Messi and Company

I am starting a charity. I have not yet decided what it should be called, but its goal is to help poor college students experience the world and make their dreams come true. Let me tell you a little bit more about it: The goal is to save up about $1,500 so that a poor and quite weird looking college boy could fly to Barcelona, Spain and have to opportunity to live out his dream and go to a soccer match at the Nou Camp, where he could see his favorite club, Barcelona FC, and his favorite player, Lionel Messi, in person. Who is this young man whom I am looking to sponsor and send on this vacation of a lifetime? Well, that would be none other than myself, of course.
I have to admit, I am tired of having to watch soccer on my computer and well, instead of upgrading my cable to a package that includes a few soccer channels, I think it is smarter to just go ahead and send me straight into the action, send me all the way to Spain. Now may be the best time of all time to see the champions of the Spanish La Liga. Barcelona just defeated Hercules 3-0. This victory was their 15th straight win in the Spanish primera division, which ties a record, one that has been held by their rivals Real Madrid, for nearly 50 years. And if, or should I say, when, Barcelona defeats Atletico Madrid next Saturday, they will break that record. But they are playing so good right now, that record may get as big as 25 or more. I do not see anyone in the near future beating them. They are that good, and they are a few steps above all other clubs in La Liga.
But lets not forget that this team, at one point early on in the season, did not even look like they would be capable of defending their championship. Barcelona bought David Villa from Valencia over the summer. This meant that two of the worlds greatest scorers, Villa and Messi, would be playing next to each other. Of course, adding the World Cup's leading goal scorer to the roster would seem to make an already great team better. But after winning their season opening match, they faced Hercules at home in the Nou Camp. Hercules had just one season earlier been promoted to the primera league after13 years in the lower divisions. In front of 62,000 fans, Barca lost their home opener 2-0 to the Herculanos. For the next week, it was all the talk of La Liga, what is wrong with Barcelona? No one could figure it out. That game was on September 11. Barcelona then won three straight matches and on October 3 they had a draw with Mallorca. So after six games Barca had 4 wins, 1 tie, and 1 loss. Not a bad start, but not up to their potential. Since that tie to Mallorca, Barcelona has won 15 straight matches. But they have not just barely won these matches, no no no, they have been walking all over the rest of the league. When they are out on the pitch, it looks like a group on big bullies picking on the kindergarten kids. No, it is worse then that, it looks like the worlds greatest army is going to battle against a group of kids with only squirt guns. 10 of those 15 wins have been by more than 3 goals. Four of them have been by 5 goals or more, and one was by 8 goals! This included a 5-0 victory over their arch rivals, Real Madrid in "El Classico".
But it is not just Messi, the two time European player of the year, who is getting it done for Barca. He does lead the team with 21 goals on the season, but David Villa has 14 and Pedro has 12. This means that three of the top goals scorers play for the Catalans. Messi is getting help, but he also is helping, assisting on 14 goals so far this season. Their defense is also not allowing opposing teams to score on them, they have posted 11 shut outs in La Liga. Barcelona knows how to do all the essentials. They posses the ball for on average 70% of the game. They have a solid midfield, led by Andres Iniesta and Xavi, who know how to distribute the ball to the attacking players or be patient and wait for something to develop.
Everything is going well for Barcelona. They are on top of La Liga by 4 points, they are rolling through the Copa del Rey, currently in the semi-finals on a crash course to meet Real Madrid in the Finals. They also finished top in their group in the Champions League and will meet Arsenal on February 16 in the round of 16. That will certainly be a tough match against the number two team in the English Premier League, but one that I am confident they will win. Everything is going well for them right now, including being the proud owners of the prettiest road jerseys in all of sports (which is also part of the charity, and if you would like to purchase it for me, just click here).
If Barcelona can keep winning, they will rack up 25 straight wins in La Liga before their next meeting in El Classico with Real Madrid on April 17. A slip up here or there would probably be expected by any normal team, but lets be honest about it, Barcelona is not any normal team and may just finish the season never losing again, 32 straight wins.