Category Archives: Blog
La Roja- Its not over yet
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 …
El buen fútbol , el Papa Francisco y Dios
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 …
On Football, Pope Francis & God
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 …
Barca needs to rediscover good football
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 …
La reina Isabel y El papa Francisco
La reunión de la reina Isabel 11 con el Papa Francisco – oficialmente descrita como una visita de cortesía – pudo haber carecido de la cobertura mediatica y estatus político de la de Obama , pero no era menos cargada de simbolismo potente. Este fue el primer viaje al extranjero en más de dos años del monarca reinante que a pesar de su notable buena salud física y mental ha optado sabiamente por una agenda oficial menos agitada acorde con su edad – Ella cumplirá 88 en poco más …
When the Queen met Francis
Queen Elizabeth’s meeting with Pope Francis- officially described a courtesy visit- may have lacked the razzmatazz or political status of Obama’s but it was no less charged with potent symbolism. This was the first trip abroad in over two years by the reigning monarch that despite her remarkably enduring physical and mental good health has wisely opted for a less hectic official diary befitting her age- She is 88 in just over three weeks’ time. A rescheduled day trip to Italy-at the invitation of the anglophile Italian president-afforded an …
Obama and Francis: A worthwhile encounter
In the feverish information highway of instant mass communication it was perhaps inevitable that the meeting in Rome between Pope Francis and Barak Obama should lend itself to a plethora of comment, not always conceived or delivered in a spirit of generosity Leading the cynical charge was the hawkish Fox TV whose panel of commentators suggested that the meeting has exposed a huge political and ethical gap between the two men on issues like abortion and contraception while failing to find common ground on anything of substance. One of …
Obama y Francisco- un encuentro valioso
Teniendo en cuenta la naturaleza de la autopista de la información febril de comunicación de masas era quizás inevitable que el encuentro en Roma entre el Papa Francisco y Barak Obama se prestase a una gran cantidad de comentarios, no siempre concebidos o entregados en un espíritu de generosidad. Liderando la carga cínica fue la línea dura Fox News TV cuyo panel de comentaristas sugirió que la reunión habia puesto de manifiesto una enorme brecha política y ética entre los dos hombres en temas como el aborto y la anticoncepción …
A Clasico worth savouring
Not for the first time politics rather that football drew out my earlier blog on last night’s El Clasico. But on the night I did share the following further thoughts with my followers on twitter. I counted only two Spanish flags- good to see Bermabeu stadium depoliticise nationalist issue with both teams paying respect to Adolfo Suarez hugely enjoyable thriller at the Bernabeu between two great teams pity Barca won with disputed penalties. this was a high octane match deserving of a clear win This was a match …
El Clasico-behind the hype
A Spanish colleague writing in El Pais suggested earlier in the week that tomorrow’s El Clasico could be an era defining match, with Real Madrid players determined to give FC Barcelona such a thrashing as to leave no doubt that supremacy has shifted back to the men in white as in the pre-Laporta era. It’s the kind of hype, not entirely unbiased , that one expects from the Madrid and Barcelona media in the run up to an El Clasico but a prediction which nonetheless is worth considering. On …
