Sabbatical

By: Cesar | October 18th, 2007

That was quite the long period of time between posts, eh?
No need to worry. I’m still alive and kickin’, ready to annoy people with my depressing posts about my favorite club from the Levante region of Spain.

There’s been a lot of news about our boys in the time I’ve been away.
Probably the biggest nugget of information regards David Villa, who said he was flattered at the winking and admiring glances Real Madrid have been making at him. According to dirt rag MARCA, Madrid are willing to offer up to 60 million Euros for El Guaje.
I’d miss the wonder striker, but who wouldn’t be happy with that kind of money? We’ll see how this plays out.

Later this week, former defender and current Real Zaragoza player Roberto Ayala told the Mestalla crowds to chill out and give coach Quique Sanchez Flores a break. “What’s happening right now isn’t surprising to me; I was there a long time and I know how demanding the fans can be,” Ayala said.

“But aside from everything else, I believe that the squad - and the trainer - have the capacity to dig themselves out of their rut.”

Ayala, who spent 7 years at Valencia, twice lifted the Liga trophy with us, having also captained Argentina a record 58 times before retiring from international football this summer.

I miss him. A lot. But he should worry about his team and not focus on us anymore.

Then, some great comments from goalie Santiago Canizares, who says the media loves his battle for supremacy with Timo Hildebrand for the top keeper position on the team.

“The newspapers and radio owe us for the amount of coverage that we’ve given them,” he told a local radio station.

“The ownership of the goalkeeping position generates so much talking and morbid fascination.”

Canizares has mixed views on the subject of competition for the goalkeeping position.

“Any footballer plays better when you have confidence on the part of everyone,” he said.

“For some positions, [competition] can be productive; for others, it will be less so. [Two goalkeepers] cause a division amongst the fans, colleagues and journalists, depending on who they want to play, and the various
functions and phobias involved.”

Canizares added that the occasional poor showings from the squad were “the responsibility of all.

“The team isn’t playing as expected, and in that sense we are all responsible: on an individual basis, on doing everyone’s job, and collectively.”

Canizares, a veteran of the Spanish national side, went on to discuss the current method of international breaks.

“I think it needs to change. I’ve been called up before, and everyone feels that ten days in a hotel for two football games is too much. And it’s very difficult for squads to organize for a year when two or three times they’ll lose players for ten days. [International] players live completely differently from those at club level and that impacts on the performance.
I think that there are better ways for a player to provide services to the national team, and without hurting the club.”

Interesting stuff from the now wise old man of the Valencia squad. One of my favorites and definitely a good sound bite.

This weekend it’s Deportivo La Coruna, a squad undergoing a wild transition from Spanish champions to rebuilders.

One of my favorite players, Javier Arizmendi, wonder striker extraordinaire talked at length about his former club Depor. He signed for Valencia from Deportivo this past summer. Depor must be rue the day they let quality of this sort leave their shores.

He believes that Depor’s recent history has seen them clash enough with Valencia to make encounters between the sides “derbies.”

The forward told garbage rag MARCA, “There’s a special rivalry here, greater than in most of the Spanish league.”

“For example, we remember the famous penalty from [Miroslav] Djukic [in 1994] at the Riazor that gave the title to Barcelona,” he said.

Indeed, that was a terrible day for Depor fans. With one minute to go in the final game of the season, Depor were all set to be crowned champions, only for Djukic’s last-gasp spot kick to be missed and send the trophy to Catalunya.

(Four years later, Djukic (pictured above) actually signed for Valencia, helping us win the league in 2002 and being a guiding hand in our runs to the 2000 and 2001 Champions League Finals. After Deportivo won the Spanish League title in 1999, Djukic said, ‘God exists, they deserve that. Now I have peace in my soul.’ A good player and currently head coach of Serbia’s Partizan Belgrade.)

Arizmendi knows the Riazor all too well, and has informed his Valencia teammates that, in Galicia, Deportivo are there for the taking.

“Increasingly, they’re gaining more points as the away team,” he noted.

“That’s striking, and the reality is that, at home, they’re struggling a bit.

“But my own time there was positive in every sense. It was there that I was given the chance to play regularly at Liga level (why??) and, for that, I’m eternally grateful.”

Arizmendi isn’t exactly known for being a prolific striker (you don’t say?), but he was asked for his thoughts on celebrating a goal in front of his former fans.

“It’s nonsense,” he puffed. (Because if Quique is smart, he won’t play …)

“The fans demand a lot of respect, and I do give respect, but when you score it’s a spontaneous show of euphoria.”

Let’s hope the game is shown in the States this weekend. AMUNT!