Talking Balls: Barcelona, Australia and Moneymania

This week we’ve got more football than you can shake a dubiously awarded yellow card at. The biggest of which is that the Best Player In The World (it’s official) is coming to town. Cristiano Ronaldo fans will be disappointed to here that the arrival of Leo Messi and his Barcelona teammates means the end of Real Madrid’s proposed trip.

Confirmation has been received that FC Barcelona will replace Real Madrid as Beijing Guoan’s August 8th match at the Bird’s Nest. However, questions remain. Firstly, what kind of team will Guoan field considering they have a CSL fixture against Shenzhen on the same day? The CFA has not been forthcoming with an answer and it could take some time to work out, especially as the CFA want each CSL club to play an extra two games per season against Team China.

Barca are apparently contracted to play all of their stars for at least some period of the match. How well this will go down in a squad of players that are still challenging for domestic and continental honors before many go to challenge for the World Cup in South Africa remains to be seen. A two-week break at the end of an arduous season seems dangerously short. So this contract to see the stars could mean little more than seeing Leo Messi take kick off and then be immediately substituted.

The reason Barca have replaced their great rivals in Beijing is that the Madrid club were indecisive in their confirmation. The local promoter asked Barca (who were here in 2008) and they said yes. A deposit of 30% of the appearance fee sealed the deal.

From intergalactic stars we come right back down to Earth and Beijing Guoan’s continental campaign. Guoan are the last remaining hope of China’s Big Four (the term that the local press use for Shandong Luneng, Henan Construction, Changchun Yatai and Guoan) progressing to the knockout stages. Guoan play Melbourne Victory tonight and hope to match their 1-0 victory from the home game. Joel Griffiths grabbed the winner in that match and will be on hand to play in Australia. This could be his last chance to stay in his country’s World Cup plans. The biggest obstacle is that the Socceroos currently have no coach.

Joel’s brother Ryan scored the only goal of the game as Guoan beat Changchun Yatai at the weekend. Despite not being registered for the AFC Champions’ League Ryan traveled with the squad to Australia so he could see his family.

Wacky Wei Di Moment of the Week: The head honcho has proposed to spend RMB 40,000,000 per year on hiring a Foreign Technical Consultant for Team China. The role would not be that of a National Team Manager. Wei said “I’ve discussed with the coaches, and we’ve decided to study from Spain and Netherland.” Apparently, 60-year old Javier Clemente is on Wei’s list.

One response to this scheme on the internet was “It seems the donkey has kicked Wei Di in the head again”.