Some consolations
Well, after witnessing the near-flushing of Newcastle and Independiente down their respective toilets, TDH finally enjoyed some mild footballing pleasures this week.
First Boca Juniors, which TDH need not despise anywhere near as much as Racing or River, beat Gremio in the Copa Libertadores thanks in part to an incredible goal from, as Mara would say, Riquelme, Riquelme, RIQUELME, RI-QUEL-ME! From now on, TDH thinks he will be known simply as Riquelmeooooooooool!
Yep, TDH was on the way to dinner at a fancy steakhouse when, from the taxi, one could already see hordes of Boquenses preparing to celebrate at the celebrated Obelisk, which marks the second founding of the city. This was before the match had actually started.
Then, on Sunday, the US came through by beating Mexico in the final of the Concacaf Gold Cup. TDH would like to say that our recent record against Mexico - Landon Donovan seems to be able to beat them singlehandedly - shows that we really are getting to the next level. But TDH will wait patiently until the Copa America provides further proofs. Naturally, we are yet again in the Group of Death. TDH is hoping to crush Venezuela in the final.
Speaking of which, television here in Buenos Aires is full of endless video loops of La Seleccion simply walking around the training pitch and being shouted at by the gravel-voiced Coco Basile, as Venezuelan soldiers with machine guns ambled about in the background. Fascinating. (By the way, you don't have to speak Spanish to enjoy that clip. Just listen to the man in the leather jacket. This is a show that appears every week, if not every day, on Argentine television.)
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So TH went to Barca. Is anyone surprised? The man already has more money than Oprah, and he wants to win silverware. Duhhhh.
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If we lose Michael Owen to f*cking Man City, then we will really be showing that we're aiming no higher than Bolton did under Big Ham. If we lose Michael Owen and don't use the money to buy a central defender, then we will really be the stupidest f*cking team on the planet.
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Finally, have a look at the end-of-season TDH stats on the right. It seems we've gotten ourselves a striker who's every inch Didier Drogba's equal! TDH must say, these statistics are a bit surprising. Okay, TDH didn't see as much of the second half of the season as usual, thanks to a lot of traveling, but really - Yakubu always seemed the more effective of the Boro heavies, and Berbatov appeared to be an utter genius. Who would have thought, though, that Bobby Zamora was the true star? Not everything's a surprise, of course; Lamps and Gilberto Silva still gave you good value for money.
First Boca Juniors, which TDH need not despise anywhere near as much as Racing or River, beat Gremio in the Copa Libertadores thanks in part to an incredible goal from, as Mara would say, Riquelme, Riquelme, RIQUELME, RI-QUEL-ME! From now on, TDH thinks he will be known simply as Riquelmeooooooooool!
Yep, TDH was on the way to dinner at a fancy steakhouse when, from the taxi, one could already see hordes of Boquenses preparing to celebrate at the celebrated Obelisk, which marks the second founding of the city. This was before the match had actually started.
Then, on Sunday, the US came through by beating Mexico in the final of the Concacaf Gold Cup. TDH would like to say that our recent record against Mexico - Landon Donovan seems to be able to beat them singlehandedly - shows that we really are getting to the next level. But TDH will wait patiently until the Copa America provides further proofs. Naturally, we are yet again in the Group of Death. TDH is hoping to crush Venezuela in the final.
Speaking of which, television here in Buenos Aires is full of endless video loops of La Seleccion simply walking around the training pitch and being shouted at by the gravel-voiced Coco Basile, as Venezuelan soldiers with machine guns ambled about in the background. Fascinating. (By the way, you don't have to speak Spanish to enjoy that clip. Just listen to the man in the leather jacket. This is a show that appears every week, if not every day, on Argentine television.)
---
So TH went to Barca. Is anyone surprised? The man already has more money than Oprah, and he wants to win silverware. Duhhhh.
---
If we lose Michael Owen to f*cking Man City, then we will really be showing that we're aiming no higher than Bolton did under Big Ham. If we lose Michael Owen and don't use the money to buy a central defender, then we will really be the stupidest f*cking team on the planet.
---
Finally, have a look at the end-of-season TDH stats on the right. It seems we've gotten ourselves a striker who's every inch Didier Drogba's equal! TDH must say, these statistics are a bit surprising. Okay, TDH didn't see as much of the second half of the season as usual, thanks to a lot of traveling, but really - Yakubu always seemed the more effective of the Boro heavies, and Berbatov appeared to be an utter genius. Who would have thought, though, that Bobby Zamora was the true star? Not everything's a surprise, of course; Lamps and Gilberto Silva still gave you good value for money.
posted by Daniel Altman at 4:36 AM
4 Comments:
Creo, TDH, que en ese corazón tan rojo hay también algo de azul y amarillo. Riquelmeooool, ¡que jugador, mamita!
Felicitaciones por la Copa de Oro. En México deben saber ahora quién manda en el norte. Pero bueno, en definitiva fue un trámite. Hoy empezó la Copa América y eso sí que es cosa seria.h
No puede ser... porque con el rojo, azul y amarillo tendria que ser de una republica bolivariana!
I've got to warn you, as well, that we're not bringing our best team to the Copa America. Missing will be the following top division players:
D. Beasley (Manchester City) M/F
C. Bocanegra (Fulham) D
M. Bradley (SC Heerenveen) M
S. Cherundolo (Hannover 96) D
B. Convey (Reading) M
C. Dempsey (Fulham) M/F
M. Hahnemann (Reading) G
T. Howard (Everton) G
O. Onyewu (Standard Liege) D
J. Spector (West Ham) D
Also missing will be our second division players from 1860 Munich, Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton. And of course, McBride (Fulham) has retired from international play. Meanwhile, Argentina arrives with its strongest team. It might not be pretty....
Hi TDH - any news on where Riquelme! Riquelme!! Riquelme, Riquelme RIQUELME!!!!!! will end up next season. I don't give a damn if Milan are slow enough already, I'd love him to join us.
Sam's got a tough job ahead of him. I think the most significant work will be getting rid of dead weight. He only needs two or three signings to make you guys a UEFA worthy team. But he needs to get rid of every bad influence and uncommitted player. I say he shouldn't sell Mickey Owen, but drown him in a bucket of water. The kid doesn't care and won't give his all for the Toon. you don't need that, especially if you hold on to Oba.
I think our injury record speaks very clearly to our need for at least three quality strikers (not including Dyer), so I am not ready to give up on the Owen-Martins-Viduka trifecta just yet.
Getting rid of bad influences, yes, absolutely - but who are they? We've already gotten rid of most of the head cases. Our major problem now is bad players who threaten to infect the rest of the team with their mediocre football.
Owen needs to perform to stay in the England setup, so I'm not overly concerned about his incentives... much moreso about his health.
I hear Riquelmeooool is going to Juve.
I have little comment on last night's Copa America opener, by the way. That the score was 1-1 after an hour was quite an achievement for United States C against Argentina A. Following that, the players were simply exhausted, and the team couldn't match the depth of the Argentina bench. All the same, it was fun to see supposed Boca prospect Eddie Johnson running at the Argentine defense....
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