UEFA Cup vs. Club Brugges
By: Cesar | December 4th, 2008
Wish I had more time to blog today, but once again the Real World is stepping in and messing my life up …
So tidbits it is …
- We play a game today. A game, you say? Yes, Valencia CF isn’t just your favorite soap opera, but a soccer club that plays actual matches.
Today, it’s the UEFA Cup (known eloquently as the Euro Vase by the Guardian journalists)
against Belgium’s Club Brugge.
According to Wikipedia:
Club Brugge K.V. is a football club from Bruges in Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and is one of the top clubs in Belgium. Its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,997.
The clubs major rivals are R.S.C. Anderlecht from Brussels, and they share the Jan Breydel Stadium with Cercle Brugge K.S.V..
Club Brugge is the only Belgian club to have played the European Cup (forerunner of the current UEFA Champions League) final so far, they were beaten by Liverpool F.C. in 1978. They also lost in the 1976 UEFA Cup final to Liverpool.
Goal.com tips us to lose 2-1 tonight. Yay!
- But the fun doesn’t stop there. Once this game ends, Valencia has to prep for Spanish league leaders FC Barcelona. That’s two games in 48 hours.
Glad UEFA’s looking out for the players and not promoting fixture congest … oh wait …
According to sporting director Fernando, Barcelona declined a Valencia CF request to move the match to Sunday. Thanks, Barca …
Apparently, they have a Champions League match on Tuesday they need to prep for … a match against a team in a group they’ve already won … ya … ok …
- So guess who is included on coach Unai Emery list for tonight’s game?
That’s right, everyone’s favorite bartender/bar back, Manolo’s own Curro Torres.
- News that’s no surprise to anyone: Timo Hildebrand is history.
The John-Tesh look-alike left the squad by mutual consent today.
I think the guy wasn’t given a fair shake with the club, but it is what it is.
He won the Copa Del Rey with us and had a spectacular game in the nets against Barca in that tournament.
Santiago Canizares he wasn’t. But he deserved better than this. Good luck, Timo.
So who might replace Timo at Manolo’s along side Maduro, Hugo Viana and Curro Torres?
Word on the street says Tottenham Hotspur ‘keeper and former Real Madrid netminder Cesar Sanchez might be in the loop …
So let me get this straight: We have no money, we’re thisclose to bankruptcy, yet we have the funds to buy Thiago, chase Keirrison and buy Cesar?
Right. And I’m 50 Cent, #1 Valencia fan.
How about this? I stop paying attention to the crap MARCA and Goal.com spew at us.
I’m so tired of reading ridiculous rumors from these two web sites.
I need an ‘in’ at the club, someone who can come on here and set the record straight. Not some tabloid web site and their English language counterpart …
Having said that, what are the alternatives? I hate you, Goal.com. Let me make that clear …
- No news is good news? We’re at the same juncture we were at yesterday regarding Valencia’s bankruptcy. There’s news that Valencia mayor Rita Barbera wants to know the future owner of the Old Mestalla, while on the other hand saying Valencia is a private entity who shouldn’t be bailed out by the government.
I see this as a two-bladed sword. On one hand, Valencia is a private entity. But saying that, don’t they provide civic pride, a sense of community and jobs for people like Curro Torres and all the other people associated with the gaming staff?
Being an American, I know what it’s like to have sports franchises strangle hold a community for more money. The NFL’s Indianapolis Colts said, ‘Give us a new stadium or else,’ to the people of Baltimore in 1983. The people said no and while the city’s citizens slept, the team moved shop to Indianapolis.
This year, we saw the Seattle Supersonics become the Oklahoma City Thunder. A few years back, the Quebec Nordiques broke many a French-Canadian heart when they became the Colorado Avalanche and won ice hockey’s coveted Stanley Cup.
No one’s going to see that here. But to say Valencia CF isn’t as much a part of the community as the local museums and civic organizations would seem to me short sighted.
Anyways, a discussion I can’t expand on now as I’m pressed for time. But discuss in the boards, please!
- Last bit: Thanks to everyone for reading and for your comments. The site’s doing great. Readership goes up every month and we’re in the Top 15 of the Offside blogs! Keep up the good work and let’s hope our team gets out of these doldrums today and Saturday … AMUNT!!!!
Category: Team News
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Comments
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This is terrible news, im just glad they decided to do the op, they waited long enough for this.
The bad news is Moretti is injured too! So we are really short in defenders now. I cant believe Valencia didnt even try to appeal the red card for Marchena!We’re screwed. Another 6-0 ? Maybe a 6-2 this time as we are scoring goals.
Posted from
United States
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@ Steef
wo gast heb jij met Maduro gesproken? Dat wist ik helemaal niet man, damn volgende keer als wij beiden online zijn moet je me ff meer vertellen
Bedankt iig, kijk wat voor goeds er van gekomen is… kuch kuchPosted from
Switzerland -
Anyway some interesting news (at least according to goal.com) :
Juventus want to pay 20ME for Joaquin and 15ME for Mata.To be honest if anyone is crazy enough to pay 20ME for Joaquin then they can have him. If this was true then with 20ME we dont need to sell the other stars and we can get Kerrison (or maybe a reasonable temporary CB until Alexis is back) and still have 8ME in our pocket. We have Silva (I think he plays better on the right than the left even though he is left footed), Pablo and if both are hurt we can still play Angulo there.
However, 15ME for Mata does not sound very convincing. Personally I think at the rate Mata is developing he definitely would be better than Silva in 2 or 3 years. Silva has better vision and better short pass accuracy, but in terms of goal scoring capabilities Mata is miles better. Their crosses are almost the same too. I dont think we should lose Mata for less than 20ME.
Posted from
United States -
Today can be a great day. Valencia expected to endorse the title of the popular song by Joan Manuel Serrat and obtain the extension of credit with Bancaja. Although neither side officially confirmed, all indications are that the meeting will take place today that can unlock the conflict, in which the club disclosed to the savings bank’s identity future buyer of the plot. (From lasprovincias)…Also Zigic wants to stay with valencia,I am not sure why emery doesnt give him the second striker’s role ahead of morientes….is zigic’s salary high????)
releasing hildebrand for free saves us 4 million….Posted from
United States -
Fayez , I am sorry but you must be crazy.It would be madness to sell any player that has played a major part in putting us where we are and that is certainly Joaquin.He is our only player that seems to have the technique of taking the ball upfield and pushing off the defenders. He scores goals and he makes goals for others.Unless we are talking very silly prices, and that is not the case for Joaquin, he would be at the bottom of my list of `for sale` I cannot understand your reasoning, you are listed as Spain so I assume you are watching the games via Spanish big screen tv and not a minute rojadirect one on a computer….Almendras
Posted from
Spain -
Hi to 7amanito and Fayez, more on the subject. Pablo does not have to threaten Joaquin, Play them both.Pablo showed yesterday what a good ball-player he can be. Play him in the front line with whoever, maybe 2 others, then with Fernandes and Joaquin midfield,both strong players,we have the material to get the ball to them for them to score. We have struggled too often with just Villa up there and winning by 1 goal with a bit of luck.
The team played well yesterday and we cant sell anybody that we can use, look at the injuries we are suffering because of the 2 games every week system, thanks to tv mad FIFA. Have you noticed how they have split up the Uefa so the games are spread about instead of them all on a Thursday? Thats why at the moment we have only 1 day`s break before Barca….AlmendrasPosted from
Spain -
@Almendras, I agree, there should be some way in which we can incorporate both players into the offense. However, given Pablo’s youthful talent – don’t get me wrong, I love Joaquin – we can afford to let go of Joaquin if given the right price, and only if it is absolutely necessary for balance book purposes. On another note, I’ve just gotten word from my friend from Valencia, his advice for getting tickets for the Barca match on April 26 is to buy them online through: http://www.valenciacf.com/es/Taquilla/TaquillaPuntosVenta.html
Apparently you buy them online through La Caixa – local Valencia bank – and can pick them up before the match at various bank branches in Valencia. He also said they will go on sale online after the first of January. Hope this works out, seems like it will.Posted from
United States -
Lista de convocados
Porteros: Renan, Guaita.
Defensas: Miguel, Helguera, Albiol, Jaume, Del Horno, Maduro.
Centrocampistas: Albelda, Vicente, Fernandes, Baraja, Joaquín, Míchel, Pablo.
Delanteros: Morientes, Mata y Villa.
squad looks fine!!!
except defencePosted from
United States -
timothey,ive never known tickets to go on sale till just a couple of weeks before the game,id be suprised if they go on sale in january. for a game in aprill,still its spain perhaps they have moved the game and not told anyone
Posted from
Spain -
@ Almendras : I respect your opinion and I agree that Joaquin is a great and important player in the squad and I like him dearly, however you didnt quite understand my point and maybe I was not very clear about it. Of course i dont want Joaquin to leave BUT if someone comes with 20ME and wants to buy Joaquin then it is more than the price for him. We bought him a few years back in almost that price and he has given us a few years of service which were worth the difference between 20ME and the price we got him for.
Im not saying we should get rid of Joaquin for something like 10-16ME, of course not! But if someone is willing to pay 20ME on a player that provides the output of a 10-12ME player then why not(remember how much Real Madrid got VDV for).
So I dont want Joaquin to leave, but 20ME for him is more than he is worth. I am just being honest here and we need help with our financial situation. 20ME can get us a solid CB and Kerrison and a bit to spare, those two would be more useful than Joaquin at the moment.The team is going through hard times, and any incredible offer we get we have to consider it, particular in the positions we have replacements for. Im not saying its the ideal situation but thanks to Soler we are in this situation and we have to cope.
Posted from
United States -
@ Siva: Its quite strange that Emery got Michel to the game. I mean if we would play a 4-3-3 and he needed to make a sub in midfield who can he bring on? He should have taken Viana on the trip instead of Michel.
Posted from
United States -
@ Fayez,Lokking at the squad,There are more attacking players than defensive players.
i dont think emery will play a 433 rather 4231
renan
miguel albiol helguera/maduro delhorno
albelda baraja
jaoquin fernandez mata
Villawhich leaves jaume as the lone defensive substitute…
and either of helgura maduro..
michel/moreintes as a second striker…
pablo and vicente for left and right midfield…i would love to see him use 41212
with the same defence
albelda/fernandez in cm and cam
jaoquin on right pablo on leftmata and villa in attack
Posted from
United States -
Spanish Valencia signed a new shirt sponsorship deal with Swiss based online gaming company Unibet, which will replace the current sponsor Valencia Experience.
The club and Valencia Experience are currently in a legal dispute due to the company’s lack of payment.
Both companies, Valencia Experience and Unibet, will be featured on the club’s playing kit to the end of the 08/09 season, and Unibet will become the sole sponsor starting from the 09/10 season.
According to Spanish news reports Unibet will pay EUR 1.5 million for the remaining of the current season, and EUR 6 million for the 09/10 season.
Posted from
United States -
The above new has been put up on 29th oct 08…how come still we dont see the unibet sign on the shirts????
now u see how we got carleto!!Posted from
United States -
Hi, Yes i agree about michel. I am very concerned about the way the 2nd team are treated. They have taken years to struggle back into 2nd b. First thing they did was rob the goalkeeper(Guaita) and they look like being sent down again. They are taking Jaume and Michel both uneccesary for this match. If i`ve read it right today in Las Provincias Fernando has not given up the idea of another Goalkeeper but he hasnt taken his eye off the 2nd team. I dont know if that means he might draw another one from them. But he certainly wont be sending Gaita back.We are still suffering from the Koeman syndrome, what an evil man he was.He kicked out Canizares
who was an ideal back-up goalie. Valencia did not have the guts to get him to stay. I suppose they would rather lose games than lose face. Thanks for your reply Fayez,I still think Pablo would make a sparky forward..AlmendrasPosted from
Spain -
Check out the new shirt with Unibet, it seems the entire shirt will be changed…
Posted from
Switzerland -
ok dont know why it didnt work, but here is the total link:
Posted from
Switzerland -
@ Almendras: You’re absolutely right about Canizaries! I dont understand how the team let him go like that, I mean technically when Soler was out he didnt have any problems with the new management, so just let him continue his contract instead of wasting money like this on another goalkeeper as Timo has left. Its just terrible terrible management.
@ Siva : Well 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 he still needs a spare midfielder on the bench, if God forbid something happens to Albelda, Baraja or Fernandes he has no one to bring on to replace them. If he got Viana he would have had more options as Viana can play almost any of the positions in midfield and can still play slightly as a winger. Im just saying Viana would have been a better option than Michel (especially when he has Pablo and Morientes on the bench).
Posted from
United States -
This kit looks great! Just plain BAD! I’m getting one right now!
Posted from
Slovenia -
what time would you suggest getting to nevada’s for the barca game?
Posted from
United States -
the shirt SUCKS!!
and it seems that Messi will be in a holiday tomorrow! we will have to face a nightmare.. Del Horno was in pain at the end of the game last night.. so there you go.. big trouble!
Posted from
United States -
@Tim, be there at 330 … I will be in my black Valencia shirt! Hope to see ya.
Posted from
United States -
Our defense will be a stroll in the park tomorrow for Messi and co. I just hope it doesnt get too comical. The only logic way I see us winning this match is if our attackers are having a good day and their defenders (and especially Valdez) are having a bad one. Our defenders will definitely have a bad day by default so lets hope we can compensate in our attack.
Posted from
United States -
Well we’re done with this stage, at least.
Posted from
Spain -
very bad defence
Posted from
United States
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