As you may or may not know, I do not speak Castilian (or Basque, for that matter). Last month, I made a post saying I would like someone to help me translate from Castilian to English because I think it would improve what I can write and any non-Castilian speaking Athletic fans (if there are any other than me) can know a little bit more. Well, I got a quick response but, unfortunately, the guy who was going to do it turned out to be too busy and had to withdraw before he could translate anything for me.

What I Need

I need somebody who can understand spoken Castilian. I can translate written articles from Castilian to English via online translators and understand them, but there are some things I would like to know via videos and such that I cannot understand. I don’t get paid to write for The Offside, so, unfortunately, you won’t either. Also, I will not make it so you have access to post on this page, but I will give credit for any work you do. If you have any thoughts you think might be worth posting outside of the general translation, let me know and I’ll try to work it in. Basically, I’ll write the articles, but I would like to have more resources to site and, if you can do it, you will be rewarded with the satisfaction that you’re contributing to the only active English Athletic news source (that I know of). I will not require much work and do not have strict deadlines, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to handle.

How to apply

Application is simple and informal. Shoot me an email at athletic@theoffside.com with this info:

You don’t need to be an Athletic fan, but if you apply and are a fan, you will probably be given preference if there are other applicants.

I really don’t know what to say- Athletic is out of the cup already. Shit.

I was able to turn on the game for the last 30 minutes or so- I had to reinstall Windows after a crash so spent time reinstalling TVU player and the required plug-ins to watch the match. I did get it going, though, and was happy to see Athletic up 1-0. “Ok, just one more goal, hang on and this will go to penalties, and I like Athletic’s chances in that.”

Then I saw every attack (of which there were many) be thwarted by Dani’s excellent goalkeeping (the guy seriously was putting on a clinic).

Then Collantes scored a beautiful goal making the score 1-1 with about 20 minutes left in the game.

A glimmer of hope came a few minutes later, after more (thwarted, but nice looking) attacks, Javi Martinez directed a beautiful header in- a glimmer of hope??

Only a few minutes after that, another goal by Rayo. I turned the game off and took a three hour nap.

But, hey, Rayo did well- I commend them on their upset. However, I may just be in a good mood about it because Real Madrid is out too.

I realize I didn’t post on the Nacional draw and the win against Racing. I missed them entirely, so decided my summary wasn’t necessary. Glad to see some good results coming back, though!

Before yesterday, it had been over a month since Athletic won their last game. They started off strong, winning the first three matches of the season for the first time in a long time, the last of those being a 3-2 victory against Villareal (yes, it has been that long).

The game was played on what seemed to be a below-average level, which is something that can be expected from two teams that have seen a dip in form. Still, Javi Martinez’s lone goal was enough, and that’s something I can be satisfied with.

The next game will be played on Thursday at Nacional in the Europa League. I’m expecting another win, and hoping that Athletic can finally shake off bad form officially and come back strong into La Liga.

Has poor form gotten to the heads of Athletic’s players??? I expected that, after a recent rut in the league, this would be the game that Los Leones would be able to pull through and build some pre-Halloween confidence. This should have been the game that the team went into, ready to prove themselves, and came out victorious- whether it was by one goal or ten. Hell, the least that we should have been able to pull out of this was a draw, that way the next leg would be at home which should make things even easier. What I saw yesterday reminded me of the pre-season friendlies, and that scares me.

Before I continue my bickering, I will point out one bright spot from the match- for the first time in a while, there wasn’t excessive fouling on the part of Athletic. Maybe it was because they realized (or at least thought) that fouling wouldn’t be necessary to win the game. Or maybe it was just because Ustaritz wasn’t in the lineup. Whatever it was, this is one good thing I saw.

However, the bad far outweighs the good.

First point worth mentioning was the debut of Iñigo Pérez. Normally I wouldn’t be opposed to this, but when the team is on a poor run of form wouldn’t it make sense to start a regular or at least a bench player, that way they can hopefully get in some practice against weaker opposition? Pérez has had largely unimpressive statistics for Athletic’s reserve team and I really don’t see him breaking into the first team any time in the forseeable future, so why Caparros made this decision is beyond me. Caparros did sub him out in the 54th minute, but it was for Toquero- who I still don’t rate. I personally would have much preferred to see Gabilondo get the start on the left side, then see Pérez subbed in if he did well enough.

Another problem I had with Capparos’ lineup was the exclusion of some players due to “fitness issues”: Yeste, de Marcos, Ustaritz, and De Cerio. I’m glad that Ustaritz didn’t play, because he probably would have found a way to get a red card and/or give up a penalty, but where was Yeste? Yeste was another option on the left side of the midfield that Caparros could have started instead of Pérez. I also believe this would have been a good time to give de Cerio an appearance. I understand he is coming off of a long injury layoff and may still not be at his best, but when you’re starting Pérez you aren’t exactly starting the best players available, are you? I don’t necessarily believe he should have had the start, but giving him a few minutes in the second half to warm up and test himself in competitive play with his new teammates may have been a good decision- I’m pretty sure he played in some pre-season friendlies and looked relatively fit back then. I’m not saying Athletic needed to start the best XI available, but there are some inclusions that could have been made to the squad that could have made an impact, if only as subs.

The biggest problem I had, however, was not with Caparros, it was with Athletic’s players. I did not see official statistics from the match but was able to watch most of the action and my impression was that Athletic were the better team. At one point in particular (sometime about midway through second half, can’t remember the exact minute) there was a beautiful cross delivered into the box to Etxeberria, he was open with no defenders close enough to catch him. In fact, the only players close to him were two other Athletic players. Etxeberria takes the ball at his feet and I remember thinking “alright, at least my boys will be getting one back!” I sat, fists clenched, ready to stand and cheer. Exteberria took his shot and overpowered it away from the goal. That was basically the story of the game, good chances that were utterly exploited. It makes me question the team’s current composure. Hopefully they aren’t low on confidence, I would rather it be that they were trying too hard. Regardless of why this kept happening, these guys are professionals and should play like it.

That’s about it. To me, Athletic looked like the better team but flubbed their chances. Vallecano seemed to have fewer, but were able to make the most of them, and should be commended for that.

Athletic will be playing Atlético Madrid on Halloween at 4pm Eastern time. If I am not busy at that time, be on the lookout for a liveblog. Atlético have looked piss-poor this season, but did in their Copa match what Athletic should have done and grabbed a win. The game will be at home, so hopefully we’ll be safe there.

I wouldn’t be surprised if nowhere was safe, though…

Today, Athletic will be in Madrid for their first match in this year’s Copa Del Rey. They’ll be facing Segunda Division side Rayo Vallecano; a game that I expect them to win, but wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t given recent form and the way that they had performed against weaker teams in the pre-season.

Selection: Iraizoz, Toquero, Koikili, San José, Amorebieta, Etxeita, Orbaiz, Llorente, David López, E.Bóveda, Armando, Etxeberria, Iraola, Gurpegi, Castillo, Xabi Etxebarria, Gabilondo and Iñigo Pérez.

Starting XI:
GK- Iraizoz
RB- Iraola
CD- Etxeita
CD- Amorebieta
LB- Koikili
RM- David López
CM- Orbaiz
CM- Gurpegi
LM- Inigo Perez
ST- Etxeberria
ST- Llorente

Prediction: Athletic are missing Yeste, De Marcos, and Ustaritz have been deemed unfit apparently, while de Cerio still seems to be rehabbing from his long injury lay-off. Aitor Ocio, Inaki Munoz, and Zubiaurre are all out injured; Muniain is away with the Spain U-17s. This is a game where I would have liked to see Muniain get a start and hoped de Cerio would get to play, but that doesn’t look like it’ll happen. Despite missing these players, I still think Athletic will have more quality about them than Rayo will. Final score- 3-1

What are your impressions going into the game?

P.S.- Remember this from the same stage of last year’s Copa? It still brings a smile to my face.

Three days ago, Athletic returned to Europa League action, facing CD Nacional from Portugal. I was able to watch the first 25 minutes or so of the game, which really were rather pedestrian. However, I am pleased with the result that was obtained. The win was the first we’ve seen since September (yes, it has really been that long!) and was an instance of Fernando Llorente saving the team- something he seems to do quite often. Our boys fell 1-0 before half-time, with Etxeberria equalizing in the second half, and Llorente bringing a late winner four minutes before the final whistle. It looked to be a good sign, Athletic was able to fight off recent bad form and battle back. Sure, I don’t think it was their best display, but I personally was given some added confidence going into the game against Getafe, which ended just a few hours ago.

Today’s game was, once again, a game I missed. For my research methods class, we have to conduct opinion polling of Virginia residents, as Virginia has elections coming up for state offices. My time was occupied from 1pm to 4pm, but I wore my Athletic shirt today as a show of support. Obviously, this couldn’t help Los Leones, who lost the game 2-0. Not only did they lose, but they did not lose in style at all. Two players were given their marching orders- Ustaritz and Gurpegi- and one of the goals scored was from a penalty. Really, it seems like Ustaritz has been doing this a lot as of late. I understand that Athletic has a reputation to uphold as tough, scrappy, hard-men, but a little discipline would be nice- especially if you’re a player like Ustaritz who seems to be collecting reds like Pokemon cards. Gurpegi collected 2 yellows before the first half ended, take what you will from that.

After a very bright beginning to the season, I am disappointed. I don’t know about you, but I thought this year would be different. There are many games left, of course, but my earlier optimism is almost all gone.

In better news:
Llorente has signed a new contract, committing to Athletic until 2013 and has become the club’s highest-paid player ever. Glad to see this because I can’t count the number of times he has almost single-handedly pulled out wins for Athletic.

I am missing the spark given by Muniain right now, I must say. However, Spain begins U-17 World Cup action tomorrow against the United States at 2pm Eastern. The game will be shown on espn360.com and I’ll tune in once I return from class at 2:10. I will be rooting for the Americans to take the game, but I hope that Muniain scores 15 goals and the U.S. wins the game with 16.

The Football Manager 2010 demo is out. I’m playing as Athletic and doing very, very well- my virtual team is in third place and it’s now December in-game. The full version comes out on Friday and I have it pre-ordered so I’ll be playing as Athletic on there. Hopefully I can have as much success in the full version as the demo, because it helps me forget the real-life Athletic Club Bilbao for a short time.

Athletic’s next game is the first match of this year’s Copa del Rey, and will be played away at Rayo Vallecano. This should be a win and might make me feel a bit better.

Last week there were only two entries, but t’OM wins:

“So what happens if I clap my hands together now?”

Participation in these has been down, so I am considering either scrapping this or doing it so it’s not weekly. Regardless of whether you decide to caption or not, what do you think of “Caption This!”?

The first news to report is the result of Athletic’s last game: a 2-1 loss to Sporting Gijon. Once again, I missed this game (I spent Sunday moving back into my room after the break and reorganizing for the second half of the semester). Now, I know I have missed many games so far this year, but this is because of school- luckily I’m almost finished with that.

But, I digress. I am quite unhappy with the result- Sporting is a weaker team than Athletic, the game was played at home, and Athletic tend to do well against Sporting anyway. From all reports, Athletic played a better game and created more chances, it just seems that the Sporting defense was too much this time. Toquero managed to make himself useful (!) and scored a late goal, but the scoreline says it all- this is another loss. I have three questions coming out of this game: Where is the De Marcos we saw during the pre-season? Why the hell hasn’t de Cerio been given a game yet, even a sub-in? Most importantly, what the hell has happened to the team since the terrific start??

Whatever, the next game is another Europa League game, to be contested against CD Nacional of Portugal this Thursday (another game I’ll likely miss- I have class almost all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays).

There is some news to report about Athletic’s stadium. Construction on San Mames Barria will begin in April 2010 and the stadium should be ready for the 2014/15 season (check out a translated news article here). For photos of old men in suits standing around a model of the new stadium, check out Athletic’s official site. Oh, and here are some computer-generated photos of what the stadium should look like:

As you also may know, I have expanded the services of the Athletic Club Offside itself recently.

If you haven’t already, I would suggest taking a look at the Twitter page I have created for the Athletic Offside. I know firsthand how difficult it can be as a non-Spanish speaker to follow Athletic, so I try to post news articles I find (some translated, others originally in English) to provide fans of the team with Athletic news in English. I also like using Twitter as a means to generate more feedback and to communicate with readers and find other news, so I think the project there is working relatively well.

Speaking of the team being difficult to follow as an English speaker, check out the English section of Athletic’s official website, and please tell me how much of that is actually written in English. Thanks is due to the team for now officially making it more difficult for non-Spanish speakers to follow the team. If it weren’t for my class load, I would just suck it up and learn Spanish myself. However, I do have some exciting news.

Because I am not myself a Spanish-speaker, I posted last week looking for someone who would be willing to write up transcriptions of videos about the team. I received a quick response from a very qualified individual and will be posting his first work on here very soon. A college student like me, it may be a little while before I can post the first translation, but I believe it will be worth the wait; I have always wanted to be able to understand those interviews and press conferences that Athletic posts on their website.

Also, Muniain and Aketxe are away in Nigeria with the Spain U-17 squad. Unfortunately, that means that Muniain, who I believe has provided a huge lift to the team, will be away from duty with the Lions for a while. Still, I wish him well and believe that playing some games in Nigeria could help him further develop. I will post some updates about them once games have been played there.

That’s all the hot news I can come up with now. I will probably post a preview of Thursday’s game tomorrow, and will try to actually watch that game, class schedule permitting.

Since the international break is ending, I’ll be back with a real post very soon.

Only two entries last week, but I really liked Txooser’s entry:

“We have to make sure your Bartman costume fits right, OK?”

If you are interested in my personal life, I do have a personal Twitter account. But, if you’re interested in my personal life, you might be a bit weird.

Anyway, add the Athletic Bilbao Offside on Twitter!