For the love of the beautiful game

What I miss the most about Football is cheering for it. I miss staying up in the early hours, my hands sweating with anticipation, that tingly feeling in the stomach, the alertness in my brain readying myself for anything and everything that could happen in 90+ minutes. I miss cheering, crying, laughing, hating—all the addictions of a football fan. I tell you, being a football fan is more than the cumulative effect of the upper and downer drugs in the world. The feeling of community from football fans from around the globe is beautiful. It is on times like these when I believe in the power of humanity. You see, even if we are so far apart, we have a common love; Football is a beautiful game. 

He's Gone.

It's official. Strange, I feel...nothing. Perhaps it is because I have already said my goodbyes. Or maybe it is just the initial shock. He's truly gone. Goodbye Skipper. An era has ended in the Emirates. Goodbye.

Of Friends and Football

Tinkerbell tweeted me that Princess T-Rex invited us to her palace…

So I had to go to the reviews because this is an opportunity I must NOT miss. And we were already thinking of all the great fun we’d be having…

While we were pretending to listen to the rationalizer, we were like:

all the wonderful happy sparkly stuff we’ve been imagining…

.

UNFORTUNATELY for me, I was not able to join the “party”

BUT went to the mall with my mom and my (EVIL) sister instead

just kidding, the mall-thing went great

And then night fell and I watched MESSI be awesome during the champions league finals:

And oh yeah, Barcelona won

And Abidal lifts the trophy (teary eyed moment)

Which makes ARSENAL the only club to beat BArcelona in the champions league

So in the end it turned out okay, even if i did miss the “party”

disclaimer: superbly amazing GIFs not mine FYI

PS: this post is in reply to keropi’s post. heheh. xD

and to Princess T Rex and Wise Grandma

Remember when you fell in love with football

from: inbedwithmaradona

Football improves my european languages skills

For example,
"Puta Madre" was shouted by Cesc
That translated= Mother Well-you-know-what-comes next

Or the British style english
"F***ing what! What! F*** you!" which Wayne Rooney screamed at the Tv cameras

And who could forget Didier Drogba's shout of "F***ing disgrace" which is now a classic.

Hugo lloris shouting incoherent French bad words which I will soon research. hahaha. I got merde out of that rant.

And german words I shall never forget:
"Scheisse" "Gottverdammt" "Dummkopf"

love football.

Football keeps me up at night and early on the next day.

11:00 on a Sunday night and I am faithfully stationed in front of my computer, waiting for live streams from football matches around Europe. Time and date ceases to matter. My state of anxiety is on the moderate scale; focus narrowed on only this game and nothing more beyond that. This is my life right now. And if things go as I planned, I'd be doing the same thing in the future. Maybe even be writing about it as a professional. God I love football. So much passion and life in one sport. It keeps me alive during the dull dreary moments of my life. 

The above photo is my future workplace(one could dream). I've been a fan of Opta for a while now and I've loved how they get the most accurate statistics about football to keep fans and journalists informed. One of my favorite bloggers got a visit to the headquarters and he tweeted that it had monitors where you can watch and compare videos of any and all things related to football. Imagine that. Simply heaven. 

Turning prudish

The media has apparently placed Cesc in such a high pedestal that he isn't even allowed to curse/swear. Every "bad" move he makes gets into the newspaper. Fact is, swearing/cursing is not unusual in football, its a pretty common occurrence.  Here's what I think: If I was watching that game along with the 60,000++ fans, I'd probably be cursing the referees. Things just come out in the heat of the moment and if I am not mistaken, it was not only Cesc swearing but the rest of the team too. IT was clearly offside, that was indisputable. The reporters just put the spotlight on him, and so did that freaking manager from that other team which I now officially hate. I obsessively read about the issue in a lot of newspapers and most of them had no qualms in lambasting his character. It must have been a slow news day. Didn't those guys notice our dear little Russian rise from the ashes with a splendid goal?! Didn't they notice how well we've fought back during the second half?! The way they've been putting too much focus on that issue angers me. Cesc is a human being, a human being=someone with emotions, someone with emotions+heat of the moment(esp. in a very obvious offside goal)=angry diatribe. Have some sense. Here's a great piece from arseblog: Putting some sense into it

Robert Enke

He was Germany's number one. He loved the beautiful game. Enough to make him forget awhile his problems with depression. The man felt the need to hide his issues from his friends and showed an outer persona without problems but he felt it deeply, and it was deep enough that he was unable to pull himself out of his self made grave. There are so many things to love about football but there are downers too. This problem that Enke had was hidden away because he felt he would be discriminated among his peers. He was experiencing what each of us have felt at least once in our lifetime. And knowing how hard it strikes, it is not easy to experience it all by yourself. He was unable to cope and took his own life.

A tragic tale for a man with such a bright future ahead. I guess success can never really be measured by what you've accomplished, Enke was a successful man but it was the loss of his daughter and the potential loss of another that led him to his demise. Football can give you anything, but it can't give you everything. He was just coming home from training when he decided to commit suicide. Suicide, that ultimate act of giving up. I can imagine the temptation, that need to just end everything because life was getting too unbearable. It's a terrible feeling. And I hope that this issue is being addressed by people all around the world, not just by the football association. 

Depression is a terrible virus that can never be cured alone. 

A simple call for help is enough for people to lend a hand, a shoulder to cry on and ears to listen to. 

On the field and out of it, love and friendship must be on hand, isn't it why they call it a beautiful game? It bonds people from all walks of life. That's the most special gift any sport can give.

Is Football Afraid of Gay Men?

On the field are 22 players of strong men. There are two teams, and on each one, 10 kick the ball around the field, 1 stays between the posts. The whistle blows, a red card is given. But to what you may ask?

To homophobia.

A recent news story broke about a football player who was fired from his club because he admitted being gay. This is just one of the few and rarely talked about taboos in football. Being gay is equated to committing a crime of treason to the beautiful game. The game is played by real men, it is manly, and it is not for lily livered men. It is exclusive for pure men alone. But is that how you really define men?

Male football players’ qualifications include that you can play football and male; so, if you put yourself in the gay category, you cannot play football. And if you do want to play, shut up about it.

This has been the way football has faced the issue of homosexuality for years now. It is a stigma, it must not be spoken about, and it is shameful.

Archaic, a word that aptly describes football’s views on such issues.

One man came out, though. He proudly stepped forward and claimed to the world he is gay. But he ended up committing suicide. There was too much pressure everywhere. Football is not yet ready to accept such openness. His name is Justin Fashanu, he was taunted and bullied; just like a little kid in a big boys yard. In 1998, he committed suicide, In his suicide note, he stated: "I realised that I had already been presumed guilty. I do not want to give any more embarrassment to my friends and family." He was accused of molesting a young kid, and even before sufficient investigation was done, he was already branded a criminal because of his questionable sex. He was gay.

After that, a pro-homosexual community awareness was set up for football. The need for action was taken in consideration, and a few brave others came forth to fight for it. But after a few years, it slowed down to a trickle. It was not enough. Homosexuality still remains a stigma.

Just a few weeks ago, news came out of a football player who was sacked because it was found out that he was gay. His defence, “I only want to play football with my friends”. The fans were outraged. The higher-ups feathers were ruffled. Unhappy fans mean slower business; we must take action to appease them. They started a viral video campaign inviting the world’s biggest football stars to be a part of the video.

The result?

Discomfiture, Reluctance. And the video was postponed.

These stars lead the game to its heights of glory, but in issues regarding their fellow players’ sexuality, they are not brave enough to stand up and end this stigma. It is unfortunate, but so far, there are reasonable excuses for their disinclination. Gay, Faggot, Fairy, Poof, these words are the worst thing you can say about a football player, and it’s the lowest form of insult for them.

We look up to these players as our heroes, yet they are not brave enough to slay the dragons among them; these dragons which include the issues of homophobia and racism.

It seems football wants to take things one step at a time, right now, they are fighting for racism in a perfunctory manner. Team captains reading aloud, pre-made anti-racism essays is not enough to stop racism, if that is the way football’s governing body is handling that issue then how well do you imagine they would do the much more sensitive issue of homosexuality?

We cannot wait for these little baby steps of football towards these issues, big steps must be taken. They must be brave enough to tackle this issue actively because homophobia exists, they cannot deny it nor can they hide it. It will come out. And day by day, these issues are taking on a snowball effect. Anti-gay abuses, taunts, and bullying do happen. Even just plain accusations are enough to shatter a man’s psyche, enough for him to walk out of football because of humiliation. Active support must be done. Actions have long been overdue. Fans everywhere are campaigning for the cause. We need the players to step forth and support their fellow team mates; we need the Football Association to permanently remove the stigma. We need change now. 

football in august

I haven't updated this blog for a long time since i got too satisfied with just reading and commenting and watching the news in the world of footy. But here's an update of what happened in August (as far as i can remember):

A trending topic on twitter was craig bellamy, a former manchester city player who got loaned to his hometown club in ireland, cardiff. This felt inevitable since there have been rumors that Bellamy and the club have not been going on too well, but this could also be a great loss for Man city since Bellamy was one of the key players in the club.

EPL and Bundesliga officially begins this month, that means I'm going to be stuck watching streaming all night long, if possible.

Mesut Ozil is now in Real Madrid. Whoah! shocker! Apparently, it only took Jose Mourinho to convincw Ozil to leave Werder Bremen. This is going to cripple the latter and is a great asset for the former. Jose Mourinho is strengthening his team because of the loss of Kaka due to an injury.
The funny side of this story was that Ozil once mentioned in an interview for his official website that his favorite club in spain is Barcelona...lmao, but when he talked about it in his first official press conference in Real, he said that real Madrid is like the world's biggest club. Epic Fail. His site needs to be updated, and that interview deleted immediately, The chosen one is not going to be happy.

Two of my favorite German Players are in Real madrid right now, Sami Khedeira and Ozil.

on the Cesc fabregas transfer rumor, which spawned a lot of hate from me towards Barca players, Cesc is staying as captain for Arsenal. Hear that Barca? HE.IS.STAYING. how many times must you be told so you;ll just understand that?! A lot of players like Puyol and Xavi have nagged to the media about Cesc, btu he remains in the Gunners...for now. I hated the way they talked about it in the media, like Cesc really hated Arsenal, when he is the freaking captain...i mean, wth right?!

Meanwhile, in French Football...laurent Blanc suspended the world cup players for the first friendly match which they lost 2-1. FFF gave suspensions to these players, who were accused of being ringleaders:
Anelka-18 games (he totally laughed it off, saying they are clowns, for not getting over the issue)
Ribery-3 (he whined that all players should have been given suspensions)
Evra-5
Toulalan- 1 (this made me go..whaaat?! but the explanation was that he was directly involved in the writing of that memorable document that Domenech read to the press expressing their "joint" agreement to boycott)

Somethings wrong with France's top clubs, Brodeaux, Marseille and Lyon as they are currently on the bottom  in the rankings, they lost their matches, but let hope not be lost since it's just the beginning and knowing football, a lot of things could still happen. (Currently crossing my fingers for Bordeaux).

In Germany, Bayern Munich continues their winning streak (as usual, I mean, with players like Basti, Muller, Poldi and Lahm). Schalke is still vying for number 1 spot, although my favorite club is experiencing financial difficulties since they want to get more players to partner with Raul (yehey! a veteran from Real Madrid), but due to current constraints can only afford to offer a few million. But hear the good news, they got a new captain----> ducky! Manuel Neuer is Schalke's new captain!! Number 1 goalkeeper!

David beckham's retirement in international has been announced to the press by fabio capello....unbeknownst to the poor guy. Becks retorted by saying that he'll still be available for playing in case his country needs him. Hm, i sense he felt threatened. Rumors began cropping up that he could be transferring to an England club just to take back his slot in the three Lions. Rumors remain untrue to this day.

what else?!
too many!

so much news, so little time.

Thank goodness for Goal.com, dirtytackle, the offside and all the other football blogs that kept me updated!

Snapshots: Girondins De Bordeaux

Oh Bordeaux! Le Magnifique!

Jean Tigana shows his worth as Blanc's successor for Bordeaux. The club has already won 3 of all their 3 friendlies. I love that they seem to be working pretty well on the attacks and using the players consequently at every point in the game. Gourcuff, my favorite French player, is back in midfield and displayed some amazing attacks and kept possession of the ball during their latest match against Legia Warsaw. Their victory was indeed glorious when they got 4 goals over Legia Warsaw. I hope they continue this streak and get to win the Ligue Championships like in 2009! So what if Chamakh is gone?! They still have Gourcuff and as long as everyone displays good teamplay, they can handle any other Clubs! Jean Tigana, you are now one of my favorite coaches! (Jogi, Maradona, Blanc and Tigana!)


ARTICLE: Beautiful 4-1 Victory over Legia Warsaw

The controversial Capello Index

Fabio Capello has devised a rating system that ranks the top players according to their performances in the World Cup, League and Club games. I just googled the website and it is still present despite claims that it has been taken off. Once you access the website, a disclaimer appears:

"The Capello Index cannot, and must not, be summarised as "The vote given by Capello" to the players, but is the result of a system which is capable of analysing and evaluating the actual performance adding various scientific variables"

What happened to FA's claim that it will be taken down?! And who cares if Capello publishes that sort of Index. Every coach must have a sort of index about how he ranks football players but this system was deemed questionable because England itself has one of the least number of players on the Top 100?! It is kind of an embarrassment for England NT but remember that they really played a poor game in the world cup. I've seen the way it works and though it's not as good as Castrol Index, it seems okay. The Top 5 were notable players who really showed their worth and everyone who watched them play know that they were the best in the field. But of course, this rating system may be influenced by Capello himself and not that reliable. But poor England NT players, not even their manager shows them much love. Thank goodness Raymond Domenech did not make his own Rating system for France! hahah

Ducky.

...who i think is one-off better than Casillas (in Golden Glove category) as a Goalie because, darn it, he had more clean sheets, more saves and an effing better performance than iker/stekelenburg/cesar/lloris..and it's his first WC!!!

PLUS: I heart him! Go Schalke 04!

Go team Germany!

My favorite team after France...LOL. 

My Favorite Football Websites

RedCafe

• The Leading Manchester United Forum. This site not only deals with Man.United itself but of anything football related in it's forums. I love reading and joining in the conversations with other fans who are as passionate as football as I am! I stumbled on this site when I was looking for more news about Yoann Gourcuff and the France NT, the discussions dealt with not only the obvious issues but also about other underlying ones that some sportscasters deemed too delicate to discuss! Plus I get links from scanned articles of local newspapers and links to other football blogs. And the fans are really accommodating here too!

Fifa

• During the World Cup, I was a constant visitor at this site that I reached the level of team captain in the Activity Meter . I also loved their match casts and enjoyed chatting with other fans in the Fifa club. I made quite a lot of international friends here! Plus there was the Panini Virtual Sticker Album which I went crazy about and Redcafe.net forums helped me complete it!
• The bad thing about this site is it's rather biased on Federation issues like Sepp Blatter and the goal line technology. 
• But they get great photos just seconds during a match! And VIP interviews with players, coaches and notable people in football too!

Dirty Tackle Sports Blog

• I deem this site as the blog of all football blogs! Not one but at most 4 writers are involved in making this site possible. Brooks Peck, who I follow in twitter, and we once exchanged tweets during the WC =0000, writes with a wicked sense of humor and witty cynicisms about the world of football. I also loved that they got cool photos, videos and links to other sites. 
• The best thing about this site: news+wit+humor approach in news writing.
• Bad: to diehard footy fans who are pretty sensitive regarding casual insults about any and all things football---do not enter! haha!

Kickette

• As a certified Kickette myself, I give this site the 5 star treatment. For those who love the players as much as they love the game. Sometimes, football makes me feel like I'm turning into a guy (Ugh), I was even mistaken as one! This site cleanses (?!) me... Where I can release my football fantasies of my beloved Football hunks.
• A guilty pleasure. Kickette is like the entertainment TMZ of the Football world. The veritable number of Football players in all their naked glory (and gory--they feature some not-so-hot men ballers too) will leave you salivating for more. LOL. This is getting out of hand. Kickette has this much effect on me. They got WAG and Baby Ballers new too! and their community is just wonderful! Fan Photo Submissions are the best!
• For all the still-girly-girls like me who love football!

The Offside

• I'm new at this site but when I google about football clubs, this always comes up. And judging by their cover stories of various football leagues, this site is worth seeing! I've been looking for a site that covers the football clubs in all the leagues and this site does it and more! It has all the news I was looking for so this certainly goes to my top lists of favorite footy blogs.

Other Websites worth Mentioning:

• UK's Mirror Football
• Who Ate all The Pies?
• Football Report
• Premier League Blog
• Girondins de Bordeaux Official website
  
• Schalke 04 Official website

pre-season friendlies and transfer talks

transfers:
Thierry Henry to New York red bulls...say what?! Titi is unfortunately gone from Arsenal and is now in New York to "try to win another trophy". Tsk* I really have reservations about American football because I don't think they really could get the real potential of their football players.
While Titi is in the states, it's Bocanegra in France. He'll be playing for Saint Etienne.
Landon Donovan from LA Galaxy to Everton.
Xabi Alonso transfers to Real Madrid!!!
On the other hand, NO arsenal for Gourcuff. Sad. Chamakh was really expecting him to be signed but apparently, he was too expensive for them. So I guess that discontinues the bromance between the two.
Neuer says No to possible transfer and remains LOYAL to Schalke 04.
And of course, the battle between barcelona and arsenal for Cesc Fabregas. Arsenal is not willing to let him go without a fight, i daresay it's high time for Cesc to decide what to do and not leave us hanging. Hopefully, he'll transfer...it'll be good to be in a new club for more exposure and a different experience. =)


Pre-season Friendlies
 It has started! Although the updates I received need to be translated...I'm presuming that my favorite Girondins de Bordeaux is going strong and it's international players are back in training though not yet playing.
Meanwhile, some clubs are keeping their international players, fresh from the world cup, away from the field. I suppose they'll let them play only when needed. They need all the rest they can get. The world cup was quite grueling both mentally and physically.

Keeping out the ball

Casillas and Neuer. Those two really showed their worth at the World Cup. One went on to become the world champions and the other was missed in the third place match. How hard can a goalie's life be? When you're protecting that net to keep away any attempts from the opposition for scoring, you have your team's life at risk. I love seeing goalies like Casillas and Neuer at play. They have this tendency to fly in any direction to stop the ball.  Flying in football? Just one of the many amazing stunts this beautiful game has to offer.

And then the one where I really want to see Gourcuff play some real football

Gourcuff. I don't like him just for his looks. I want his incredible footy skills that got him called as "Petit Zizou" What happened? I never saw him spark in the world cup, to be fair, neither have Messi, Ronaldo and KaKa been on their prime too, but you know about great expectations. It was a real disappointment. Hopefully, this club season will prove to be a brighter prospect for Gourcuff. He may have regained his skills in the field and to put away the (rumored) tug-of-war in transfer prospects. I want to see him play like when he (and M. Chamakh) led Girondins to the Ligue 1 championships. Is that too much to ask?!

Here's Football!

It's no wonder I take absolutely no interest in my studies when I'm still fresh from a World Cup hang over. Even the jabulani and vuvuzela's have been missed. Terrible. And as I am still in the middle of football nostalgia (which I shall soon overcome), my priorities in life has been on the zigzag track to nowhere. Argh. I miss football. I miss the German NT, the drama of the FRench NT, the proud Brazil NT, Wacky Maradona and even C.Ron. FOOTY!