Spain squad

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Liverpool)

Defenders: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Raul Albiol (Valencia), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Fernando Navarro (Sevilla), Juanito (Real Betis), Andoni Iraola (Athletic Bilbao)

Midfielders: Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Xavi (Barcelona), David Silva (Valencia), Santi Cazorla (Villarreal), Xabi Alonso (Liverpool), Marcos Senna (Villarreal), Diego Capel (Sevilla), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)

Forwards: David Villa (Valencia), Daniel Guiza (Fenerbahce), Fernando Torres (Liverpool) Replaced by Bojan Krkic due to hamstring injury.

The squad gathered in Madrid on Monday for the world cup qualifying matches against Bosnia in Murcia on Sept.6, and Armenia in Albacete four days later.

The Euro 2008 champions also face Estonia, Belgium and Turkey in Group Five.

Loco Laura

This is totally non SBA related but i am in a very strange mood!
A fab song, great message behind it and i even kinda love the video

La Liga Results- Week 1

Deportivo La Coruna 2-1 (HT 1-0) Real Madrid
Mista 27
Lopo 52
van Nistelrooy 47

Bookings:
Lopo 31
Mista 35
Pablo Alvarez 75
Aranzubia 79
Bookings:
Guti 55
Sergio Ramos 71
Marcelo 86


Espanyol 1-0 (HT 0-0) Valladolid
Luis Garcia 49

Bookings:
Beranger 41
Luis Garcia 89

Bookings:
Ogbeche 77
Vivar Dorado 87
Kike 90

Valencia 3-0 (HT 2-0) Mallorca
Villa 35
Mata 38
Vicente 82

Bookings:
Silva 13
Moretti 20
Albelda 53
Alexis 80

Athletic Bilbao 1-3 (HT 0-2) Almeria
Ion Velez 56
Pellerano 7
Negredo 33
Juanma Ortiz 50

Bookings:
Llorente 33
Ion Velez 90+1
Bookings:
Diego Alves 29
Bruno 67
Uche 86
Crusat 89

Atletico Madrid 4-0 (HT 3-0) Malaga
Aguero 26
Forlan 38
Forlan (pen) 44
Sinama Pongolle 81

Bookings:
Seitaridis 76
Bookings:
Arnau 43
Lolo 51

Numancia 1-0 (HT 1-0) Barcelona
Mario 13

Bookings:
Puyol 42
Eto'o 80

Osasuna 1-1 (HT 0-0) Villarreal
Nekounam (pen) 70
Senna 54

Bookings:
Azpilicueta 18
Roversio 53
Bookings:
Rodriguez 69

Sent off:
Miguel Flano 78
Sent off:
Godin 68

Racing Santander 1-1 (HT 0-0) Sevilla
Juanjo 76
Luis Fabiano 71

Bookings:
Colsa 14
Lacen 90+3

Real Betis 0-1 (HT 0-1) Recreativo Huelva
Adrian Colunga 36

Bookings:
Capi 59
Fernando Vega 84

Sporting Gijon 1-2(HT 1-1) Getafe
Diego Castro 35
Albin 14
Casquero 86

Bookings:
Matabuena 56
Jorge 64
Luis Moran 81
Michel 89
Bookings:
Albin 65
Casquero 69

La Liga Sunday Blog. Week 1 (31.08.08)

As is traditional (well for a few weeks at the end of last season it was) La Liga Sundays will be held on a Sunday :D
I'm sure as pro SBAers you do not need reminding that an equal mix of real football conversation and important insights into the visual aesthetics of the game eg. haircare, are required throughout.
A good bottle of red is not a requirement as such but is most enjoyable on a sunday eve (or afternoon US girlies) and it does make the conversation more interesting as the game wears on!

This weekends fixtures:

Saturday 30th August
Spanish Primera Liga
19:00 Espanyol vs Valladolid
21:00 Valencia vs Mallorca
Sunday 31st August
18:00 Athletic Bilbao vs Almeria
18:00 Atletico Madrid vs Malaga
18:00 Numancia vs Barcelona
18:00 Osasuna vs Villarreal
18:00 Racing Santander vs Sevilla
18:00 Real Betis vs Recreativo Huelva
18:00 Sporting Gijon vs Getafe
20:00 Deportivo La Coruna vs Real Madrid


The live blogs will henceforth go by what games are being shown here on Sky as i find it most difficult to type, drink my Rioja and concentrate on internet streaming blurs and will therefore need to blog on what is playing on my tellybox.
This week for some bizarre reason Sky are only showing an hour of Barca's match at Numancia so i may start the blog at 7 to keep an eye on that game but it will definately be up and running from about 8pm GMT (see bottom of blog for the difference between this and your own time if you don't already know) for Really hot Madrid at Depor. So those who want to watch and chat or indeed those who can't watch and would like to be kept informed please join us on sunday xx

CL draw

A Chelsea, Roma, Bordeux, Cluj.
B Inter, Werder Bremen, Panathanaikos, Famagusta.
C Barca, Sporting Lisbon, Basel, Shaktar Donetsk.
D LFC, PSV, Marseille, Atletico.
E ManU, Villareal, Celtic, Aalborg.
F Lyon, Bayern Munich, Steaua Bucharest, Fiorentina.
G Arse, Porto, Fenerbache, Dynamo Kiev.
H Real, Juve, Zenit St Petersburg, Borisov.

We get a hard group again :( but not as hard as the Really hotties..

Group stage, Matchday 1 16/17.09.2008
Group stage, Matchday 2 30.09/01.10.2008
Group stage, Matchday 3 21/22.10.2008
Group stage, Matchday 4 04/05.11.2008
Group stage, Matchday 5 25/26.11.2008
Group stage, Matchday 6 09/10.12.2008
First knockout round, 1st leg 24/25.02.2009
First knockout round, 2nd leg 10/11.03.2009
Quarter-finals, 1st leg 07/08.04.2009
Quarter-finals, 2nd leg 14/15.04.2009
Semi-finals, 1st leg 28/29.04.2009
Semi-finals, 2nd leg 05/06.05.2009
Final (Rome, Italy) 27.05.2009

La Liga KO

La liga kicks off this weekend and as we discussed when i started the blog i was going to set up a live blog for matches. Is anyone gonna be here to participate or would it be a wasted effort do you think?

Nice to see the prem boys from both teams went out for a drink together, here's the delectible Messers Alonso and Bendtner. My whole FF might have been in that bar, how jealous am i?