Fifa Club World Cup Semi Final Preview: Barça - Atlante
Tuesday, 15 December 09, 09:25 AM · Comments (12)
History awaits. Tomorrow afternoon at 5pm (Spanish time) Barça take on CONCACAF champions, the Mexican team Atlante, in the semi final of the Fifa Club World Cup. The Club World Cup, previously known as the Intercontinental Cup, is the one tournament we have never won, having lost the Final in 1992 and 2006. Winning this tournament will not only confirm us as the World Champions, we will also go down in history as being the first team ever to win all six official competitions in one calendar year.
Unfortunately we will be without Leo Messi for the semi final but he is working hard to get fit for a theoretical final on Saturday. In his place we will probably see Pedro Rodriguez who is seeking his own personal place in history as if he can score a goal in this tournament he will become Barça's first player to score in six different competitions in one season. Xavi Hernandez will also make history tomorrow if he plays by becoming only the second player ever to reach 500 official games for Barça. Xavi made his debut for the club against Mallorca in the Spanish Supercopa on 18th August 1998 and just seems to get better and better with each season, also if Xavi scores tomorrow it will be his 50th goal for the club. The only player who had so far reached 500 games was the legendary Migueli who played a total of 548 games between 1973 and 1989. The way Xavi is going he should have no problem to beat that record in the not too distant future.
I'm afraid I can't claim to know much about Atlante. They were formed in 1916 and have only won the Mexican league three times. The last time was in 2007 which meant they qualified for the equivalent of the Champions League in the CONCACAF zone, and by beating Cruz Azul to win this tournament in May 2009 they qualified for this edition of the Club World Cup. On Saturday they beat Auckland City 3-0 to earn a place in tomorrow's semi-final. Apart from that I can only go on what I've read in the papers this week, their coach is José Guadalupe Cruz and their most important players are goalkeeper Federico Vilar, midfielder Christian Bermudez, and top scorer Gabriel Pereyra. They also have a forward called Rafael Marquez and ex-Real Madrid player Santiago Solari is also in their squad. If any of you readers know any more about Atlante please send a comment.
Barça will need one last great effort to win this tournament, after the long journey involved in arriving to Abu Dhabi, combined with the recent long trips to Kazan and Kiev it will not be surprising if we are a bit jaded. We will also have to deal with the heat as the latest weather report put the temperature at 26ºC while it has been pretty cold the last few days in Barcelona. However, we go into the tournament as favourites and we shouldn't really need any excuses. We may not have been at our best this season but we still have one hell of a team. I can see some history about to be made.
Possible starting XI: Valdés; Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Abidal; Xavi, Busquets, Keita; Pedro, Ibrahimovic, Iniesta.
My prediction: Barça 2 Atlante 0
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| Comments (12)
12 Comments · Add yours
Hi guy's. This should be a really good game. We want this trophy big time.
Can anyone pleaaaaasssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeee give me a good link to watch the game online. I use mac and can't find a good link usually. It's not on tv in england and I don't want to miss it.
If anyone can help would be much appreciated.
However I'm sure we will win this game with or without Messi.
Visca Barca
Goto www.myp2p.eu, download the software you wish and then watch a live stream. I normally just watch a channel via sopcast software... works a treat.
Oh and should be a good game. Congrats to Xavi too
wish them the best and congrats to xavi too
i hope the match turns out to be straight forward cos we've bn through a lot of stress of recent as u said
sure.. barca win the game.
but messi's injury.....
@ Pabman,
If you're on a mac run Veetle or TVU (find them at myp2p.eu under software). As far as myp2p.eu goes, those are the only two i've been able to run.
If the games are on GolTV in the US you'll be able to get a good feed on TVU. Sometimes there are other decent channels too, so definitely give TVU a try (the links should be on myp2p.eu, but sometimes the link doesn't work depending on your browser. If they don't work, you can either manually find the channel through searching for football. Or, right click the link and select properties (I think it's properties) and a window will pop up that has a number in it. That number corresponds to the channel number on TVU. It's simpler than it sounds).
If there is a Veetle link all you have to do is click on it. Veetle is just for Mac users, I think, and it's pretty solid.
Hope that helps.
LINK
Thanks for all your help guy's.
Of course a big congratulations to Xavi all so.
I m off to the stadium in minutes , to witness the greatest year ever .
VIsca el Barça .
Team announced: Valdés, Alves, Marquez, Puyol, Abidal, Xavi, Toure, Busquets, Pedro, Ibrahimovic, Iniesta.
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a game!!!!
So glad I was able to watch it. Didn't manage to catch the first twenty minutes so do not know what happened with that goal.
Our Boy's looked so up for it. I didn't even know Messi was on the bench let alone gonna come on and perform as he did.
If we can play with as much intensity as we did in the second half of that match, who can beat us?????
Thanks again everyone with the help for the links you gave me.
Thrilled.
I would list how many players I was happy with in that match. But it would take a long time.
Only one more thing I can ask for. That is for Henry to come on and emulate the attitude of his team mates.
Great match, even though they scored quite early and they did have a few chances here and there. They definitely have some mad pace up front. Both Alves and Abidal got burned and they are some of the paciest fullbacks in world football.
Very happy Pedro got his goal, on the back of some amazing play from Ibra and Iniesta. Ibra was on fire this game, especially once Messi came on. He is starting to build a much better understanding with all his teamates and it is very exciting to watch. Shame he couldnt get on the scoresheet but his assist for Messi was sublime. You can tell he is growing in confidence with each game, he is starting to come out of his shell a bit. Some of his touches and flick ons today were pure class.
Bojan is starting to worry me a bit. He seemed very hesitant today, his touch was way off and he just didnt seem to know what to do with himself. I really hope he plays himself out of this funk because we all know the talent is there. That one-two he played with Messi right at the end was genious. More of that pls Bojangles!!
Hi guy's. This should be a really good game. We want this trophy big time.
Can anyone pleaaaaasssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeee give me a good link to watch the game online. I use mac and can't find a good link usually. It's not on tv in england and I don't want to miss it.
If anyone can help would be much appreciated.
However I'm sure we will win this game with or without Messi.
Visca Barca
Goto www.myp2p.eu, download the software you wish and then watch a live stream. I normally just watch a channel via sopcast software... works a treat.
Oh and should be a good game. Congrats to Xavi too
wish them the best and congrats to xavi too
i hope the match turns out to be straight forward cos we've bn through a lot of stress of recent as u said
sure.. barca win the game.
but messi's injury.....
@ Pabman,
If you're on a mac run Veetle or TVU (find them at myp2p.eu under software). As far as myp2p.eu goes, those are the only two i've been able to run.
If the games are on GolTV in the US you'll be able to get a good feed on TVU. Sometimes there are other decent channels too, so definitely give TVU a try (the links should be on myp2p.eu, but sometimes the link doesn't work depending on your browser. If they don't work, you can either manually find the channel through searching for football. Or, right click the link and select properties (I think it's properties) and a window will pop up that has a number in it. That number corresponds to the channel number on TVU. It's simpler than it sounds).
If there is a Veetle link all you have to do is click on it. Veetle is just for Mac users, I think, and it's pretty solid.
Hope that helps.
LINK
Thanks for all your help guy's.
Of course a big congratulations to Xavi all so.
I m off to the stadium in minutes , to witness the greatest year ever .
VIsca el Barça .
Team announced: Valdés, Alves, Marquez, Puyol, Abidal, Xavi, Toure, Busquets, Pedro, Ibrahimovic, Iniesta.
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a game!!!!
So glad I was able to watch it. Didn't manage to catch the first twenty minutes so do not know what happened with that goal.
Our Boy's looked so up for it. I didn't even know Messi was on the bench let alone gonna come on and perform as he did.
If we can play with as much intensity as we did in the second half of that match, who can beat us?????
Thanks again everyone with the help for the links you gave me.
Thrilled.
I would list how many players I was happy with in that match. But it would take a long time.
Only one more thing I can ask for. That is for Henry to come on and emulate the attitude of his team mates.
Great match, even though they scored quite early and they did have a few chances here and there. They definitely have some mad pace up front. Both Alves and Abidal got burned and they are some of the paciest fullbacks in world football.
Very happy Pedro got his goal, on the back of some amazing play from Ibra and Iniesta. Ibra was on fire this game, especially once Messi came on. He is starting to build a much better understanding with all his teamates and it is very exciting to watch. Shame he couldnt get on the scoresheet but his assist for Messi was sublime. You can tell he is growing in confidence with each game, he is starting to come out of his shell a bit. Some of his touches and flick ons today were pure class.
Bojan is starting to worry me a bit. He seemed very hesitant today, his touch was way off and he just didnt seem to know what to do with himself. I really hope he plays himself out of this funk because we all know the talent is there. That one-two he played with Messi right at the end was genious. More of that pls Bojangles!!