Si! Si! Si! Nos Vamos a Madrid!!!

By: Cesar | March 22nd, 2008

Words can’t express the elation I’ve felt since Thursday over Valencia’s 3-2 victory over Barcelona in the Cup semifinal …
With the win, Los Che advance to the Copa Del Rey final, April 16th against Getafe.

I’m beside myself with pride, jubilation and happiness over the way our boys played … What happened to the drab, useless defense? Where did the sad-sack group wearing the Valencia shirts go? What happened to the Valencia I’ve grown to despise the last few weeks?

Out the window … in was a brand-new Valencia, a team playing for pride, for the fans, for something more than themselves.

We played with fire, we played with passion, we played with intensity … more than anything, we left our hearts on the pitch …

It was a classic Valencia performance, one that’ll define the Koeman era should he win the Copa and stick around for some time.

Why haven’t we played this way in the last few months?
What was Koeman waiting for??

Wow … I can’t remember the last time I cheered for Valencia this much, the last time I jumped up and down at great goals, efficient defensive play and pure football beauty, the last time Valencia CF made me so proud to be a fan …

I was about as nervous as I’ve ever been for a match, watching the match with Daniel at Nevada Smith’s, surrounded by about 300 Barcelona fans … me biting my nails, sweating uncontrollably, stomach churning … After Valencia went up 2-0, I thought, ‘It’s not gonna be this easy … they’re gonna make us sweat for it.’

And sweat they did. After Henry’s goal, I thought, ‘Oh no, here we go again …’ And then Juan Angel Mata answered with a brilliant piece of genius … They celebrated, we hung our heads waiting for the end to come and then BAM!!!! Valencia brought us back to life with a wonder goal … they made us believe again … and the Barca supporters got to watch us jumping up and down, reveling in glory for once …

OH! IT WAS GREAT!!!! IT WAS MAGNIFICENT … AMUNT SEMPRE!!!!!!

Can you tell I am still beside myself after that victory??

Some tidbits:

- Juan Mata is going to be a superstar. The kid just has SOMETHING about him.

Great pace, a sharp eye for goal and a never-say-die attitude.

The brilliance it took for the 19-year-old Mata, the 22-year-old David Silva (what a pass) and the rest of the team to respond to Thierry Henry’s goal with a quick strike 2 minutes afterwards was magnificent. The non-stop running, the salacious eye for goal … the kid has it all … he’s going to only get better, you’ll see. And anyone notice his slight resemblance to Wayne Rooney?? Physically, I mean …

Take a look at this video from the player’s celebrations and see how we *almost* lost Mata for the rest of his career!

He was almost tossed over the balcony at the Mestalla by celebrating players!! (Great to see Espanyeta celebrating with the players once again, as well …)

Now, someone tell me why Real Madrid let this kid go?

David Silva, Juan Mata, Ever Banega, Sunny, Aaron, Pablo Hernandez, Alexis … this team sure is stacked with good youth, isn’t it??

- I can’t say enough good things about our defense. They played with great emotion, tracking every player and contesting every ball. That’s the tenacious Valencia defense I remember from our glory years back in the 2001-2004 seasons.

Miguel ran after every ball (he made some silly mistakes but overall was very good), Marchena played like a man possessed and Maduro and Moretti kept the Bojan’s and Iniesta’s of the world at bay.

I have goosebumps just thinking about the way we played defense on Thursday …

- Stunning goal by Baraja … every time the old man revs up and gets ready to take a long-range shot like that, I cringe. Thursday, the ball sailed into the net and the emotion was stunning … check out this video package of highlights from the game to see Baraja’s goal and Mata’s two stunning strikes.

- I have to say David Villa was on fine form Thursday. He never stopped running, never stopped trying to create opportunities, never ceases to amaze me with his vision and quick reflexes.

I really hope he doesn’t leave. I’m almost resigned to it at this point. But let’s see what happens …

- David Silva played like a man possessed. If it wasn’t for Mata, he’d be my Man of the Match. He was EVERYWHERE, helping out of defense, starting runs on offense, passing the ball to Mata to set up the third goal … kudos to him on his fine play … he looked so out-of-form the past few weeks. Great to see Silva play like the guy we know and love …

- Koeman, what were you waiting for?? He had the team prepared to play. Let’s see how the rest of the campaign shapes up. I have to give it to the man, though. He made sure the club was prepared and hungry for the match. If he gets the team this fired up for every game, I say we keep the guy.

Results the next few weeks, especially our big match against Real Madrid this Sunday, will dictate the future course of action for the club.

I’m of the opinion that if the club looks as good as it did Thursday, Koeman stays. The team looked magnificent. We’d be challenging Madrid for the championship right now if we played like that all the time …

Kudos to Koeman and the training staff for a job well done …

So 9 years later, we’re back in the Copa Del Rey final. Our opponent will be a tough Getafe side, one that played in the final last year and a club we’ve done ok against this season.

An efficient 2-1 victory over Getafe at the Mestalla punctuated a solid week for our club back in September.

A 0-0 against them in Madrid in early February made us shrug our shoulders and sigh.

We’ll see how that goes … we have until April 16th to debate that one.

For now, it’s Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, the defending Spanish champions and current leaders of La Liga.

How will we react after the game against Barcelona? Will we come out all guns blazing, hoping to avenge the crushing 5-1 defeat from earlier in the season?

Or will we continue on this blazing path, Mata running his former employers ragged, the defense playing tenaciously against the vicious Madrid front line?

I’m not sure. I hope to see the latter. I hope Koeman has some more motivational tapes up his sleeve to play the lads.

Do we really need motivation against Madrid? They’re one of our hated rivals … one of the teams we should be gunning for all season … it’s a big game, especially after the delirium of Thursday.

For now, I’m still running on fumes.

SI! SI! SI! NOS VAMOS A MADRID!!! (Yes yes yes, we’re going to Madrid!)

Tomorrow at the Bernabeu, April 16th against Getafe for the King’s Cup.

It’s a good time to be a Valencia fan. Let’s hope it lasts past Sunday … AMUNT!!!!