I searched “international break” in Google images and that was what came up on the second search page. If the image looks familiar (besides being hilarious and very creepy) its because almost a year to date I posted the same image as the intro to a international break post of news. Funny how these things come full circle. It has been slow on the news front recently but we have several interesting blurbs out of the Real Madrid camp to go over today. Lets get started with some good news on national team call ups.

Four Real Players Called Up To The u-17 Team For The World Cup, Several Other Called Up For A Mini-Tournament In Preparation For Euro Qualifiers

Real was pleased to announce a whole host of players were called up for various youth teams. Here is a sampling:

La cantera del Real Madrid sigue dando muestras de su buen estado de salud. Para el próximo Mundial Sub-17 que se disputará en Nigeria han sido elegidos para representar a España cuatro canteranos del Real Madrid: Pablo Sarabia, Alejandro Fernández, Kamal y Álvaro Morata. Los tres primeros son integrantes del Juvenil A, mientras que el delantero Álvaro Morata pertenece al Juvenil B. Estos jugadores se concentraran en la Ciudad de Fútbol de Las Rozas a partir del próximo martes 13 de octubre, y partirán hacia Nigeria el día 22 de octubre.

España permanece encuadrada en el Grupo E, donde se tendrá que enfrentar a Estados Unidos, Emiratos Árabes y Malaui en la fase de grupos. Su primer rival será el conjunto norteamericano que se enfrentará a España el 26 de octubre a las 19.00 horas, el segundo encuentro será ante Emiratos Árabes el 29 de octubre también a las 19.00 horas, mientras que la Selección Española jugará el último partido de la fase de grupos ante Malaui el día uno de noviembre a las 16.00 horas. Los cuatro jugadores madridistas esperan hacer un gran torneo y ayudar al combinado nacional ha conseguir su primer Mundial en esta categoría. Hasta el momento la Sub-17 se ha quedado a las puertas del triunfo en tres ocasiones en las que fue subcampeón en los años 1991, 2003 y 2007.

Por su parte, los jugadores Alfonso Herrero, Derik Osede y Enrique Castaño participaran en el Mini Torneo de clasificación correspondiente al IX Campeonato de Europa Sub-17. El guardameta Alfonso Herrero entrena con el Juvenil C a las órdenes de Luis Miguel Ramis, mientras que Derik y Enrique Castaño pertenecen al Juvenil B. En este Mini Torneo la Selección Española se enfrentará en la fase de grupos a Islas Feroe, Lituania y Rumania. Además hay que destacar que el jugador del Real Madrid Martin Kozhuharov ha sido convocado por la Selección de Bulgaria Sub-18 para jugar un encuentro amistoso el próximo 21 de octubre ante Austria.

Sarabia and Alejandro Fernandez are names I am aware of but the other two I have never heard much of. Kamal is an immigrant child who has been called up to Spanish teams before, but I know little else about him. Good news to see we will be represented in the Spanish selection for the u-17 World Cup. Likewise for this mini-tournament Spain is participating in as a warm up for Euro qualifiers. Derik Osede, whose picture is above, is a player I have paid particular attention to. A strong and skilled central defender, he is one to keep an eye on for the future.

Pellegrini Does An Interview With UEFA.com

If you would like to watch a video interview of Manuel Pellegrini from uefa.com, click here. UEFA does a good job with these interviews and op ed pieces they put together on their site, so check it out. I liked it.

Real Drawn Against Neighbors Alcorcon

This one is 100% in Spanish. I was able to read all of it. Lets see if you can do the same. No one said I didnt have to be lazy during the international break, aka blogger vacation.

La Agrupación Deportiva Alcorcón milita en el Grupo II de Segunda División B, donde también juega el Real Madrid Castilla. Llegan a los dieciseisavos de la Copa del Rey tras eliminar a Palencia y Lagun Onak. El año pasado, se clasificaron hasta el último partido del playoff de ascenso a Segunda División, donde cayeron derrotados ante el Real Unión de Irún.

El Alcorcón milita en el Grupo II de Segunda División B, el mismo en el que está encuadrado el Real Madrid Castilla. Actualmente, son séptimos. Han ganado tres partidos, empatado dos y perdido otros tantos. El balance goleador es de siete tantos a favor y cuatro en contra.

El conjunto del sur de Madrid quedó exento de la primera ronda de la Copa del Rey. En la segunda ronda eliminó en su casa al Palencia al ganarle por dos goles a cero. En la tercera ronda visitó Azpeitia para ganar por un gol a dos al CD Lagun Onak. Estas primeras eliminatorias se disputaron a partido único.

El Alcorcón no había llegado tan lejos en la Copa del Rey desde hace trece años. El pasado curso, fue el mejor en la historia del equipo amarillo. Quedó tercero en Segunda División B y se clasificó para las eliminatorias de ascenso a Segunda División. Tras eliminar a San Andreu y Alcoyano, perdió el sitio en la categoría de plata del fútbol español a manos del Real Unión.

Del equipo del año pasado quedan muy pocos jugadores. Hasta 18 nuevos jugadores han llegado al equipo amarillo. Son el segundo equipo menos goleado de su grupo (4 tantos en siete partidos, 0’57 por encuentro). Los tantos se los reparten entre Borja -tres-, Cascón -dos- y Rubén Sanz e Íñigo López con uno cada uno. Uno de sus defensas titulares, Gómez, pasó por el Juvenil A del Real Madrid.

EMPAREJAMIENTOS DE LOS DIECISEISAVOS DE FINAL DE LA COPA DEL REY:

Alcorcón – REAL MADRID
Cultural Leonesa – Barcelona
Marbella – Atlético de Madrid
Puertollano – Villareal
At. Ciudad – Sevilla
Alcoyano – Valencia
Rayo Vallecano – Athletic
Hércules – Almería
Salamanca – Racing
Celta – Tenerife
Recreativo – Sporting
Murcia – Deportivo
Xerez – Osasuna
Valladolid – Mallorca
Zaragoza – Málaga
Getafe – Espanyol

The Roberto Carlos Train Is Gaining Steam

Cringe worthy to cite goal.com I know, but it was the only place I could find the translated blurb from Guti for an interview he did with AS. Full length AS article here if you can read Spanish. If not, goal.com is here. Go at your own risk, its a land of the lost some say….

Guti:

“Roberto is a great left sided player. I’d welcome him with open arms. We would be delighted if he comes, but it’s up to the club,” Guti told AS.

I said this in an earlier post when Roberto Carlos was at the Bernabeu for a meet and greet, but I guess I will have to say it again. I do not think he can return to this team. His age is certainly permissive, but his abilities were waining when he left us, and I would assume he is still on that downward slope as his career winds down. A triumphant return for the legend would be nice, but I expect him to have a retirement game in a few years at the Bernabeu, Real vs. Inter most likely, or maybe Fener. Returning as a coach is fine to me, actually I encourage it because Real needs more positional coaches, something that French, Dutch and German teams have an abundance of and helps them produce highly specialized players, as opposed to our cantera left backs usually starting life as a center back or defensive midfielder. Lets hope we do get to see the big grin of the Brazilian on the Valdebabas pitch in the future, but not as a player unfortunately.

Castilla Players Training With The First Team

Luis Hernandez and Felipe Ramos both trained with the Real first team on Wednesday and Thursday, but on Friday we had more Castilla goodness in training, with Marcos Alonso participating in work outs. YUSSSSSSSSS! New left back time?!? Lets speculate. The need for a new left back solution is pretty apparent with the poor performance of Marcelo against top class opposition, and with Pellegrini seeming to not trust Drenthe fully. Marcos Alonso to me is a perfect solution because he presents a defensively solidity that neither of our left backs can provide. Whether that translates to the first division remains to be seen, but having watch him play for the u-20 team, I think he was excellent. Lets keep our fingers crossed though.

The other thing I want to point out is that Luis Hernandez, while maybe not ready for a first team appearance like Marcos Alonso seems to be, is being groomed for one eventually. Javi Velayos has been injured recently so Hernandez has been getting starts over Opare at right back, and this may be in response to using Arbeloa on the left and Sergio Ramos needing cover at right back. That may be reading to much in to it, but I like that Pellegrini consistently is giving training opportunities to Castilla players. Cristian, Ruben Ramos and Mateos have all trained with the first team previously, so if we do get in to an injury crisis, Pellegrini will probably look to the cantera which I think is a positive. Give the lads a chance, its the least you can do. Most will surprise you.

Pardeza Attends Real Training For Chat With Pellegrini

Some may call it the dreaded vote of confidence, but I disagree. If most clubs are in dire straits and the coach gets a thumbs up from the club president then that may be a sticky situ. But in this case, Pardeza came to training to today to chat with Pellegrini for a bit, and as MARCA put it, give him a message of tranquility and confidence in his abilities. Maybe so, but I think Pardeza and Valdano go to training pretty regularly to talk to Pellegrini about the squad and get his input so they can report back to the board and Perez. Its not really anything out of the ordinary and I wish the papers would stop the back handed hints that Pellegrini is on the chopping block. He lost one game for christs sake! No matter though, just wanted to keep everyone abreast of what was going on today and calm some us down further.

Real wants Liverpool’s Daniel Agger in the winter transfer window
I first read about this on Goal.com, where they also mentioned Bremen and Germany international Per Mertesacker as a possibility, but the Guardian quotes Real VP Jose Angel Sanchez to confirm the club’s top interest in the 23-year-old Danish central defender. I like Agger, but i haven’t seen him play much. I’ve seen Mertesacker only in international matches and he seems pretty good, but I’m a bit wary of him if only due to our experience thus far with Metzelder. It seems Madrid hope to capitalize on the apparent rift between Agger and Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, who has included Martin Skrtel in the first XI alongside Jamie Carragher.

Schuster deceives with team selection; now possibly leaving after the season?
Ok, two separate but intricately related links above from Goal.com. The first reports how Schuster had said he wasn’t going to change the lineup between the Betis match and the Zenit match, and then actually replaced Raul with Higuain. Maybe it was a bit of deception to put Zenit on the back foot, but it didn’t go down well with the press or the boardroom. This plays into the second link, which says that there’s currently some tensions in the front office, between Schuster and the dynamic duo of Calderon and Mijatovic. Schuster doesn’t like how he isn’t being listened to (eg transfer requirements) and thinks the president and director are interfering too much. I agree wholeheartedly with Schuster on this, even if it’s speculation at this point (it’s not like Schuster speaks much to the press). Calderon’s obsession with Cristiano Ronaldo blew up in his face and limited our transfer dealings. Now, we still need a central defender, a right winger and a striker. Schuster has also already shown the cojones to put Raul on the bench which, if we are ever to build a proper team concept, needs to happen sooner rather than later.

Actually, that’s all the links i have for now… comment away!

What I do have for you is a couple posts… first one is a roundup of links from our good ol’ untrustworthy friend, Goal.com. Click for more info at your own risk…

Aaron Lennon as a January transfer target – Say what? Aaron Lennon? The puny right winger who can’t even break into the Spurs lineup is on our radar? I say that’s a bunch of bollocks.

Lukas Podolski as a January transfer target – Now this is more like it. Podolski has a fantastic record on the German Nationalmannschaft plus his club record with FC Cologne is great. He’s stuck behind two prolific strikers at Bayern, Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni, but I think he’s got the talent to thrive in a place like the Bernabeu.

Usain Bolt as a free agent signee? – Now this is getting ridiculous… but after seeing what searing pace can do to a defense (Theo Walcott v Croatia), maybe it’s not so crazy? Then again, we’ve seen world-class sprinters fail miserably when asked to do anything more than run in a straight line, so…

Mijatovic says no winter signings – So we’re going to take our chances with Ruud, Raul, Higuain and Saviola, plus no real right winger? Great, thanks for aiming high, Pedja.

Raul vetoed David Villa transfer – I don’t know how much weight I’d really put into this… I know he’s got a massive ego, but I’m not sure that Raul would elevate himself to that precious place where even he doesn’t think he can be replaced. Like Calderon said, no one player is above the team… Plus, I think I’m much more convinced by the idea that Valencia was hell-bent on keeping Villa and the international striker was ok with staying at the Mestalla.

Alright, that’s it for now… stick around for Corey’s preview of this week’s match v Numancia.

Ok, first things first, transfer news from the past week or so… everyone should know that the Garay deal includes the loan back to Racing for this year, as the Madrid hierarchy intend to integrate the centreback after the expiration of Cannavaro’s contract next year, so I won’t comment or link to anything about that.

Cassano transfer to Sampdoria confirmed
Il Talentino di Bari has officially left the building. Real have confirmed the permanent transfer of the zitty one to Sampdoria, and Goal.com report that Real have inserted a clause which will oblige the Italian team to pay back 7 million euros if the recalled Italy international is sold within a year, or 5 million euros if sold by the third year.

Calderon makes nice with Man U
President Calderon tries to pour cold water on the raging flames of the Cristiano Ronaldo rumours, by saying that you can’t buy what someone isn’t selling. Like that’s stopped the Spanish press before.

Xabi Alonso the replacement?
Another Goal.com story that has Madrid leading Juventus for the services of Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, now that CRon (finally?) isn’t available. Alonso seems to have lost his starting place to Javier Mascherano, but I think Real see him more of a creator than a holding midfielder. He may not have Guti’s vision, but Alonso has the same knack of delivering passes right on the money. This would be a good pickup, in my opinion, though the price would have to be right, as Alonso’s form must’ve dipped a bit with all the inactivity.

Ok, in other news, Los Merengues released their preseason schedule. In addition to the Euro 2008 participants, several other players will be playing with their respective national teams for friendlies, World Cup qualifiers or the Olympics.

Real will start things off easy with some team bonding in Portugal in mid-July, and then they’re once again off to Irdning, Austria for the hardcore training. After that, they’re in London for the Emirates Cup with Arsenal, Juventus and Hamburg (hopefully I can get tickets!), and they also have matches in Colombia and Germany (a rematch against Eintracht Frankfurt).

Leading up to the start of the Liga season, Real will play Copa del Rey winners Valencia in the Spanish Super Cup and finally, they’ll play Sporting Club Portugal in the Santiago Bernabeu trophy memorial match.

Loads of stuff to look forward to this summer!

Phil Ball’s latest column on Soccernet – The old master writes his latest masterpiece. His take on Spanish press officers is revealing, especially when you consider that Real are the only “big” team in his top 5 – might that be due to the frequency of our appearance in his columns? Phil also reveals his opinions of Pepe and Diarra, and I can’t help but agree. Just based on recent matches I’ve seen, both players have overcome early-season difficulties to round into form. Especially Diarra, who has pulled out some moves over the last month or so which I did not expect and which seemed to go unnoticed until now.

Madrid to replace Diarra with Essien – The rest of these links are from Goal.com, so take it as just a talking piece, but I know this will definitely spur some interest amongst readers. I’m a huge fan of Essien – I think he’d be perfect for us, because he’s tenacious in the tackle, extremely versatile, and rather menacing going forward. Corey thinks he’s a central midfielder rather than a defensive midfielder, and I think the Ghanaian has the skills to do so, but on a team like Chelsea, he’s relegated to primarily defensive duties because of guys like Michael Ballack and Fat Frank Lampard. I could see Essien displacing both Gago and Diarra in a combined defensive/distributor role, but as Phil Ball mentions in the previous link, Diarra is a great player to have, especially in away matches when you need the backfield protection.

Sampdoria chasing after Higuain – I’m not surprised to see Samp thinking they can grab another striker from Madrid, but I doubt even knee-jerk reactivists like Mijatovic and Calderon would sell such a young player on the ascendancy. Maybe we can offload Saviola instead? He’s Argentinian too!

There’s a couple more links laying around, but I don’t think they’re worth my effort, so chew on that cud for a while…

Crazy Indian Video…Buffalaxed! on FunnyOrDie.com
Actually Saw This A Month Ago and Forgot About It, Great Stuff

Christoph Metzleder, affectionatly referred to as “The Metz”, is out for two months after surgery on his foot: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=507699&cc=5901

The Premier doesnt have all the money in the world: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=507659&cc=5901

Phil Ball liked what he saw on Sunday: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=507101&root=europe&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos1&cc=5901

Raul is Totti and Totti is Raul: http://www.goal.com/en-US/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=584578

The Man with Bronze Balls says we can afford a Benz: http://www.realmadrid.dk/news/article/?newsid=10946

Training with Van the Man: http://www.realmadrid.com/articulo/rma46971.htm

Fianlly I can watch Scrubs again: http://www.wwtdd.com/post.phtml?pk=3528

SI Swimsuit Edition dropped and my girlfriend Marissa Miller is on the cover: http://withleather.com/post.phtml?pk=5001

Download this for Firefox, its cool and I am trying to get it approved for the site for easier picture viewing: http://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5579

Football season just ended, but Bills season ticker prices are out! http://www.buffalobills.com/news/news.jsp?news_id=5867

Thats all, thanks to Jan for the idea on this type of post