AC Milan come to town tomorrow to play in the Joan Gamper Trophy match, a preseason ritual that is more run-out than hotly contested match (though Puyol and Eto’o two years ago would have called me a series of names for such an insulting statement). I’m not one to get too excited about it, but whereas last year it meant Ibra’s home debut (which was fun despite the 0-1 final scoreline), this year it means the return of Ronaldinho. I miss Ronnie in that nostalgic way where his presence on the field remind me of a time when I was watching all the matches from Central America and Mexico, typically while sweating and swearing in equal measure. I enjoyed those years and so–despite the modern era being much nicer for a myriad of reasons (the main one doesn’t typically read the blog, so I don’t have to worry about offending her)–I’m looking forward to seeing this one.

I expect a full round of cheers for Ronnie, what with this not being a competitive match after all, and a generally pleasant atmosphere throughout the the game. I’d rather see Ibra play with Villa and maybe even see them misfire a bit than play a serious match with serious consequences. We have Racing on Sunday, so there’s no reason to put our boys at risk for more than 45 minutes apiece (I can never remember how many subs we get, but I’m assuming infinite). That said, I certainly want to see us win this one because, as Guardiola says, it’s a good test of where we are as a team.

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I realize it’s been a couple of weeks since the season ended and I haven’t updated all of you on the various competitions we had. My bad. But I’ve been holding off on some of that stuff so that I could organize and write some of my other posts (this and this, for instance) and so that Kevin’s wrap-ups would have a chance to run on the front page, so to speak, for a while. Now it’s my turn and over the next few days I should have quite a bit of stuff to say about both the film festival I’m attending starting on Tuesday and my final 09-10 State of the Liga post. For now, though, enjoy the competition results.

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Hey, it’s been a while since I updated all of you on Fantasy Soccer. Just in case you missed it, we’ve got a competition going through Yahoo!’s Fantasy section. Here is our group (you might have to log in to see it, but the ID is 1037).

To the info: There’s hardly anything to report. There is nothing going on here. Nothing whatsoever — sob — nothing. I’m not in horrible, horrible 19th place or anything. I’m not that far behind player Hat Trick who has 1,071.5 points compared to my 827.00, but I’ve only got 18 more weeks to make up the difference!*

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So, we’ve had our first week of Fantasy football. Our group, Barcelona Football Blog (imaginative!), currently has 39 members, but you can sign up now and you won’t be in too big a hole. The password is “barcelona”.

Whoever runs the Que Golazo team is crushing all in their path with a 1.50 point lead over Hawk (that’s not a big lead, if you’re unaware). I currently sit in 9th (THE YAYA).

A word of advice for those of you who are in this, but aren’t earning points: you must have your entire roster filled in order to get credit for any of your players (that would be 9 of you). The deadline is Saturday Sept 12 at 6:30am EDT. Theyayaisonebadassbeastofaman has a great name, of course but unfortunately got trashed because Asenjo had such a bad week and ended up last with -3.50. A comeback is in order, I’m sure, once Messi and Iniesta begin to play consistent minutes.

Here’s a breakdown of what I chose as my lineup (DNP = Did Not Play):

GK: German Lux (0.00pts DNP)
DEF: Dani Alves (13.00pts), Albiol (-3.00pts), Botia (0.00pts)
MID: Xavi (6.50pts), Yaya (0.00pts DNP), Borja (1.50pts), Keita (21.00pts)
FWD: Aguero (4.00pts), F. Llorente (3.00pts), Luis Fabiano (0.00pts)

I’m considering a switch to a 3-5-2 or a 4-4-2 in order to incorporate more players into the midfield while being able to afford some good strikers up top, but it will depend a bit on who is injured/expected to start as to which system I ultimately go with (and I might stick with the 4-3-3 if it works out right. I chose Lux and Albiol because they cost 1.00 each and for absolutely no other reason.

Thoughts: In a couple of weeks, after he’s served his suspension, Freddie Kanoute might be a “bargain” at 14.50 (might be lower by the time he’s eligible to play again). Sergio Aguero could be a pretty good deal at 19.88 if you’ve got a few bucks to spend on a striker, but if you have fewer, maybe Bojan at 12.68 is worth the money. Juan Valeron could be a pretty good buy at 5.66, especially if he can put away goals at any sort of a steady rate.

[Update: I forgot the link to the group itself. Join here, password is barcelona]

Not to steal Hector’s thunder in his great post about ManCity’s goal, but I promised you a post about the Yahoo fantasy league I have created (English translation version here) and this is it. I will describe what one does in this league and how one conquers all foes. To get started, you’ll need a Yahoo ID, which is free, of course. So is this league, for that matter. It’s braggin’ rights on the line, broseph (and maybe a prize from me if I can pull my shit together by late May to get something awesome–it won’t be worth much, don’t worry).

Unlike Fantasy NFL and Fantasy EPL, there is no head-to-head meeting. It is league play based on your total points earned. So you do not have to worry whether or not the Osasuna defense will hold up to Sporting Gijon’s offensive prowess if you don’t want to. Continue Reading