As The Mestalla Turns

By: Cesar | January 17th, 2009

While Valencia CF fans worldwide struggle with the fact that President Vicente Soriano may not have the capital needed to maintain power at the club past February 1st, the Valencia Soap Opera continues … the show must go on …

And on and on it goes, with heroes (Soriano and Unai Emery) and villains (Juan Soler, Real Madrid); jilted lovers (Timo Hildebrand), dashing new heroes (Renan) and nostalgic ex-loves (Canizares and Aimar. Well, for me ok?) … we even have two dashing leading men (Villa and Silva) being wooed by other lovers (Barcelona, Manchester City, etc.) who remain loyal to us, monogamous to the end …

As The Mestalla Turns … where the fun never stops …

Some examples you say? Here we go:

1 – Former ‘keeper Timo Hildebrand told the German press yesterday he refused to sit bench at Valencia.

Funny. That’s all we saw him do this season.

The John Tesh look-a-like told the press about some of what he went through during his spell with us, declaring that despite reports, he never refused to travel with the team.

He did however, reveal that his relationship with Santiago Cañizares was far from good, and that he did refuse to sit on the bench. (whose relationship with Santi is good? Miroslav Djukic, anyone?)

Two days after doing so he apologized to the coach, and said today that his time at Valencia was, ‘a sum of everything.’

Hildebrand, who is currently training with his new side Hoffenheim in Murcia, terminated his contract with Valencia in December of last year, with Iván Helguera doing the same thing a few weeks later.

Jilted lover, ya think?

2 – Ivan Helguera. So this former Real Madrid muppet is now being wooed by David Beckham’s LA Galaxy … so I guess they could care less about winning the next few years. Although many would say that any ways, this news just confirms it.

Helguera is the character from the bad part of town (the Bernabeu) who joins the good guys (us) but infests said good guys with his pathetic-ness.

Thank our lucky stars his character was killed off …

3 – Renan. New boy done well. His character is attracting all the attention at the moment. Girls are falling at his feet. Men want to challenge him to duels and sword fights to see if he can withstand the pressure.

The 23-year-old made two vital one-on-one saves to deny Racing striker Jonathan Pereira during this week’s Copa Del Rey match against Santander and he was subsequently hailed for his performance.

“We had a lot of desire to win the game. I am satisfied because I played my part in the victory and I helped the team advance to the next round,” he told AS in an interview.

“I made two saves in a one-on-one situation and that gave the team the immediate boost they needed to go and win the tie.

“I am very happy because I was recognised for my contribution after the game and my teammates congratulated me,” he gushed.

“Little by little, I am feeling better. I’m grown more accustomed to European football now and I am convinced that I made the correct decision [to join Valencia].”

4 – Juan Soler and Vicente Soriano. One used to have power and wants it back. One has the power and wants to keep it, provided he can come up with the money. Think the TV show ‘Dallas’, only in Spain and about Our Beloved football club …

Soriano says he won’t abandon the club and that he won’t let our leading men leave.

The drama unfolds before us: Can Soriano make the money in time?

Will Juan Soler return to his old stomping grounds, destroying any progress we’ve made since he departed in 2008?

Will another power player like Juan Villalonga jump in to save us?

Only time will tell. Tune in next week. Same Bat time, same Bat station …

5 – The former diva who turned into a not-so-cute girl (Joaquin) is slowly turning into a pretty cute diva again.

The former Real Betis man has never really hit the heights expected of him since joining us, but now, with Unai Emery in charge, he says he is finally enjoying himself.

“I believe that, right now, I am enjoying myself and clearing all those things from my head that, when stuff is not going well, starts to bother me,” he told Spanish rag MARCA.

“I am comfortable; confidence is something that I have always had in football and it seems that things are changing, and besides, the team is doing very well, which helps.”

His character just gets more interesting by the week … that toothy grin helps …

I’m sure there are more storylines …

For example, there’s our struggle to get to the Champions League next season, which can be compared to applying for a shiny new job or a promotion at a current one.

There are characters who have died off, such as Pablo Aimar, Ronald Koeman or QQ Sanchez Flores who we might run into one day in the future.

There’s our defense of the Copa Del Rey, which we might not focus on but would be an incredible source of pride to win at our stadium.

And on and on it goes … You get the drift.

It never gets old. It never ends. And it certainly never gets boring ….

By the way, did you know we play tomorrow? I almost forgot … (I went off on a tangent there, didn’t I?)

It’s Athletic Bilbao at the San Mames, a hard stadium to play in on any given Sunday.

They’re 11th in Spain with 23 points, 11 behind our boys, who lie in 4th place with 34. They’ve had their problems the last few seasons, teetering on the edge of La Liga viability. Somehow, they confound the experts and manage to stay in the First Division. And this season, they’re doing quite well.

Should be a tough match, especially since David Silva and Raul Albiol will miss the game.

Top that off with the fact Miguel will miss the match for attempted murder and we’re in for some trouble.

Look for Vicente to get a run out and maybe even Curro Torres, who’ll miss a paying shift plus tips at Manolo’s.

Still, I think we’ll win the match and close out the first half of the season with 37 points and a spot in the Top 4. Not bad after last season’s debacle.

That’s not all. Besides the match at Bilbao this Sunday, Our Beloved have another episode of ‘As the Mestalla Turns’ scheduled for Wednesday, when Sevilla invade our terrain for a match in the quarter finals of the Copa Del Rey.

A juicy tie. And one I’d love to watch.

Unfortunately, I’m off the grid for a few days as I’ll be in Washington, DC, the fine capital of the USA to see President-Elect Barack Obama un-hyphenate his job title and become President Obama.

How close will I come to the leader of the free world? I doubt very close. But it should be a fun experience, nonetheless.

And if anything, it’ll provide more fodder for the TV show. I’ll be wearing my Valencia kit while Obama gets inaugurated … AMUNT!