Goodbye Dani Jarque
By: Armando |
4 Comments
It’s not that I didn’t want to write anymore on Dani Jarque, that I didn’t think the story was important to continue, not at all, but I didn’t want to belabor the point. I didn”t want to drag it out or be disrespectful, or even take advantage of it at all. When tragedies like this happen there is almost a tendency to over-emote, to exaggerate one’s loss. It is important to mourn, but our grief just doesn’t compare to what the family of Dani Jarque is going through. So I’ll finish the story and of course I will be referring back to it alot this year as I think it’ll be the dominant story influencing the team for, well for along time from now.
First of all, from almost the beginning, the club pressured the famously slow Italian bureacracy to move faster than it is legally bound to; coordinate with them, accelerate the autopsy and release the remains to the club for ‘repatriation’ as they call it. Who do we have to thank for smoothing out the process in record time? None other than Silvio Berlusconi. He gets criticized alot for his personally life bleeding into his professional life as Italian Prime Minister.
Moving on, as I wrote last time, the supporters had erected a makeshift shrine near Gate 21 (his kit number) where flowers, candles, posters, flags and scarves had been adorned in his memory, well yesterday the club offered a more official service for the player. After his remains had been flown into Barcelona, the club opened the Stadium and allowed supporters to file in and pay their respects for the club’s fallen captain. Well over 15,000 people shuffled through, supporters of Espanyol sure, but also from practically every club in Spain. Amongst them were club representatives, Joan Laporta from Barca, Florentino Perez from Real Madrid, and many others big and small. Ex team-mates, ex-coaches like Ernesto Valverde and Miguel Angel Lotina, a ceremony that brought the whole of Spanish football together.
It was a beautiful ceremony, you can see highlights of it on all the major football sites in Spain, but the most impressionable words came from the Sevilla contingent as reported in as.com: VP Pepe Castro, technical director Monchi, and (ex-Espanyol fullback) Sergio Sánchez and Goalkeeper Andrés Palop. Palop said it best, ” This is not something you overcome. This stays with you for your entire life. We continue with the burden of what happened to Antonio (Puerta) to this day: He’s in training with us, on trips, in the stadium, and in every street in Seville. This is a horror to carry with you for life.”
Category: Espanyol Team News
Random Thoughts
By: Armando | 9 Comments
When a tragedy happens in sports, especially in football where people identify so strongly with their own and you have derby games or rivalry matches that bring the worst emotions out of people, more than just competitiveness I mean, real hatred for the shirt of your opponent, and something like this happens, you find all of baggage matters one iota. None of it does. You find you have more in common with your rival than you think.
You bleed for your shirt, you support your club, but you realize how close we all really are. It could have been anyone’s team. It could have been ours. If you support Sevilla you know very well what it feels like to be a Perico tonight. If yours is Real Madrid, well all my best to the family of Ruben de la Red, it’s been a scary ride for him, he doesn’t even know if he’ll play again, but that may be best for a kid with a whole life ahead of him.
Sadly, this won’t be the last time a young kid dies playing the sport he loves. Cardiomyopathy. A disease of the heart muscle with no one cause. High blood pressure, heart trauma, valve disease, artery disease, even viral or bacterial infections. There’s talk of screening tests, cutting back on midweek games, fixture congestion and such, and just better health care for the players in general. So thanks to everyone for leaving a message here. I hope these well wishes get back to the club and to the families involved. Rest in peace Dani Jarque.
Here’s the latest from Spain about the tragedy. Some bulleted notes that I thought were interesting:
- More information is coming out: Pochettino had given the players the afternoon off after practice. Most went to nearby Florence, Italia to sightsee but Dani stayed behind because he wasn’t feeling well. He was on the phone with his partner Jessica. She was 7 months pregnant. Like Antonio Puerta’s child before, another kid will grow up never knowing his or her father. Heartbreaking.
- Wisely the friendly against Bologna has been cancelled as has the rest of the Italian tour. Espanyol will return to Barcelona tomorrow.
- The remains will stay in Florence for the time being where an autopsy will be performed.
- Reactions from the world of football: Raul, captain of Real Madrid showed what a classy player he can be by sending his and the clubs deeply felt condolensces. From Washington, D.C. Ernesto Valverde, former Espanyol and current Villareal coach, still can’t believe the news, “His hair is still on end.” Joan Laporta and FC Barcelona are in mourning with us.
- A minute of silence was observed at Mestalla for Valencia v Arsenal and at Betis v Zaragoza.
- Marc Torrejon, former team-mate who now plays in central defense with Racing Santander, could not continue playing against Real Union in Irun when he heard his friend had passed.
- Quique Iglesias in as.com thinks the club should rename the new stadium Estadio Dani Jarque. Any opinions, I’m still mulling it over.
- Dani Jarque was given Espanyol’s armband after former captain Raul Tamudo and the club decided to make the switch by mutual agreement. Jarque had been in charge for less than a month.
- Jarque was on the sub-19 side that won the youth title in 2002. His team-mates on that squad were, amongst others, Ferran Corominas who found him unconscious, Andres Iniesta of FC Barcelona and Fernando Torres of Liverpool. I need to mention too that Dani Jarque was the captain of that squad.
Category: Espanyol Team NewsDani Jarque, Espanyol captain RIP
By: Armando | 28 Comments
When you’re 26 years old and the starting central defender for an up and coming club like Espanyol, recently made Captain of the squad in fact under Mauricio Pochettino, you shouldn’t be expecting that it can all be taken away from you, that you could go to your hotel room on a tour of Italy for some Italian friendlies, in Coverciano just outside of Florence, preparing for a game against Bologna this weekend, and you’re talking with a family member on the phone, you faint and hours later you’re gone? His room-mate Ferran Corominas found him unconscious. They called the emergency services and spent hours trying to revive him. This shouldn’t be. 26 year olds shouldn’t be having heart attacks.
Your life should be ahead of you, the greatest part of your footballing career being lived in the moment, a dream that every fan has of stepping onto the pitch in the city where you were born for a club you have been with practically since the day you picked up your professional boots. Daniel Jarque was born in Barcelona in on the first of January in 1986. He gew up in Saint Boi de Llobregat in the southwestern suburbs of the city. Catalan born and bred. He played for the local club, he attracted attention from many other clubs but he signed for Espanyol. He came through the cantera, playing sporadically, subbing with the first team but waiting his turn and his time in the filial, the youth team. He played 173 games for the club, netting 8 precious goals in the process. He was a team leader, instrumental in the club’s 2006 Copa del Rey win against Real Zaragoza in the Santiago Bernabeu and also in the club’s improbable run in the subsequent season, when they came a hair’s breadth from winning the 2007 UEFA Cup against Sevilla. He clawed and suffered with the club when they struggled in 2007-2008 and when they staved off relegation last year. He was a team leader, and when the club were looking for the new face of the club, one to lead them out at the Nou Sarria, they chose Dani Jarque. This is a devastating loss for the club.
More information will come out. The club will honor his memory, like Sevilla honored the memory of their fallen player Antonio Puerta who himself died too young, and people will come out calling for better testing of players for pre-existing heart conditions, like what Ruben de la Red suffered last year for Real Madrid. His friends and family will mourn. We fans will send our condolensces and write our blogs. Life will go on. But for the moment just stop and think. A life has ended, no better or worse than any other in our existence, but one that will be missed nontheless.
Rest in peace Daniel Jarque, age 26.
Category: Espanyol Team NewsEspanyol Notes: New Stadium
By: Armando | Add Comments
Today is the day for the official grand opening of the new stadium at Cornella el Pratt, the Nou Sarria as some of my colleagues are calling it, or officially the new RCD Espanyol Stadium. It’s an important game for Liverpool, they start their season sooner than Espanyol do and I’m sure Rafa will urge them to play well and win, but Pochettino knows very well that Espanyol want to inaugurate Cornella appropriately. Coming in though, here are some stories making the papers in Spain:
Sanchez-LLibre says today’s match came as an after-thought while negotiating the Albert Riera transfer.
Player reactions to the game: Raul Tamudo says, “It’ll be an unforgettable party for those who love Espanyol.” David Garcia says, “It’s a grand illusion, because we have been waiting years for it. I don’t have the words to explain what it means for the club and for those of us who are inaugurating the pitch.” On another note, Luis Garcia adds, “Será la hostia para todos los pericos”, which roughly means, “It’ll be the shit for all us pericos.”
Xabi Alonso, despite his coming out and officially requesting a transfer to Real Madrid to join the Real Madrid 2.0 Revolution, has made the trip to Barcelona and is looking to play for Rafa and the Reds.
How seriously are Liverpool taking the game? They haven’t released, either to Espanyol or to media outlets, the starting lineup for the game that starts in a little under 4 hours yet. Odd for a preseason friendly? That’s Rafa Benitez I guess.
Javier Mascherano hasn’t commented publicly about going to FC Barcelona, but it is well known that Barca would love to have the Argentine. Is this a derby game for him? That’s how Mundo Deportivo are spinning it.
Whether on loan or permanently Espanyol have lost Jonathan Soriano to Barcelona B’s, Roman to Tenerife which means he’ll be playing plenty for the Canary Islanders, and Angel to the crazies at Rayo Vallecano.
Boca Juniors defender Facundo Roncaglia has signed on loan. He’s 21 years old and he’ll bring depth behind Jarque and Pareja.
New striker Ben Sahar takes a swipe at ex-team-mates at Chelsea, “Here there’s joking and music, which helps to take the pressure off. It’s a big difference to what I knew in England, where there wasn’t much laughing. I’ve also trained much harder, with much more running and fitness work in the practice than I used to do in England.” Who would have thought? Guys don’t train as hard in England? No!
Speaking of Liverpool, ex-Liverpool player Steve Finnan, who got maybe a cup of coffee and tapas last year at Espanyol, was released from his contract allowing him to join Portsmouth this year, and….he’s hurt again.
More soon.
Category: Espanyol Team NewsEspanyol Notes
By: Armando | 5 Comments
Today is the day for the official grand opening of the new stadium at Cornella el Pratt, the Nou Sarria as some of my colleagues are calling it, or officially the new RCD Espanyol Stadium. It’s an important game for Liverpool, they start their season sooner than Espanyol do and I’m sure Rafa will urge them to play well and win, but Pochettino knows very well that Espanyol want to inaugurate Cornella appropriately. Coming in though, here are some stories making the papers in Spain:
- Sanchez-LLibre says today’s match came as an after-thought while negotiatiing the Albert Riera transfer.
- Player reactions to the game: Raul Tamudo says, “It’ll be an unforgettable party for those who love Espanyol.” David Garcia says, “It’s a grand illusion, because we have been waiting years for it. I don’t have the words to explain what it means for the club and for those of us who are inaugurating the pitch.” On another note, Luis Garcia adds, “Será la hostia para todos los pericos”, which roughly means, “It’ll be the shit for all us pericos.”
- Xabi Alonso, despite his coming out and officially requesting a transfer to Real Madrid to join the Real Madrid 2.0 Revolution, has made the trip to Barcelona and is looking to play for Rafa and the Reds.
- How seriously are Liverpool taking the game? They haven’t released, either to Espanyol or to media outlets, the starting lineup for the game that starts in a little under 4 hours yet. Odd for a presason friendly? That’s Rafa Benitez I guess.
- Javier Mascherano hasn’t commented publicly about going to FC Barcelona, but it is well known that Barca would love to have the Argentine. Is this a derby game for him? That’s how Mundo Deportivo are spinning it.
- Whether on loan or permanently Espanyol have lost Jonathan Soriano to Barcelona B’s, Roman to Tenerife which means he’ll be playing plenty for the Canary Islanders, and Angel to the crazies at Rayo Vallecano.
- Boca Juniors defender Facundo Roncaglia has signed on loan. He’s 21 years old and he’ll bring depth behind Jarque and Pareja.
- New striker Ben Sahar takes a swipe at ex-team-mates at Chelsea, “Here there’s joking and music, which helps to take the pressure off. It’s a big difference to what I knew in England, where there wasn’t much laughing. I’ve also trained much harder, with much more running and fitness work in the practice than I used to do in England.” Who would have thought? Guys don’t train as hard in England? No!
- Speaking of Liverpool, ex-Liverpool player Steve Finnan, who got maybe a cup of coffee and tapas last year at Espanyol, was released from his contract allowing him to join Portsmouth this year, and….he’s hurt again.
More soon.
Category: Espanyol Team NewsTamudo
By: Armando | 3 Comments
When you’re club captain for so long and a talismanic figure to the only club you have ever played for in the first division, I realize he was on loan at Alaves and LLeida early on in his career, it is surprising to hear that the club is not only refusing to renegotiate the contract that would end your career at Cornella el Prat but also entertaining offers from Italy, Greece and England to take his services off the Espanyol books.
I know he’s 31 years old and well past his prime, he’s been injured much of his last 2 years at the club, and he’s looking for one last mega-contract. Espanyol have brought in some fitting replacements, and there is also some interest at his cut-rate evaluation of 2.5 million pounds. New Wigan manager, and fellow countryman, Roberto Martinez is a fan and they already have ex-Espanyol midfielder Jordi Gomez who played under Martinez at Swansea City, so that looks like the most appropriate destination, but in the long run it looks doomed to failure.
The club clearly want to sell no matter what people are saying in the foreground. The leadership in the locker-room has been a problem for years and Tamudo has been a focal point of player unrest. Instead of helping to take control of the squad, he has been part of the problem. Miguel Angel Lotina, Juande Ramos, Luis Fernandez, Ernesto Valverde, Tintin Marquez, and Mane have all been let go under Raul Tamudo’s tenure at Espanyol. Many of them have noted the fractured backroom, the haves and have nots amongst the players, those with inluence and those with none and ultimately the lack of support by management for Espanyol’s managers.
Relegation though is the great equalizer. Players who have coasted to date through inflated contracts have been humbled by the possibility of sending the club to a financial meltdown in the second division. It’s not just Tamudo, De la Pena, or Luis Garcia, but in fact most of the core leadership is feeling the wrath of a club that has sided with former captain and newest coach Mauricio Pochettino.
After the last whistle was blown, and the club saved from relegation, Pochettino layed out his groundwork for the new season. He would not re-sign with the club if new signings weren’t brought in, competition for places raised to the maximum. He gave his ultimatum, and the club put Tamudo and Lil Buddha on the market. In fact, more than half the squad of 28 is up for sale or for loan; some to be released outright. The player leaders have stalled in signing their contracts, hoping that the club would blink again in another round of chicken. Instead, Espanyol have signed promising young Chelsea striker Ben Saha and convinced midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura to make a short detour from Celtic before returning to Japan. Odd that they would be replacements if the two captains left? Not really. De la Pena blinked, then signed knowing that there were few clubs in the market for a slow, bald, passer with little to no finishing skills. Now Tamudo is set to leave, maybe to Wigan or Blackburn or Bolton or Hull, but the damage to his credibility is done. He’s no longer a first choice Spanish International.
Espanyol. Today. This is Pochettino’s team; and we are the better for it. I love Raul Tamudo. He is the best player in the history of RCD Espanyol, but football is a team game. He is the team, but the team is not him. Espanyol will exist long after he leaves and then some. I wish him well if he does leave, but the club endures.
Visca l’Espanyol
Category: Espanyol Team NewsEstadio de Cornellá – El Prat
By: Armando | 1 Comment
The new stadium is ready, we’ve got the keys to the Ferrari, and all we’re waiting for is Liverpool to inaugurate it in August. In the mean-time, let me get out some facts about the new place as like all pericos, I am very proud of our “new birdhouse” and glad that the bad taste of relegation that lingered around Montjuic is long gone.
It’s been a long 4 years since construction started, almost 2 years since I saw the barren site that would be our Nou Stadi to replace the Olympic Stadium on the hill, and frankly 8 months since the field was being finalized and the grass was being laid. No problem. 40,000 seats just outside the city in Cornellá – El Prat, close enough to take the train but far enough to discourage the cules.
Dani Sanchez-LLibre, our much maligned President spoke for us best when he said, “This has not been a walk through the Desert our time at Montjuic” and while I wouldn’t go as far I would say that it wasn’t painless, we are a better team for the struggles we have gone through. We challenged for the UEFA Cup against Seville, won two Copa del Reys in 2000 and 2006, and we sternly fought off relegation through sheer determination and guile. We were the best team, on form over the last 2 weeks of the season. Was it a miracle? I don’t know, Pochettino said recently that his hike up Montserrat to ask the Virgin to save the club from La Segunda and financial ruin had already been in the works; a promise he kept from years before when he was still a player at the club.
The real promise is the stadium though. During the unveiling, the Secretary General for Sport of the Generalitat, Anna Pruna describe it, (and I paraphrase) as an “impressive and incredible structure” , and that “the club’s symbol, the parakeet is, like a ‘perico-fénix’, a phoenix like parakeet because when things are at their worst it fell and took flight again. You can’t describe it any other way for the incredible history of this centenary club.”
I never had a club to follow, really follow, until I went to Barcelona. I’ve been through highs, beating Barca at the Nou Camp last year is one, and the lows of threatened relegation and while my life as a perico has just started, I realize there are many others who have struggled their whole lives with the ups and downs. I won’t make my little time with the club compare to that. I can’t. I’m just one more voice, a new voice to a historic club, my club RCD Espanyol and I’m proud of my club today.
Category: Espanyol Team NewsEspanyol 3-0 Valencia
By: Armando | 3 Comments
Let me just stop and say that again. Espanyol 3 and Valencia 0. This is the same club last week that should have beaten Barcelona soundly at the Mestalla, a club with the likes of Villa, Silva and my favorite new player Mata, of course he’d be a lot better if he came out in blue and white stripes but that would a little much. Going in I thought that if we held them to a draw, took the point and quickly got on a train out of town before the refs realized anything had happened I’d be happy with the result.
I knew what we’d do too. We’d shorten the game, get them out of their rhythm, hold the ball on clearances and play more direct bypassing their midfield. We’d try to hold our shape and take a 0-0 draw to halftime and then open up in the last third of the game. There were chances all around, Luis Garcia was off and so was Alonso, but we were frustrating Los Che; it was obvious with Fernandes especially complaining about the fouls and the free kicks awarded to my pericos.
The first goal came minutes after injured Ivan Alonso was taken off for our Argentine midfielder Roman. The ball ping-ponged in the area, it fell to his feet and he blasted it from just outside the box past a diving Cesar. We extended the lead from a free kick to Pareja ( you know things are going well for us if even the dead balls are going in) and Rufete’s penalty (taken by Nene) was the topper in the match but it really showed how far we’ve come.
One month ago we looked like a second division team. We weren’t scoring goals and the club was listless. We were making mental mistakes, goal keeping errors, and we were playing selfishly. Since then we have been tactically canny, opportunistic in attack, and a monster on defense. 2 goals in the last 7 games and 5 straight shutouts. After being 20th for much of the last 2 months, we are now 14th on the table with a critical game coming up against Atletico Madrid next week. 4 more weeks to safety. It looks likely now: 6 clubs are below us. Oh, is that Real Betis right below us?
Category: Espanyol Team NewsDipinto di bianconeri?
By: Armando | Add Comments
No you are not reading the wrong blog. I just wanted to give you a taste of what might have been coming out of the new stadium next year. According to some websites, primarily Italian calcio sites with nothing better to write about this time of year, there are talks ongoing between Sanchez-Llibre and the owners of Udinese Calcio in Italy (the Pozzo family) to buy Espanyol. Gino Pozzo is that guy right there on the left.
Are we changing our kit colors to black and white to match Udinese like my title suggests? Not likely. The Italians have denied any interest, Tuttomercatoweb: “Well, the family is not interested in buying Espanyol which, incidentally, is also not affordable as it is a public company, with operations divided between 20,000 members. We are already engaged in Italy and there is nothing concrete.”
Let me give you my take on this. With Espanyol facing the drop, the powers that be at the club have more than likely been looking to either sell or at least minimize their losses after relegation bringing in new investment. They looked for domestic relief but likely couldn’t find any and attracted some interest in Italy but the price tag was either too high for the Italians or they are negotiating for a better deal in the event that the worst scenario happens. Reading inbetween the press-release above that is the more likely scenario.
Also, Dani Sanchez-LLibre has been opening his mouth again recently about liquidating his interests in the club, he’s tired and doesn’t know how long he can continue being chairman (blah-blah-bla), so you never know about this story, but I don’t expect anything concrete to be established before the end of the season. Even if this is newsworthy, it just sounds like the club is looking for new partners, not to sell outright, which is essentially good for a club that is going to need outside investment and fast; most of our capital is going to be tied to that new stadium for the foreseeable future.
-Armando
Forza Futbol
La Liga Weekly
Category: Espanyol Team NewsBack in the saddle again?
By: Armando | 3 Comments
Sorry I’ve been away, but I’ve been busy with my primary site forzafutbol.com, redesigning it and I’ve had to scale back on my posting here, although I will tell you that I am never far away from RCD Espanyol. I may cover a broader spectrum of La Liga now as the Spanish correspondent for Forza Futbol it is always with the knowledge that I am representing the blanc-i-blau in the process.
Well, since I’ve been gone some very important changes have occurred in the months of March and April. A drop into the depths of relegation has sparked an unbelievable comeback. Pochettino went on a pilgrimage to Montserrat to beg for the safety of the club and it seems like it has helped. No longer one of the lowest scoring teams in La Liga, our goal differential is reaching a respectable single digit deficit rather than the -20 or more that Numancia and the like are sporting.
Are we out of the woods yet? No. Valencia are coming up as are Atletico Madrid. But then we have some more manageable games against Bilbao, Almeria and Malaga and from then on, who knows? Maybe some well-deserving sides like Betis or Racing can slip up some more and get us away from the danger zone.
And yes, I’ll try to blog more here. We’re already inundated with Barca chat with all this Champions League nonsense going around. And if you’d like to read more of what I’ve been doing: try forzafutbol.com
Category: Espanyol
Home 
