weekend update

I’m busy writing about La Roja (including our boys, so head over there if interested) so this Madrid update will be brief!

He draws like a little kid (but it’s still adorable): Sergio, in his role as a collaborator with UNICEF, has taken part in their latest initiative to raise funds to build schools in Africa for eight million children.  He and 99 other Spanish celebrities, including chefs, actors, singers, designers, athletes and the like, were all asked to decorate an Ikea table (the Lack model).  The tables will be auctioned off via Ebay from June 6-13.

Sergio drew his hometown of Camas, writing, “this is the neighborhood where I grew up and where I learned to play football.  I will never forget where I came from.”  I love how the football field is the center of the town!  But why are the buildings numbered?

He’s still got it: Zinedine Zidane was looking absolutely gorgeous and elegant during the presentation of a book about him at the Bernabéu yesterday.  The book, entitled “Zidane, la elegancia del héroe sencillo” is a biography written by Enrique Ortego (he also wrote a book about Raúl, and this one on Di Stéfano – what a great job he has, no?  FP, please let ME write the one about Iker!).  Zizou was joined by the author and FP, who said, “the signing of Zidane is one of my greatest satisfactions and it became an obsession and a dream.”  Zidane’s response was, “thank you for bringing me to this club.  It was also a dream for me and I played five years in the best club in the world.  I hope my collaboration here continues for many years.”  I do too!

Perfect teeth!  Perfect smile!  Perfect man!

Meanwhile, Ortego said, “it’s amazing how this extraordinary history began with a napkin.”  Jajaja, indeed!  There are five chapters, because Zidane wore the number five with Madrid.

José Mourinho was there, along with Emilio Butragueño and Miguel Pardeza, to watch his new co-worker.

One more shot, because he’s so photogenic.

Summer movements: Mou told Peter Lion in a meeting yesterday with the player and his representative that he’s not going to count on him.  According to media reports, Pedro León expressed his desire to stay and triumph with Madrid.  We’ll see what happens now, but I think Mou will get his way – he said on “El Larguero” that they want to cede him.  Peter Lion has five years remaining on his contract.  Meanwhile, Sergio Canales’ agent has said that his client will only be loaned out to a Spanish team, meaning he doesn’t want to play abroad.

Some need more practice: Madrid has released several more promotional videos for their summer tours.

In the U.S. version, we have five players saying the following things: Cris: hello LA, see you on July 16.  Marcelo/Pepe: hello San Diego, see you on July 20.  Kaká: hello Philadelphia, see you on July 23.  Iker: hello USA, see you in July.  Cris: three big games you can’t miss.

Iker’s pronunciation has improved!  Remember when he said “Jule” during his English lessons with Pepe Reina for “July”?  And Pepe and Marcelo sound great in English, from what I could tell from the few words they said!

Meanwhile, in the international version, we have the following: Mou: hello USA, see you in July (apparently there was only one script).  Kaká: hello Berlin, see you in July.  Iker: one big game you can’t miss (though it sounds “one big game you can miss”).  Cris: ni hao China, see you in August.

He’s a legend: a video about Chendo coaching a team, I just like it because they refer to Chendo as “the special two” since Mou is “the special one.”

International update: Germany beat Austria 2-1 in Euro qualifying yesterday, with Mesut playing the whole game and Sami recovered and starting.  Meanwhile, France tied 1-1 with Belarus, also in Euro qualifying, with sailor Karim playing the entire game.  And Argentina was trounced by Nigeria 1-4 in a friendly; Eze Garay started and was subbed out in the middle of the second half.

Today, Portugal takes on Norway in a qualifier, and Spain plays the U.S. in a friendly.  Below picture from Madrid’s site.

Okay, it wasn’t so brief, but when there is a whole team of adorable boys (and the club they belong to has elegant men as well) begging for your attention, what can you do?