SPAIN FOOTBALL U-17 | U-19 | PRE - EUROPEAN GROUP DRAW RESULTS

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Believe it or not there is more to Spanish Football after the 5-0 victory of Barça over Real Madrid in the Spanish League last night. The sport continues with more & bigger games & tournaments to play.


This afternoon the pre-European u-17 & u-19 Groups were drawn ay the UEFA Headquaters & teams were allocated with the following results for the Spanish National Teams.


In the u-17 category

VIDEOS | CRISTIANO RONALDO GUARDIOLA | SERGIO RAMOS RED CARD INCIDENTS | FC BARCELONA 5 - REAL MADRID 0 2010

The "shock-wave tremors" continue 12 horas after yesterdays “earthquake” in Barcelona (Camp Nou) after FC BARCELONA won 5 – 0 REAL MADRID in the “Clasico”,the first of season 2010 – 2011. The game was tense, very hard played & with emotions strong with two clear incidents that stand out from the game. Many readers have emailed requesting a post with the VIDEOs of the incidents & I have found

FC BARCELONA TEAM PHOTO 2010 | EL CLASICO | STARTING 11

Monday, November 29, 2010

Here is the FC BARCELONA starting 11 line-up that faced REAL MADRID tonight in "El Clasico" & won 5 - 0. I suspect that many Barça fans who read Spanish Football Sports would appreciate the team photo for their records. Tonight´s victory marks the 5th straight victory over Real Madrid.



FC Barcelona Team Photo - vs Real Madrid 29th Nov 2010

















L to R top: Abidal, Pedro,Busquets,

VIDEO GOAL HIGHLIGHTS "EL CLASICO" FC BARCELONA 5 – REAL MADRID 0 | 29th Nov 2010

The VIDEO of “El Clasico” FC BARCELONA 5 – REAL MADRID 0.29th of November 2010 – Camp Nou (Barcelona)



The video could be taken off due to rights issues. Please excuse if this happens. Full summary with images on the below post!

EL CLASICO Nov 29th 2010 RESULT FC BARCELONA 5 - REAL MADRID 0 | FC BARCELONA "SLAUGHTER" REAL MADRID WITH DEVASTATING TOTAL FOOTBALL










The long await match between the two big Spanish Clubs has concluded with a demolition job done by FC BARCELONA over REAL MADRID with an incredible 5 - 0 result that puts Barça to the top of the SPANISH LEAGUE classification table.  It was intense, rough & violent at times which mixed it with some sublime Football performed by the home side. 

Tonight we saw two philosophies of Football

EL CLASICO 29th NOV 2010 | FC BARCELONA - REAL MADRID | HIGUAIN FALLS ( OR NOT ) & STARTING 11 SPECULATIONS | MIND GAMES


The very latest news may now throw dirt over the post below. All day REAL MADRID has been filtering that GONZALO HIGUAIN had been left out due to a lingering back problem to which he hasn´t  recovered in time to play tonights "Clasico" against FC BARCELONA. In fact, media had announced earlier that Mourinho had announced in his tactical meeting with his players this afternoon that Karim Benzema

EL CLASICO 29th NOV 2010 | FC BARCELONA - REAL MADRID | HIGUAIN FALLS & STARTING 11 SPECULATIONS

The latest news just in from Barcelona is that REAL MADRID forward GONZALO HIGUAIN has not recovered in time for the big FC BARCELONA clash tonight. According to Spanish Sports daily "Marca" the Argentine has been ruled out for "EL CLASICO" & thus opens up speculation on who will take his place. The natural tendency is to think that Frenchman Karim Benzema will come in, however there are other

SPANISH FOOTBALL | SPANISH LEAGUE - LIGA 2010 - 2011 | ROUND 13 | SUNDAY GAMES RESULTS

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Busy afternoon of Spanish Football with six games of Round 13 played as part of the Spanish League - La Liga. Here are the results & the scorers of this afternoon-evening Soccer action.



Trezeguet scored for Hercules

HERCULES got back into a winning groove with a 3-1 victory over LEVANTE. The scorers for the home team were VALDES (twice - 39th m & 67th m) with a great match & TREZEGUET (62nd m

TENNIS 2010 | ROGER FEDERER DEFEATS RAFAEL NADAL FOR HIS FIFTH MASTERS

It just could not be, Spanish Tennis World Nº1 & ace RAFAEL NADAL was defeated by ROGER FEDERER 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in a very convincing victory for the now five time MASTER of MASTERS. 



Rafael Nadal laments a miss shot

It was the first time in his career that Nadal had reached the ATP MASTERS Final (London) & his chance were good beforehand after majestically defeating Andy Murray in the

REAL MADRID 2010 | JOSE MOURINHO CONFIRMS THE SAME STARTING 11 FOR FC BARCELONA | EL CLASICO

The atmosphere is building as SPANISH FOOTBALL showcases tomorrow night the first of its two big season clashes of the Spanish League - La Liga, the locally known "El Clasico" between FC BARCELONA - REAL MADRID. The Madrid  Club has celebrated its last training session before flying off to the city of Barcelona tonight & Coach José Mourinho has just celebrated a packed "Press Conference" that has

SPANISH FOOTBALL | SPANISH LEAGUE - LIGA 2010 - 2011 | ROUND 13 | SATURDAY GAMES RESULTS

Saturday, November 27, 2010

The Spanish League - La Liga celebrated three games tonight as part of Round 13 with plenty of goals to keep the spirits warm during a very cold Saturday in Spain. Here is a brief summary of results & scorers.



Manu del Moral scores a penalty for Getafe

An extraordinary match with comeback included with SEVILLA FC going down 1 -3 to Madrid Club GETAFE. The home side had things relatively under

PM Gruevski´s hardline policy leaves FYROM out of NATO summit yet again

Australian Macedonian Advisory Council
November 26, 2010

FYROM Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski´s hardline policy to his country´s naming dispute with Greece has once again caused FYROM to not be invited to take part in the latest NATO summit (where new members are then invited to join the Alliance) which took place on 20 November 2010 in Lisbon.

Immediately after the summit, instead of taking responsibility for his failure once again for FYROM to be invited to join the NATO alliance (after its failure to join NATO in 2008 and a stagnant EU candidature in 2010 (http://www.ana.gr/anaweb/user/showplain?maindoc=9321518&maindocimg=9318247&service=96&showLink=true), Gruevski stated that his country "had not joined NATO, because of ´interference´ from Greece, due the name issue".

Meanwhile, the citizens of the FYROM (of whom 35% are of Albanian origin) are becoming....
 more restless with the current government´s inability to solve the dispute with Greece and to become integrated in EU and NATO institutions, which will provide much needed security and economic assistance to the country. The Left-wing opposition party (SDSM) has urged snap election after FYROM failed to join NATO for a second time (http://www.emg.rs/en/news/region/139238.html).

The Greek President Karolos Papoulias has sent yet another message to the government in FYROM after the NATO summit, urging that "as long as they insist on their intransigent positions, so much the more they shall keep the door of NATO closed and the accession procedure towards the European Union frozen" (http://www.ana.gr/anaweb/user/showplain?maindoc=9321518&maindocimg=9318247&service=96&showLink=true).
Greece can hardly be blamed for FYROM´s situation. Since Gruevski´s nationalist party, the VMRO-DPMNE, took power in 2006 his government has engaged in a string of provocations towards its neighbours:
  • In 2007 renamed Skopje Airport as ´Alexander the Great Airport´
  • In February 2008 Gruevski was photographed laying a wreath at the tomb of a 19th century revolutionary and a map of "United Macedonia" which includes parts of Greece and Bulgaria
  • Erected a statue of Alexander the Great in Prilep
  • In January 2009 renamed the main highway which runs through FYROM from Serbia to Greece ´Alexander of Macedon´ highway
  • In December 2008 the national stadium in Skopje, ´Gradski Stadium´, was renamed ´Philip II Arena´
  • In 2009 plans were announced for the construction of 22-meter fountain and statue of Alexander the Great in Skopje´s Central Square
Various foreign and domestic observers have expressed their concerns at the intense ´antiquization´ or ´antique macedonization´ of FYROM under Gruevski borne out in the provocations mentioned above. According to an article in FYROM newspaper Dnevnik (6 August 2009), a poll conducted in FYROM showed that 59% of the respondents believed that PM Nikola Gruevski should focus all his efforts on the economy, rather than his ´Ancient Macedonia´ or ´Antiquization´ program.

These provocations are in violation of the Interim Accord, signed by Greece and FYROM in 1995, under which FYROM was allowed to be admitted as a member of the UN (http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/47/a47r225.htm).

Various NATO and EU reports on FYROM´s progress have noted Gruevski´s government´s provocations towards Greece are deliberate intransigence concerning the UN-brokered name negotiations with Greece. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has also criticised the "ongoing use of the language of hatred in some [FYROM] media not only against Greece, but also against Bulgaria". A Greek Foreign Minister spokesman has also reiterated that FYROM Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki, amongst others, at "every opportunity attacks Greece in a provocative way and burdens the UN framework procedure" (http://www.ana.gr/anaweb/user/showplain?maindoc=9341595&service=142).

Mr. Gruevski should focus on his country´s crippling unemployment, which is now at a staggering 33% and is the highest in Europe, instead of deflecting domestic attention away from this serious problem by the making of various nationalistic stunts which provoke Greece and other neighbours.

The Australian Macedonian Advisory Council (AMAC) believes that it is now time for PM Gruevski´s government to abandon its nationalistic approach and work closely within the UN framework to solve the naming dispute with Greece, which will ensure that the FYROM´s integration into EU and NATO structures, or risk becoming permanently isolated.

VIDEO | HOW AMERICAN TV PROMOTES EL CLASICO - FC BARECLONA vs. REAL MADRID

This is how American TV Sports Channel ESPN promotes the big Spanish League - Liga Round 13 clash next Monday between FC BARCELONA - REAL MADRID, locally termed "El Clasico":



Not bad at all except ( my opinion) the too obvious stereotype use of the Spanish dance  "Flamenco". However I won´t be too harsh on them as we here would have used a giant Hot Dog or a Hamburger to promote the Superbowl.

SPAIN -PORTUGAL - IBERIAN FIFA WORLD CUP 2018 BID

Friday, November 26, 2010



SPANISH FOOTBALL SPORTS BLOG supports the
IBERIAN 2018 FIFA WORLD CUP BID

SPANISH FOOTBALL | EL CLASICO 2010 | FC BARCELONA - REAL MADRID CF | PRE MATCH OBSERVATIONS

The Spanish League - La Liga moves into Round 13 tomorrow & there is one game that is eclipsing all the rest, the long awaited FC BARCELONA vs REAL MADRID match commonly known in Spanish Soccer as "El Clasico". Barça has won the last 4 clashes & has dominated Spanish Football the last couple of years. Real Madrid has invested huge sums of money on adquiring  the best players on the market along

FIFA - FIFPRO NAME 10 SPANIARDS IN LIST OF 55 NOMINATED FOR 2010 WORLD XI

Thursday, November 25, 2010

The 50,000 Football professionals that make up the FIFPro (World Players Union) along with World governing Football body FIFA have handed in their list of 55 players nominated for the "2010 FIFA FIFPro World XI”. The official announcement of the players that will make up the World Team will be held the 10th of January 2011 alongside the naming of the winning of the “FIFA Golden Ball 2010”.



2010 -2011 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP C - D RESULTS | VALENCIA 6 - BURSASPOR 1 | PANATHINAIKOS 0 - FC BARCELONA 3

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Two Spanish teams participated & finished well in their respective Group C & D CHAMPIONS LEAGUE matches with both winning well & assuring their place in the next stages. 



Juan Mata opens Valencia scoreline

VALENCIA CF steam-rolled BURSASPOR 6 -1 in their Group C game with Valencia CF assuring its place in the next stages of the Champions League independently of it last Group match against

RED CARDS XABI ALONSO - SERGIO RAMOS VIDEO | CHAMPIONS LEAGUE AJAX REAL MADRID 2010

By the massive email request , here is a Video of both Red Cards given to Xabi Alonso & Sergio Ramos yesterday in the Real Madrid - Ajax Champions League match:


Latest is that UEFA will investigate if they were looked for on purpose.

What do you think? Mourinho , Sergio Ramos & Xabi Alonso say that they were unnecessary from the referee. Iker Casillas says he just gave some orders.

As written

ATLETICO DE MADRID EYES SCHALKE 04 MIDFIELDER IVAN RAKITIC

Spanish Sports newpaper daily “AS” highlights today that ATLETICO DE MADRID has a firm eye on 22 year old SCHALKE 04 midfielder IVAN RAKITIC. The Spanish Club has been following the youngster & has the player in its 2011 – 2012 season plans.



Ivan Rakitic

The key here is that the player becomes free at the end of the season – 30th of June 2011– thus allowing Atletico to avoid making an

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP G 2010 - 2011 RESULT AJAX OF AMSTERDAM 0 - REAL MADRID 4

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

REAL MADRID defeated 0 - 4 AJAX OF AMSTERDAM in their Group G CHAMPIONS LEAGUE return leg game. This assures the Spanish Club the top Group position & thus enables them to avoid the "Big Guns" in the next stage after the mini-leagues.

Real Madrid rested habitual players like Khedira, Carvalho & Huguain who did´nt travel & gave Benzema, Leon, Lass & Arbeloa a chance to start from minute zero. The

SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM COACH VOTES FOR MESSI, RONALDO, SCHWEINSTEIGER FOR 2010 FIFA GOLDEN BALL

Hi punters! I thought you may find interesting to know the three votes given by Spanish National Football Team Selector & Coach Vicente Del Bosque for the 2010 FIFA Golden Ball Award. As you may already know, a Selector cannot vote for a player of his same country, thus Del Bosque had to pick from outside the Spanish Football Team



Spain Football Team Coach Vicente Del Bosque

His three votes

SPANISH FOOTBALL | SPANISH LEAGUE - LIGA 2010 - 2011 | ROUND 12 | GETAFE 1 REAL ZARAGOZA 1

Monday, November 22, 2010

Spanish Football - Liga action tonight with the last scheduled match of Round 12 down between two Clubs that needed desperately a victory. One team had a debut Coach & the other with a direct "threat" of being axed if his team lost tonight. In the end destiny was kind as both shared the points in a draw result.



Real Zaragoza scores against Getafe

GETAFE drew 1 - 1 against REAL ZARAGOZA with

SPANISH FOOTBALL | IKER CASILLAS NEXT "GOLDEN GLOVE" WINNER

Spanish Football International, Captain & REAL MADRID Goalkeeper IKER CASILLAS will be the next “Golden Glove” Award winner – prize given to the “Best Goalkeeper in the World”,  coincing with the best performance in the years World Cup. Although the official presentation will be done on the 10th of January 2011 at Zurich when the “FIFA Golden Ball Award” will also be handed,  along with other

SPANISH FOOTBALL | SPANISH LEAGUE - LIGA 2010 -2011 | ROUND 12 | SUNDAY GAMES RESULTS

Sunday, November 21, 2010

"Spanish League - La Liga" Round 12 Football action continued this Sunday with six 6 games scheduled. Here are the final results & scorers.



Espanyol scores against Hercules

RCD ESPANYOL are having a fantastic start to the 2010 - 2011 season notching up another victory this time 3 - 0 against HERCULES. Two things to note a) the fantastic game by Espanyol goalie Kameni & b) the red card to

SPANISH FOOTBALL | SPANISH LEAGUE - LIGA 2010 -2011 | ROUND 12 | SATURDAY GAMES RESULTS

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Great Saturday night of Spanish Football with three great games as part of Round 12 of the Spanish League - La Liga that brought on a "ton" of goals. 



Rossi celebrates the equalizer

While the Spanish League is turning out to be a two horse race between Real Madrid - FC Barcelona, the two nearest contenders, VILLAREAL & VALENCIA CF,  played & finished with a 1 - 1 draw result. ADURIZ put

ATLETICO MADRID REACTS TO MANCHESTER UNITED "OFFER" FOR DAVID DE GEA

ATLETICO DE MADRID Directives, fans & Spanish Football experts all agree that 19 year old Goalkeeper DAVID DE GEA is destined to be a World class player & Spain´s next goalie after Casillas gives way. In fact, De Gea is already a vital piece of the Spanish U-21 Squad.



David De Gea

Readers may be surprised to learn that the current salary of David De Gea at Atletico de Madrid is “only” 400.000

DEIGO MARADONA VISITS REAL MADRID - JOSE MOURINHO

Friday, November 19, 2010


Very little real news of note in the Spanish Football area today. However as a general news piece that may be of interest to all World Soccer fans Argentine leyend DIEGO ARMANDO MARADONA visited this afternoon REAL MADRID during their afternoon training session.



Maradona chats with Mourinho

The ex-Argentina National Team Coach meet up with the players & then had a long chat with Coach

SPANISH CUP 2010 - 2011 | LAST 16 TEAMS DRAW

Thursday, November 18, 2010

The SPANISH CUP last 16 teams draw has been celebrated today with the following match ups:
1. Valencia - Villarreal
2. Barcelona - Athletic Club
3. Córdoba - Deportivo
4. Betis - Getafe
5. Almería - Mallorca
6. Sevilla - Málaga
7. Real Madrid - Levante
8. Atlético de Madrid – Espanyol



FC Barcelona - At Bilbao

The first leg will be the 22nd of December with the return 2º leg the 5th of January

ATLETICO DE MADRID TALKING WITH MANCHESTER UNITED OVER DAVID DE GEA ?

This is not the first or the second post that I put up commenting the interest that English Club MANCHESTER UNITED has for young U-21 Spanish International & ATLETICO DE MADRID goalkeeper DAVID DE GEA.



Atletico de Madrid Goalkeeper
David De Gea

According to the English paper “The Times” both mentioned Clubs have begun talking & studying possibilities of a transfer deal. In fact, the paper

PORTUGAL 4 - SPAIN 0 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY 2010 RESULT

Wednesday, November 17, 2010


PORTUGAL has given a real Football lesson to the current FIFA World Champions SPAIN with a 4 - 0 victory in tonights Friendly International played at Lisbon. In fact it could have been 5 - 0 had the below Cristiano Ronaldo goal been allowed instead of being given offside because the referee thought that Nani headed the ball outside.



Ronaldo disallowed - goal.

SPAIN debuted with a new uniform

FIFA WORLD RANKING NOVEMBER 2010 | SPAIN STAYS Nº1

FIFA has released it monthly World Football National Team rankings. The SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM & current World Champions stay Nº1 & open up a points gap with 2º placed Holland.

Below is the Top 10 list:



Spanish Team Captain Iker Casillas
with 2010 World Cup
1. Spain 1.920 Pts
2. Holland 1.718
3. Brazil 1.493
4. Germany 1.489
5. Argentina 1.353
6. England 1.250
7. Uruguay 1.174
8.

FIFA GOLDEN BALL 2010 | XAVI HERNANDEZ ANDRES INIESTA APPARENT HOT FAVOURITES

There seems to be two firm favourites for this years “FIFA Goleen Ball” 2010. According to Barcelona based Sports daily “Sport” (couldn’t be any other ) two FC BARCELONA players XAVI HERNANDEZ & ANDRES INIESTA will be “fighting” it out. Apparently, the votes have been already done & shut between the World Press journalists with “France Football” “sources” hinting that Iniesta has the advantage.

THE BATTLE OF MOLINON | SPORTING GIJON vs REAL MADRID | 2010

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Spanish Football Sports thought its readers who like to see this video shown this afternoon on Spanish TV "Cuarto" that captured the intensity of the Real Sporting de Gijon vs Real Madrid game last Sunday which Real Madrid won 0 -1. Here you can clearly see the hostile atmosphere - & at times real hate - spewed out by the local crowd & the fury of the Sporting Gijon players towards the visitors.

REAL MADRID | KAKA ON RIGHT TRACK FOR RECOVERY | EXPECTED BACK JANUARY 2011

You maybe wondering how Brazilian star KAKA is going after his knee operation & with his recovery program. Yesterday an important meeting was held between Kaka, Real Madrid medical team & the Belgium knee specialist Dr. Marc Martens ( who operated Kaka on the 5th of August ) to evaluate his progress & his comeback.



Kaka hard at work with recovery

The meeting lasted three hours with

SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM 2010 | NEW UNIFORM | LLORENTE XABI ALONSO DAVID VILLA

Monday, November 15, 2010

Guys,  I thought that perhaps you may want to see some pictures - thanks to Spanish Sports daily "AS" - of Spanish Football Internationals posing with the new SPAIN FOOTBALL TEAM uniform presented today to media. Here are Fernando Llorente, Xabi Alonso & David Villa doing their part as models. My stats indicate that readers are keen to pick up on photos of Spanish Football Players & this may give

SPAIN FOOTBALL TEAM 2010 | PRESENT NEW LOOK SHIRT / UNIFORM

So you just spent 90€ on the latest SPAIN FOOTBALL TEAM shirt with the little star? Guess what, there is now a NEW version of the uniform that the SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM will debut with against Portugal next Wednesday. 

Today Spanish Football Players did a Press Conference to show media the new uniform with a new design, "World Champions" badge & neck stitching. So you can now race off

SPANISH FOOTBALL | SPANISH LEAGUE - LIGA 2010 -2011 | ROUND 11 | SUNDAY GAMES RESULTS

Sunday, November 14, 2010

SPANISH FOOTBALL celebrated Round 11 Sunday action as part of the SPANISH LEAGUE - LA LIGA schedule for season 2010-2011. Games with low scores but that were very intense with last minute victories. Here is a summary of the results & scorers.



Malaga - Levante

MALAGA managed a hard earned 1 - 0 victory over LEVANTE to stop their recent bad results. Levante was unlucky to have gone away with a

F1 2010 | FERNANDO ALONSO FINISHES SUB - WORLD CHAMPION

Firstly, congratulations to SEBASTIAN VETTEL for winning the Abu Dhabi F1 Gran Prix & in doing so becoming the F1 2010 WORLD CHAMPION. The German becomes the youngest driver in F1 History to do so. Secondly, congratultions to Spanish two time World Champion FERNANDO ALONSO who finished sub - Champion just 4 points behind Vettel. The work & the season done with Ferrari has been extraordinary &

SPANISH FOOTBALL | SPANISH LEAGUE - LIGA 2010 -2011 | ROUND 11 | SATURDAY GAMES RESULTS

Saturday, November 13, 2010

SPANISH FOOTBALL action tonight with three matches of Round 11 corresponding to the Spanish League - La Liga competition.  



Fernando Llorente scores the winner

ATHLETIC DE BILBAO won thanks to the solitary goal by FERNANDO LLORENTE in the 10th min. However, it was a real battle for the Basque Club tonight as they hung on after failing a penalty before the mentioned goal & going down to 9 men

VIDEO - FC BARCELONA OFFICIAL PHOTO SESSION FOR SEASON 2010 - 2011

FC BARCELONA TV filmed the FC BARCELONA TEAM official photo session for season 2010 -2011. I thought that the Barça fans from around the World that read Spanish Football Sports Blog may appreciate a look & know that this video is available. Enjoy!

FC BARCELONA PLAYER CARLES PUYOL REACHES 500 GAMES

FC BARCELONA player CARLES PUYOL , alias "Captain Invincible" or "El Tiburón" (The Shark), celebrates his 500 th game for the only Club in his Sporting career. From here, I wish the Spanish International & Football player a "Happy Match" & may he play more games.



Carles Puyol lifts 2010 
Joan Gamper Trophy

FC BARCELONA HAS AGREEMENT FOR IBRAHIM AFELLAY FOR JANUARY 2011

Friday, November 12, 2010

According to news just in to Spanish Sports daily "Marca",  via its online channel, FC BARCELONA has come to an agreement with PSV EINDHOVEN for the transfer of 24 year old midfielder IBRAHIM AFELLAY. The Dutchman will arrive in Juanuary 2011 during the "Winter Transfer Market" opening window. The player finishes contract this season & would have become a "free agent" as of the 1ºst of January

SPAIN - PORTUGAL 17th NOVEMBER FRIENDLY INTERNATIONAL | LIST OF 23 SPANISH PLAYERS

SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM Selector & Coach Vicente del Bosque has given this morning his list of Spanish Football Players that make up the squad that will play Portugal next Wednesday the 17th of November in an International Friendly as part of the joint “Iberian” candidacy to host the 2018 World Cup.



Spain Football Team - 2010 World Champions

















Coach Del Bosque calls up

SPANISH CUP 2010 - 2011 THURSDAY 2ºLEG ( LAST 32 TEAMS) MATCHES RESULTS

Thursday, November 11, 2010

The last four games of the SPANISH CUP 2º leg have been played tonight with the following results & scorers.



Usua scores for Mallorca

The first leg ended MALLORCA - SPORTING GIJON 3 - 1. The return match at Gijon gave a 2 -2 draw with Mallorca eliminating Sporting from the Spanish Cup. USUA scored twice for Mallorca in the 10th & 15th min & for Sporting BILIC ( penalty ) in the 25th min &

Letter to Kofos by World Pan-Macedonian Associations

A Critique of Consequence

Concerns over the feasibility of special advisor to ELIAMEP Dr. E. Kofos's suggestions for a solution to the Macedonian naming dispute between Athens and Skopje

November 2010

Dear Dr. Kofos,

In regards to the Rose-Routh seminar you gave in Skopje on October 20, 2010 at NATO's Parliamentary Assembly vis-à-vis the imbroglio Greece has with its northern neighbor, and in regards to recent news reports coming out of Skopje attributed to you, we the Worldwide Pan-Macedonian Associations would like to offer you our comments. We feel that the Pan-Macedonian Associations, as the bastions of Hellenism in Macedonia, should be an important voice and an inseparable figure in the academic, political, and historical discussions on the name issue with our neighbor. We are the representatives of millions of Macedonians in Greece and the Diaspora; we are diachronic, and independent of all political parties.

We respect your efforts over the last five decades in dealing with Skopje's Macedonism however we must strongly object to the ideas that you and your colleagues in ELIAMEP have promoted to the citizens in Greece and the Diaspora, to various foreign ministers of the Hellenic Republic, and most recently to politicians and journalists in Skopje.  

Throughout your thesis you un-necessarily refer to that state as.....
“Republika Makedonija” instead of FYROM. By doing so you are legitimizing their claims to be called “Republika Makedonija”. Calling them as such you are describing them in the context they want to be perceived.

The problem with a separate geographic qualifier for the name of a country:

The geographical qualifier that is suggested in your thesis will ultimately be disastrous for Greece because it implies that there is a whole entity named Macedonia that is geographically divided - by force as is taught in the FYROM. Need anyone be reminded that “Vardarska Makedonija” was born from Pan-Slavic irredentism? You leave the door open for us to continue to be “Egejska Makedonija” in their eyes - just another geographic region of...Macedonia under occupation. Their country will be a STATE and Greece will only have a region that supposedly will be in another sphere geopolitically. By suggesting a geographic qualifier, you are subjecting the 2.5 million Macedonian Greeks to continued dangers. Apart from wondering why there is a need for a qualifier, we publicly ask why you suggest that there needs to be a geographic qualifier for them and an ethnic qualifier for us. Are they not Slavs as we are Greeks? Finally any name that has a separate qualifier from “Makedonija/Macedonia” will be dropped and Makedonija/Macedonia” will be the finality. This has happened already with “the FYROM”: “FYR” is also a separate qualifier and Skopje has broken countless times the Interim Accord they signed in the quest to circumvent it and unilaterally push for “Republika Makedonija”. For just a single example, one has to look at the old flag that still adorns practically every social, political, and religious gathering in the State and its Diaspora – something that is against the Interim Accord.

Instead of creating “Macedonian” identities in Skopje at NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly you should have told them in no uncertain terms that no state should be allowed to use a term ethnologically that belongs to another nation culturally and historically for centuries. In our case it should be perceived as an obvious attempt to appropriate everything Macedonian.

Solutions to a breakthrough, or creation of a linguistic labyrinth?

With all due respect, we would like to critique your views as advisor to ELIAMEP and the Greek government. In your essay for ELIAMEP titled “The Current Macedonian Issue between Athens and Skopje: Is there an Option for a Breakthrough?”, and in your Rose-Routh Seminar speech in Skopje last month, you propose “food for thought” for future “aspirant mediators” on the issue and suggest a complex legalistic approach which is difficult to follow by international bodies let alone by the common person. Apart from the name of the country, you suggest that a possible solution would be to use the Slavic terms in an un-translated and non-transliterated form for the name of their ethnicity, language, and culture. The noun would be “Makedontsi” and the adjective would be “Makedonski” from the Slavic/Bulgarian language. For the Greek terms you state that “Makedones” for the noun, and “Makedonikos” for the adjective “might apply” and you suggest that these also should be transferred into other languages as is. However, in the Rose-Routh Seminar you go ahead and transliterate some of them using Slavic suffixes: “makedonsko vino” for their wine (in Italian/Spanish) as if the world should learn to inflect adjectives in Slavic!

Furthermore, we need not remind you that in Slavic, the gender suffixes are -ski (male), -ska (female), and -sko (neutral) for the adjectives. Additionally, the plural noun is “Makedontsi” but the singular is “Makedonets”. As you are aware, Greek also has gender suffixes for nouns as well for adjectives. You are unclear if all or just one of the Slavic/Greek suffixes and the plural/singular cases for each language should be used . Are you suggesting that the world learns how to inflect in Slavic and Greek or are you suggesting that these terms be copy-pasted everywhere thus disregarding the delicate linguistic rules that define a language? More specifically, is ELIAMEP prepared to create new grammatical and linguistic rules for all languages of the world? In English it is easier as there are no genders for nouns, and adjectives are not inflected but you can't only rely on the English perspective especially for languages which are highly inflected and their adjectival form possesses various cases. On the other hand, the phrase “the Makedonskianization of new immigrants” sounds tongue-tied and ridiculous even in English.

Even so, will the English say “the makedoniki woman” or will they say “the makedonikan woman” for the woman from Greece's north? In English will it be“the makedonski book ” or “the makedosko book” - or will the suffix be applied only to languages that inflect? If it is the former, then you are suggesting that the world learn Slavic, if it is the latter then you are suggesting that some languages replace their own suffixes for the Slavic ones. How on Earth could a Greek express a phrase such as “tis Makedonskikis protevousas” (“of the Makedonski capital”)? Will it be that - or the grammatically incorrect “tis Makedonski protevousas”? How would a Greek pronounce the term “the Makedontsi”? Will it become “oi Makedonstides” for men and “oi Makedontsisses” for women - or will it simply be the grammatically incorrect “oi Makedontsi”? How is ELIAMEP going to teach and ensure that the French would say “la capitale Makedonski et le vin Makedonski” instead of  “la capitale Makedonskienne et le vin Makedonskien”? Similarly, will the French say “les Makedontsi” for both genders instead of “les Makedontsiens” for men, and “les Makedontsiennes” for women?

Furthermore, there is also the problem of the plural and singular forms of the Slavic noun “Makedonsti”. The silliness is highlighted in the Spanish version of the phrase: “We went to the Makedonski(an?) capital of Skopje and we met many Makedonsti(an?) children and an older Makedonets during a conference for Makedonski(an?) youth.” “Viajamos al capital Skopje y en contramos los muchos niños Makedontsis y a la otra gente Makedonets qui atendieron una conferencia de juventud Makedonski.

Finally, we want to know what will happen to the established term “Macedonian” that has been used throughout history (from ancient until current time) to describe the northern Greeks, including yourself. You mention this as the “fourth dimension”  in your thesis yet you offer no solution for this. One hundred years from now, when someone is reading Plutarch, Hammond, and Dakin  among others in English, will they know the term?

You have mentioned in your ELIAMEP thesis that once the two sides agree, they will jointly ask the world to adopt these linguistic rules. The problem with this is that while ELIAMEP would think they gave the solution to the problem and enjoy the congratulations of the world, the Skopjans will make absolutely sure that the media outside their country use the term “Macedonian” and not “Makedonski”.  It is our strong opinion that it is virtually impossible to impose this internationally, and ensure that Skopje will not promote to change it.We have highlighted this in various languages to make it clear that we believe Skopje will reject this cumbersome new linguistic entity and implore that everyone call them “Macedonian” – and a linguistically exasperated world will agree. The same thing has been done with the equally cumbersome “the FYROM”. We would ask you to be clear on all concepts above because we are honestly confused.

Historical inaccuracies: 

Dr. Kofos, you erroneously imply that the name issue between Athens and Skopje is somehow a continuum of the “Macedonian question” of over 100 years ago. You do mention that the “traditional” question as you called it was over territory but you fail to mention who was contesting the territory. You thus give the impression to third parties that Greeks fought “Macedonians” for control of “Macedonia” and this is historically wrong. As the Treaty of Bucharest 1913 can attest to, and as is reported by the Carnegie Report into the Balkan Wars - essentially as history teaches us - it was the Greeks, Bulgarians, and Serbs that each fought over the spoils of the fallen European Ottoman Empire. There was never a Macedonian ethnic identity then. If there was one, the Manifesto of Krushevo would have specified it. All “Macedonian” revolutionary movements were either Greek or Bulgarian, and it was the clash of these two ethnicities (after imperial Russia promoted the break-up of the Ottoman Empire) that defined the apogee of late 19th to early 20th Century Greek history. The current problem has nothing to do with a “Macedonian question”. It is the birthchild of a Pan-Slavic Communist dream that tangibly started in the 1930's and officially in 1944 with Yugoslav expansionist aims.

In addition, there was never a “Vardarska Makedonija” officially. The region of what is the FYROM today started as Paeonia/Dardania in antiquity and ended up as Vardarska Banovina before Josip Broz Tito chose to create the “People's Republic of Macedonia” in 1944. “Vardarksa Makedonija” is the irredentist name used by communists and Macedonists since to imply it is part of a “divided whole”.

Dr. Kofos, Greeks don’t “perceive” that the ancient Macedonian identity is a basic ingredient of our Hellenism - we know it to be through an unbroken Hellenic element and presence in Macedonia since antiquity. Perception is a word that implies a view not necessarily accepted by others. It leaves the door open for the interpretation that it may be a collective delusion. This is argued by Macedonism, which is the actual delusional force that is attempting to usurp everything Macedonian as being non-Greek. Unfortunately for Macedonists, our history is attested to by many and it is official.

Moreover, your statement in Skopje that “Makedones” is the historical name by which the Greek-speaking people of the ancient Macedonian kingdom identified themselves” bewilders us. Were the ancient Macedonians simply Greek-speaking? As you are very much aware, Macedonism teaches its youth that the ancient Macedonians were not Greek and that were simply Greek-speaking or Hellenized. Your speech in Skopje has done nothing but cement this theory. Nearly, 400 classicists of worldwide repute would disagree with you (http://macedonia-evidence.org/obama-letter.html).

The declaration of the Greek people:

The members of the Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE) in their 2007 Chicago Convention as well as the Hellenic American National Council unanimously adopted the Pan-Macedonian Association’s Resolution regarding the issue of the name of the neighboring state. More recently, AHEPA during their worldwide convention in Montreal, Canada in July 2010 also lent its support to the same Pan-Macedonian resolution. In addition, approximately one hundred Macedonian organizations state that they declare they will not accept the inclusion of the term “Macedonia” in the name of the FYROM. They request that the Greek government abandons its policy of a geographic designation and to include in the negotiations on the question of the name of the country, the issues of its nationality and its language, so that the use of the term “Macedonia” is prevented. They call on the government to reject the opening of accession negotiations between the FYROM, and the EU and NATO respectively, and between the FYROM and other international organizations to which our country has the right of veto, before solving the problems of ethnicity, nationality, and language. Besides these are the views of the vast majority of our compatriots in Greece: All the opinion polls on the name show that the Greeks do not accept the word “Macedonia” in the name of the neighbor.

Legal arguments and Greece's obligation to its people:

We are aware of your arguments that no one can legally impose a nationality or name on a group of individuals and Greece has no legal precedence to request a change in the nationality of our northern neighbors.  It is the reason why ELIAMEP (with your advice) has promoted the idea of un-translated Slavic words for their identity, and of “Vardarska Makedonija” for the name of the country. In other words, you are promoting that they OFFICIALLY call themselves “Macedonian” in their language, and that their country’s name should be a Cold-War anachronism which was first coined by Josip Broz Tito. In other words, nothing has changed since 1944. You therefore believe that we have no legal recourse at all and have been fighting a losing battle and this bothers us greatly. These arguments are the same as what Skopje and its Diaspora use when the argue their points to various international bodies. Our arguments can be more eloquent and completely legally relevant than the concerns you and the recent Greek foreign ministers have raised. Firstly, why should we respect the wishes of a communist dictator that decided to extend “Macedonia” throughout all of Southern Yugoslavia as a means to the future annexation of Greek lands? In reality and as is mentioned in your 2009 thesis for ELIAMEP, it is the original Greek identity of Macedonia that is being mutated over the last 70 years. Where is the legality in this and why haven't you promoted the modern historical truth to them and the world? Secondly, instead of baptizing them and asking them to accept terms which will hardly be internationally recognized by a non-Slavic world, ELIAMEP should be promoting their Slavonic and Bulgarian roots in their quest to find their identity in the modern world. We should not be telling them what they are but we can tell them what they are not based on who we are, and this does have legal precedence.

We wonder just what exactly is ELIAMEP’s goal in all of this? Is it politically and tactically intelligent to offer the olive branch exposing a perceived soft base for the Greek argument, to a government and society that has been taught to hate Hellenism and to question the Hellenism of Macedonia and our identity? Since you are discussing identities, we would like you and ELIAMEP to clarify who has held the Macedonian identity the longest?

As a result, we are transparent in claiming to be the indigenous people of historic Macedonia and have been trying to exercise our rights under Articles 8, 9, 15, and 18 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007. We have struggled to maintain our dignity as Macedonians against the intolerance of Skopje's Macedonism for six decades, and we are frustrated by supposedly pro-Greek groups like ELIAMEP, KEMO, and CDRSEE who are all supported monetarily or spiritually by non-Greek organizations and have been advising the Greek government on the matter. This has been happening without the participation and advice of the Macedonian Greeks and the Pan-Macedonian Associations. This is unacceptable and undemocratic. More specifically, Article 18 of the aforementioned UN declaration states very clearly:

Article 18
Indigenous peoples have the right to participate in decision-making in matters which would affect their rights, through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures, as well as to maintain and develop their own indigenous decision-making institutions.

Who has elected ELIAMEP to represent us in this process? Why are we constantly avoided and branded as intolerant nationalists when we object to the machinations of groups such as the ones you are affiliated with? The Greek State has the obligation to promote the wishes of the Macedonian Greeks, and to educate the rest of the world about our identity. This is also very clearly stated in Article 15.1 of the UN declaration:

Article 15
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the dignity and diversity of their cultures, traditions, histories and aspirations which shall be appropriately reflected in education and public information.

Dr. Kofos, there is no power and certainly no ELIAMEP supported by George Soros’s Open Societies and other non-Greek sources that can override the will of the Hellenes and if you think that the Slavs will compromise if we give a little bit of our history and rights, you are deeply wrong. For 40 years they have dug their heels and said “NO...WE ARE MACEDONIANS! PERIOD.” What our failed diplomacy has accomplished so far is inviting them to continue their maximalist policies. Now in the Rose-Routh seminar in Skopje you created a new “Macedonian” identity to suit their goals while you want us to give the stamp of approval to the ignorance, lack of effort, and relevance to the Greek national issues by the same politicians that brought the country to its knees.

Why now do you and your colleagues in ELIAMEP (including former Ambassador to Greece in the US Alexandros Mallias, and ELIAMEP Vice President Thanos Veremis) travel to Skopje and plead with them to accept that they are…Macedonians” in their language? By doing so you try to appease an ultranationalist foreign element by creating identities for them which insult us. Consequently we would like more transparency by ELIAMEP.

Sincerely,


President of the Committee of World Pan-Macedonian Associations – Nina Gatzoulis
Pan-Macedonian Associations USA-Dr. Antonios Papadopoulos, Supreme President
Pan-Macedonian Associations of Australia-Demitris Minas, President
Pan-Macedonian Association of Canada-Haralompos Moutousidis, President
Pan-Macedonian Association of Europe-Archimandrite Panteleimon Tsormpatzoglou, President
Macedonian Chapters of South Africa-Amyntas Papathanasiou, President

MONDAY 29th of NOV DATE SET FOR EL CLASICO 2010 | FC BARCELONA - REAL MADRID CF

The political pressures - especially from Catalonia - has finally contributed to set & move the date that "El Clasico" , FC BARCELONA vs REAL MADRID, match will be played. The big Spanish Football event has been set for MONDAY 29th of NOVEMBER at 21.00 HRS.



FC Barcelona - Real Madrid

The reason is that Catalonia holds its Autonomous Parliament Elections on Sunday the 28th Nov. The local

SPANISH CUP 2010 - 2011 WEDNESDAY 2ºLEG ( LAST 32 TEAMS) MATCH RESULTS

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Full SPANISH CUP 2º leg Wednesday night results


Team highlighted in black through to next roun of the Spanish Cup
( ) - 1º leg result



Bojan & the Barça boys do the job
FC Barcelona 5 - Ceuta 0
(2-0) 1-0, min.2: Nolito. 2-0, min.7: Milito. 2-1, min.35: Guzmán. 3-1, min.50: Pedro. 4-1, min.65: Bojan. 5-1, min.67: Messi. 

Real Madrid 5 - Murcia 1
(0-0) 1-0, m.3: Granero. 2-0, m.44: Higuaín. 3

CAN THIS BE TRUE - ATLETICO DE MADRID OFFERS REAL MADRID DIEGO FORLAN FOR 18M€?

For those who went to pick up the Spanish Sports daily “Marca” this morning they may have been surprised to read,  that according to the paper, ATLETICO DE MADRID has Uruguayan forward DIEGO FORLAN on sale & for the upcoming “Winter Market” next January 2011. That’s not the big surprise, the eye lifter is that the daily says that his Club has offered the player to REAL MADRID! But there is more

SPANISH CUP 2010 - 2011 TUESDAY 2ºLEG MATCH RESULTS | CORDOBA KNOCK OUT RACING - ESPANYOL ELIMINATES VALLADOLID

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

SPANISH CUP return leg action tonight with two games , with the bulk tomorrow & the remaining on Thursday.

The first leg finished with lower Division Club Cordoba 2 - Racing 0. RACING DE SANTANDER needed to put in a grand match as CORDOBA  had a strong away goal advantage. The home team put its mind to work & managed two goals via BOLADO in the 25th min & KENNEDY in the 72th min that equalized

2011 U 21 EURO FINALS | SPAIN DRAWN WITH ENGLAND, UKRAINE CZECH REP.

The Groups draw for the upcoming u-21 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS next year in Denmark has matched the SPANISH NATIONAL TEAM with England, Ukraine & Czech Republic.


In the other Group the four teams are Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland & Byelorussia.



Sergio Canales - u-21 Spanish International

The u-21 Euro Championship will take place from the 11th of June until the 25th & only the first 3 places

SPANISH FOOTBALL | SPANISH LEAGUE - LIGA | ROUND 10 | MONDAY GAME RESULT | SEVILLA FC 2 VALENCIA CF 0

Monday, November 8, 2010


Last scheduled match played tonight as part of Round 10 of the Spanish League - La Liga, with two "a priori" contenders head to head to give us the Monday  Spanish Soccer fix. 


Alvaro Negredo
SEVILLA FC hosted VALENCIA CF & the former won 2 - 0 to take the air out off Valencia who promised a lot at the start of the season. But the match was heavily influenced & marred when in the 25th min

CRISTIANO RONALDO BACK PASS - "ESPALDINHA" PISSES OFF ATLETICO DE MADRID PLAYERS

Brazilian Ronaldinho did it in 2006 & it was magic:



Zlatan Ibrahimovic pulled it off in season 2009-2010 & it was a touch of class:



Cristiano Ronaldo did it last night in the Real Madrid - Atletico de Madrid derby & was heavily criticised by Atletico de Madrid players who thought that with 2-0 score line in favour & with two minutes left in the game that this type of "showing -off" was a

REAL MADRID 2010 | THE SECOND COMING OF RICARDO CARVALHO

Ten Spanish League - Liga matches & a few Champions League are enough for me to say that I WAS WRONG. When REAL MADRID signed 32 year old defender RICARDO CARVALHO from Chelsea FC  I thought that a younger ( Spanish ) player would have been a better investment - WRONG. The facts are the we have witnessed a totally "rejuvenated" player who has become - along with his defending partner Pepe - the 

SPANISH FOOTBALL | SPANISH LEAGUE - LIGA 2010 -2011 | ROUND 10 | SUNDAY GAMES RESULTS

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Fabulous night - for thoses whos team won - of Spanish Football with eight top games in Round 10 of the Spanish League - Liga. In there we had the Madrid "Derby" & lots of goals in the other games.



Carvalho scores Real Madrid´s 1ºst goal

REAL MADRID defeated 2 - 0 ATLETICO DE MADRID in the big & controversial Madrid "Derby" to retain top spot of the Spanish League ladder. Once again the 11

MOTO GP 2010 | SPANISH WORLD CHAMPIONS IN ALL THREE CATAGORIES

Dream day for Spanish Sports & Motobikes as young 17 year old Spanish rider MARC MARQUEZ proclaimed himself 125 cc World Champion 2010. Marquez finished 4th in todays Valencia (Spain) race & securing the points necessary as he needed to finish in the top 8 places.



2010 World Champion 125cc - Marc Marquez

In Moto 2 , World Champion Toni Elias fell & in GP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo won in

Understanding the Macedonian Name Dispute and its importance to the United States

by Ioannis Fidanakis
President of Pan Thracian Union of America “Orpheus”.

It’s been 19 years since a small former republic of Yugoslavia declared independence and attempted to hijack the history, identity and name of the ancient Greek Kingdom of Macedonia. Originally known as Vardar Banovina, the region was renamed by Josip Broz Tito in the aftermath of the Second World War. The name chosen by Tito was the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, an ideal chose as it allowed him to promote the concept of an oppressed ‘Macedonian ethnicity’, in which he could develop the idea of reunification of the greater geographic region in hopes of gaining access to the Aegean Sea, through the Greek port city of Thessaloniki. With the fall of the former Yugoslavia the republic was admitted into the United Nations under the provisional name, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Much has changed since this disagreement between Greece and FYROM began in 1991. The world is a much different place now, and despite a world economic crisis Athens and Skopje continue to fight over the word ‘Macedonia’.

Most Americans are ignorant of the name dispute and those that have some type of understanding find it ridiculous to fight over a name. Their inability to understand the Greek position is the failure of Greek America to properly explain their concerns to the average American. It is with this said, that a new campaign has been launched hoping to educate and bring attention to the Greek position concerning the name dispute. Focused on....
 rejuvenating the Greek side within Greece, the new campaign has been organized by the world wide Pan-Macedonian Associations based throughout the Greek Diaspora. The campaign hopes to bring attention to the injustices being committed against the historical and cultural identity of 2.5 million ethnic Greeks who live in the Greek province of Macedonia and maintain a century’s long Macedonian identity.

The violations, in which these Macedonians wish to bring attention to, is FYROM’s insistence on de-Hellenizing the Macedonian identity and using it to describe a new Slavic ethnicity with no historical connect to the ancient Macedonians. It is this attempt to exclusively use the word ‘Macedonia’ to identify their multiethnic state, which has upset Greece and its 2.5 million real Macedonians. Campaign organizers claim in their mission statement that;
‘There is no doubt that the exclusive use of the name ‘Macedonia’, primarily adopted by the FYROM Slavs and their promotions as ‘ethnic Macedonians’ is a stimulus for expansionist claims by FYROM and its Diaspora. Claims to ‘their right to self-identification’ are unjustified and violate our rights. We therefore strongly object that a Slavic nation, north of Greece, can use the name ‘Macedonian’ to identity its citizens, a term that forms part of Greece’s history and culture for thousands of years. Recognition of a ‘Macedonian’ ethnicity, clearly and without a doubt, would claim anything Macedonian, including history, culture and even land, destabilizing among others the entire region’ (www.macedoniaontheweb.eu).

In trying to understand the concerns of the 2.5 million real Macedonians living in Greece one must become familiar with the main four concerns ethnic Greeks have with FYROM and its Slavic pretenders to the Macedonian identity. The first is based around historical concerns dealing with the actual history of ancient Macedonia and its legacy in the culture and history of Greece. It is the belief of ethnic Greeks living in the province of Macedonia and the numerous Pan-Macedonian Associations throughout the Greek Diaspora that FYROM’s attempt to use the name ‘Macedonian’ to describe its citizens is a direct attempt to construct a continuity between them and the ancient Macedonians. A concern that is justified by FYROM’s continued use of the ancient Pan-Hellenic symbol known as the Vergina sun on flags used in FYROM and throughout its Diaspora, the renaming of Skopje’s National Airport to ‘Alexander the Great Airport’ and news reports about plans to construct an eight-story high statue of Alexander the Great in the center of the country’s capital city of Skopje. These are just a taste of some of the historical revisionist attempts to steal the history of ancient Macedonia from Greece.

The second major concern focuses on territorial claims by FYROM against Greece, which date back to the time of the Second World War. Concerns that were once shared by US diplomats in 1944. It is the opinion of Greece that FYROM has territorial ambitions to annex the Greek province of Macedonia and move its capital from Skopje to the Greek city of Thessaloniki. Evidence justifying Greek concerns can be found in schoolbooks and official government publications in FYROM, which show not only the Greek province of Macedonia as part of a Greater FYROM, but also parts of Bulgaria. As recent as 2008, Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanni complained when a photograph appeared with FYROM’s current Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski standing next to a map of ‘Greater FYROM’.

The next issue revolves around the argument of Self-determination. No one can argue that the people of FYROM do not have the right to exist as a free and independent nation; however, do they have the right to impose upon themselves an identity, which has been in use by ethnic Greeks for centuries? Is FYROM’s use of this identity not an act of plagiarism and identity theft in an attempt to justify their own nation’s existence? Finally the last concern and issue of the Name Dispute revolves around the identification of the national language of FYROM as ‘Macedonian’. Until now the idea of a Macedonian ‘language’ has only been used to identify the ancient Macedonian dialect, which was closely related to ancient Doric and/or Aeolic Greek, and has also been applied to the present-day Greek dialect spoken by ethnic Greeks in the province of Macedonia. And yet it has been FYROM’s mission to use the term to identify their national language, which is seen by many as a dialect of the Bulgarian language. Is it historically accurate to use the term ‘Macedonian’ to identify a language that does not decent from the actual ancient Macedonian language and instead comes from a completely different branch of the Indo-European language family?

With this said, one can now take an honest look at the recent developments and ongoing stalemate between Athens and Skopje over the use of the word ‘Macedonia’. Throughout the years various names have been proposed such as ‘New Macedonia’, ‘Slavo-Macedonia’, ‘Vardar Republic’, and ‘Republic of Skopje’, to name just a few, however, none have been warmly accepted by both sides. In hopes of promoting peace and stability in the region, only Greece has slowly revised its position, showing its willingness to find a solution and end the conflict. While FYROM has instead allowed a Nationalistic and Racist political party to take control of its government and harden its ridiculous revisionist stance on the name issue. FYROM’s current government has created an atmosphere in which academics, journalists, and politicians who dare to speak of compromise receive death threats.

The Importance of the Name issue to American Interests in the region

American interests in this region are much different then those of Athens or Skopje. They are not interested in the historical accuracy of FYROM’s name or possibilities of cultural and historical identity theft. For the United States all that matters is regional stability and FYROM’s full integration into the NATO alliance and the European Community, interests vital to the United States which have been stalled by the name dispute and almost lost completely due to an Albanian insurrection in 2001. It was this armed conflict between the National Liberation Army, an offshoot of the Kosovo Liberation Army and FYROM security forces that exposed the serious risk instability that threatens FYROM’s very existence.

This brief Albanian insurgency officially began in January 2001 with attacks on FYROM security forces along the border with United Nations occupied Kosovo. It followed a similar pattern to the Albanian uprising in Kosovo and was led by former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army. The insurgency lasted several months and finally ended with the signing of the Ohrid Agreement, a peace deal signed by the government of FYROM and Albanian representatives on August 13, 2001. Under the agreement FYROM was officially altered, its government adopting a new model of decentralization and Albanian becoming its second official language.

As a result the United States went ahead and recognized FYROM as the ‘Republic of Macedonia’ on November 4th, 2004, claiming that is was done in support of FYROM’s decision to honor the Ohrid agreement. However, it seems odd that if the United States wished to promote a multi-ethnic democracy within the borders of FYROM, why would choose to recognize a name the makes FYROM a nation-state of one particular ethnicity rather then supporting a name the best describes the new decentralized states multi-ethnic identity? The American decision to recognize FYROM as ‘Macedonia’, came only days before a reported settlement was to be announced ending the name dispute, as a result the Bush Administration’s recognition of FYROM as ‘Macedonia’, radicalized FYROM’s government and harden their position making it almost impossible to find a solution with Greece over the name dispute.

During the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest FYROM failed to receive an invitation to join the alliance due to its failure to resolve the name dispute. This non-invitation hurts American interests in the region and is solely due to FYROM failure to negotiate with NATO member Greece. Rather then seeking a compromise FYROM has instead waged an unforgivable smear campaign against an American ally, circulating irredentist maps claiming Greek territory and allowing a poster to be displayed in Skopje altering the Greek flag to display a swastika in place of the white cross found on the Greek national flag. In the end the Greek position was supported by such countries as France and Spain, as well as by Italy, Portugal, Luxembourg, Iceland, Belgium, Hungary, Slovakia and the Netherlands.

In response to the FYROM’s non-invitation, ethnic Albanians issued a warning in 2009 claiming that their ‘patience was wearing thin’ over FYROM’s failure to come to a solution with Greece, hence preventing the country’s acceptance into NATO and the EU. This statement was covered by an article published in 2009 by the Serbian news agency B92 entitled ‘FYROM: Albanians ‘warning’ over name dispute’. A similar news report surfaced later that very year by the FOCUS News Agency. FYROM’s inability to come to a solution with Greece over the use of the word ‘Macedonia’ is slowly starting to eat away at the fragile peace between Slavs and Albanians within its borders. Signs of renewed violence have begun to appear with illegal weapons and uniforms bearing KLA insignias being found this past April near the border with Serbia. A month later 4 ethnic Albanians wearing uniforms with KLA insignia’s were killed by FYROM police. Time is running out for FYROM and American interests are at risk. If ethnic Albanians renew their armed struggle, the fragile stability which has been held since the signing of the Ohrid agreement could be lost.

What is needed now is for America to reverse the Bush Administrations ill-advised recognition of FYROM as ‘Macedonia’, which would force FYROM to come to a compromise with Greece before another Albanian insurgency begins which could destabilize the entire region and further hurt American interests. The only clear solution to the name dispute is FYROM’s adoption of a name that best identifies its multi-ethnic identity. However, if the government of FYROM is hell-bent on adopting a historical name for their new state there are two opinions that have seemingly gone unnoticed by Greece and FYROM as names that would give the newly found state the historical identity they are searching for. The first being a name connected to the short lived Kingdom of Prilep. The capital of which was located within present-day borders of FYROM. By adopting the name ‘Republic of Prilep’, FYROM can legitimately produce continuity between their new republic and a 14th century Kingdom. The next opinion is a name based on the Byzantine term of the first Slavic settlements in the region, which were independent from the Empire. By adopting a name like the ‘Republic of Sklavinia’, FYROM is able to adopt not only a historical regional identity, but actually an identity that makes them the father of all Slavic nations in the Balkans, seeing that the term is derived from the word ‘Sclaveni’, which described all Southern Slavs, which eventually became the Serbian, Bulgarian and Croatian nations.

Source:globalpolitician.com

THE MADRID DERBY 2010 - 2011 | 11 YEARS WITHOUT A VICTORY FOR ATLETICO DE MADRID

The big highlight tonight in Round 10 of the Spanish League - La Liga is its last scheduled Sunday match at 21.00 hrs local Spanish time: the REAL MADRID vs ATLETICO DE MADRID clash.


This "Derby" has a greater significance for Atletico than Real because the latter places more importance playing against its historical arch rivel Barça & because they come into tonight´s match undefeated & current

SPANISH FOOTBALL | SPANISH LEAGUE - LIGA | ROUND 10 | SATURDAY GAMES RESULTS

Saturday, November 6, 2010

SPANISH FOOTBALL only celebrated two games tonight of Round 10 of the Spanish League - Liga. An usual "vibe" as we have been accustomed to more matches for a Saturday night.



Joseba Llorente scores for Real Sociedad

REAL SOCIEDAD won 1 - 0 RACING DE SANTANDER thanks to the early goal by JOSEBA LLORENTE in the 7th min. The Basque Club now lifts itself provisionally into European positions on

FOOTBALL FINANCE | THE CASH GENERATING POWERS OF THE SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM



Spain Football Team lifts 2010 World Cup











Interesting - a bit dated - article in "Futebol Finance" about the revenue generating powers of the SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM. The figures were pre- FIFA World Cup Champions status, so we can suppose that the figures are currently higher now that they are Nº1. Here is a summary 
17 contracts signed (includes Brand, Full Team & Individual

IDF parade history in Jerusalem

Friday, November 5, 2010

The Israel Defense Forces parade was an event during the first 25 years of the State of Israel's existence to celebrate its military might. It was cancelled after 1973 due to financial concerns.

The most important parade took place in Jerusalem on 1968 after the Six Days War
1967 and the reunite of Israel capital



FC BARCELONA PLAYER XAVI HERNANDEZ HAS NO INTENTION OF LEAVING THE SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM

FC Barcelona & Spanish Football Team midfielder XAVI HERNANDEZ has come out publicly to squash recent rumours that he was considering leaving the National Team due to his troubled ankles & the need to reduce his current games rate.



Xavi Hernandez
Translated:
"I wish to play the Poland & Ukraine Euro 2012 & if possible the World Cup 2014 in Brazil". He also added that he was available for the

2010 - 2011 EUROPA LEAGUE GROUP MATCH RESULTS | SPANISH TEAMS

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Four Spanish teams played their respective 2010 - 2011 EUROPA LEAGUE Group matches tonight with more pluses than minuses. Here is a brief summary of results & scorers.



Tiago scores the winner for At.Madrid

ATLETICO DE MADRID managed a giant step forward after defeating ROSENBORG 1-2. However, the Spaniards were lucky & the Nordic Club deserved much more for their great effort. The first goal

FC BARCELONA | THE "ARCHILLES HEELS" OF XAVI HERNANDEZ

FC BARCELONA is on "stand-by" as its most important player XAVI HERNANDEZ is suffering a chronic ankle problem that is lowering his performance & forcing the midfielder to rest. Barça is suffering in its play from the absence of the FIFA-France Football 2010 Golden Ball candidate & favourite is worried as we all are with him.

So delicate & serious is the injury that it was rumoured earlier in

FIVE SPANISH PLAYERS IN TOP 30 U-21 LIST OF MOST VALUABLE

A Portuguese Football Finance Web has published their list of the Top 30 most valuable U21 Football players in the World. Five Spaniards figure in the top 30 list:  Bojan (FC Barcelona 6º) , De Gea (At Madrid 17º), Alvaro Dominguez (At.Madrid 20º), Ander Herrera (Zaragoza 21º) & Sergio Canales (Real Madrid 26º).




Bojan Krkic
Below is the full list:

Name / Place of Birth / Age / Club / Min

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP G 2010 - 2011 RESULT | AC MILAN 2 REAL MADRID 2

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

The CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Group G match between AC MILAN - REAL MADRID finished with a 2-2 draw result. However before I get into the details there is something that I which to leave clear forever in the cyber-space: the Football - Soccer Referee Howard Webb is a very bad Referee. Mr Webb highlighted his poor umpiring manners in the FIFA World Cup Final & tonight he showed his total incompetence with

REAL MADRID CF | WHO WILL SCORE THE 700TH GOAL IN EUROPEAN CUP - CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ?

Here is some trivia that has come to my attention in reference to REAL MADRID CF & European Football (Champions League) participation. The Spanish Club is just 1º goal away from reaching 700 goals scored in the European Cup (Champions League) competition. They are the highest scoring team in its history with currently 699 goals, with the second far behind being Bayern Munich with 453 goals,

Guardiola Ståle Solbakken | VIDEO

Can you lip read what Stolbakken is shouting at Guardiola ?



Video courtesy of  "MedioDerecho7"

GUARDIOLA TASSLES WITH STOLBAKKEN AFTER THE FC COPENHAGUE 1 FC BARCELONA 1 DRAW

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

As mentioned in the below post the FC Copenhague - FC Barcelona Group D match was a heated affair & very physical. It was hot before it started,  with the Barça goalkeeper Pinto two game sanction handed down by UEFA after Copenhague Manager Stolbakken claimed that the Camp Nou incident ( Pinto whistled when the Copenhague attacker was heading to goal to act out an offside that wasn´t) was rude &

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP C D RESULTS | VALENCIA CF 3 GLASGOW RANGERS 0 | FC COPENHAGUE 1 FC BARCELONA 1

Two Spanish Clubs had their night of CHAMPIONS LEAGUE with Group C & D action. Valencia CF played hosts to Scottish team Rangers & FC Bareclona travelled to Denmark for their game. Here are the results & scorers of the mentioned European Football clashes.



Roberto Soldado scores for Valencia CF

VALENCIA CF defeated GLASGOW RANGERS 3-0 in their Group C match to put the Spanish team closer to

REAL MADRID | LASS DIARRA IN DEMAND IN THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

REAL MADRID Coach Jose Mourinho has left out midfielder LASS DIARRA from the squad that travels to Milan for their Champions League match tomorrow against AC Milan. This is a trend that is repeating itself & may be sending signals to other teams that Diarra isn’t a priority for Real Madrid.



Real Madrid midfielder Lass Diarra


According to Spanish Sports newspaper “As”, English Premier League

SPANISH FOOTBALL - 2º DIVISION | REAL BETIS 4 - RAYO VALLECANO 0 | VIDEO

I have thought that perhaps readers would like to know about some Spanish Football 2º Division News. This weekend the two current Top teams REAL BETIS & Madrid based RAYO VALLECANO meet with Betis winning 4 - 0 to escape further at the top of the ladder.

Here is a VIDEO of all four goals:

Javi Fuego (own goal) 14'; Beñat 49'; Rubén Castro 55'; Emaná (pen) 85'.

FC BARCELONA INTERESTED IN TOTTENHAM PLAYER GARETH BALE

It comes “straight from the horses’ mouth”. FC BARCELONA Football Director Andoni Zubizarreta has confirmed to Barcelona radio that the Club is definitely interested ( the Football qualities) in Welsh & TOTTENHAM HOPSPURS 21 year old player GARETH BALE.


The FC Barcelona directive left it clear that although he likes the player there have not been any talks with anyone in reference to his

EL CLASICO 2010 | FC BARCELONA - REAL MADRID CF | 28 NOV - 21.00 HRS LOOKS LIKE THE SOLUTION

I can finally - 90% - answer the question from SFS readers of which date & time the FC BARCELONA - REAL MADRID CF match - "El Clasico" - will be played. The various options have been studied & the Monday option looks like it will not happen. Saturday is the day of "political reflexion" before the Catalonia Parliament elections & no political promotion or insinuation is permitted by law. Thus

SPANISH FOOTBALL | SPANISH LEAGUE - LIGA 2010 -2011 | ROUND 9 MONDAY RESULT | MALLORCA 2 LEVANTE 1

Monday, November 1, 2010

Back at home after a tremendous traffic jam to get into the city. With this relief I post the result of the last match played tonight of Round 9 of the Spanish Football League.



Stuani scores for Levante
REAL MALLORCA defeated LEVANTE with patience & ball control 2-1 after the visitors got ahead relatively early in the 25th min via STUANI.



Pereira equalizes for Mallorca

Mallorca recovered

SPANISH FOOTBALL | SPANISH LEAGUE 2010 - 2011 ROUND 9 SUNDAY RESULTS

Back at the now "infamous" outback bar-cafe in the middle of the Spanish country side with the only "Wi - Fi" connection in miles. Already asked for a coffee which gives me the "limited" right to connect my PC & at least post the Round 9 Sunday games results of the Spanish League - Liga.



At.Madrid - Almeria
ATLETICO DE MADRID 1 ( Aguero ) - ALMERIA 1 (Piatti). Atletico allowed the visitors