As of last Monday, I was officially elected president of Queen City Football Club, a National Premier Soccer League franchise that plays here in Buffalo, NY.

It is a really cool venture. I am currently working on a deal with Sevilla FC to become a partner with them. I’m also talking to a few other European clubs in the Netherlands and in England as well (one in the Premiership as a matter of fact) to hopefully forge a partnership that will be mutually beneficial to both clubs and promote the game even more.

Needless to say with that happening, it will be a bit sketchy as of late with the blogging, but I will try to get back to my regular schedule asap.

Anyways, back to Sevilla news. This week saw the departure of Christian Poulsen to Juventus which basically leaves our center midfield hollow, for the time being.

To answer this question, Sevilla brought in Former Lyon defender Sébastien Squillaci (oh wait, this doesn’t answer our questions at center mid. Yikes.

Luckily Fazio said he would move from defender to midfield after Poulsen’s departure. It’s a good thing Fazio was never truly good for us in the back, so he will not be missed if he does indeed move up.

Our official schedule was released this past week. We start off the season with Racing at home, and then progress from there. I cannot cut and paste a schedule that does not throw everything off, so if I do find one, then I will let everyone see it here.

However, we do have the ‘Jornadas of death’ as Jornada 11-15 will be quite the test for Sevilla.

Jornada 11 -Getafe
Jornada 12- Valencia
Jornada 13- Barcelona
Jornada 14- Real Madrid
Jornada 15- Villarreal

Yikes, that is a tough month right there. Hopefully we have a successful first couple weeks so we can gear up for those games.

Also, Luis Fabiano (rumored to be almost ready to sign his contract extension) is officially a dual citizen, leaving us with only 3 ‘foreigners’ in the lineup. Chevantón (Uruguay) Mosquera (Colombia), Acosta (Argentina). Maybe we can sign a good foreigner now, who knows what del Nido is thinking.

That’s all for me Sevillistas. I’m heading off to Toronto tomorrow to see ‘Toronto-entero’ (it’s a Spanish joke). But no really, I’m heading up there to see the Toronto FC game and to meet with a few of their staff about a possible venture in the future with their club and Queen City.

Be back this week.

Today marks the first official day back for Sevilla FC, as a slew of players are reporting to the Ciudad Deportiva to receive their physicals and checkups from the team doctors and then shortly after the team will have their first official practice of the pre-season.

We’ve got tons of things going on at Sevilla now, so I will get into it all in brief here, but probably expand on most things later on in the coming weeks.

In case you didn’t know, here are the new signings for us during the off-season.

Lautaro Acosta (Lanús)
Fernando Navarro (Mallorca)
Konko (Genova)
Romaric (Le Mans)

Aside from the newbies, the rest of the players will report accordingly to Sevilla for their check-ups. Palop and Navarro, part of the Euro 2008 squad, will remain on holiday until July 21 and then return back to the squad.

As for Javi Navarro and Escude, they are still working hard to recover from injuries suffered last season. Navarro was out for the entire year after suffering a knee injury that still is troublesome. There were doubts last season as to if he will ever return to playing. Recent word from Mucho Deportivo is that his knee is not improving and he is still struggling to recover.

Escude only played 15 games last season and was operated on in France and is currently undergoing physical therapy and recovering.

In the off season, Sevilla formed a football team in Puerto Rico, Sevilla-Bayamon FC. The Puertorrican Sevilla play in the newly formed Puerto Rico Soccer League, and won their first game under the watchful eye of none other than Jose Maria del Nido.

That’s all I’ve got for now, check back later on this week for more information as we get ready to start the season.

This comes from my experience with Sevilla midfielder Christian Poulsen who was ’signed sealed and delivered’ to Barcelona. And upon a press conference to discuss it, Poulsen said. ‘What?’

Today’s latest piece of gossip to strike me deals with my beloved Sevilla, and a possible coaching change at the end of the season….with

Quique Sanchez Flores???

Really, QQ? I know that Manolo Jimenez might not be the greatest person in the world for the job, but I think we can find someone else. I can just see Sanchez coming in and mucking everything up at Sevilla next season?

According to Mundo Deportivoaccording to some people close to QQ, there exists a ‘verbal pact’ for Flores to be the next Sevilla coach. Just like you were supposed to pay your friend 1,000 dollars when he attemped to do a backflip into your pool when you were 11 and he snapped his neck. You didn’t pay up, did you?

But then again, I don’t know. I thought Jimenez was going to take over at Sevilla for years to come, but he just doesn’t seem to fit in. For some reason, we start winning games 4-1 and 3-2 and play well. But then the next week, we get knocked down a peg with a 4-1 trashing.

But who knows? I’ll believe it when I see it.

Me showing my love for the Peña Betico Valdemoro

But sometimes you have to put your differences aside, and actually root for the other guy. In this case, it’s this weekend as Betis take on Atlético Madrid in a must win game for BETIS!! We desperately need their help in order to squeak into 4th place in La Liga this season.

I’m not the only one, as Andres Palop said ‘I want Betis to do us a favor and win’

As for the game itself, Sevilla take on Almeria in the Sanchez Pizjuan. In the first meeting of the clubs, Almeria came through with a 1-0 victory as Dani Alves was sent off in the opening minutes of the second half.

Sevilla will take to the field with 18 players in their roster.

Palop, De Sanctis, Daniel, Crespo, David Prieto, Fazio, Mosquera, el susodicho Adriano, Poulsen, Renato, Keita, Jesús Navas, De Mul, Duda, Capel, Luis Fabiano, Kanouté y Koné.

Adriano has made his return to the squad, but Escude, Boulharouz (who?) Drago, Chevantón and Javi Navarro still are injured. Navarro did undergo a new scan on his injured knee this week in Barcelona

This game really is huge. I don’t know how much I can stress that. Let’s take a look at the table right now.

4. Atlético–54 pts v Betis
5. Racing –53 pts v Real Madrid
6. Sevilla — 51 pts v Almeria
7. Almeria — 45 pts v Sevilla

Thus, the big winners need to be Betis and Real Madrid. If Sevilla come out winners, the table will flip and Sevilla will be sitting in 5th place on 54 points (they are behind in the head to head). But then it’s simply a neck and neck race, barring a Racing defeat to Real Madrid.

This Week In Sevilla

Jose Maria Del Nido speaks again, this time alluding to the fact that he will kill anyone who tries to mess up the team until the end of the season. No really, I’m sure he’ll have you whacked. The boss man doesn’t want anyone messing up our family. And don’t cross him..seriously.

Kanouté expressed his desire to stay in Sevilla, saying quite simply ‘I want to stay in Sevilla’. I think Kanouté, after being a journeyman for a few years, has truly found a home in Sevilla. I know the fans love him, and I certainly am one of those fans.

Manolo Jimenez said there would be no punishment for the Luis Fabiano confrontation that took place after the Brazilian’s substitution last week against Almeria. When asked about the possible handslap, Jimenez responded

Punishing Luis Fabiano would be punishing Sevilla

Couldn’t have said it any better myself.

Well Sevillistas, I have to be honest. It’s 75 degrees outside in Buffalo, NY. I just called in sick to end my consecutive days working streak at 34, and I’m ready to go and get some drinks, so that’s where I’m headed.

La palabra final

I was trolling the YouTubes this week and came across this video. It is an amazing video about the history of Sevilla and being a fan. Take a look if you have a few minutes, it’s well worth it.

VAMOS MI SEVILLA!! VAMOS CAMPEÓN!!

Luis Fabiano Blows Up, Calms Down

The new talk on the block is about the whole Luis Fabiano blowup on Sunday. For those of you who didn’t hear, Luis Fabiano was none to happy about being subbed off at halftime in the win against Mallorca. Fabiano said after the match that he would rather sit on the bench then be subbed off during the game.

Well, needless to say that didn’t sit well with most of the sevillistas, especially Kanouté who came out against Fabiano saying he would need to get used to it if this happened.

Today, on El DesMarque, Renato spoke for the entire team, saying ‘Luis talked with us and to the coach and everything is fixed.’

In AS today, in a article entitled ‘Jimenez and Luis Fabiano, obligated to make up’ LuFa was quoted as saying ‘Everything is fixed. There’s nothing more to talk about.’

This isn’t the first time LuFa has spoken out against Sevilla ‘misters’. He gave Juande Ramos some stick when he sat the bench a few games during his reign in Sevilla. But, it always ended with a sit down, and an a-ok.

I for one am glad this didn’t escalate AND that it’s apparently all water under the bridge.

Argentinian Sevillistas Arrive in Sevilla

In case you didn’t know (and I’m sure most don’t) Sevilla have a school in Argentina, called ‘la Escuela de Fútbol Tucumán Ramón Rodríguez Monchi’ (named after my FAVORITE Sevillista, Monchi).

3 months ago, 2 players from Tucuman were chosen to come to Sevilla and have their chance with the club, see the city, meet the players, and take it all in (even La Feria).

(Here’s a picture of the che’s upon their arrival in Sevilla.

Injury Updates

Renato will make his return to the squad this weekend against Almeria after being out with a strained calf muscle.

Escude will still be out against Almeria with a variety of injuries

Dragois out as well with still problems with his right leg (at least from what I can remember)

Kanouté is banged up after last weekend’s game, but will be back.

Chevantón is still out after having surgery on his left knee over a month ago.

That’s all for now Sevillistas, I’ll see you on Thursday with some new information.

PS Diego Capel is NOT going to Real Madrid, in case you all were wondering! =)

2 years ago, Antonio Puerta single handedly started Sevilla on a run that would Spain 15 months and 5 separate titles (UEFA Cup 2006, 2007, Spanish Copa Del Rey 2007, Spanish Super Cup 2007 and European Super Cup 2006). His goal against Schalke didn’t only lift Sevilla to the finals against Middlesbrough, but it was also a spectacular goal, scored in the 100th minute of the game, in Sevilla’s 100th year of existence.

And on a totally random note, this is my 100th post on The Sevilla Offside…creepy

When this goal was scored, the city quite literally erupted into a frenzy, as you can see from the video. This goal will live as one of the greatest goals in Sevilla history.

Manolo Jimenez wrote a great remembrance today in MARCA about this topic. Remember that Jimenez was Puerta’s coach in Sevilla Atlético for a few years before his move up to the first team under Joaquin Caparros, and ultimately under the guidance of Juande Ramos.

His few lines says it all:

No resulta fácil encontrar las palabras adecuadas cuando se trata de recordar la figura del gran Antonio Puerta. Es un futbolista, una persona, por la que siento una especial predilección. Se cumple el primer Jueves de Feria sin él, se cumple el segundo aniversario del Jueves de Feria que cambió la historia del Sevilla y el destino de Puerta.

It’s not easy to find the right words when trying to remember the great Antonio Puerta. He’s a footballer, a person, for whom I felt a special predilection. It’s the first ‘Jueves de Feria’ without him, and it’s the second anniversary of the ‘Jueves de Feria’ that changed Sevilla’s history, and Puerta’s destiny’

The article goes on to talk about the goal against Schalke and how he was a ‘captain without a armband’. What a leader.

I’m waiting to get a quote from Del Nido on this. I’m really surprised he hasn’t come out with anything today.

Jesus Alvarado also wrote a story about Puerta on his blog, entitled ‘Saying ‘Jueves de Feria’ is like saying ‘Antonio Puerta’ and it honestly doesn’t do it any justice to translate it into English. I hope for those of you who speak Spanish can give it a read, it really is quality, especially the last paragraph.

Este Jueves, te lo juro, por la noche, donde sea, pediré de manzanilla, muy fresquita, una botella. Llenaré dos o tres copas de ambrosía sanluqueña, y me acordaré del regalo de tu zurda pinturera. Alzaré mi copa al Cielo, en tu nombre, Antonio Puerta, que es tu día, amigo mío, otra vez, Jueves de Feria.

Today, Del Nido came out with a pure classic. Talking about Dani Alves and his supposed desire to leave for Barcelona, the Sevilla president had this to say.

“Por 25 millones de euros le mando al Barcelona las botas de Daniel Alves para que se las ponga un lateral del filial. Es quizás el mejor lateral derecho que hay actualmente en el mundo, y mi ilusión es que continúe los cuatro años que tiene”

For 25 million Euro, I’ll send Barcelona Dani Alves’s cleats so that a youth squad player can wear them. He’s possibly the best right back in the world and my hope is that he will stay here for the four years he has

Haha. What balls this guy has. I swear, the best things come out of this guy’s mouth. Basically he just told Laporta to screw off, and Dani Alves isn’t going anywhere.

Later in the convo, Del Nido denies that anyone has contacted him about the Brazilian, but does say that he won’t talk to anyone until the season is over.

It just so happens that this comes out of the Madridista AS, which sticks it to the Catalans any chance they get. But Del Nido knows how to deal, I’ll tell you that. He’s not afraid to stick his neck out there and say something stupid, but its what he’s known for. Well, that and the whole Malaga deal, but that’s neither here nor there! Jeje.

Phew, now that rant is off my chest, its time to get back to work.

Sevilla 2 - Villarreal 0

First off, I have to say, this was a must win game for Jimenez. Even though my boy Monchi said he wants him around next year, without this win, it would have been a bit harder to get that point across to the fan loving Del Nido.

With that being said, Jimenez did the first real tactical change of the year, going with a 4-5-1. The loan striker was Luis Fabiano, and surprisingly enough, this opened the field way up for Sevilla to attack on the wings. With Adriano stuck in the middle until getting hurt (more on that later) the wings were wide open for Navas and Capel to do their things.

I never give game recaps per se, but what an amazing ball from Dani Alves to Luis Fabiano for the goal. An over the top long ball from about 50 yards away bounced twice into the box and Fabiano buried it in the back of the net.

The technical change really sparked something in Sevilla, and maybe we’ll see more of it this coming weekend. Seriously, what do we have to lose?

Defense = Hospital Unit

It’s obvious that Sevilla have overcame some pretty outstanding obstacles this season, with the death of Puerta and the departure of Juande Ramos to name a few.

But, right now, our focus must turn to the defense and the hospital unit it has become. Here’s where we currently stand in the back.

Center Backs:
Javi Navarro-Out indefinitely (hasn’t played a game all season)
Boulharouz- Played around 3 games and had surgery in Holland (what a waste he was)
Escudé - He’s in one game, out the other. Mr. Inconsistency
Mosquera - The Only Healthy One

Outside Backs:
Drago - Also had surgery and will be out for a few weeks.
Crespo - Started and in his first game got blasted in the face by Diarrá which fractured his cheekbone and left him out for 1.5 months.
Casado - Played just over an entire half against Villarreal in November, then rolled his ankle and was out for quite some time. Moved up to the first team again, to sub in for Diego Capel in the 92nd minute and didn’t even mark a minute against Recreativo in February.
Adriano - Out 3-4 weeks with an injury to his left calf suffered against Villarreal in the last game.
Dani Alves - Still kicking (knock on wood)
Fazio- Still hanging around

Now, that leaves us with newly promoted Diego Prieto. The youngster from the Cantera will stay with the first team until the end of the season. While Lolo, will not (thanks to some rule about being under 23 and he had to play against Mallorca). I personally like the kid, and when he was asked why all after all of the millionnaire signings in Sevilla, the young kids from the cantera are playing, he had this to say.

“Bueno, sí…es que hemos tenido muchos lesionados.” (Well yeah, we’ve had a lot of guys get injured

Duh.

Darth Del Nido’s Quote of the Day

Ha sido una tarde magnífica de fútbol, con mucho espectáculo. Es cierto que hemos conseguido una victoria apurada hasta el final, pero no por ocasiones. Hemos recuperado la moral en el juego, nuestra posición en el terreno de juego y la credibilidad ante los adversarios”.

It was a terrific afternoon of football, really spectacular. Its obvious that we played a pure game until the end, but not because of occasions. We recovered our moral in that game, our position in the field, and the credibility against our rivals.

If Sevilla hopes to make their way back into the Champions League spot, they will have to overcome a current 5 point deficit as they sit in 6th place behind 5th place Racing and 4th place Atlético Madrid, who both sit on 50 points.

Convocatorio

Sevilla have announced 19 players for the game on Sunday. Palop, De Sanctis, Daniel, Adriano, Mosquera, Fazio, Duda, Keita, Poulsen, Renato, De Mul, David Prieto, Crespo, Alfaro, Jesús Navas, Diego Capel, Koné, Kanouté y Luis Fabiano.

Out Escude, Boulharouz, Javi Navarro, Maresca, Chevantón.

MARCA has Adriano starting at Right Back, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Jimenez throws in young David Prieto to see what he can do.

Javi Navarro Finally Speaks

Javi Navarro, still recuperating from his injuries, finally made an appearance before the press. Sevilla’s captain said ‘Whoever thinks I won’t be back are wrong.’ This comes from rumors citing Navarro’s possible retirement due to his knee injury.

He still have quite a lot of work to do in order to get back into the lineup, but from this recent interview, it looks like he will be back as soon as possible.

I for one can’t wait until he comes back. Sevilla have been lacking that brute (and yes, sometimes it is very brute) force that Navarro brings.

Dani Alves to Barcelona?

Much like Luis Fabiano, it appears that everyone is playing ‘Where in the World Is Dani Alves (going)?’ Latest reports have the Brazilian defender heading up north to Catalunya.

Aside from saying ‘I’m getting the hell out of here’ Dani Alves has made it VERY clear that he is going to leave Sevilla at the end of the season. Sport a Barcelona rag, says ‘Alves ONLY wants to go to Barça’. Alves’ agent ‘Rodri’ made it known that Alves doesn’t want to leave Sevilla for simply any price, but he also doesn’t want the mess that happened last summer.

Diario de Sevilla has echoed what Sport reported, saying that Barcelona are first in line for Sevilla’s current captain.

I know Alves will be gone at the end of the season, but this is the same thing that happened with Poulsen, who, when asked a few days later about his new contract with Barcelona, shrugged his shoulders and said ‘What?’.

I’ll believe it when I see it.

The Game

So nothing like playing the first place team in La Liga, to then play the Second place team in La Liga the following week. Very nice. Villarreal are playing great football as of late, clobbering Atlético 3-0 last weekend. Sevilla lost to the other team from Madrid 2-1, which makes Sevilla’s chances for a win just that much less likely.

But, I always have faith in my side. Monchi has expressed his desire to keep Manolo Jimenez as Sevilla’s gaffer through next season, which shows the front office has a bit of faith in the newly promoted coach. Jimenez also kept the players in the lockerroom for 40 minutes after the Madrid game to express some issues that were brewing in the side.

We’ll see if any of that love translates into a much needed three points today.

Hola Sevillistas! I have some great news for everyone out there. The Asociación Sevillista Puerta de America, the ONLY Sevilla FC supporters club in the United States is officially OFFICIAL. We were ‘inducted’ as one of the more than 250 official Sevilla FC Peñas in the world.

Today, we were also approached by MARCA to do a story on the peña, and also we were mentioned in www.orgullodenervion.com, with a pretty cool little picture on the side.

If anyone is interested in joining the peña, go to ASPA for more information.

This summer, the socios are all planning a get-together in NYC. The time and place is not set yet, however as details are set, we will let our socios know.

Watching Euro 2008 From Barcelona??

On a personal note, everyone keep your fingers crossed (or your thumb wrapped up in your fist as us Polish do) for good luck. Today I sent off my grant application that I’ve been hard at work on for the last month.

If I get the grant, I’ll be spending the summer months in sunny Barcelona and will be able to take in the Euro 2008 atmosphere ALL EXPENSES PAID. I’ll actually be taking a Catalan class at the Universitat de Barcelona if all goes well (since my program makes it necessary that I learn Catalan if I want to do any sort of dissertation work on the topic).

Your Blogging Schedule

I’ve finally decided to get my blogging life together and make life a lot easier on me. I’ve divided up my three current blogging lives and relegated certain blogs to certain days, for sanity’s sake, and so people know when to expect posts out of me. It looks like I’ll be doing posts here on Saturday’s, Tuesday’s and Thursday’s. We’ll see if I can stick to that schedule, so expect that.

Aftermath from Madrid

Well, the game against Real Madrid is behind us now, and there’s no crying over spilt milk (or so the saying says).

On to bigger and better things. Sevilla currently sit in 6th place thanks to Racing’s win against Espanyol on the weekend.

But, we are not out of the woods yet. The fact that we are still fighting for a UEFA Cup spot (and the last UEFA cup spot at that) speaks volumes to me.

Now, I have been probably the least vocal in bashing Jimenez, or the club in general for their series of lackluster performances, most notably in the defensive half of the field.

Maybe it is time to evaluate our players right now and see where we stand. Within the next 2 weeks I’ll have a comprehensive player list complete with who’s staying, who’s going and who’s going to do God knows what. It’ll be a good review for me, and it’ll be an even better post for all of you to throw in your two cents on.

Currently, the big story is Where In The World Is Luis Fabiano Going? Reports have him at every club under the sun, including Corey’s neck of the woods in Madrid, in Serie A, in England, with the LA Galaxy (hey I’m making that one up).

One thing seems to be certain, the Brazilian will be gone at the end of the season.

(Note the above was written on Tuesday)

Now it’s Wednesday and I read this headline in AS from Luis Fabiano

I like Sevilla and I want to stay here

So now I have no clue what to think? I just want the whole thing to be put to the side until the end season and we can talk about it then.

Monchi Speaks Out

My favorite person at Sevilla, Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo, (aka Monchi) spoke out about our new signings this season and said that ‘We are not happy with 100% of our signings this year’

“Me gustaría que me definieran qué se comprende por planificación. No estamos contentos con el cien por cien de los fichajes, pero mi función es mucho más amplia que los fichajes, eso es una parte de la planificación. A día de hoy hay jugadores que no han rendido lo que nosotros pensábamos, por motivos que, algunos, son a nivel personal y, con otros, tenemos confianza en que muchos de ellos van a rendir seguro, no sé si dentro de un partido, de dos o de un año, porque son jugadores que, internacionalmente, están contrastados”

Basically, he’s not 100% happy with the signings and some haven’t done what they thought before they signed them. Sevilla does have some confidence in the players that they will get better in a few games or in a year, but others are really struggling, a contrast from what they did before Sevilla signed them.

On the same topic, In the next 2 weeks I’m going to put out a player by player analysis of the club and who’s leaving, who’s staying and who’ going to do God knows what.