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by Philipina A. Marcelo
Yep, I've gotta admit, I've been "so full of myself" lately - at least, in my posts here. :) Sorry if I've been sounding like a self-centered, self-promoting fool lately. I was just appreciating all the wonderful blessings coming my way, most of which have a lot to do with my family, and so many have to do with my work - my fantastic students, in particular. I try to avoid talking about my family here as much as I can, for privacy and security reasons... but it gives me so much joy to talk about my students - the work that I do with them, and the unforgettable things and places that I get to experience in my sincere desire to be a worthy teacher to them. Of course, I am most undeserving... that's why I can't help but marvel (perhaps, "gush" is more appropriate?) about the awesome blessings that come my way notwithstanding.
But enough about my boring self! Time to talk about the "beautiful game" (football, what else? hah!) and the, oh, so beautiful people who play it! :)
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La Liga es o-que!
So, the Spanish La Liga Table has been as "dynamic" as the Stock Market lately, huh?
Levante UD, Valencia CF and Sevilla FC have been trying to prove that the "Two-Club League" that La Liga had been condemned by some critics as being, especially after that string of fiercely contested Clasicos last season, is a myth. In fact, Levante topped the Primera Division ranking after 9 matches, beating Real Madrid CF on one occasion. They went into their 10th match of the season against Osasuna CF yesterday with a 9-0 card win-loss card, threatening to top both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid in the Liga Primera Division Table, who occupied the second and first places, respectively, after 10 matches. But Osasuna held Luis Garcia Plaza's men, handing them their first defeat of the season, and forcing them to settle for third place behind Los Blancos and Barça - for now.
A Messi Affair. I know, it's been "crazy" last three matches for the World's Best Player, Lionel Messi, going into Barca's 10th match for the season against Real Mallorca... and it's only because he went goal-less in those last three matches, two of which Barça won, and drew the other against Sevilla. But that isn't the crazy part. The "bored" (bored from Barça's "higher than high" winning standard, to be exact) sports speculators have been weaving stories about a "Messi decline", especially after Messi missed a spot kick against a valiant save from Javi Varas in their match against the very determined Sevilla squad. Of course, that, once again, prompted the great Pele to assert his being better than and incomparable to Messi (*sigh*). Dios mio, are they for real???. But just to settle things, for once and for all, Messi gave these people something to force their words back into their mouths with this:
Hmmm... just "delicious" to watch, especially "the wink"!
Pep Guardiola even tried to "spoonfeed" these "non-believers" with a great food for thought: that those arguments that Messi cannot score without Xavi Hernandez or Andrés Iniesta (and even Cesc Fàbregas) on the pitch to feed him with goal-worthy passes was a myth. All three Messi goals against Mallorca were scored without the great Barça playmakers. Some got the point and zipped their mouths, others remained football news "clowns", declaring something like this after Barça's 5-0 win against Real Mallorca: "...and so, Barca are back to their winning ways". Huh? Come again! "Back to their winning ways"??? Dudes, are ya for real? *sigh*
Real Madrid are becoming "Special". Alright, so we've been seeing glorious runs from Kareem Benzema, Gonzalo Higuain, Angel Di Maria, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira lately - totally impressive! And, yes, we're hearing right, too... José Mourinho have not uttered anything absolutely despicable lately. Would you believe it? But, yep, if those weren't "Special", I don't know what else is... oh, oh, oh, I know, FC Barcelona is! :)
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Video credit: Thanks, YouTube, for the video link.
