International duty time is upon us again and right before the Liga’s first game. These guys must be exhausted! 14 members of the first team have been called up to represent their countries. First up, Spain…
The team met with the Governor of Puerto Rico Luis Guillermo Fortuño Burset and received a commendation.
I see you three giggling up front. Behave!
Santi Cazorla and Cesc Fabregas were the lovely spokesmodels for the press conference.
I’m looking forward to Sernando pictures. You don’t have time to rev up boys, get to bromancing! You only have another day, damn it!
Shout out to the Puerto Rico selection!
Goalkeepers : Bill Gaudette, Alessandro Salvatore and Brandon Saldana.
Defenders : John Krause, Scott Jones, Anthony Vasquez, Richard Martinez, Marco Velez, Cristian Arrieta, Carlos Rosario and Thomas Arrow.
Midfielders : Noah Delgado, Joshua Hansen, Alexis Rivera, Tyler Wilson Andres Perez, Joseph “Jackie” Marrero, Fernando Gonzalez, Andres Cabrero, Samuel Soto, Emmanuel D” Andrea Alvaro Betancourt
Forwards : Hector “Pito” Ramos, Marc Cintron and Reid Strain.
One other thing I need to know – how soon are Sergio & Guti going to turn up on this blog? I roared when I saw it. Watishisto Peter, take note!
Next up, Germany. Mesut posted a picture from Frankfurt and that’s the perfect way to start off our Die Mannschaft picspam.
Sami & Marco Reus spoke to the press. Poor Sami looks a bit tired there, doesn’t he?
France continues to train at Clairefontaine and The Baby is getting a lot of attention.
The Baby was even chosen for the press conference. A wise move considering it was just announced that Karim Benzema & Franck Ribery are going to trial in that underage prostitute scandal. I can imagine the team wants to minimize any attention to that issue. (Thanks to watishista mygypsyspirit for the heads up that the case was going to trial). Wonder how this will affect Benz’s role at RM as we move through the season? I can only imagine the three ring circus the media will create and it’s not gonna be pretty. Let’s cleanse the palate of such unsavory doings by looking at pictures of The Baby, shall we? (UPDATED: A bit more from The Guardian)
Hmmm, The Baby needs to work on his expressions. He’s got one and a half at this presser. He must be nervous as hell though.
Wasn’t able to find any good piccies of Portugal, Argentina or Turkey right now, but I’ll post more shots as I find them.
– Lozil
Of Headbands and Heartbreak
watishistacorrespondents
Of Headbands and Heartbreak... 
Just the term “underage prostitute scandal” makes me want to barf. Kitten of war, how could you stoop so low?!
He should stop hanging out with Franck for starters.
Oooh. Kinda worried for Germany. They’ll be playing without half their regular squad, including their goalkeeper! Schweini was key in their World Cup game against Argentina, and he’s sitting this one out. This does raise the interesting question on who will be captaining the squad, since Lahm’s also out on paternity duties (awwww!). I reckon it’ll be either Klose or Khedira. Klose is the eldest of the squad anyway, with the most experience, while Khedira was the captain of the U21 that beat England in the final in 2009. Personally, I’d like it to be Khedira, only because men of authority are hot and that armband would look great on him. Hoorah for shallowness! XD
My thoughts on the prostitution scandal are quite simple: Benz didn’t know she was underage, and she is a lying skank who has since gone on to profit from her notoriety, a la Paris Hilton. Hope he doesn’t end up facing jail time for this, and that she slithers on off back to whatever gutter she came from. Hell, I *HATE* Ribbery (more like Robbery) and yet in this case the “victim” is such a shameless whore, literally and figuratively, I find myself defending him … Maybe that’s why I hate her so much: she’s actually got me defending that douche! Seriously, wtf???
God, now I’m all pissed off. Am off to stare at some cute Mesut pics to calm myself down XD
Oh, and on the subject of Frenchie things, the more I stare at Mats Hummels the more convinced I become that he would play a great d’Artagnan in a Three Musketeers movie 🙂
While I’m not defending Zahia Dehar (yes, she did capitalize on the notoriety but what else would you do in such a situation? Your rep is pretty much ruined, why not make some cash while you can before you’re yesterday’s news?), she was not the only involved in this and the blame has to go to the men as well.
They didn’t know her age, that much I’ll give ’em, and she admits that. However, they were patronizing a known prostitution ring. While prostitution is legal in France, organized prostitution (brothels, pimping, etc.) and soliciting are not which what is at the center of the case. I sincerely hope that they are also prosecuting the people running the ring who were recruiting and pimping young girls to the fullest extent of the law.
So I’m not giving Benz & Ribery a pass on this. They have to take responsibility for their actions and take the punishment. I’m guessing that they’ll be fined and to wealthy ‘ballers, what’s money? A slap on the wrist.
You can call her a skank all you want, but if that’s who they’re choosing to fuck instead of, I don’t know, their girlfriend or wife, what does it say about them? Hurl insults both ways. No one’s innocent here and she shouldn’t shoulder all the blame and insults.
*closes extended Mesut picture archive and takes deep breath*
… Yeah, the “skank” comment was too much. I apologize for that. Just needed to vent. I certainly am not giving the guys a pass either (I still hate Ribbery and this has cast a serious shadow on my view on Benz). The law is the law and while I would rather he not go to jail, I wouldn’t be outraged if he was convicted. (… But I still hope he won’t be.) I am more annoyed by everyone going “OMG! They slept with a child!” as though she were an innocent 8 year old and Benz is some pedo who’d combed every street in Paris specifically looking for an underage prostitute. I’m Dutch. Prostitution (and soliciting it) is perfectly legal here in the Netherlands. I have a rather liberal view on the matter and my scorn towards her isn’t because she’s a prostitute. I just hate that one side (Benzema) are taking all the heat while the other (the girl) is happily soaking in the fame and money she’s getting out of it. Like you said, no on is innocent here, but I just find that too much public attention is being focused on her having been underage at the time, despite the fact that she had lied about her age and could convincingly pass as someone much older. Charge them for soliciting, yes, but they don’t deserve to be slapped with a pedo label as well.
Yeah, I agree with you more or less except for one squicky bit: Benz has been involved (and presumably schtupping) his (alleged) cousin since she was about 14-15 and he was 20, I think. The age of consent in France is, I believe, 15 but with very specific caveats. It just looks extra bad in his case. Not saying he’s a pedo because of consent laws are generally lower in Europe than they are in the US, but it is rather awkward. A lot of folks are reacting to this based on the norms for their particular culture/country. Franck Ribery is the sort of person the word “smarmy” was created for. He repels me.
Could she pass for older? Hell yeah. Did they know how old she was? Nope and she admits that. Did I look legal and date men that were much too old for me when I was her age (not for money, mind you)? I sure did and I lied about my age too. None of the cool, hot older guys wanted to date a high school girl. Was I mature enough to make those decisions at the time? Probably not, but I sure thought I was. I find the fault mostly in the people who pimped and exploited her. Sure she was apparently a willing participant, but honestly, a lot of people don’t make good decisions when they’re young. Perhaps she’ll look back on all this someday and think “WTF was I doing with my body? My life?” Or, maybe she won’t. People are very different.
Anyhow, I digress – it gets into age of consent laws, culture, etc. I guess it remains to be seem what happens. He has a knack for getting into trouble, our Benz, and he tempts fate on a a regular basis (what with the speeding, etc) – someday it’s going to come back to bite him in the arse. Check yourself before you wreck yourself, Karim. I’d hate to see his career tanked because he can’t control himself. He should also stay the fuck away from Ribery.
Damn. Was hoping you wouldn’t bring up the cousin thing XD
I always reserved my judgment on that particular subject because:
1) no one’s been able to confirm whether or not she’s his cousin (to my knowledge)
2) bring the fact that they might be related (and she too young) up and you get buried by accusations of being culturally/religiously insensitive.
But definitely agree that Benzema isn’t making things easier on himself. He didn’t have a great Euro either. He should focus on his natural talent. Would greatly keep him out of trouble as well as benefit his career. And, yes, the less Ribery in his life, the better.
It is usually at this point that I suggest he spend more time with Ozil, for some positive Benzil influence, but … er … Yeah, Benz, you just sort yourself out first Sami, you keep an eye on them, especially Benz. We don’t want him corrupting our Bambi (though judging by Mesut’s Las Vegas party binge Benz may have already gotten to him XD)
is it just me or has santi’s hairline retreated a bit since the end of last season? please don’t let him join the band of balding.
oh cesc, that hair … that hair … do. not. want.
i am so conflicted about my feelings about the benz scandal. 😦