Iker speaks… and I listen

Here is, more or less, what Iker said during his press conference on Tuesday.  I translated it because I absolutely love his answers.  It’s long, but worth a read.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – Real Madrid and Spain are so incredibly lucky to have Iker Casillas as a captain.

Q:  What does it mean to you to have become the first captain of Real Madrid?

A:  There’s been a lot of changes and I’m looking at it as a big responsibility.  I’ve had very good captains in this club, and I’m thankful to all of them.  What I’m going to do is transmit the values that they transmitted to me and try to do the best I can.  I stress that it is a big responsibility and an exciting challenge.  It’s a bit strange that after Dudek, I’m the oldest player on the team, at 29 years of age.

Q:  How do you feel when you arrive in the locker room and don’t see Raúl, after so many years together?

A:  It has been a lot of years.  All madridistas, with me as the first one, saw him come out of the cantera.  We all have praise and words of gratitude.  The truth is that it’s strange not seeing Raúl or Guti.  And you realize that time goes on for everyone.  I’m happy to have had the luck of being their teammates, and sad because they left.  For me, it’s a challenge to take over from someone who has been an emblem and a reference for all madridismo.

Q:  Does it make you nostalgic?

A:  I’ve lived through a lot of changes in this club.  I’ve been here for 11 years and seen many things, and it’s true that seeing these people leaving makes you nostalgic.  I know that it could also happen to me in a couple of years [nooooo].  I wish both of them lots of luck because they’ve been great teammates and are good friends.

Q:  Will you be capable of transmitting to Real Madrid the winning formula of the national team?

A:  I’m very observant and learn from everything.  A lot of things that I brought to the national team were acquired from Real Madrid.  This team will gain confidence after a few games, and in the end what will be prioritized is the group.

Q:  Have you and Mourinho already held your first conversation as captain to coach?

A:  I’ve spoken with him several times, not only since we’ve been here in Los Angeles.  We’ve spoken by phone and I also saw him at Valdebebas after coming back from the World Cup.  He has a lot of hope and desire to do well, and we do too.  He has a young group with a lot of desire to do well.  People who spoke well of him to me were right; I’ve been able to verify that they weren’t wrong.

Q:  What did he tell you?

A:  He congratulated me for the World Cup, although I’m not going to reveal the content of our conversation.  He said that when we win, the team wins, but when we lose, he loses.  That’s a bit of what we talked about.

Q:  How do you see Kaká?

A:  He’s trying to recover as best as he can.  In these moments of the pre-season, what’s important is to work at your own speed and to return to the rest of the group when you’re perfectly fit.

Q:  And Benzema?

A:  Five minutes ago, I saw him laugh, and I told him, “I think I’ve seen you laugh more today than all of last season.”  The best thing about this group is that we’re all young people and can relate to each other.  Benzema was very young when he arrived and had a hard period of adjustment.  Now, he’s integrated with the group, which will help him out.

Q:  You played against Khedira in the World Cup semifinal, and now he’s your teammate.  Thoughts on him?

A:  He’s a new revelation.  The group has welcomed him.  He still has the language problem, but it won’t take long for him to become completely integrated.

Q:  Is Barcelona still the favorite to win the Liga?

A:  They have great players, but so do we.  There’s nothing about Barcelona that we should envy.  Real Madrid will always be there for the crest and because we really want to make the fans happy.

Q:  What is Madrid going for this season?

A:  Everything, all three competitions.  We have to go step by step, but we can’t become obsessed with the Champions League final or with winning the Copa.  We have to think only about the first Liga game against Mallorca.

Q:  What have your teammates said to you after returning to the training sessions as the champion of the world?

A:  All of them have congratulated me.  They asked me how it felt.  Three weeks have passed and I still don’t believe that we are the champions of the world.

Q:  Was the success in the World Cup due principally to Barcelona, which had a majority of players?

A:  When we won the Eurocopa, Barcelona had not won anything in two years.  So, you don’t have to think that this was a success of Barcelona.  The important thing was that in South Africa, we were a team.

Q:  You’ve won everything that you can in the world of football.  What motivates you to continue working hard?

A:  When I was small, I thought winning a Eurocopa or a World Cup was impossible.  When I won the Eurocopa, I wanted to win a World Cup.  And now I want to win another Eurocopa, another World Cup, more Ligas, more European Cups.  The day in which I no longer have hope is the day that I quit football.  Right now, I have a lot of hope for this new season.

Q:  Do you think the World Cup helped to unite Spaniards a little more?

A:  It’s true that before the World Cup, wearing a national team shirt or bringing out the Spanish flag was not considered correct, but seeing the balconies and the people with the colors and shirts of Spain when we returned from South Africa was something I loved, because I’m Spanish, and I think that’s something wonderful.

Q:  Mourinho has asked to club to sign two fullbacks.  Do you have confidence in the ones the team already has?

A:  Of course.  I have full confidence in all my players [I love how he said this!  ¡El gran capitán!].  I also hope that my teammates have full confidence in me, in Adán, in Dudek.  Of course I’m satisfied with my fullbacks [MY fullbacks!].  Imagine what would happen if I said I weren’t satisfied.  Marcelo is a young player, Arbeloa has adjusted well to the position and Ramos has been playing as one since five or six seasons ago.  I’m very happy with all of them.

Q:  On Saturday, you’ll face Donovan, a player that was part of the U.S. national team that eliminated you from the Confederations Cup last summer and who plays for the Galaxy.  Is this game considered a rematch?

A:  The situations are completely different.  That game was with the national teams, and now it’s with the club teams.  I think it’ll be a great match-up, because Madrid is known all over the world and the Galaxy are gaining fame.

Q:  What is your opinion on the North American football league?

A:  We learned about the MLS a while ago, because the truth is a lot of players who were stars end up playing there.  The latest ones are Henry and Márquez, I think.  I don’t know a lot about the Galaxy, who are very well known in Europe as well, since they’ve played there.

Q:  Would you like to play in the Spain vs. Mexico game on Aug. 11?

A:  Those types of games are nice to play in.  All players want to play for the Spanish national team, including me.  Now we’re facing Mexico, but there’s also a great game after that against Argentina.

Q:  Have you noticed that the interest in football is rising in the U.S.?

A:  Before joining the team, I was here on vacation and I did notice that the American people have begun to like soccer more [yes, he said soccer.]