Fútbolita

Awww, there’s nothing like staying true to your roots. Just ask President Lula! He personally invited both the Santos wonderboys – Neymar and Ganso – to a meeting at a Sao Paulo hotel, just to thank them for choosing to stay in Brazil AND snubbing high-profile moves to overseas clubs. As for Neymar, everybody knows how he turned down a move to Chelski (ha-ha-ha).

“It was a courageous act from the board of Santos,” admitted Lula. The team fought for them to stay, because the boys are extraordinary. It was a lesson that the Saints gave, and I hope others will follow. In other words, teams should fight some more and get entrepreneurs to build a fund to pay (players’) wages because they are artists and therefore they deserve to win by giving performance.”

Of course, in true Lula style, he also joked that Ganso “reminds me of myself when I first started to play football”

There must be a reason Monsieur Gourcuff appears so concerned in that photo on the bench for Lyon. Well, that’s because he’s already imagining the fine scones at the Musée des beaux-arts de Lyon! Not that they even have scones there – it’s beyond our wildest imagination. Anyway, Yoann “Remember me for nothing at the World Cup” Gourcuff will be switching Ligue 1 sides for Lyon this coming season. Just cuz’ it’s more glamorous there and Michel Bastos already called him to remind him about the churrascaria welcome dinner!

“This transfer will take place in preserving the interests of Bordeaux, in full agreement with the coach and the coaching staff and in accordance with the contractual commitments of the player,” read the official statement from Lyon.

GuapoVela and THIS MAN were obviously clapping and beaming with pride when Miss Mexico was crowned this year’s winner of the Miss Universe pageant. It’s muito bimbotic, but congratulations to all our Mexican readers who were also rooting for her!

So nobody wanted to pass the ball to le charmant Gourcuff and GuapoVela simply couldn’t get a hold of Miss Jabulani (the ball), on Friday. Meanwhile, Pipita had several missed chances of his own against the Nigerians on Saturday while the selecao caras are training hard to prepare for North Korea tomorrow (kkkk, dejar de bromear sobre su oponente).

Oh dear, only Serious Fabregas knows the amount of sacrifice these guys are going through (this does not refer to Serbia’s Zdravko Kuzmanovic) and the possible nerves and emotions that can take over you when the Copa del Mundo comes round. With that said, here’s a starter (and a toast) to all the Futbolitas and Futbolitos from all over the world during this World Cup! Let’s make this one memorable for many years to come. Enjoy the guapos and… vamos!

PS : if you’ve got something to share, you can catch us at worldcup @ futbolita.com.

Say Bienvenu to N’Bellia Guerchouche, our official French Fútbolita from Orléans! The Bordeaux fan is currently pursuing her Masters in Language (and translation) and speaks English, Spanish and Italian on top of her first language, French. N’Bellia’s favourite player is Yoann Guorcuff (oh là là) and she hopes to fly the French flag high for Les Blues!

ON THE FRENCH SPIRIT…

“I live in the centre of France, in a town called Orléans. Football fans are everywhere in France and what I like is that in my city you’ve got many fans of many different clubs/leagues! What I love most is the solidarity and the passion you receive when you meet other football fans. We love gathering to have a drink watching games, or sharing a car to go to the stadium to see our favorite team. French people sometimes can show a strange love/hate relationship with our national team, I know it raised a lot of criticism, but I believe there are still some confidence.

“French people love the beautiful game. No one here will forget 1998 World Cup, the victory, the great team spirit, the fact that everybody was proud to be French after this. It showed many people anything was possible and that differences didn’t matter anymore. Football always had that particular role of bringing people together.”

ON THE ANTICIPATION…

“We feel the World Cup fever is coming and I love it! Everybody is talking about it, preparing nights out, special events in bars, flags…Here, even if someone doesn’t follow football on a regular basis, they will be interested in the World Cup and even support the team, because it (gathers us together). I love discussing it with people I met, everyone has their say, their favorite team or players.”

ON FRANCE’S GRAND MASTER…

“France’s favorite will always be Zinedine Zidane. He is considered as a God here and we are all proud to have been lucky enough to have seen his magic. My present favorite players are Cédric Carrasso and Yoann Gourcuff. The first one because he is to me the greatest goalkeeper. The second because I have seen him improve since the beginning. He went to Milan AC and it was hard for him, but I am happy he decided to come back to France two years ago because now he is a top player, he learned a lot and you can see it on the pitch.”

“He is one of the best French players when it comes to take free kicks and corners and so many beautiful goals were scored this way, by him or by his team mates. I really admire him because he is humble and also a perfectionist and he is truly a collective and generous player, basically what a football player should be, in my opinion.”

HOW SHE FELL IN LOVE WITH FOOTBALL….

“I didn’t fall in love with football in the first place! My father was always watching some games when I was a little girl and I hated this. I guess I wanted all his attention so I wasn’t happy when he watched matches!! Then, I started to watch games with him, to buy magazines about football. My first emotions when it comes to football were during 1994 FIFA World Cup in the USA (I was 12 at the time). Since then, my passion for football did nothing but grow.”

ON HER EXCITEMENT!

“Yes I am excited to be the French Futbolita because it is a unique opportunity to share my passion with everybody (and also with other Futbolitas), to discover things on other countries, on how they breathe football. I must confess I am a bit nervous too, but I am willing to do my job well and to make you feel the atmosphere in my country during the World Cup.”

N’Bellia, the French Fútbolita, is wearing the Cultzeros/Fútbolita World Cup Tee with Yoann Gourcuff.
Photos © N’Bellia / Yoann Gourcuff by AP

What a great show the tifosi put on last night! Perhaps they couldn’t all contain their whistles when Ricky got hold of the ball, but they certainly showed their cuori che sono grandi (big hearts) nevertheless. On the pitch, it’s safe to say that Los Blancos played strikingly better than the first leg, even without the sadly missed Greaseano. Kaka is the Original San Siro homie so he knows the pitch inside out! Also, we were delighted to see The Pied Piper of Higuain in the starting line-up…bellezaaa. Benzema had a great night too, although we were prepared to call him the Circus Clown until he struck in the 29th minute. Kkk, for now… nous serons tranquilles!

“I am very happy with the welcoming I received. It means I did well during my stay in Milan. I want to do the same at Real Madrid in order to gain the same level of affection from their fans,” said Kaka (translates to : “Thank God they didn’t throw umbrellas at me.“)

Alas, despite numerous chances, El Pato’s beauty of a goal was disallowed. “I desperately wanted to score tonight, and to win, and I did that, but the referee cancelled out a perfectly good goal,” he said (watch the interview here). Eeee, quero apertar as bochechas!

Also… dans d’autres nouvelles …

via Gettyimages & Reuters

via Gettyimages

Ei Yoaan! Quoi de neuf?!! It looks like the rain really worked in Bordeaux’s favour last night as they held Juventus to a 1-1 draw at home. Amauri’s Robin Hood bro, Iaquinta gave Juventus the lead in the second half but the visitors fought back in the 75th minute and Plašil shot from point-blank range to earn the visitors one point. So that explains Gourcuff’s facial expression above. What ever happened to his bright future at Milan, Galliani? He was dubbed the ‘young Zidane’ at one point….

“Never say never. I would gladly return (to Milan) all right,” said Gourcuff. “Unfortunately, the Rossoneri club’s strategy did not plan at the time of relying on young talent and for me there was no space.

“Now things have changed at Milan and there would be room for me, but unfortunately for them I’m now at Bordeaux.”