One thing it's difficult to complain about at the moment in La Ligais the sheer amount of footy on the telly. There was a midweek leagueprogramme to make up for the weekend lost to internationals, and Imanaged to take in Barça v Betis and Sevilla v Espanyol, with theoccasional trip to the kitchen to make a cuppa.
Ruud van Nistelrooy - the epitome of Real Madrid's efficiency - celebrates his goal.
Sevillalooked really good, and I'm beginning to think I might have been a bitpremature in writing them off this season. They still look scary, theystill buzz around like bees on ginseng, and they've still got plenty ofquality in their ranks. Then this weekend I managed to bike backthrough the night from the San Sebastian Film Festival to take in someof the Catalan derby at Espaynol, although I needn't have worriedbecause the game actually finished well past the midnight hour, due tosome shenanigans from the visiting Barça hoodlums, 'Boixos Nois', who let off a series of flares in the direction of their city neighbours, provoking a 15-minute suspension of the game.Barçawon it at the last gasp, with a penalty from Messi - and althoughthey'd struggled to make their extra man count (Nene was sent offbefore half-time) there was only one side trying to play football(Barça), added to which Espanyol's goal came courtesy of an assault ongoalkeeper Valdés that was a cross between Pressing Catch and PearlHarbour.
In midweek Barça had let a two-goal lead slip at hometo Betis when they looked to be cruising (at last) and were lucky toget away with the 3-2 win in the end. There's still some vulnerabilitythere, and the disproportion of chances made to goals scored remains asignificant factor. It depends on how you see it, but Real Madrid areplaying with less verve but more efficiency.
Van Nistlerooy wonit for Real at the death against the same Betis on Saturday night (inSeville), the difference being that Madrid had played the second halfwith ten men, had also conceded a equaliser, but had managed to nick awin at the end. They'd also gone one better than Barcelona in midweekby beating poor Sporting de Gijón 7-1, where Barcelona had only manageda mere six three days before. Before you write in accusing me of beinganti-Barça (yawn), I know that Madrid were at home. But I just wantedto use this as an introduction to this week's subject, Real Sporting deGijón. Really.
Sporting are still without a point after thefirst five games, but their general existence is far from a pointlessone. It may have escaped your attention, but their last three opponentshave been Barcelona, Real Madrid and Villarreal, with Sevilla beforethat. Next week they travel to Mallorca for a rest, and they may findthe island more to their liking.
Before this weekend's narrowhome defeat to Villarreal (0-1), they had conceded seventeen goals inthree games, so they were almost punching the air in relief by the endof the latest game. But they did manage to score three at Sevilla, andthey looked by no means overawed by Villarreal this last weekend. Theyhave a fantastic if somewhat eccentrically designed ground, fantasticsupporters and a socio-cultural framework that fits football toperfection. They should not be written off too easily. Then again, theydid change their goalie (not altogether surprisingly) for theVillarreal game, but in general the new chap (Ian Cuellar) wasn'tcalled upon to do too much.
Sporting hail from Gijón, anindustrial city on Spain's northern coast, in the Asturias region.Industrial decline notwithstanding, and the sort of damage the currentcrisis can do to a place that relies heavily on service and industry,Asturias in general has suffered in the last ten years from an alarmingdrop in its footballing standards, with Oviedo following Sporting infalling from the top-flight pedestal. About the only thing to celebratesince the late 1990's has been the rise to prominence of FernandoAlonso, Oviedo's gift to the world of Formula One, and David Villa,currently plying his exceptional trade at Valencia.
Sporting de Gijon's Estadio El Molinon
Sportingfell from grace in 1997-98, after a decent 21-year consecutive runamong the elite, during which they qualified half a dozen times for theUEFA Cup. They were runners-up to Real Madrid in the 1979 campaign -their best-ever season, and were twice losing finalists in the Cop delRey, in consecutive seasons in fact (1981 and 1982). Their ground, ElMolinón (the Big Windmill), is the oldest standing in Spain (built 1908but inaugurated in 1917), which isn't bad considering that the city wasflattened during the Civil War and has largely been rebuilt from theruins. The ground's latest hotch-potch design, dating from 1982, wasthe work of the female architect, Maria del mar Benito, which is not asexist comment but a tribute to an unusual incursion into the maleworld - particularly in Spain.
Whatever - the year theywent down, with a record Derby Countyesque 13 points in total, thelittle-known Villarreal were winning the Second Division title, aboutto step up to the elite for the first time. As opposed to Gijón'spopulation of a quarter of a million, Villarreal hailed from a smalltown near Castellón, with barely 40,000 inhabitants. Ten years later,Sporting have returned to the top flight to find a somewhat differentscene - with their opponents Villarreal very much the favourites to winthe game and sleep overnight as leaders of La Liga.
Villarrealhave now not lost a league game since last April, taking in ten winsand one draw. The last side to beat them were Almería. Now they arebeginning to look like serious contenders for a run at the league, suchis the depth of striking talent and midfielders they seem to have attheir disposal. A draw at Old Trafford is to be followed up by a gameat home to Celtic on Tuesday night.
By contrast, Sporting facean uphill struggle to convince La Liga's scribes that they can survivethe season, although they might do themselves a favour by getting aresult at Mallorca next weekend - not an easy game now that their hostswill be buoyed with a win at the strangely subdued Racing de Santander.It would be nice if they could make a go of it, however.
It'strue that they hardly set the 2nd Division alight last season, and weretouch-and-go for promotion until the very end, but Gijón is an honestsort of place, and like Bilbao (whose colours it shares) it smells offootball. Both sets of supporters are obsessively devoted, andSporting's long-suffering faithful are giving every impression ofwaving the flag until the wind blows it away, of dying with their bootson. The only time I went to The Big Windmill, for a Second Divisiongame some years ago, the scattered clumps of supporters still managedto make an awful lot of noise. It must be cacophonous now.
Talkingof noisy places, next week we'd better take a look at Valencia, whotook over at the top from their 'V' named rivals after a 4-2 win athome to Deportivo. What a difference a summer makes, or what adifference a lack of Ron Koeman makes. We shall see. |
發表於 2008-9-30 09:56 AM
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