Author Archives: Jimmy Burns

Nada quizá resumió con más intensidad  la tragedia de la salida de España de los Mundiales en Brasil que la instantánea de David Villa y Xavi Hernández, juzgados por Del Bosque  excedentes  a sus  requisitos , en el banco de suplentes. Villa ha marcado más goles en la Selección de España que cualquier otro jugador en la historia, mientras que Xavi Hernández ha sido la columna vertebral  de y de hecho ha definido  un estilo de fluido juego de ataque basado en la posesión y pases rápidos que pocos equipos …

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  Nothing perhaps summed up more acutely the tragedy of Spain’s exit  from the World  Cup  in Brazil than the  snapshot  of  David Villa  and Xavi Hernandez , judged by their manager surplus to requirements,   on the substitutes bench. Villa has scored more goals for Spain’s  national team than any other in history, while Xavi Hernandez has been the backbone and indeed defined a style of  fluid attacking play based on possession and quick passing which few teams have managed to emulate with such success, either club or national …

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  Watching Brazil’s last two games, helped me focus in thinking what a tragedy it would be were Vicente del Bosque’s team  to be knocked out in the early stages of this World Cup. For all the media hype surrounding the host nation in the run up to the tournament, this Brazil team has yet to convince me that they are worthy pretenders to the crown.  My scepticism is provoked  in large measure by Neymar, whose reputation has been fuelled less by any enduring evidence of his exceptionality than by …

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Just days after Rafa Nadal lifted the Roland Garros trophy in Paris, declaring Prefiero morir siendo valiente( ‘ I would rather die being brave’) , Spain’s national football team –the defending World  Champions- capitulated  without passion or glory to a Dutch team that played with fury and style. Nothing perhaps summed up the sheer humiliation of Friday’s game  than the utterly dejected, almost haunted face of Iker Casillas after letting through the fifth Dutch goal in the most crushing defeat suffered by La Roja since breaking with decades of underachievement …

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  El autor Vargas Llosa hace algunos años escribió que un partido de fútbol carecía de las cualidades estéticas de una pieza clásica de la música , sobre todo en lo que afecta a la inteligencia , la imaginación , el corazón y el alma. Como amante de la buena música y el buen fútbol se me ocurren  sinfonías y canciones cuyo eco en mi subconsciente me traen lágrimas de alegría o tristeza , y algo mas inexplicable,  así como partidos memorables,  no porque mi equipo ganó , pero porque …

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  The author Vargas Llosa some years back wrote that a football match lacked the enduring uplifting, aesthetic qualities of a classical piece of music, not least in what affects intellect, imagination, heart and soul. As a music lover and football fan I can think of symphonies and songs whose echo in my subconscious bring me to tears of joy or sadness, as well as matches memorable not because my team won, but because I saw football played nobly and creatively, turned into art form-poetry in motion- and because of …

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Atletico de Madrid are through to the Champions League semi final because their defence held out brilliantly, they were magificent in attack, have a solid team spirit, and a manager that has motivated team and fans and is a good tactician. FC Barcelona by contrast lacked all these qualities and were justly beaten on the night. But this not an end of  an era. Barca remains a team with quality players although psychologically it is finding it hard to not take its own  past success for granted. It has a …

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