Sevilla FC!!! And other futbol stuff...

So, it looks like things are getting better for Sevilla FC... at least on paper. I'm getting frustrated as they really have not televised many of their matches on Gol TV...at least not compared to last season. Anyway, according to this article they handled Espanyol rather handily and the three points pushes them further up La Liga's rankings.

"...Luis Fabiano and Frederic Kanoute struck within (the first) 11 minutes for a Sevilla side looking close to their brilliant best..."

I know they are basically out of the race for the league championship, but finishing strong will keep them in contention for the UEFA Champions League (I believe they need to finish 4th or better) and the UEFA Cup (which they have won the past two years).

Their next match is Wednesday in the Champions League against Fenerbahçe SK. Let's Go Sevillistas!!

Learned something new today...according to Wikipedia (I'll research its reliability as soon as I can):

"The Primera División is currently first in the UEFA rankings of European leagues based on their performances in European competitions over a five-year period, ahead of the English Premier League in second and the Serie A in third. The 2005–06 average attendance of 29,029 for league matches is the sixth highest of any domestic professional sports league in the world. In professional football (soccer) leagues Primera División was third-highest, behind the Bundesliga in first and the Premier League in second."

I get so tired of people knocking La Liga (or putting the English Premier league up on a pedestal). Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the other leagues as well, and what's not to respect about the EPL or Serie A (Italy for you non-fans) or even the Bundesliga (Germany), but don't put down what evidently is currently the highest ranked league in Europe. Even though i'm no fan of Real Madrid (still consider them the NY Yankees of La Liga), between them, Barcelona FC and Sevilla FC, you've got three of the finest clubs in all of Europe.

And speaking of the Yankees of La Liga, learned something else this weekend. For those of you that see Manchester United in a similar light, I just found out about this team, FC United Manchester. They are a semi-pro team that came about after supporters of Manchester United got fed up with Malcolm Glazer (the team's American Owner) and his "business before team" style of ownership. I've found stickers and posters that read "Love United, Hate Glazer." Anyway, sounds like an interesting newish team for me to follow. Since their inception two years ago (yeah, i'm late on the bandwagon) they've done rather well, working their way up the English system. They are currently listed as 7th in their league this season.

"FC United's (first) two seasons were successful. FC United entered at the tenth level of the English football league system (the second division of the North West Counties Football League) and they were confirmed as champions on 15 April 2006 and followed that up by being crowned as champions of Division 1 on 18 April 2007 and will play in the Northern Premier League Division One North for the 2007-08 season."

Then you remember what's important.

So, I'm watching the Sevilla FC match in replay right now. Their season opener was with Getafe CF. It's a pretty important match for a team once again making a go at winning La Liga (the Spanish first division of pro-soccer for you US/non-fans). They did really well last year, got a little unlucky during season play, but still managed to not only win Copa del Rey, against Getafe actually, but were also UEFA Cup Champions and won the Supercopa de España (which is a match between the winner of La Liga vs. the winner of Copa del Rey, a bit of revenge against Real Madrid).

This season starts a little difficult as one of their greatest players, Dani Alves, is looking to make a move to the English Premier League. But they picked up a few good players and still have a lot of strength from last season.

Why all the build-up? Well, this opener was a bit difficult because Getafe was able to score rather quickly to begin the match and then were able to hang on to this 1-0 lead through the entire first half even though they had one player removed early on (22 minute) and then a second player was red carded in the last couple minutes of the half. They were still able to pull it out in the second half, finally picking up four goals with some rather impressive play, even if it was a couple extra players. But this is not the reason for this post...

The real reason is ... I ... watched a man have a heart attack. Near the end of the second half Antonio Puerta crouched down after a play and then collapsed onto the pitch. Players ran to his aid, some signaled for managers to come over, a close up on the player showed one of his teammates prying open his mouth to pull out his tongue so he wouldn't choke on it. Within a minute or two he was up and even walked off the pitch by himself. But according to at least one story he then collapsed again and was rushed to the hospital after being given cardiac resuscitation.

I had read a little about this prior to watching the match but it really was hard to actually see it happen. Even knowing prior, the build up and anticipation were not too bad, but when he actually went down I found myself screaming at the tv, "there he is, get him." Not sure where that came from but, man, he could have died right there. Evidently he still is having trouble, I've checked his wikipedia page and a few other stories that have him still in intensive care and in a "very serious" condition. Sevilla FC player or not, I wish him the best and I have to say I really appreciate the way the coach responded to questions after the match.

From the BBC story:

Sevilla coach Juande Ramos was in no mood to talk about his side's victory after the match.

"I don't have the mind to speak now. The reason I am here is because we are all professionals, but I have no desire to talk of the game or anything," Ramos said.

"I would like to see the player. The game does not have any importance compared with the health of a player."

Just a little reminder the game can be great, but there is always something much more important.

Edit: As a small addition to the Alves story... The small Brazilian international with a huge amount of talent and drive is up to no good. I always love watching him on the pitch. Unfortunately he's decided he really wants to leave the team and move "up" to the English Premier League. I'm not a fan of that for many reasons. Anyway, there was an offer on the table from a large team but it never came to fruition. Now he seems pissed and well...has decided to play hookie from the team, which makes nobody happy.

I don't know the full story, and he seems like a really nice and cool kinda guy from what little I've read about him, but this just makes me unhappy with whiny pro-athletes who get grumpy even though they are paid MILLIONS to play a sport I've enjoyed playing for free...or having to pay to be able to play it.

Again, I don't know the full story, but I'm slowly losing respect for him and hope this gets worked out quickly. He still wants to be traded this season, but I'm still hoping he'll stick around, help Sevilla win La Liga this season and then he can go to the EPL for even more money.