1 apple (the apple sucks a lot of the flavor out)
A bunch of Cherries
1 lemon
1 lime
2 20 oz bottles of Sprite or 7-up
Sugar-add to taste
Cut the fruit into little pieces, you don’t have to skin the fruit if you don’t want. Add the alcohol together, then put in the fruit and add sugar. Don’t worry about adding too much sugar as it should be somewhat sweet, but the bottles of 7-up take out the huge alcohol taste (if my Spanish family knew I was putting 7-up in they would kill me). When done, settle in for a great week in La Liga. (Hey, if I could buy Cruzcampo or Mahou in the states, I wouldn’t have to make sangria!)

And without further ado, CHI’s very own One Liner Guide to La Liga–Jornada 4
As always kickoffs are in Spanish time, (minus 6 hours for the East Coast, etc)

 

Menudo Partidazo of the week!

Barcelona-Sevilla Saturday, 22:00 La Sexta
Both had 3-0 games in the Champions League but on other sides of the win loss column, does Sevilla have what it takes to win La Liga this season?

The rest after the jump

La Liga Wrap Up–Jornada 3

Here is the wrap up for Jornada 3 of La Liga. I don’t have much time to write wrap-ups for the games, so I will attempt to link to a report of each game for you to enjoy. Once I have more time on my hands and an opportunity to watch the games this weekend, I will write my own reports.

Also, the reports are in Spanish. If anyone knows where to get a quality review of the game in English (minus The Offside where I get my Valencia, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletic ones, let me know)

As always we’ll start with the best first.

Sevilla 4-Recreativo 1
Sevilla: Kerzhakov 11′ (1) Kanouté 30′ (2) Kanouté 53′ (3) Kerzhakov 74′ (2)
Recreativo: Aitor 54′ (1)

Pushed on by 2 goals by Kanouté and 2 by Kerzhakov, Sevilla pounded Recre into submission. Kerzhakov had a chance on a penalty to score his second, but missed and netted his second of the game later. Recap with goals Recap

La Liga Para Todos Sept 11th–Palop signs for Sevilla, Happy Birthday Betis (cough cough), Pay me says Laporta

Lets get started shall we, I have too much homework to still do at 1:26am tonight.

—Andres Palop resigned for Sevilla a few days ago, but I just got around to reporting it today. He signed with Sevilla until 2011, essentially ending the now 34 year old’s career in Sevilla. He has expressed desire to end his career in Andalucia, thus his wish is our command. Palop has been essential in Sevilla’s success over the past 18 months and will be crucial in their run in the Champions League this year and in La Liga.

—That other team from Sevilla, Real Betis, turned 100 years old today. Feliz Cumpleaños Betis, but you still suck.

–The story that caught my eye today was always animated Barça president Joan Laporte saying that he is essentially sick and tired of having to loan players out for international duty without being compensated by their respective nations. He said ‘It is an embarrassment’ I don’t know about the embarrassment part, but it does throw a kink in things when one of your stars goes on international duty and gets hurt (ie Michael Owen in the 2006 World Cup) But for many it is a honor to play for their country, and it is one of the few chances that the players get to travel back home, so they take full advantage of it.

But as always La Palabra del día

Un crack-a great player, a superstar, someone that has immense talent.

Mira como juega Kanouté, es un crack.

La Liga Wrap Up–Jornada 1

The first Jornada of La Liga is behind us, and it was a weekend filled with some great football, but seemingly overshadowed by the current situation with Puerta in Sevilla. Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid was not televised anywhere as the cable rights war is still going on between Audiovisual and Mediapro in Spain.

Real Madrid 2-Atletico Madrid 1
Atletico: Agüero 00′ (1)
Real Madrid: Raul 14′ (1) Sneijder 79′ (1)
Atletico Madrid came out to a lead on a header by Sergio Agüero, but the Madridistas would not be stopped as they countered with 2 goals by Raul and by newcomer Wesley Sneijder to take the win. Leo Franco should have stopped the last goal by Sneijder, but was screened by his own player in the process.

It was a shame not to be able to watch the Derbi as they are always entertaining. I wanted to see Diego Forlan shine for his new club, and also see how the new Real Madrid team does under Schuster.

Sevilla FC 4-Getafe 1
Getafe: P. Hernandez 2′(1)
Sevilla FC: Jesus Navas 45′ (1) Luis Fabiano 66′ (1) Kanouté 69′ (1) Kerzhakov 81′ (1)

A goal by Pablo Hernandez in the 2nd minute stunned the Sevilla side at home in the Sanchez Pizjuan. Hernandez cooly slotted home a set piece over the wall and into the left side of the goal, leaving keeper Andres Palop with no chance.

Sevilla controlled the ball well in the first half, but Getafe looked determined to avenge their defeat in the Copa del Rey final, attacking fearlessly in the first 20 minutes.

The wheels came off the Getafe bus when Sousa was sent off with two consecutive yellow cards. One for dissent on a clear non-penality call, and the second for what the referee deemed a deliberate handball on a Kanoute cross. Cortez was then sent off for a horrendously late challenge on Diego Capel on the left hand side, putting Getafe 2 men down.

Sevilla mounted a comeback in the second half, scoring 4 unanswered goals on a powerless Getafe defense. Duda was without a doubt the man-of-the-match, whipping in ball after ball from the left hand side, contributing on 3 of the goals scored in the game.

The game was overshadowed by the incident with Antonio Puerta, who is still in critical condition.

Real Murcia 2-Zaragoza 1
Real Murcia: Mejia 16′ (1) Baiano 68′ (1)
Zaragoza: Oiviera 29′ (1)

Newly promoted Real Murcia took the lead on a goal by Mejia on a pass by Pablo Garcia. Oliviera countered with a chip over Murcia keeper Notario.

Zaragoza dominated the play in the second half, but couldn’t mount a sustained attack and instead played a possession game. Murcia took the lead for good on a goal by Baiano, who again was set up by Pablo Garcia.