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Rijkaard forgotten in Barcelona

April 22nd, 2009 | By: Jan | 18 Comments »

When the dad entered Camp Nou for the home game against Bayern Munich, he said to his son: “One this is crucial. What ever happens…don’t cry. And don’t get nervous, ok?”.

The dad is a typical Barca-supporter. Always counting on the negative, the potential of a defeat. Even with the almost impossible magical football the fans are shown this season, some are still not convinced that their club is the best club of the world.

“Today, we suffer”, is an oft heared statement among the “cules”, the blaugrana supporters army. This statement needs revision, though.

“Are we going to enjoy ourselves again, tonight?” would be more logical, in particular after the demonstration against Bayern Munich. But, Chelsea and Hiddink will visit in a few weeks and the pessimism will hit home again.

Those eternal negativo’s from Barcelona still don’t have faith in a good ending of this season. The lead over Madrid is six points, but in three mediocre weeks, the fans saw the lead shrink from 12 point to four and got quite a fright.

Barca hasn’t won anything this season yet, but with Man United and Chelsea they’re still in the eace for three massive trophees: the CL, the title and the national Cup.

And even if Barcelona doesn’t win a thing this season, the football was outstanding. But you only have to see the hunger in the players’ eyes to now that they want to win everything they can. And with a vengeance.

Midfielder and architect Xavi: “I think that’s the difference with last season. A lot of players missed that particular drive, that hunger. They had won prizes with Rijkaard and that last bit of eagerness had gone.”

Xavi is talking about arrivee’s like Ronaldinho and Deco of course. And both are benchwarmers at their new clubs (Milan and Chelsea) today. New, hungry players like Dani Alves, Keita and Pique came in their place and no one in Barcelona talks about Ronnie anymore.

Eto’o was also told to move, but the Cameroon striker couldn’t get a deal and grabbed his last chance during the USA bound trainingstrip.

It seems he’s reborn now. A real menace for defenders. When he doesn’t have the ball, he’ll chase the opponent as long as it takes until he has it back. He says: “Rijkaard gave us all lots of confidence. He trusted us to discipline ourselves. And you know what football players do in those situations. But, Rijkaard’s method worked for years, but now under Guardiola there are no short cuts. It feels like I’m in an army unit. Every one knows what to do, how to do it. Like Clockwork.”

Johan Cruyff is still involved in the background in Catalunya and is seen as the consiglieri of both Rijkaard and Guardiola. “Barca plays tremendous football now, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t go well under Rijkaard. Rijkaard won La Liga twice and the CL Cup. Barcelona only won two European Cups and Rijkaard can claim one of those.”

Rijkaard did have the same attackers in his squad, but Guardiola has managed to lift Henry from a deep deep trough. The French striker had lost a plot a bit, after his wife left him. Messi is still getting better every season and is the best player on the planet. Eto’o, Henry and Messi scored 85 goals in all competitions this season, and counting.

Cruyff: “The club is strong now. We have a tremendous youth coming up, we have relatively lots of Spanish players in our group and a Spanish / Barca Icon as coach. We prove again and again that playing attractive, dominating football pays off. For the fans and for the results.”

Tags: Barca, Barcelona, Cruyff, Group C, Guardiola, Messi, Rijkaard

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Comments

By Tiju | April 23rd, 2009 at 12:49 am

Barack Obama the one and only one stupid american president.He spent some time with brian lara for developing the assholes game(Cricket) in America.We the indians are already suffering from this idiotic, stupid,pitch deciding,senseless game.its funny that some stupid americans wants to play this stupid game.
@finni Beware.there is a chance cricket could lead american sports in this century.

Posted from India

By Tiju | April 23rd, 2009 at 12:53 am

@jan this world is like that even JC will be forgotten.So life is like that new ones will replace the old ones its natural.We peoples will come and go like tourists but the world will stay here.So in mathematical terms we are the changing variables and he earth is the constant number.

Posted from India

By Jan | April 23rd, 2009 at 1:09 am

Tiju, are you sure you ain’t the Dalai Lhama? You’re wisdom astonishes me again and again! Your comments have a width to them… The rants on Kuyt, the insight in cricket and geopolitics and now your phylosophical laments…

But…the question remains: who will be JC’s replacement? Don’t say Marco van Basten. And most definitely don’t mention Castelen!!

By futbol | April 23rd, 2009 at 3:09 am

@Tiju
You are absolutely right. Life is compared with a morning dew.

By Ayl | April 23rd, 2009 at 3:25 am

… Cricket is a great game!! Up there with football, but still a way behind.

By Jan | April 23rd, 2009 at 3:36 am

Actually…JC was a very good cricket player as well. As Johan Neeskens was a very good baseball player.

By Tiju | April 23rd, 2009 at 4:15 am

@Ayl-Please analyse the game.Comparing foot ball with cricket is SIN.You dont know the stage of india, come to india and see how this game destroyed our country.dont worry about food and accomodation i will take care abpout that.
JC was too skilled no wonder he plays all games.
B/W Footballers can play most of other games but cricketers cannt.
@Jan if iam staying in holland MY son will replace JC ha haha
Castelen will repalce kuyt thats sure ha haa

Posted from India

By Carlos | April 23rd, 2009 at 4:16 am

Wow JC a good cricketer too ?? Amazing ! Bet he bowled medium paced inswingers and occassionally cut one away from the bat ? Or was he just a Googly bowler ?

Posted from Singapore

By Tiju | April 23rd, 2009 at 6:09 am

Once HITTLER told about this stupid game.”Ohhhhhh Five days within three days i will conquer another country”.
i think no one in this blog is much familiar with this stupid game than me.So let me say about my contrapoints on Cricket
1 pitch decding-three pitches batting pitch,Pace bowling pitch,spin bowling pitch.
2.Senseless-the initial action is inbetween earth/pitch and one player(the bowler)No inter action with opposite player directly.After striking with the pitch, the BALL will decide where to go.
3Lazy.among 22 players always 9 players will be out of the feild.another 10 players have to wait all these times-Pathetic
4.weight of the bat has role
5.Glowingness of the ball has role.
6.if any person bowls 110 MPH in speed nobody will survive.
7.A complete dry condition is needed.
8.In pace bowling pitch it will support pace bowlers only.Batsmen gets runs through gambling-again senseless,
9.In batting pitch-especially fast bowlers have to cry.(dead pitch)
10.Players need very good hight to do fastbowling.
11.against dwarf batsman its very difficult to bowl.if the bounce is much huge chances of no ball and extra.

I can give you hundred reasons against this game.but i am stopping now

Posted from India

By Jan | April 23rd, 2009 at 7:27 am

And I thank you for it

By Caleb | April 23rd, 2009 at 9:57 am

Haha, I love the bitterness against cricket, even though I don’t understand the game much Sounds a lot like America’s version of the game, baseball – another useless and boring game. But don’t worry Tiju, cricket will never lead American sports. Americans don’t like to change and will never replace baseball, football (American football), and basketball with cricket. Never.

Posted from Canada

By Jeroen | April 23rd, 2009 at 12:41 pm

baseball may not be the most exciting sport to watch, but it’s very nice to watch the game in a stadium. its the only sport i know of without hooligans, the atmosphere is really cheery and everyone is having a good time. it’s really laid back.
football is the most fun sport to watch, but going to the stadium can be a hassle. i dont even wear my ajax jersey anymore; there’s always that off chance that some utrecht fans will beat me up or an ADO fan will knife me. I am exaggerating but it is possible!

Posted from Netherlands

By finnster01 | April 23rd, 2009 at 3:23 pm

@Jeroen: As a frequent visitor to Yankee Stadium (the new one is plain out gorgeous BTW and a must visit for anyone coming to NY during baseball season), all you have to do is wear a Boston Red Sox cap and go watch the Yankees from the “Bleachers” (Red Sox does not even have to be playing, it doesn’t matter who the opposition is), and you will find out the hard way that baseball has it’s fair share of hooligans as well Unfortunately.

Luckily, most people wouldn’t try to do that in the first place, but every sport has idiot fans, including baseball.

Baseball is actually a good game to watch though, I enjoy it, took me a while, but it is a good day out. Will it ever rival football/soccer on a global basis? Of course not, but by the same token soccer will never take over any of the professional sports in the US in our lifetime, including hockey which is the least popular major one.

By finnster01 | April 23rd, 2009 at 3:28 pm

Van Persie won’t be ready for the first match in CL against Man U. His groin is still bugging him and Wenger has written him off.

By sonneveld | April 23rd, 2009 at 4:09 pm

Any of you guys watchin the NHL playoffs or do not care?

By Jeroen | April 23rd, 2009 at 4:59 pm

@finnster

the yankees – red sox rivalry is an exceptional one though . if im not mistaken, theres the same rivalry between the celtics and the knicks. boston vs new york in general . i dont know of any such rivalry between any other baseball teams. theres certainly no genuine ill feelings between the astros and the rangers in texas!

Looks like all the dutch players are injured again. It’s becoming pretty noticeable, which bothers me because the eredivisie may not be as physical as the premier league, but we do our fair share of bashing. im wondering why all our players abroad get injured so much. the only one who doesnt seem to get injured, and i know many of you will love this, is Kuyt. Some other, not so often injured ones, are v.d. Wiel, Ooijer, Mathijsen, Gio, en v.d. Vaart. it’s the creative ones who get knocked: robben, sneijder, van persie, van nistelrooy, and now huntelaar. Midas touch with an achilles heel.

Posted from Netherlands

By finnster01 | April 23rd, 2009 at 8:30 pm

@Jeroen: You are right about the Red Sox – Yankees rivalry and New York – Boston in general. There isn’t much love for anything Boston here and vice versa. A bit like Amsterdam vs Rotterdam really. The Celtics – Kicks isn’t much of a rivalry anymore though, because Knicks have sucked for about 10 years in a row, and Celtics are really good. A bit like men against boys at the moment, so a lot of New Yorker’s don’t care about it anymore.

@Sonneveld: Yeah I watch hockey. Rangers is my team and right now they are playing great against the Capitals in the playoffs but usually that means a loss in the next round if they can get through in the first place. A Rangers ticket is actually a much harder ticket to get in regular season than Knicks these days. It is also ridiculous expensive.

By Jan | April 23rd, 2009 at 8:43 pm

I love baseball! love watching, love visiting games. Been to see Seattle play (with that Japanese sensation in their ranks) and the Red Sox… Played baseball myself some time (first base, since I’m a leftie…). Great game!

And we play cricket here on Sundays. Lazying about, bbq, beer and a game of cricket. Good fun.

See Baseball and Cricket are nice games.

Football is much more. Someone once said Football is as important as life & death. He was wrong of course…

It’s much more important!

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