Catalunya v Argentina - Camp Nou - 7:30pm

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mayordenis wrote: »

you mean Abidal in defence? He's french.

4-2 now

Albiol maybe?

Morf

Des wrote: »

Xabi Alonso is a Basque

He grew up on the same street as Mikel Arteta.

Xabi also spent a summer in Dublin learning English. He liked GAA i hear.

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Morf wrote: »

He grew up on the same street as Mikel Arteta.

Xabi also spent a summer in Dublin learning English. He liked GAA i hear.

Ha!, I heard that too on Morning Ireland one morning in the Summer, when Madrid where here training and playing Rovers.

Don't think it went down too well with the Rovers faithful

Vokes

Yep, meant Albiol. Apologies.

Morf

greendom wrote: »

Osassuna is in Pamplona and so is also a part of the Basque country. If Biarritz had a top flight football team they would be part of it to

It's complicated, even less people there want to be part of a independent Basque country than in the autonomous Basque region.

redout

Demichelis has been rank awful tonight.

Not sure how he still plays for Bayern.

mayordenis

mostle I would agree though

Casillas
Ramos, Albiol, Marchena, Arbeloa
Mata/Cazorla/Jaoquin, Iniesta, Senna, Silva
Villa, Torres

thusspakeblixa

But where does it stop?

If there's a Basque/Catalan team does every region get a team?

Galicia, Extremadura and Asturias would all be eligible afaik.

thusspakeblixa

redout wrote: »

Demichelis has been rank awful tonight.

Not sure how he still plays for Bayern.

Easily one of the most hyped-up and over-rated players in the Bundesliga. Plays well about 10% of the time, 20% Average and the rest utter ****e

greendom

thusspakeblixa wrote: »

But where does it stop?

If there's a Basque/Catalan team does every region get a team?

Galicia, Extremadura and Asturias would all be eligible afaik.

Andalucia would want a part of the action as would the Valencia region

mayordenis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_communities_of_Spain

the Balaeric Islands would have some decent wingers

Morf

thusspakeblixa wrote: »

But where does it stop?

If there's a Basque/Catalan team does every region get a team?

Galicia, Extremadura and Asturias would all be eligible afaik.

Galicia do have their own team. Their jersey being diagonal blue stripes on white.

They're not recognised but i imagine they play occasional friendlies like Euskadi and Catalunya.

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thusspakeblixa wrote: »

...

I always thought of your username as ever so slightly Basque in origin.

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mayordenis wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_communities_of_Spain

the Balaeric Islands would have some decent wingers

I think the Balearics throw their lot in with Catalunya.

Jaysis Denis, wiki is taking a hammering tonight

thusspakeblixa

Des wrote: »

I always thought of your username as ever so slightly Basque in origin.

Nahh, German

Although I did spend a summer in Bilbao...

mayordenis

Des wrote: »

Jaysis Denis, wiki is taking a hammering tonight

Still not gonna give them a donation the ****ers.

m@cc@

Vokes wrote: »

I guess the best Spain team minus Basque / Catalonia at the moment would be: Casillas; Ramos, Abidol, Arbeloa; Alonso, Iniesta, Senna, Silva; Villa, Torres + 1 other defender .... ?

EDIT/ Actually, no Alonso.

Didn't Iniesta play a game for the Catalans? Not sure where his persuasion would be.

greendom

Morf wrote: »

It's complicated, even less people there want to be part of a independent Basque country than in the autonomous Basque region.

Yes, that's true that part has never been as committed to independence as the rest.

mayordenis

m@cc@ wrote: »

Didn't Iniesta play a game for the Catalans? Not sure where his persuasion would be.

I guess that's the thing, not being regulated by Fifa means they don't subscribe to the same rules of nationality eligibility.
So I guess it's a slight grey area unless they go with 100% place of birth.

redout

m@cc@ wrote: »

Didn't Iniesta play a game for the Catalans? Not sure where his persuasion would be.

Iniesta was suppose to be a Real Madrid player but his Ma didnt like the area where the cantera was. Full of brothels and such. True story.

mayordenis

Game Over

4-2

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game over, 4-2

UpTheSlashers

Not a bad game, thanks for the heads up on this redout

redout

UpTheSlashers wrote: »

Not a bad game, thanks for the heads up on this redout

No problem brother.

thusspakeblixa

Des wrote: »

game over, 4-2

Good match all the same, a nice debut for Cruyff.

Their case to Fifa should be stronger now they have a full-time coach / set-up

Morf

thusspakeblixa wrote: »

Good match all the same, a nice debut for Cruyff.

Their case to Fifa should be stronger now they have a full-time coach / set-up

It's still not a strong case!

redout

thusspakeblixa wrote: »

Good match all the same, a nice debut for Cruyff.

Their case to Fifa should be stronger now they have a full-time coach / set-up

Morf wrote: »

It's still not a strong case!

Add to that the fact Cruyff has barely passable Spanish and practically no Catalan.

Disgrace for a man who has lived there about 30 years.

Ush1

Morf wrote: »

He grew up on the same street as Mikel Arteta.

Xabi also spent a summer in Dublin learning English. He liked GAA i hear.

It was Meath.
http://www.eleven-a-side.com/offthefield/irish_soccer_detail.asp?newsid=17468

greendom

redout wrote: »

Add to that the fact Cruyff has barely passable Spanish and practically no Catalan.

Disgrace for a man who has lived there about 30 years.

I always thought his Spanish was very good. When I lived over there I understood him better than anyone else (well alongside Michael Robinson) .:D

Kess73

Morf wrote: »

He grew up on the same street as Mikel Arteta.

Xabi also spent a summer in Dublin learning English. He liked GAA i hear.

Was Kells in Meath where he stayed and learned English and he has been photographed in Meath tops when he was at Liverpool, and made a joke after the Henry handball about wearing his Meath top under his Real top when he next plays against Henry.

Kess73

Oops should have read the whole thread before making a reply.

I now see that Ush said about Meath already.:)

dannydiamond

Des wrote: »

Ha!, I heard that too on Morning Ireland one morning in the Summer, when Madrid where here training and playing Rovers.

Don't think it went down too well with the Rovers faithful

Why not?

Morf

redout wrote: »

Add to that the fact Cruyff has barely passable Spanish and practically no Catalan.

Disgrace for a man who has lived there about 30 years.

He called his son, Jordi! Isn't that enough?

Morf

Ush1 wrote: »

It was Meath.
http://www.eleven-a-side.com/offthefield/irish_soccer_detail.asp?newsid=17468

Pardon me.

Ush1

Morf wrote: »

Pardon me.

He didn't spend a summer in Dublin, it was Meath.

carlop

Interesting thread. All politics aside though, it really shows how strong Spain are at the moment that one of their regions can beat Argentina!

Perpignan got a mention somewhere in the thread, as did Biarritz. I know that Biarritz have played a couple of their home rugby matches in San Sebastian and I'm almost certain that Perpignan have played once or twice in the Nou Camp or the Olympic stadium in Barcelona.

Seaneh

thusspakeblixa wrote: »

Their case to Fifa should be stronger now they have a full-time coach / set-up

No league, no assosication, no independant state.... they dont have a case.

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Seaneh wrote: »

no independant state....

Scotland, Wales, England and NI are not independant states either, and were even less so at the time their different associations were founded and admitted to FIFA/UEFA.

And, the LoW was only formed in 1991, but they certainly had a national team before that.

And there most certainly IS a Catalan Football Federation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalonia_Football_Federation

Sr. Pirotecnic

The Catalans really want to have their cake and eat it. There is no way they should get a Fifa recognised national team until they actually achieve independence and have a Catalan league. As it is they want to have it both ways, let's see how all the Barcelona fans like playing Girona and Sant Andreu every week instead of Sevilla and Valencia, then you would see demand for a seleccio drop off pretty quick.

The Basque country and Catalunya were the two regions which pushed for regional selections but of course in true cafe con leche para todos fashion everyone else got in on the act so - for a few years at least, enthusiasm seems to have dropped off recently - you had the ridiculous scenario of Murcian, Asturian etc "national teams". Apart from Galicia I don't think there was any real support for them and no-one really took the project seriously.

Yes, the Valencian region does speak a dialect of Catalan, as well as Spanish. Many locals like to believe it is a separate language.

Seaneh

I can understand the Basque push for a national team, people from Basque Country and Navarre are not ethnically spanish and struggle to see them self as part of spain, they always have and they always will, catalans are like people from cork or norfolk, they just think they are better than the rest of their country men but really, they just speak the same language with a funny accent.

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Seaneh wrote: »

they just speak the same language with a funny accent.

What a load of bollix, Catalan is a definite separate language to Spanish, and had more in common with French.

leninbenjamin

Seaneh wrote: »

I can understand the Basque push for a national team, people from Basque Country and Navarre are not ethnically spanish and struggle to see them self as part of spain, they always have and they always will, catalans are like people from cork or norfolk, they just think they are better than the rest of their country men but really, they just speak the same language with a funny accent.

Now I'm not much of an expert on Catalonia, but from what little time I spent there and what little I learned of the region's history I can conclusively say that is a ridiculously ignorant post.

Seaneh

I spent a lot of time in spain in 2008.

week of the final, in barcelona, spanish jerseys everywhere, whole city was proudly spanish.

same week in pamplona, bilbao and san sabastian, not even a spanish jersey to be seen, lots of athleti, sociciad and ossasuna jerseys though.

carlop

Seaneh wrote: »

I spent a lot of time in spain in 2008.

week of the final, in barcelona, spanish jerseys everywhere, whole city was proudly spanish.

same week in pamplona, bilbao and san sabastian, not even a spanish jersey to be seen, lots of athleti, sociciad and ossasuna jerseys though.

This could also be because a lot of people have migrated from the 'Spanish' parts of Spain to Barcelona to work, but would be less likely to have migrated to Pamplona and San Sebastian as they don't offer the same opportunities.

I know a few people from Barcelona. Those who don't have family members from other parts of Spain view the Spanish national team with either indifference or hatred. One of the lads I know managed to dig out a Sweden jersey when they played Spain in euro 2008 and stormed out of a room full of Italians and Spaniards quicker than anyone else when Spain beat Italy on penalties. He most certainly is not proudly Spanish and the impression i get is that many Catalans, quite possibly a majority, feel the same way as he does.

bUILDERtHEbOB

Euskera as a language is dying and is mainly only spoken around Bilbao and San Sebastian, the rest of the Basque country don't really want to know, so the want for a separate nation is probably even less, making a regional football team highly unlikely, imo.

thusspakeblixa

bUILDERtHEbOB wrote: »

Euskera as a language is dying and is mainly only spoken around Bilbao and San Sebastian, the rest of the Basque country don't really want to know, so the want for a separate nation is probably even less, making a regional football team highly unlikely, imo.

Fair enough, it may be not too strong in Navarre but over a million people still speak it.
When I was in Gernika that's what most people spoke.

An Citeog

Seaneh wrote: »

I spent a lot of time in spain in 2008.

week of the final, in barcelona, spanish jerseys everywhere, whole city was proudly spanish.

same week in pamplona, bilbao and san sabastian, not even a spanish jersey to be seen, lots of athleti, sociciad and ossasuna jerseys though.

I was living in Barcelona at the time and didn't see anything like what you mentioned from the Catalans. One of the main sports bars in the city centre, which is owned by a Catalan guy, refused to show the Spanish matches during Euro 2008. Quite a few of my Catalan friends were supporting Germany in the final and none of them celebrated the win. The only place I saw a load of Spanish jerseys was in an Espanyol bar in Barceloneta for the final.

redout

People speaking an awful lot of crap in this thread.

Morf

bUILDERtHEbOB wrote: »

Euskera as a language is dying and is mainly only spoken around Bilbao and San Sebastian, the rest of the Basque country don't really want to know, so the want for a separate nation is probably even less, making a regional football team highly unlikely, imo.

It much stronger in Donostia than Bilbao.

It was very strongly acted against by Franco and it's a testament to the persistence of a few that the language exists at all today.

All the kids learn it in school. They tend to have a much healthier attitude to it than Irish people feel towards Irish. Pride in it etc..

I'd hardly describe it as a dying language.

You can get a degree in it at NUI Maynooth.

speedboatchase

All I know is Catalonia children don't care about santa and are far more interested in a christmas log that defecates presents, which they "order to poop" and then "beat with sticks". This. Is. Awesome

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ti%C3%B3_de_Nadal