Category Archives: Blog
Mourinho’s amnesty
The Spanish Federation has amnestied Jose Mourinho, and Barca fans are up in arms- well, all it seems, with the exception of Joan Laporta. The former Barca president said the federation chief Angel Maria Villar used his prerogative as newly re-elected president of the Federation to act on the side of generosity. One can only presume that Laporta speaks as he does because he suffers from selective memory failure. The Federation it was that eventually turned a conciliatory blind eye to Barca when the club was sanctioned, then forgiven, for …
Why La Roja is more than just a football team
Of La Roja’s victory over Italy in the final of Euro 2012, much has been written already and having not kept silent myself during the tournament (blogs, twitters, articles, interviews) I would like to simply conclude my coverage with a few points of my own. La Roja is much more than a football achievement. It is a political, social and cultural phenomenon which Spaniards should recognise and take pride in. A country that has suffered the humiliation of being reduced to being one of the beggars of the Euro crisis, …
My faith in La Roja,my Italian priest, and Captain Terry
The Italian priest at the end of mass this morning got me to identify myself as the only Spaniard before announcing to the congregation that the Azzurri would tonight “crush” La Roja . I replied that Santiago (St James, Patron Saint of Spain) , and the Virgin of Montserrat (patron of Catalonia) might have had their own communication from God and come up with a different prediction. In truth I have no certainty which side tonight has God on its side although I did say a prayer for La Roja …
La Roja keeps the faith
Vicente Del Bosque is a wise man,generally understated in public who does not believe in courting controversy But even he must be finding it somewhat irritating to find himself having to defend La Roja’s reputation from its critics. Boring, they say. A lesser man, like Jose Mourinho would have no doubt thrown not just one tantrum by now, but several. The fact is that La Roja is a match away from setting a new record in world football. Success in Sunday’s final would mean that it will become the first …
La Roja needs an element of Furia
Watching the England-Italy quarter final yesterday Spanish coach Vicente Del Bosque might well feel tempted to feel vindicated in his defence of La Roja’s performance in this tournament so far. But Del Bosque is a wise man, who guards against complacency while knowing the importance as well as limitations of self-belief of La Roja. The game was played at its most physical-the soccer ‘con cojones’ which the first English pioneers brought to the Rio Tinto mines near Huelva and the port of Bilbao the Basque country, and which became synonymous …
La Roja : no conspiracy, just insufficient self-belief
Let the Italians keep their conspiracies. I never believed Spain and Croatia would go into their Euro 2012 Group match having agreed to play for a draw. You would have to have turned Poland into Argentina run by a military junta and swapped Peru for Croatia to have made that one stick. If Spain from the outset seemed to lack their usual sparkle, and fluffed too many passes it was partly their own fault for coming out and thinking not of themselves as champions but of Russia, a team that …
Bad sportsmen
David Nalbandian, the Argentine tennis player, disqualified from the AEBOG championship at London’s Queen’s Club, joins a not unimpressive list of Argentine icons made legendary by their ‘unsportsmanlike behavior’- only they happen to be footballers. Back in 1966, Argentine captain Antonio Rattin was sent off in the England World quarter finals match against England for his alleged ‘violent tongue.’ Rattin did not leave gracefully but rather bid a defiant farewell, taking his time to leave the stadium, and wrinkling a British pennant before finally departing. Twenty years later Diego Maradona …
Remembering my friend Cassandra Jardine
It’s never too late to grieve those who have a special place in our lives. If I write this tribute somewhat belatedly to Cassandra Jardine it is because I have only just discovered on the web that she died just under two weeks ago while wondering how she was. My search for some update news on her had been prompted by the discovery that an article in the Telegraph I had expected would have been just up her street on the celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebration in Battersea …
Del Bosque’s choices
To be or not to be?- or rather to have a centre-forward or not? Vicente Del Bosque knew he was taking a gamble when he decided to dispense with a recognised striker at the start of Spain’s opening Euro2012 game against Italy-but it was a calculated choice for this serene and wise man from Salamanca. The Italy he was facing- an ambitious 3-5-2 line-up- was not the defensive ‘lock down’ that most Spaniards have come to expect. It opened up the prospect of a fast-moving game, with Spain being pressurised inside its own …
Whither Spain in Euro2012
Let me make an admission from the outset. I am approaching this Eurochampionships with one hope only-that Spain will clinch the title. I hope that I am not tilting at windmills. As those of you who might have read my latest book on La Roja will realise I’ve watched a lot of Spanish football over the years, and researched into history, to get a sense of how a country has weathered its political storms and deeply-ingrained club rivalries to produce a coherent national squad capable of playing the most beautiful and …
