Auf Wiedersehen Bernardo!

Recently I have decided not to bring my laptop to work. Apart from increasing my levels of concentration significantly, this has prevented me from reacting quickly to Internet-related events. So no email, no RSS reader, no chat, no sports news in the spare time. Today, when looking at the web after hours of no Internet, I was extremely surprised to know that Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster was fired by Sports Manager Pedrag Mijatovic. I think this decision surprised eveyone. In this post I will claim this was a very clever thing to do.

Real Madrid (RM) is, without a doubt, the most legendary football club. (It's perhaps the only thing I like from Spain, but that's an issue to be developed in another post.) Both players and coach are always under a great pressure: they're the best in the world and should win accordingly. Recent results have been quite disappointing, including a very unexpected elimination from the Copa del Rey. In addition to the bad game and subsequent bad results, serious injuries of key players such as Ruud van Nistelrooy and Mahamadou Diarra have complicated much the perspectives of RM. This is a really a problem because during the summer only Rafael van der Vaart was signed; obviously, some others should have been signed in order to cope with possible injuries and/or low performances.

The lastest defeat of RM was last Sunday, against Sevilla FC. The score was 3-4 in RM's stadium (the Santiago Bernabeu). Even if the team was able to get a 3-3 tie until the 80', the chaos in defense and a terrible referee made getting a victory impossible. Apart from the crisis in results, the same day of the game the president of the club (Ramon Calderon, who's elected by the popular vote of all the shareholders of the club) was in great trouble to get next year's budget approved.

All in all, these are complicated times for RM, even if the position in the Spanish league is not that bad and the team is still alive in the UEFA Champions League. Tomorrow there's an irrelevant UCL game against Zenit, but the real thing to come is the derby, against Barcelona FC, next Sunday. They have been showing a fanstastic performance along the league, displaying moments of great quality in their game.

The beginning of the end for Schuster was right after the match against Sevilla, as he said that "there is no way of defeating Barcelona; we'll do our best, but it will be most likely not enough." Terrible words to say if you're the leader of a great team. What kind of courage will the players put on the field if the leader feels already defeated?

So, today Schuster was removed from his position, in a quick move that put former Sevilla and Tottenham Hotspur coach Juande Ramos on charge of the professional team. Ramos' main credentials include a very solid perfomance while in Sevilla FC and the Carling Cup he won with the Tottenham. We all wish the best for Juande and RM.

Now, I think it was a very smart move. First, in this way the president and the sport manager show they're acting concretely during the crisis. They have saved their heads, at least for the moment. Second, it would have been way worse to change coach after an hypothetical defeat against Barcelona. To me, it would have felt like Barcelona deciding the fate of RM, something that certainly sucks. Also, in case of such a defeat, the new coach would have a great excuse, so to speak: the pressure for everyone would be less in case Juande gets a bad result in his second match in charge of the team.

My good friend Andrés Aristizábal (who is perhaps the only computer scientist that has a weekly sports column in a national newspaper) disagrees with me in this issue. He's a loyal Barcelona supporter and during these days before the derby he wonders for how many goals Barcelona will defeat RM. He says that it would have been better to change coach after the match, and that a defeat will affect Juande negatively for the rest of the campaign. He says prudence would have been advisable in this case. Any opinions on this important topic?

Soccer and Summer

One of the downsides of the summer is that there are no official soccer competitions. Actually, the real problem is that the sport press doesn't stop during the summer. Soccer news in the summer can be extremely annoying, as every single year it's the same thing, with all kinds of rumors regarding big teams signing new players.

Those who know me know that I am a supporter of Real Madrid. I won't elaborate here on why this is; I will only say that it's the best team of the world. In fact, Real Madrid is perhaps the only thing I like about Spain. (Actually I don't know why I don't like Spain in general, never had a bad experience nor a Spanish friend. It must be the fact that in Spain, as a Colombian or Ecuadorian immigrant you might get a free beating.) Because of Real Madrid, part of my daily routine is to give a quick look (not so quick when there's some important game) to the main sport newspapers in Madrid: As and Marca. Since most people in Madrid are RM followers, these newspapers usually only publish news related to the team. One of the beautiful things about soccer is that when you decide to support a team, you're automatically deciding to hate your team's rival. In case you don't know, RM's all-time rival is FC Barcelona. This rivalry follows the traditional one between the two cities, and comprises many things, including politics. Because of this, sometimes I also read the Barcelona newspapers, Mundo Deportivo and Sport. I enjoy doing so when FCB loses in pathetic ways (which is frequent). They also start stupid rumors about RM and its players, which are also funny to read sometimes.

This summer sport newspapers in Madrid and Barcelona have been especially annoying, and this certainly deserves a post. The story of the summer in Madrid is Cristiano Ronaldo signing for RM. I am so fed up with the thing that everyday I wake up wishing the story is over. My position in this is clear: I don't want CR in Madrid. Granted, the guy is an outstanding player, but it's my impression that he's not psychologically strong enough to become the best soccer player in the world. And RM must have the best players in the world. Just take a look in the way he kicked the penalty in the UEFA Champions League final. He was scared. Think about real extraordinary players in soccer history (say Zidane): they would have kicked that penalty properly, with confidence. Ronaldo was lucky enough that John Kerry did much worse than him kicking his penalty. Otherwise, Cristiano would have been remembered as the idiot that gave Chelsea the trophy.

Now let's turn to the situation in Barcelona. They have a lot of problems: they want(ed) to get rid of good (yet problematic) players (Ronaldinho, Deco, Etoo), there's a new coach, the president of the club has little support. However, the story of the summer concerns Lionel Messi going to the Olympic games. The club doesn't want Lio to go to the games as they coincide with the preliminary qualification round for the UEFA Champions. However, FIFA regulations say that the club must allow Messi to play with his national team. The player seems to be too shy to make his position clear, which I really can't stand. It's some sort of endless situation in which both parts (the club and the Argentinian soccer association) are right. Things are really annoying because there are lawyers and courts taking part of the dispute. The latest news is that Messi went to China (based on a decision of some court), but today a higher court said that FC Barcelona wasn't obliged to let Messi participate. The Argentinian association replied saying that there's no way Messi is returning...

All in all, I hope these two stories to reach a final. I really don't care how the things evolve. Really. I look forward for the beginning of the new soccer year, which should be exciting.