Valencia CF players called for national squads duty

Valencia CF players have once again been called for international duty for their respective countries.

The ones that features for their countries, but have been since left out are Manuel Fernandes and Ricardo Costa. Manuel Fernanded featured for 2 matches for Portugal, but once the coach changed he hasn't been called up. Ricardo Costa was called the last time due to injury in the Portugal back line, but he is not a standard player for Portugal and its likely that is the way its going to stay.

One new inclusion has been Jonas Goncalves to the Brazil national team, which is a bit of a surprise, but is good for the player and Valencia CF as well, as getting international experience is always good.

Stankevicious has been called in for Lithuania, he is one of the most standard players there and is considered one of the best players in the country.

Topal has been recalled to the Turkish national team after a long break, he has a standard player for Turkey before, those for much of 2010 he haw out of the national team. Anyways he has been recalled and is probably going to be a first eleven player as Turkey has been suspect at the back and Topla is going to provide some much needed defensive cover.

Maduro seems to have found a permanent place in the Holland national team and has been called up for all of the matches after the world cup in Africa ended.

Mata has also been recalled to the Spain team, he was only out of the senior team because he was playing for Spain's U-21, but Vicente Del Bosque has decided to bring him back to the senior squad.

Banega has been called for Argentina once again and he is already a standard 11 player for Argentina. When Banega has played Argentina have not lost, the only match Argentina were without Banega was against Japan and they lost by one goal.

Jordi Alba has been impressive this season and in great form so he has been called up for Spain U-21 squad and this is I believe his first national squad call up.

Valencia CF also has a lot of youth players called up for Spain U-21 and bellow squads.

Valencia CF 0-1 Sevilla FC - Match Report

Sevilla kept their chances of achieving top-four finish alive with a fine win at Valencia.

Ivan Rakitic scored the only goal midway through the second half, slamming home a loose ball to put his side to within 12 points of Valencia who occupy fourth spot.

They were indebted to goalkeeper Javi Varas for the win, with his string of fine saves keeping Valencia at bay.

Spain winger Jesus Navas was the first to look likely for Sevilla, forcing his way into the box before flashing an effort across goal.

Valencia then thought they should have been awarded at least one penalty, with Roberto Saldado being brought down in the box by Mouhamadou Dabo, with the same man then colliding with Joaquin.

Jonas then found himself well set in the box for Valencia, but fell over as he attempted to hit the target, while at the other end, Alvaro Negredo broke clear but hit the near post instead of going across the goalkeeper.

Jonas then broke through on Sevilla`s goal, but, as Varas stormed out, the striker dinked an effort wide of his right-hand post.

Navas volleyed wide after the restart, before Jonas thumped the woodwork after taking in a Soldado pass.

Frederic Kanoute put a free header over Valencia's bar from a corner and Varas then began to excel, palming Juan Mata`s chip on to his bar, before using his thigh to bundle a Jonas header away.

Valencia were then made to pay, with Rakitic firing in an unstoppable half-volley after a blocked Negredo shot fell to him.

Varas beat away a Joaquin volley as Valencia looked to snatch a leveller, but they could not find their way through.

Technical details:

Valencia                            Sevilla FC

26(9)	Shots (on Goal)	23(10)
14	Fouls	13
9	Corner Kicks	6
2	Offsides	2
55%	Time of Possession	45%
2	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
9	Saves	9

Valencia CF: Guaita, Bruno, David Navarro (Banega, m.54), Dealbert, Mathieu (Jordi Alba, m.78), Topal, Tino Costa, Joaquín, Jonas (Aduriz, m.75), Mata, Soldado.

Sevilla FC: Javi Varas, Alexis, Fazio, Escudé, Dabo, Medel (Zokora, m.79), Navas, Rakitić, Perotti (Capel, m.90+), Kanouté, Negredo (Renato, m.90+).

Goal: 0-1, m.69: Rakitić.

Player Ratings: 
Guaita 7 - Good match for the keeper, after two shakier performances the last two matches.
Bruno 6 - Decent play, went forward often enough and was good at the back.
Navarro 5 - Good display from the captain, a bit too slow on two occasions, but otherwise good.
Dealbert 6 - Did well, slow as Navarro, but did not make any mistakes.
Mathieu 5 - Won 50% of the challenges with Navas, but lost few crucial challenges, didn't provide much in attack either.
Joaquin 7 - Great performance from Joaquin and always caused Sevilla problems.
Topal 5.5 - When in his position did well, simple and tidy passing with good defensive cover, but he is not good enough for a center back.
Tino Costa 6 - Fought hard, had few nice touches and generally useful, but failed to break Sevilla's defenses.
Mata 6 - Had good moments and can be considered one of his better matches in a while, but goes invisible for large periods of the match and needs to play more direct football. 
Jonas 4 - Found himself in may positions to score and his movement was great, but failed to score which is the most important thing.
Soldado 4.5 - Better than Jonas as he was more active and went wide to the right to help out, had a great assist to Jonas and few shots himself, but he also failed to find the net.
Subs:
Banega 6 - When he came in Valencia CF instantly got more possession and he had one great cross that put someone from the attack alone on goal, but ultimately could not really break Sevilla's defense. 
Aduriz 4 - I barely saw him. He had few sloppy touches and could not control the ball, so he did nothing really.
Alba N/A - Not enough time.

Valencia CF vs Sevilla FC - Match Preview

Valencia CF has had a rough two weeks with two painful and demoralizing losses. Loosing to Schalke 04 in the champions league was taken very bad by the players and it showed in the next match against Real Zaragoza where Valencia CF were trashed 4-0 by the relegation threatened Zaragoza.
That match was probably the worst match this season and the players need to forget it and continue on with the fight for 3rd place finish.

The first opportunity to bounce back is against Sevilla, a very dangerous opponent and one that has caused Valencia CF troubles on the tables a lot of times, a old rival you can say. While Valencia CF have a good historical record against Sevilla at home this is a dangerous time to be facing Sevilla after two rough weeks. Right now we may just hope the players have recovered and are motivated and ready to play Sevilla and beat them.

Valencia has some negative news as David Albelda has suffered another injury in training and Maduro continues to struggle with his injury as well and both won't be available for the next match. Stankevicious is suspended to due his red card against Zaragoza.

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: César, Guaita.
Defense: Bruno, David Navarro, Ricardo Costa, Dealbert, Jordi Alba, Mathieu.
Midfield: Topal, Tino Costa, Éver, Joaquín, Pablo, Vicente.
Attack: Mata, Jonas, Aduriz, Soldado.

Sevilla FC on the other hand have been for the most part of the season in terrible form and their results have been from mediocre to downright bad. Their biggest problem this season has been the defense, while they are able to score goals and are dangerous on the attack, especially on the flanks, they tend to receive goals pretty easily.

Their coach Manzano has so far been unable to find the perfect pairing of center backs and there has been problems and accusations of players that the coach favors a set of players and chooses them even if they don't perform good.

In recent weeks though it seems that the team has been getting better and there is more collectivism and friendship in their camp. Is this just a calm before the storm where they all get on each others throats is unclear at this point, but what is certain is that Valencia CF need to be at their best game if they are to beat Sevilla.

Sevilla's last three matches have been all over, from a 3-0 win against Sporting, to a loss to Bilbao and last week a surprise draw with Barcelona.

Sevilla FC squad:
Goalkeepers: Javi Varas, Dani Jiménez
Defense: Federico Fazio, Ivica Dragutinović, Julien Escudé, Mouhamadou Dabo, Alexis Ruano
Midfield: Jesús Navas, Didier Zokora, Diego Perotti, Renato Florêncio, Alejandro Alfaro, Diego Capel, Gary Medel, Ivan Rakitić
Attack: Frédéric Kanouté, Álvaro Negredo, Rodrigo 'Rodri' Lozano

Valencia CF celebrates its 92nd birthday

March, 18th 1919 is the historic year as that was the date the club was officially formed in a bar called Torino. The first president of the newly formed football club back then was Octavio Augusto Milego Díaz, his presidency was decided by a coin toss.

Since Valencias first match against Gimnástic the team has been growing and earning prestige on the Spanish and international scene. Even though Valencia CF is not on the same level in international recognition as Barcelona and Real Madrid they are considered the third biggest club in achievements, status and prestige.

Valencia CF 92 birthday

Hopefully the team is going to continue growing and achieve big things in the very near future so that we the current fans can have something to cheer and be happy about.

Image source: valenciacf.blog.mk

Can Valencia CF challenge for La Liga title?

There is one short answer and that is no, but that would be too simple and undeserving of a post, so I'm going to go into more detail if Valencia CF can challenge for La Liga title in the next season.

First let me start with the fairly known facts why Valencia CF can't challenge for La Liga title this season and then transfer to next season.

First of all Valencia CF is technically still a mess, a mess worth of 400 million euros and even though the money from the Champions League were good and Valencia CF is profitable once again, the debt will only be reduced by 50 million euros till the end of this season and only if there are no significant transfer purchases.

The only way Valencia CF can get any value in the market and reduce the debt is by selling Mata as he is the only player right now in Valencia CF that is worth more than 20 million euros. With a bit of negotiations Valencia CF can easily sell him for 25 million euros and bring home some much needed cash.

The other thing is that Valencia CF is still in the building process, with Unai Emery the club has achieved stability and consistent results, though its understandable that the fans want to challenge La Liga and the European competitions and this is something that Emery has not able to achieve and the circumstances have certainly not allowed it.

The circumstances are clear and those are huge debt, coming off a terrible season 3 years ago under Koeman and this season the selling of Villa and Silva, but the bigger reasons why Valencia can't challenge for La Liga title are Barcelona and Real Madrid. They are just too big and too powerful, they have all the prestige in the world and all the money in the world and contrary to popular belief money does buy you success, maybe not immediately and each time, but its a big part of being successful at least in today's game of football.

The Spanish league is essentially a two horse race for now, but the fans of Valencia CF are questioning if next Valencia CF can challenge the big two next season.

There is no clear answer and it will depend on the circumstances, for example will Unai Emery stay as coach of Valencia CF, which players will be sold and purchased, how will Barcelona and Real Madrid strengthen and will the smaller clubs in Spain be more challenging or not.

I think Valencia is on a good path, on a path from which the team can only grow and improve, but this is still a dirt road, while the big two clubs are racing on an American speed circuit, the ones that Nascar race on.

The biggest thing for Valencia would be the coach, will Emery contract be extended or not and if not who is going to be the next coach for Valencia. Bring a coach that isn't ready to coach a team like Valencia and you may have a problem and its a risk, but that risk may pay off. Valencia's president Llorente may bring an experienced Spanish coach and the team may continue to be stable and with expected results, but its unlikely to achieve anything big like winning any tournament.
The other option is extend Emery's contract and hope that he has improved enough and has enough experience now to take the team to the next level.

The other important aspect are the transfers and these always have big influence on the play. The summer transfers can make or break a team and while these past 2 years Valencia CF has improved significantly in this department, there is still a risk the mistakes from the past will show their ugly head.

This season if Valencia CF finish third is going to very successful, but I think next season the team will be better and if it isn't going to challenge for the Spanish title, its going to go further in the Spanish cup and Champions league.

Valencia CF replacement coaches for Unai Emery - analysis

I'm going to do a little bit of analasys of which coaches can replace Emery, should he be let go in the summer.
The coaches that will be on the list are some fan favorites and they are thought to be able to produce better results than emery.

1. Rafael Benitez. This for some is the most logical choice as older fans will remember one of the biggest successes of Valencia Cf with him as the coach and are likely to support such a move.
Lets not forget though that while Rafa is no doubt a good coach, his most successive spell was when he was in Valencia from 2001 to 2004. He won the Champions League with Liverpool and then brought Liverpool once again in the final, but he failed to win the Premier League with Liverpool in his 6 years with them.

Most notably is the recent failure with Inter where he managed to take out Inter out of the Serie A league championship battle in less than 4 months.

Today's Rafael Benitez is a different coach than the young one he was when he came to Valencia and won trophy's and then won trophy's with Liverpool also. Valencia is a different side also and Barcelona and Real Madrid are different beasts now all together.

Chance of success: 6/10 - Its unlikely he is going to produce the results for Valencia at this time and age.

2. Michael Laudrup. People like him because he is a young and promising coach and he has had a good playing career as well, so he is a known name. While his playing career is rich and successful, his coaching career is still a question. He has been very successful with Getafe reaching the Copa Del Ray finals and loosing to Valencia CF, as well as the quarter finals of the Uefa cup and loosing to Bayern Munich.

He went to coach Spartak Moscow and was a huge fluke having made a string of bad results and was sacked within 7 months. He is now coach at Mallorca who are currently 10th at the table with no notable results.

Chance of success: 5/10 - This is too much of a risk. He had one great season with Getafe, but has also been a flop, so its a 50-50% chance of success or huge failure.

3. Mauricio Pochettino. He is currently ridding a wave of success and hype, leading a mediocre team of youths and average players fighting for European competition. His coaching career is very new and he is very inexperienced as a coach. His first season at Espanyol he brought them from relegation zone and they finished 11th and this season are fighting for a spot in the European league. He is yet to achieve something notable in his coaching career.

Chance of success: 3/10 - He is a decent coach, but not at the level required to coach Valencia CF. He is neither experienced, nor successful and is very new to the coaching scene.

4. André Villas Boas - Much like Pochettino, Andre Villas is riding a wave of success and hype. He has been for most of his career an assistant of the now infamous Jose Mourinho, so he has had the pleasure of learning from one of the best coaches in the world. He was Jose's assistant coach in Porto and later in Chelsea and Inter.

In his first season as head coach he helped guide relegation team Academica to respectable 11th place finish and Portugeese league cup semi final. This season he has been Porto head coach and has achieved great success so far, beating the record of 33 unbeaten matches previously set by Jose Mourinho.

Chance of success: 7/10 - He is very inexperienced, but has learned from the best and has achieved some success under his belt, although he should be judged at the end of the season. Its a risky endeavor if VCF sign him but it may just work. If it works its going to be very successful period for Valencia, if it doesn't it may be really bad.

5. Manuel Pelegrini. The most experienced coach from the bunch above and probably the most successful as well, with less titles won than Rafael Benitez though, but otherwise being way more successful.

He became recognized at Villarreal, although his previous tenures have proven just as successful, but it was Villarreal that put him on the map as one of the best coaches in Spain and Europe.While he hasn't won anything with Villarreal he brought the club on the map as well. Before that Villarreal was one of those less known clubs in Spain with fairly poor history.

He is currently the coach of Malaga and has a 5 year long contract, though he hasn't made much progress with Malaga and anything can happen at the end of the season if Malaga are relegated to second division.

Chance of success: 8/10 - With Pelegrini you know what you get, its going to be a steady performance with little highs or lows. While he can probably be very successful with Valencia CF in Spain, he is also a doubt if he can deliver European Success.

Real Zaragoza 4-0 Valencia CF - Match Report

Valencia CF needed to win against Zaragoza to forget the loss from Schalke 04 in the champions league, bounce up and continue its path to 3rd place in La Liga. It was going to be a hard away match that much was known, but Valencia CF needs to prove its quality over and over again and win in these kind of situations and show character.

The match started quite equally, but the first bigger chance for Zaragoza and they scored. After a free kick Uche managed to escape Bruno and then out jump Topal and head the ball past Guaita and into the net.

The match was quite uneventful and for most of the match there were some bad attacks, though Zaragoza were the more dangerous thanks to the mistakes of the Valencia CF midfield and Bruno in the defense with Zaragoza having a chance exactly similar to the one when they scored.

Valencia CF midfield was nowhere to be seen and could barely come close to Zaragoza goal, with one chance of note being a shot of Soldado that was deemed offside.

The biggest problem though was the attack being cut off from the rest of the players. Either Jonas and Soldado were playing too deep or the midfield was playing too deep and close to its own goal. I think it was a combination of both and then there was a clear lack of determination from the Valencia players, they all seemed still shaken from the loss to Schalke 04 and the abrupt stop of the champions league.

Unai Emery introduced Ever Banega for R. Costa in order to strengthen the midfield and link-up play better, but that didn't pay off either. Ever Banega first contact with the ball and he slipped giving Zaragoza a good chance to score and then just minutes later Zaragoza scored a second goal.

Valencia CF had 1 more half chance to score, but it wasn't to be. Overall the players looked tired, demoralized and undetermined and it wasn't strange that Zaragoza was leading 2-0.

Second half started a bit better for Valencia CF with more control over the ball, but once again the players could not muster up more than 2-3 passes in a row and lost the ball every time.

Zaragoza wasn't attacking or playing very good, but they were direct and effective, 4 chances and two goals in the first half and had additional 3 chances for goal in the second half. They were awarded two penalties also with Stankevicious making a soft foul, but still being awarded a penalty, he also got a second yellow and was sent off, Albelda came in to strengthen the defense, but soon after he also made a penalty and Zaragoza had no problems scoring from the two penalties.

Valencia has no chances for goal for the whole 90 minutes and apart from once chance from Soldado in the first half that was deemed offside and does not count they had to chances for goal.

Tino Costa had a measely shot on goal and pretty much nothing else, nothing seemed to work and this is the biggest defeat to Valencia this season.

Technical Details:
R. Zaragoza (4): Doblas, Diogo (Da Silva, min. 86), Paredes, Contini, Jorge López, Ander, Uche (Braulio, min. 60), Bertolo, Gabi (N'Daw, min,79), Jarosik y Ponzio.

Valencia CF (0): Guaita, Bruno, Topal, Joaquín, Soldado, Stankevicius, Jonas (Albelda, min. 67), R. Costa (Ever, min. 34), Mathieu (Mata, min. 55), T. Costa y Jordi Alba.

Goals: 1-0 Min. 4 Jarosik; 2-0 Min. 40 Ander; 3-0 Min. 65 Gabi; 4-0 Min 74 Gabi.
Player ratings:

Guaita 5 - Could not be blamed for the goals and had little to do otherwise with only one save.
Bruno 3 - Absolutely terrible performance, lost his man for the first goal, lost the duals constantly and offered absolutely nothing going forward.
Stankevicious 4 - Not a bad performance, but did make the penalty and along with the collective at fault for the second goal.
R. Costa 5 - Taken off early for Ever Banega. Did not make any mistake in his time on the pitch.
Alba 4.5 - Not particularity for blame for any of the goals and did play decently, but just like everyone else did not give 100% today.
Joaquin 4.5 - Probably the best player tonight, which is not saying much. Had few good dribbles but lacked the final pass.
Topal 4 - At fault along with Bruno for the first goal, could not bring the back forward from the back and his short direct passing was not suited for this kind of game.
Tino Costa 4 - Dreadful performance. Misplaced passes, unable to keep possession and failed to link-up play.
Mathieu 3 - Invisible for 95% of the match. Apart from 2 or 3 runs and few touches did not do anything.
Jonas 4 - Lost the ball each time he got it, did not find useful positions, but other than that he had absolutely no service.
Soldado 5 - Was active and tried to make something out of nothing, but with no service at all its hard for him or any striker for that matter to score goals.
Subs:
Banega 4.5 - Barely better than Topal and Tino. Misplaced a lot of passes and too static in his movement, much more is expected from him.
Mata 4 - More effective than Mathieu, which is not saying much. Could not influence the match one bit, although did have few good passes.
Albelda 4 - He is not a defender and is old and slow so could not blame him for conceding a penalty, but did not bring anything positive, although the match was over by the time he went in anyways.
Coach: 
Unai Emery 3 - Obviously lacks the motivational skills, started with the team that just lost to Schalke just 3 days ago and its expected to loose in such situation. Made the wrong move to bring in Banega so early with Valencia loosing just 1-0 and Banega didn't bring much to the table.

My thoughts on what line-up and formation should have been used:
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Guaita; Bruno, Stankevicious, Dealbert, Alba; Albelda, Tino; Pablo, Isco, Vicente; Soldado.

Why this formation you ask? Well its what Emery has been using the last 2 matches and players have just settled into it, so a change is going to be negative. The players I chose are mostly fresh and have not played against Schalke 04, so in a way I'm removing the demoralized and tired ones and placing them with fresh and motivated ones.