Breaking News
By: Corey | March 19th, 2008
Van the Man, our second leading scorer and focal point of our attack has went under surgery yesterday for his reaccuring ankle problems. If you remember the intial injury occured during the Almeria loss, but he was able to continue on until a few weeks ago. Ruud is suffering from synovitis, a type of joint inflammation and surgery was needed to correct the problem. Doctors at the Ruber International Clinic (where the surgery was done) won’t commit to an exact recovery period, but they have hinted that the best-case scenario is that Ruud will recover in time for the final four Liga matches. But in all likely hood he may be out for the rest of the season. Is this yet another nail in the coffin of our floundering La Liga challenge or do we have a big enough gap on Barca to win the title?
On a secondary note, this is a calling call to all the great readers that not only I have but all the La Liga blogs have, we are looking for more team bloggers as well as someone to head up the main La Liga page with content. If you are interested send me an email at cnfiske@quinnipiac.edu with your proposal and I will get back to you. Adios.
Category: Team News
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This is one of the best things that could have happened to me,” he told Marca.
“I have not shone here as I would have liked, but now with the injury of Ruud I can have some extra minutes and hopefully do my best, because to wear the ‘9′ of Madrid is something very special, especially because of the players who have worn it here in the past.”
“It is clear that the loss of Ruud is disappointing for everyone, but we are a team of 25 players and we are all prepared to play in the first team,” he affirmed.
“The door has now been opened for me; the coach already gave me a chance to start the other day and now all there is to do it is to continue training strong all this week to see if I get another opportunity,” he concluded.
Posted from
United States
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Yeah, Soldado may get some more play (though he has hardly featured in the games Ruud has been absent through injury). If he does, I suspect it’ll do little for him other than confirm he is to be offloaded at the end of the season, or, if he has a few good performances, increase his asking price. All in all, there’s little to look forward to until Euro 2008.
Posted from
Germany -
noooooo!!! This news really sucks. Hopefully we can hold everyone off for the rest of the season and move on. This will be a really good test to see if we need to bring on another quality striker(s), my suspicion is yes.
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United States -
This is terrible terrible news. I guess Schuster will have to alternate between Saviola and Soldado to pair with Raul, unless he can convince Baptista to play forward… I think Robinho is best where he normally is, a free-floating midfield attacker.
Posted from
United Kingdom -
I have more faith in Soldado then Saviola, but I say swaping those two would be best. Baptista was unconvincing paired with Raul, while Robinho needs to stay to the left. Higuain would require Raul to play higher, which may help his chances with Euro 08 but I doubt he would score as much. A sale of Saviola and a loan for Soldado or Higuain looks likely this summer, so who will our new striker be? I hope not Luis Fabiano…
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United States -
Oh my, this doesn’t bode well. Not at all. I suppose the light in this is that it’s going to force the rest of the squad to step it up, to make up for Ruud’s absence. I kind of doubt that Soldado or Saviola alone can make up for Ruud’s absence (in fact, I’m dead certain). That means an entire team effort to rattle and confuse defenses, seek the unexpected goal, whom ever it might come from. I love watching a squad rally together in a players absence (think Beckham-less Madrid against Espanyol last season).
We really are reliant on Ruud in our attack, and so this is bound to be a blow to our chances at the title. But to be fair, Barca are currently Messi-less. On the other hand, Nihat is back, and Jon Dahl Tomasson is fit and cracking (just ask the catalans). Villareal suddenly look in better position than ever to steal the title.
Corey: why not Fabiano? He strikes me as the real deal…
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United States -
He strikes me as a “contract year player” like JD Drew or Derek Anderson of the Browns. They play really well to get a new bumper deal in free agency or to move to a better team and then never live up to their previous exploits. Fabiano was sub-par at Porto and was bought by Sevilla as a flop, where he floundered around until last season where he had a modest goal haul, but to be honest, his partnership with a very good Kanoute is the only thing he has going for himself, he wont be good playing with Raul or Ruud even though those two have made lesser forwards look like world beaters in the past. Have to keep an eye out for the overnight success guys, because as quickly as they rise they fall.
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United States -
Interesting - I just didn’t think of Fabiano as an overnight success, more as a talent finally starting to bloom. His play in all competitions and his ‘clinical’ (to borrow the cliche) finishing made him stand out to me as a solid talent in the soccer world of hype (I still think of Diego, for example, as a player who will never truly live up to the expectations Europe is developing of him). Though you’re right, Sevilla’s talent and style of play could certainly make a mediocre striker seem world class (at least in numbers). And just because Fabiano can do the business to a cross from Alves or a 1-2 from Kanoute, doesn’t mean he can latch on to one of Guti through balls or Robinho’s side passes. Giving me pause for thought, at least…
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United States -
I believe Fabiano has a 60M buyout clause in his contract. Sevilla is not going to sell them to Madrid, and I hope to god Calderon is not stupid enough to drop that kind of money on anyone, let alone Luis Fabiano. But you never know.
If I was Pedja, I would be working hard on Karim Benzema and Klaas Jan Huntelaar. The guys are young studs and can both be world class strikers. Also, I know there we’ve discussed Diego, some like him so don’t. But we desperately need some midfield talent. Who do you guys think would fit the mold?
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United States -
You want a player that will give Barca fits, get Diego. He was a big thorn last season when Werder played Barca in the CL. This from a Barca fan.
Posted from
United States
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