Preparing To Say Goodbye To UCLA

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. Forzasusan and I had the pleasure of meeting watishistas Rose & Julia yesterday at Met Life Stadium. Sadly, it was brief as we were between matches but really awesome, nonetheless. Maybe we should plan some sort of HB & HB meet up. Perhaps for the Clasico? The boys are finishing their time at UCLA and will face off against Chelsea (and Mou) in the ICC final on Wednesday night. Bring on the dramz!

Xabi finally loses his shit & attempts to kick some fashion sense into Sese.

AND IT’S ABOUT TIME! Gracias, Xabi.  Someone had to do it!

“Man, I don’t know what these chuckleheads are talking about! Our hair looks amazing!”

Yeah, maybe not the hair, boys – but I’ll give you the arm muscles. Those look very nice indeed.

One watishista is gonna LOVE this photo. Another? Not so much. Give you 2 guesses!

This shot of Kaka will give Shigs nightmares while mygypsyspirit is going to coo over it like it’s a puppy.

Meanwhile, Cris & Pepe tested their high jumps. Remember when Cris jumped over Marcelo?  I miss these three hanging out together.

The boys signed a few informal autographs for the fans before doing a full on autograph session for 100 fans.

Check out this adorable woobins that came to the meet and greet! I love the look on his face. The poor confused bebe seems just as mystified by Sergio’s hair and Cris’ tan as we are. I appreciate that the RM photogs didn’t take a shot of Iker holding the bebe’s tiny hand and sobbing emotionally, because you just know that shiz is happening. He’s probably rockin’ more hormones than Sara is at this point.

The Baby & The Bebe!

This guy is obvs getting Cris’ autograph for a tattoo. Looks like he has quite a collection there.

And this girl is so smart – if they sign your shirt when you’re wearing it, they have to touch you. Born watishista, this one!

Take note! This is how you do it!

Bebe meeting our Muppet Babies. So cute!

And I have to ask: what kind of world is it when Sergio Ramos has bleach blonde sticky uppy hair and Fabio Coentrao DOESN’T?  I have to say, I miss old school Fabio when he was all Fauxnando. We broke him, didn’t we?

Cris did the presser today and the media wanted to know about his renewal and also facing Chelsea in the ICC final. He got a little barb in there about Mou, I see. (One thing – I saw Mou’s “Real Ronaldo” comments also translated as “Original Ronaldo” Lots of people refer to him as “Real Ronaldo” (Me, I call him ‘Original Recipe’ and our Ronaldo ‘Crispy’) but Mou had to know what his choice of words would be interpreted as. But that’s what he does – provoke – I would expect nothing less. Cris, bless him, didn’t take the bait, but you can tell that it annoyed him. I hope everyone behaves on Wednesday. It will be interesting to see who greets who, etc. FROM REALMADRID.COM Cristiano Ronaldo: “I’m very happy here. Now I’m only looking to train and prepare well” by Alberto Navarro (Los Ángeles) “Ancelotti is very friendly with the players and that’s good for us. We’re very happy with him”, the Real Madrid forward stated Cristiano Ronaldo appeared before the media at the UCLA facilities. The Portuguese footballer is playing a great preseason and spoke to the press of his personal situation in the team and his expectations for the season that officially starts in less than 15 days: “I’m very happy here and now I’m only looking to train and prepare well. At the moment I play in Real Madrid. The future is yet to be decided, but at the moment I’m fine here. The renewal isn’t settled yet but I shouldn’t talk about it because it’s not the right moment. The details will be clearer further along. Every season is a challenge for me. I’ll try to do better than the year before. It’s complicated, but I’m a person who sets challenges and I like to compete. I’ll try to give it my all, to help my team mates and to carry on being a fighter”. Asked about Ancelotti and his job as Real Madrid’s coach, he said: “We’re very happy with the manager. We’re training well and working to have the best possible start to the season. He’s very friendly with the players and that’s good for us. He’s uncomplicated and a great manager. We want to learn from him”. The Portuguese player also made reference to his position on the field: “The manager has different strategies and different positions for everyone. It’s good for me to try to play in other positions and I’m very comfortable with him. We’ll see where I play during the season. I’m not worried about the position, just the team”. Questioned about the club’s signings for this season, he pointed out: “They’ve been very good and I’m very happy, as are my team mates and the boss. They have a lot to offer the squad and it wouldn’t be right for me to only mention one. They’re all very good and I’m sure that they’re going to help us a lot. They’re familiar with the Spanish Liga and in the games so far they’ve demonstrated that they’re good for the team. I’ve seen some very positive things and we hope they can make a contribution during the season”. Regarding Mourinho, who is currently training Chelsea and who he will be going up against in the International Champions Cup final, he said: “There are things in life that aren’t worth commenting on and this is one of them, for obvious reasons. I always come away with the good things about managers. I don’t bite the hand that feeds me and I don’t talk about people that speak badly of me. I come away with the positive things. We’re going to be facing Chelsea, not their manager. It’s another preparation match and we want to win in order to have the best possible start to the Liga”. Cristiano Ronaldo praised Zidane: “He has a big influence on young players. It’s fantastic that he’s with us and it gives us security”. He spoke of the possibility of playing in the MLS in the future: “I’m still very young to be thinking about playing here. I don’t rule out any options and only God knows what the future holds. I’m happy playing in Europe, but we’ll see”. Lastly, he made reference to two specific players: Bale and Neymar. Of the first and his possible arrival in Real Madrid, he said: “It’s not my place to speak of new players. I’m happy with the players that I have by my side and this squad is full of great players. It’s also not my place to speak of the figures being discussed for his transfer. I have my opinion, but I’m not going to offer it in front of the cameras”. Regarding the Brazilian and Barcelona, he stated: “I’m not concerned about Barcelona. I focus on my team and don’t talk about others”.

So a few things… The boys will be heading to Miami today and staying at the Mandarin Oriental on Brickell Key Drive and arriving at 11:00 PM Eastern. They will be doing a training at Barry University tomorrow at 6 PM Eastern (Milan is training tonight at Sun Life Stadium from 7 – 8 PM). No word on whether they are open or not. This info comes via Kay Murray. There will be a presser before tomorrow’s training at Barry University. Dr. Heidi is going to be psyched!

Mark your calendars! The La Liga season kicks off on Sunday, August 18th against Real Betis (Santiago Bernabeu). The second match day is Monday, August 26 against Granada (Nuevo Estadio de Los Carmenes)

– Lozil .