Born only a few miles from Valladolid in the small town of La Seca, Eusebio Sacristán played for la pucela a total of 117+129 times over 2 stints. He also happened to play for FC Barcelona during the Dream Team years, starting and playing every minute of the Cup Winners’ Cup in ’89 and what I suppose will henceforth be known as the other Wembley victory. He left Barça in 1995 to move to Celta and then moved back to Valladolid for the second of his two times there. He retired in 2002 and became an assistant under at Barça from 2003 until 2008. He then coached Celta in the 09-10 season that saw los celestes come in 12th in La Segunda.
Thanks to the depature of Luis Enrique from the B team–presumably to Roma–Euesbio will become the new Barça B coach. This keeps things in-house like we did with Pep and Lucho and keeps the system fully intact. 4-3-3 all the way through. Pass, move, offer. All that jazz. Top-to-bottom, a true ideology and a true sense of where we’ve come from and where we’re going. I don’t expect Eusebio to improve on Lucho’s mark–3rd with one game to go–but he’ll have a solid team to give it a go with.
Welcome back, Eusebio, and may the fruits of your labor be an ever-increasing proportion of canteranos in the first team.

Speaking of which, the B team is playing it’s last game of the season right now:
http://deportemixtv.co.cc/
Come in Mr. Eusebio Sacristan and welcome back to Catalonia. The weather is beautiful and the football is dazzling. Don’t forget to chut de bul!
Beautiful goal by Tello to tie it up 1-1.
Congratulations to all on having a wonderful season. Its been a long while I have been here. Actually I haven’t been much on the web this last few weeks. Busy with work and ve got a lot of catching up to do. Have still got a wry smile on my face from last week’s sublime win. MY friends have been submitting application requests to become cules since witnessing that outta the world performance by a team which we have bEen generously priveledged to see.
Phew, Nigeria beat a messiless and third team Argentine squad(doesn’t matter, its still Argentina) last week to make things more exciting. Been hearing and reading different transfer rumors but I hope we manage to sign rossi and died Cesc.
Congrats to the new coach. Hope he turns out to be as successful as his precedessorsm he might evn turn out to be our coach if and when pep leaves.
Tello again!!!!!! 2-1!!!!
That’s my boy TELLO!!!
A week ago, we were watching Barcelona do their Barcelona thing. Now England are clodhopping about the place, giving the ball away, running into each other and generally being Not Very Good.
About England vs Switzerland taken from the the Guardian min by min report. Apparently they are not playing very good.
How were the 2 Tello goals? I just got on now.
And welcome new Barca B coach … whose name will take a while for me to learn
Really nice. The first was a one-on-one with the GK, and the second was a gorgeous shot from an acute angle off to the side that curled back into the net.
Hah nice 🙂 ty
Soriana 3-1
Soriano* lol he seems like he’s become very experienced 1on1 with goalkeepers now
I should mention that aside from Oier, Soriano and Bartra, this is very much the B lineup of the B team. No JDS, Montoya, Muniesa, Nolito, or Sergi Roberto.
And they are still winning 3-1 (Soriano!!!!) over Rayo Vallecano, a team that is being promoted.
May be thats why barca b is winning?
Scoriano’s scoring like crazy yo!
Goal Rayo. 3-2.
2-3
Just hold on for 5 more minutes….
Ibra villa villa ibra,enough of this.
ibra is more skilled then v,but he has such a big ego for a good player.our system needs total submission from the players and we have a messi.all of ibras other team were built round him.,which is maybe good for winning the league but not in the cl.before coming to barca he never ever scrd in a cl ko match,so it was barca who improved his statistics rather the other way around.
amyway as someone said each with his own preference,my thought was that buying him at such a huge fee was a mistake which pep rectified.
and welcome the new b team coach,hoping he maintains the standard
Have I missed something? Was anyone talking about this?
FT 2-3
That’s it! Fabulous season for them. Highest ever finish by a B team, Soriano is the pichichi! Luis Enrique should be very happy with his team, and extra kudos to him for taking them this far when he hardly knew from one week to the next what players Pep would be stealing for the first tea.
I am so proud of them. 😀
Good luck to Lucho wherever he ends up (Roma?), and I am sure this is not the end of his journey with Barcelona. He’ll be back some day in some capacity.
Lucho to replace Pep when he leaves?
Did i just say when Pep leaves!? Blasphemy!!
I didn’t like his decision to join ROma. I think that he should’ve stayed in La Liga. That way, he will be better prepared when he does take over the 1st team one day.
I personally would prefer he go to Sevilla (who have fired their coach), but it would be awfully difficult for him to turn down the chance to coach a historic and first-rate club like Roma. And who knows? With a coach like Lucho in the mix, Italian football might actually become interesting!
It would have been fun if Barca B had the chance to qualify to first division, lose to Barcelona first team and win against Real Madrid handing the Liga for the big guys.
Mou would get drunk and walk across the City pulling his hair and screaming Pour gue?
But perhaps he could operate in other positions as well. I can’t tell since I’ve never really noticed him during the WC. Does he pass well? Can he make diagonal runs? One two’s?
You answered them all with a yes yes yes.
Now another one :p
Does he does the above mentioned better than Rossi?
Its easy to give it another yes, but the truth is: its impossible to know. Alexi usually plays against different defense structures in Serie A than Rossi in Spain, and we saw how far Rossi’s performance changed in Italy compared to England.
Sanchez is the more telanted, technically gifted player. Rossi is more adabted to the Liga. Sanchez creates options, Rossi is a poacher in a way that he take advantage of the options created. We’ll see who will prove more attainable, though I think we’ll face more competition for Sanchez, which bring us closer to the Italian…American 🙂
the new thread makes my last post obsolete….posting it again though : p
Cesc will be a much better eventual replacement for Xavi than Busi. Busi is more of a Guardiola type player, he is not dangerous enough (read: not dangerous at all) going forward.
Also I really don’t understand the “trying Ibi out at LB” statements.
Ibi is stronger with his right than with his left. He lacks defensive positioning, strength and heading. His crosses are decent but not all that great either imho. And his overall skill set, dribbling and passing would be better served in the midfield or on the wing.
It will be interesting to see how the possible arrival of Rossi effects his playing time, especially with Thiago being promoted also.
I cant think of a player who can compete with Busquets as a holding midfielder, and no one is better than him in future to be a Xavi. Recall predicting that two years ago in a post that made people come up with creative jokes about this prediction.
As for Abi, his perfect position is CM. He can do at the wing in the games that help him and his style, and he is a possibility for holding midfielder. Fullback is not his thing, I can see pedro there before him.
And today we may see Abi in the midfield btw
You mean Ibi of course. 😆
Pedro at fullback would be such a waste of his finishing ability. He has the workrate and tactical knowledge but it would be a shame.
I think that everyone in the media is underestimating Pedro’s role in the Barca team. His workrate is phenomenally better than Messi or Villa and would make us significantly weaker defensively if he is sacrificed for the likes of Rossi, Kun, Neymar or Sanchez.
It is true what has been said, the first big signing we make will show a lot of what the rest of the summer will bring. If we sign Cesc then it will dent the bank meaning that there wouldn’t be a lot left for others.
When we start selling a few players we’ll know better.
I saw a post-it on a notice board looking for a good home for a 30 yr old Belorussian winger. Free or nearest offer.
Less than 2 minutes in and someone gets DeJonged…
OMG …. very single time Neymar touches the ball crowd screams!!! What the heck … he’s 19!! no wonder there’s SO MUCH pressure on him … wow …
this is my stream btw http://www.stopstream.tv/ch4.html
BTW T. Silva looks very VERY solid in the back line
Yeah, no wonder he has a swollen ego.
English stream: http://atdhenet.tv/37572/watch-brazil-vs-holland
Thanks for the link!
Awesome Link! Thanks!
Goal Brazil but wrongfully called ofside … very nice pass by neymar splitting the defense
Really nice work from Afellay there! Could have been a goal…but not to be.
Go Ibi!!! Close…. So proud of our players. Ibi wearing the 10 for the Netherlands. Wow.
Amazing how I now find both Brazil and the Netherlands… a bit slow. Imagine, Brazil and Netherlands! If used to Barca passing, all other teams look slow somehow. And no one keeps the ball so close to their feet like Messi or Iniesta.
I wouldn’t say slow, but their passing is nowhere near as good as what I have come to expect. 😛
And yes, Flyboy is doing really well. The English announcer can’t say enough good things about him!
I’m watching Spanish channel so I don’t really understand what they’re saying. I would have loved to hear those compliments of Ibi!
Mmm….yeah, maybe it’s not “slow.” But even when we just do those triangles, we zing those balls around rapidly- I guess that contributes to my perception of our game as “fast.” We zing it around and then someone accelerates forward with the ball at their feet (like Messi, Ini or Ibi) so I feel like we’re playing a fast game. Even when we’re probably just zinging the ball in our own half or passing backwards and sideways. Haha.
Afellay absolutely murders alves on the flank, he better not go anywhere this summer…
We wont sell the guy who let Messi open EE’s defense..
Afellay is looking fantastic! It feels like ages since I’ve seen him and Alves play.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen Neymar play. He’s obviously very talented, but I don’t think ever seen a player dive so much! Di Maria has nothing on this guy…
American talking heads *shudder*:
http://atdhenet.tv/37556/watch-united-states-vs-spain
Busi, pique, and villa in all white? Shudder…
Spain playing in white, which is confusing me.
Hey look at that! Americans dive too! 😛
Pretty decent turnout, it looks like the stadium is full. Didn’t know that many Americans were fans of football. Or is it soccer?
There are plenty of football fans in New England, where this game is. Also looks like a lot of Spain fans there.
Forgot to insert a smiley, my comment isn’t to be taken seriously 😛 From what I can gather, this is a American blog on FCB 😉
Not really.
uhhh year really, thee users may not be American or in America but the founder and his firsst 2 go to guys are from and live in America.
uhhh yeah really, thee users may not be American or in America but the founder and his firsst 2 go to guys are from and live in America.
Spain playing well. Should have been a goal. NOT offside! Ugh.
Negredo. So close! Good chip.
Villa!!!! So close!!!!
Yeah! **grudgingly** Alonso nice flick before that Villa shot. Spain playing so well. Almost like Barcelona. Haha
I really like how Spain is passing.
They’re really copying Barca now. I see lots of triangles. And this is Spain without Xavi and Ini.
Villa – please score lots of goals. Guess I want Negredo, Villa, Santi and Silva to score. They just need to do more passing (and pressing) til USA tires in the second half.
Yes!!!! Santi goal!!! Silva assist. Beautiful.
That’s one. Negredo, Silva and Villa golas next.
I don’t get it. Are the Spanish supporters wearing red or are they from the Estados Unidos?
I see some kind of crest in those red shirts – perhaps they are Spain supporters.
Both. The US supporters are wearing red because of the new team shirts. A lot of the Spain supporters are wearing the red Spanish team shirt as well.
I also see a lot of Barca shirts in the crowd. 😀
There are Spanish fans wearing the la roja jerseys, and the U.S. supporters wearing red as well, the new home jerseys that the players are wearing, and plain red with the USMNT crest. Must be indistinguishable on a stream…
I’m having total mental disconnect. Country before club and all that, but I keep on cheering good plays by Spain, especially the Dahveeds Villa and Silva re-establishing their bajito connection…
CATHORLA!!
Santi!!!!!!! GOOOOOOLLLLLL!!!!!
Yes!!!! There’s the Negredo goal!!!!
Two down, two to go. I just need Silva and Villa to score now.
Barcaleya FTW!!!!!! You have correctly predicted two goals, all we need now are VIlla and Silva to score. 😉
Safe bets looking at how they are playing..
Yes!! Hahaha. These are obviously the four who will most probably score. But it would be so much fun if ALL four did score.
Then I can call myself the next Paul la pulpo. Hehe
USA being played off the field, to be honest.
Hopefully no broken noses today.
Have the US even had a shot on goal yet? Pepe Reina is pretty much a spectator. Maybe he should take up knitting…
VV should’ve been called up. He’s the best spectator there is!
He was called up. We may see him in second half.
*started. VV should’ve started..
He’s probably writing a novel as this sad sad US mauling takes place(an this is coming from an American!).
If only Landon Donavan and Carlos Bocanegra would have started maybe the score would be 0-1 instead of 0-2.
Silva! Almost!!
Argh. And there I thought I was going to get my Silva goal so soon. I can wait til 2nd half 😀
Commentator goes: (paraphrased) “Silva with a Cruijff-like move. You know Cruijff? the Dutch football master [ guess its for the american public, trying to educate them]
LOL!!!!!!!
And yay for Santi scoring again! This could be a bloodbath.
I think the end score will be 7-1. Four more goals in the second half.
One consolation goal for the US when Spain just takes feet odd pedal.
To be fair – US don’t have many of their first team players.
This is just a friendly and it’s nice for them to just have a feel of how the other team plays. Now they have something to watch and review over and over and study how to play/defend against.
To be fair…Spain is missing a few starters as well, you know. No Puyol, no Xavi, and Iniesta, Llorente, Torres and Casillas are on the bench. The gap between the talent and style of play is just too wide.
Yeah – but that’s a given I should think. Sorry. Don’t mean to offend the Americans.
Even this second-choice team that Spain has is much much better than a lot of first teams out there.
Well they’d better study fast because the Gold Cup is upon us…they’re playing Canada in 3 days so they’d better have a quick fix for the poor defending.
There’s no limit to subs is there?
No there is. 6 subs.
USA getting torn apart… Played off the field is right.
Still can’t help but think that this was just the wrong match for the USA. Wrong time, wrong opponents.
The Gold Cup begins in some three days for the USA… they shouldn’t be playing a pre-tournament warm up just days before facing off against Canada, likely their biggest contender for the top of Group C. Even worse, they don’t get a good look at their own team’s status by facing off against the team that keeps possession better than any other team in the world.
Ca Na Da! Ca Na Da!
😀
Canada has an NT? GTFO! 😛
Yeah…but we suck.
Our women’s team is fantastic, though! 😀
Figures.. How many Canadian men are regular posters here BTW?
Men? Ummm….Blow-Grenade. Don’t know who else.
Eff yeah Canada!
lol, they’re not bad, they usually do fairly well in the Gold Cup (and could have beaten the USA in the 2007 version if not for a wrongly disallowed last-minute goal) and were unlucky to be in the group of death in the last World Cup qualifiers.
A consistently good Canada is one of CONCACAF’s best bets for another automatic World Cup spot. 😀
Sunil Gulati goes on record to say that the USA voted for Sepp Blatter. Also that it is not impossible for the 2022 World Cup to be re-voted, but no corruption on Qatar’s part has been proven thus far (key point).
“That he should deny himself the opportunity of the historic footage of first holding the cup says it all really. One day there’ll be a statue of Puyol in the Plaça de Catalunya. One can only hope that he never gets a haircut, so that his heavy-metal locks will dance in the Catalan breeze for all time.”
– Phil Ball
lol, so excellent!
Busquets off, Iniesta on.
Woohooo!!! Love you Andres!
So who’s out? Are Villa and Silva out? Tsk. I won’t get my predictions now 😀
Torres on as well… did the ESPN announcer just call Spain “Barcelona”?
The stream says Villa out?
for Torres..
Arbeloa so slow. Can’t anticipate Ini’s passes. Anyway….
Unlike Silva – who anticipates Iniesta’s passes.
Torres FAIL.
Yeah. I wish he would get better. I don’t want him to end his career in failure.
Wow! Great Iniesta interception. Soo good.
If he can’t even score against the US then who can he score against?
I think what ever magic touch he had before is long gone.
I am really pulling for him to score. He needs his confidence back.
He shouldn’t have switched clubs in the midst of his crisis. Pretty hard to build confidence when everything is new and lack of playing time only makes it worse..
Plus, Liverpool is on an upswing now that King Kenny is in charge, and Chelsea is full of aging stars with big egos. Bad move, IMO.
Arrrgghhh! Torres!!! What in the world.
He used to shoot so much sooner. Now, he runs until he’s dispossessed. The timing is gone. Argh.
Iniesta in white…it’s so wrong. 🙁
Reminds me of Casper..
Is it me or the US of A look better this half?
And how did Brazil – Holland finish goalless? Brazil was creating so many chances..
USA doesn’t look better. Spain took their foot off the gas. It’s only a friendly, they don’t need to humiliate anyone in their house.
As for Brazil/Holland…I’m not sure. The first half was terrific, but the second was a bit…off. Afellay was terrific.
It was 35degrees in the sun which didn´t help. Typical bureaucratic friendly match. shame.
Torres, heehee
Oh dear God – thank you! Even if it were a strange-looking goal.
At least it’s a goal – well done Torres!
BREAKING NEWS: Torres scores! SHOCKING!!
FINALLY!!!!!!!
Bleh. Casillas..
I know. Why not Valdes? He just won his 4th freaking Zamora, surely he deserves to get a game for Spain! 👿
Conspiracy! Por que? POR QUE!!
FInally, Torres.
But Howard, dude, that was awful, really should have been able to get a hand to that.
I do think the U.S. look better now that Dempsey, Cherundolo, Bradley are on.
Why can’t Valdes come in? Why Iker? It’s just a friendly 🙁
Okay. It’s an exhibition. I guess people just want to see these players in person.
Maybe there are more Barca on the field already…
Because Valdes is an underrated, under appreciated player.
He’s better than Reina and he won the Zamora trophy, beating Iker.
I’m really perplexed why he isn’t the second choice keeper, thats his rightful spot.
Maybe he will play in Venezuela.
Maybe…but most likely not.
Let’s not be mean. Except for his Mou-laced comments after the UCL, Casillas is the most likable guy in EE. Valdes gets to play for a winning team for most of the year… why would you want to deny Casillas that joy? 😛
Tee hee! 😈
Maybe Spain doesn’t need to CHOOT DE BOL around anymore..
See?!
Even the American commentator just said what I’ve been saying earlier – “Arbeloa very slow to react” from Iniesta’s incisive passes.
Arbeloa is just slow in general. Dani Alves would have been all over that last pass from Alonso.
Just realized that if that first goal wouldn’t have been disallowed, Spain would have had a manita.
FT 4-0 😛
Yeah – and to think that Spain players are jet-lagged 😀
OVER.
Ref takes mercy on the US. No added time. Good game!
Off to get some supper now. 🙂
@Jim
no u didnt miss anything.it was a conversation between barca 96 and ramzi,which caught my eye and that was my 100 cent on the matter.
Ok. Thanks.
I guess if Skysports is reporting it, it is getting at least a bit serious….I mean sky is not quite the beakon of journalism that goal.com is but hey!!!!!
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12874_6965793,00.html
They are only reporting what was in AS and the resto of the Spanish press yesterday. AS then changed their story hours later and reported Moratti saying there is a 60% chance Inter will sign Sanchez.
Nothing in it.
Yeah, I doubt we have the upper hand in these negociations. I think Inter will manage to sign him, while we’ll get Rossi.
I hate when they quote percentages..There’s a 12.8% chance that Sergio Ramos will break into the trophy room at the ‘Beau and steal the broken trophy and retreat into a dark cave like Gollum
That Martin guy at the Arsenal offside is going to stop blogging:
http://www.arsenal.theoffside.com/team-news/the-long-goodbye.html