Playing or resting?

 

I read that Spain are playing in the Confederation's Cup in Brazil. Obviously, Brazil are also involved, but what about our other players? Will some stay back here to keep fitness or will they be resting? It's always nice to follow what the guys are doing before pre-season starts. 

 

Does anyone know? 

I hope a lot of them get a break. Oscar is going to have played an insane amount of games this season.

From what I see around the papers and that is that they will go on a holiday spend time with family and friends for a couple of weeks then get back into training. 

 

With Jose there as well I'm sure he'll want the players in that he doesn't know so he can make his mind up on what to do and how to use them.

Just think how many games Mata has played. It is a stupid amount of games. He guy really needs a rest.

Yeah, was reading this blog by Juan Mata. He said he spent time with friends and family in the Asturias. I googled it and it Looks absolutely gorgeous there! 

 

http://blogs.grada360.com/juanmata/en/2013/06/03/pequeno-descanso-previo-a-la-confederaciones/

It does look like a lovely place

Damn him. So he's as incredible footballer, intelligent, decent, handsome (if you like that sort of thing), rich, a family man and lives in what looks like shangri la. If he didn't party for us i would hate him. But he does, the lovely belter...

Damn him. So he's as incredible footballer, intelligent, decent, handsome (if you like that sort of thing), rich, a family man and lives in what looks like shangri la. If he didn't party for us i would hate him. But he does, the lovely belter...

My mate is a Utd fan and every time he sees him he says "I hate that little git"

Upon asking once he replied "Because he is class"

Damn him. So he's as incredible footballer, intelligent, decent, handsome (if you like that sort of thing), rich, a family man and lives in what looks like shangri la. If he didn't party for us i would hate him. But he does, the lovely belter...

I'm not gay, but if he asked I wouldn't say no.

My mate is a Utd fan and every time he sees him he says "I hate that little git"

Upon asking once he replied "Because he is class"

That's how I feel about Bale. Love watching him but hate that he's not in blue!!

Mikel and Omeruo in Nigeria's starting line up to play Kenya, in Fifa world cup qualifier.

Friday Belgium vs Serbia.

Match 1 zero in favor of Nigeria.

Omeruo was once again solid in defence. Very reliable defender who can outrun the most pacey forwards. Always bullying strikers around.

Mikel, Well, Mikel, always a different player, playing for the national team.

He created 7 clear cut chances. Easily could of gotten at least one assist.

Had shots on target too with 97.6% pass accuracy, long and short included. He ran the show actually.

Different player with a different hairstyle(funny) like CAshley's.

Friday Belgium vs Serbia.

 

Looking forward to this game. Hopefully Hazard is fit so he can give De Bruyne some competition for MOM award again :)

Mceacharan and Chalobah come off the bench for England U21. Chalobah wasnt bad and did at least 1 good thing whereas Josh was quite poor.

Match 1 zero in favor of Nigeria.

Omeruo was once again solid in defence. Very reliable defender who can outrun the most pacey forwards. Always bullying strikers around.

Mikel, Well, Mikel, always a different player, playing for the national team.

He created 7 clear cut chances. Easily could of gotten at least one assist.

Had shots on target too with 97.6% pass accuracy, long and short included. He ran the show actually.

Different player with a different hairstyle(funny) like CAshley's.

I love watching Mikel for Nigeria, although I did not watch this match. Seen his haircut though, he does look better. Hopefully he plays better too, as he was scrutinized too much last year.

Normal9ja, I assume you are Nigerian, do you think they should reform the qualifying process, maybe making a second preliminary round, so there are 5 groups of 4, opposed to 10 groups of 4 like we have now. There are just so many games in African football with an AFCON every two years. I also think they should make the top two in each group go into a playoff, with a 1st placed team playing a 2nd placed team. This would help mid tier teams like Burkina Faso, Zambia and Mali qualify and keep the groups more competitive. 

A bit off topic, I know, but considering we are a club who have invested in African talent recently, it is in our vested interest. There needs to be less football in CAF and I don't think they will scrap AFCON being a biannual tournament.

Mactheknife, yes about the qualifying process, alot of these things have been discussed, but CAF has insisted on them being played with this current format.

The playoff issue is something that is not that much used in football system in Africa. Alot of issues have been responsible.

Another interesting thing to note though is that, AFCON will in near future be played during the summertime. But it being played biennually is something that I cannot see being changed soon. With the competition being played every two years, there'd more of football developing faster in some nations than every four years.

The only people who seem to complain are European clubs, but in Africa, we seem to like it as we have a competition to look forward to every 2 years.

Football has developed so much in Europe that even if no competition is held like the Euro, football will still develop more.

Over here, the situation is different, most league systems are not upto scratch and for football to develop more, you need to be playing more and more. It has produced results anyway, we've seen more African teams giving the top boys a run for their money. Teams are much stronger and the football infrastructure has been on the up.

Yeah, was reading this blog by Juan Mata. He said he spent time with friends and family in the Asturias. I googled it and it Looks absolutely gorgeous there! 

 

http://blogs.grada360.com/juanmata/en/2013/06/03/pequeno-descanso-previo-a-la-confederaciones/

 

The more I hear and see from him, the more I absolutely love him. 

@Normal9ja

Do you know why Moses isn't included in the current Nigerian squad?

Edited June 6, 201313 yr by True Blue23

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2336952/Juan-Mata-Jose-Mourinho-deliver-Premier-League-title-Chelsea.html?ico=sport%5Eheadlines

@Normal9ja

Do you know why Moses isn't included in the current Nigerian squad?

Moses was included in the squad for the qualifiers and confederations cup.

However, unfortunately he withdrew from the squad, stating an injury he needs to operate on, which he had to attend to because of the advice of the club's medical officers.

And the Federation's medical officer confirmed it from the club, so he was not included in the final squad for Brazil.

Yeah Normal9ja, I share your sentiments for the need of more games in African international football as most domestic leagues are very poor. A summer AFCON would be great and would solve a lot of issues. I'm planning to go to Morocco 2015 as it would be relativity cheap and hopefully my adopted second nation, Uganda, finally qualify.

Luckily this summer, I don't think Mata will play too much in the confederations cup as Spain will want to win it after 2009. I also think the tournament will be positive for Mikel, because he is a different element for Nigeria.

Ok mate, that'd be good. I'll also be in Morocco too.

I think the confederations cup will actually show people that Mikel isn't 'just' an average midfielder.

Problem is, he seems to play like as if he was restricted or something in Chelsea.

That's a talk for another day though.

Another player to be keen on is Omeruo, the kid at 20yrs have grown in every sense as a footballer. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have him back at the club learning from the best defenders and the best coach himself.

COC and FA cups would be great for him to gain minutes.

When is the confederations cup? People probably dont know but I am also Nigerian :)