Thursday, February 01, 2007

Barca odds and ends, and go the All Whites!

Barca 0-1 Zaragoza (Copa del Rey)

Aww, dammit. Much as I don't care about the Copa, this is Zaragoza's first win ever at the Camp Nou, and we can't go about giving out that kind of advantage. Still, at least it wasn't a league game. More on this in a proper match report, if I get around to one.

Injury updates

On a much more cheerful note, Messi gets back from Argentina on Friday, ready to resume group training by all accounts. Sammy Eto'o is also finally ready to return to group training, although he won't be able to do participate fully just yet. February 11th at the Camp Nou against Racing Santander is the initial return date for both, although with the state of the Barca medical services and their amazing powers of prediction, who knows.

Mini-All Whites qualify for the U20 World Cup

There was much cheering in my household when the news announced that the U20 New Zealand team (the unrestricted age NT are called the 'All Whites', and they aren't very good) had qualified for Canada 2007, for what I believe is the first time ever.

For those who don't know, I'm a Kiwi by nationalization. The Mini-All Whites (the Mini-Whites? That makes them sound like the Real Madrid youth team, although I wish the Kiwi players were as good as the Real kids) have got no chance in hell, but it will be a good experience, and good for football - or 'soccer' as they call it here - in New Zealand.

On the other hand, and forgive me for going off topic, but how about those All Blacks? Now there's a name to strike fear into opponents' hearts, instead of inspiring the urge to laugh at the poverty of our footballing 'talent'.

3 comments:

Jen said...

Aw, yay for the Mini-Whites. I have a soft spot for the kiwi teams now. I just wish I knew which teams were going to be playing in the matches in Toronto.

Linda said...

http://www.fifa.com/en/comp/U20M2007/tournament/0,4829,U20M-2007-21,00.html

The details on who's qualified for Canada 07 from FIFA. Looks like almost everything's done and dusted.

(I'm a bit worried about the Mini-Argies and their proud tradition of success at this level. The current team, without the best U20 players Argentina have to offer - Higuain, Gago, Messi, Aguero and so on - really isn't very good.)

pdp said...

My family will be trying to see the Argentina games live here. If we come across New Zealand at any point, I promise I'll cheer for them (as long as its not against Canada or Argentina!)

I have no doubt that Eto'o will be on fire when he returns. You can tell that man is so motivated...