Off Topic » Messi and his teammates win again and again

BARCELONA, Spain - There are some very real problems at Barcelona, and the firing of the clubs sports director this week is the latest signal that the once almighty team has entered into meltdown.While many neutral soccer fans have enjoyed watching Lionel Messi and his teammates win again and again, there are plenty in Barcelona still longing for the days when Pep Guardiola led the team to 14 of a possible 19 titles in a four-year span.Not to mention a good deal of envy for Real Madrids 10th European Cup victory last year and its Spanish record 22-match winning streak to end 2014.The sense of impending doom that has settled over Camp Nou since the firing of Andoni Zubizarreta on Monday had been festering for more than a year, and it finally came to a head last week when the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Barcelonas appeal against FIFAs one-year transfer ban for violating rules regarding the registration of youth players.Until then, the club had insisted — and many of its fans had believed — that they would win their case and the harsh penalty would never be applied.Now the reality of a season with no new players for an aging squad is settling in.Barcelonas faithful will have their chance to express themselves at home matches against Elche in the Copa del Rey on Thursday before Sundays meeting with defending league champion Atletico Madrid. Many disgruntled supporters will have their handkerchiefs handy in case the team loses. They could demand president Josep Bartomeu calls for early elections instead of seeing out his mandate until 2016.Barcelona greats Johan Cruyff and Hristo Stoichkov have already lamented the state of their former club.I believe Barcelona is heading toward chaos, Stoichkov said Tuesday. There are too many controversies. I dont understand it.On the field, the team has continued to churn out wins against minor opponents and can still challenge for titles.That steady stream of lopsided scorelines and Messi goal records — this season he has broken both the Spanish and Champions League scoring marks — covers up the clubs biggest failure: its incapacity to keep top talent both on and off the field.First, Guardiola left the club in 2012. President Sandro Rosell resigned last year, and top players Carles Puyol, Eric Abidal and Cesc Fabregas have not been replaced.The most perplexing part of Barcelonas decline is that most of the blows have been self-inflicted by the myriad of legal cases plaguing the club. Besides the FIFA ban that has damaged the reputation of its once lauded football academy, Rosell left amid a lawsuit into the transfer of Neymar, while Messi is mired in a tax fraud case.Messi, so far, is holding Barcelona together, but there has been a breakout of Messi-mania recently because of reports the clubs all-time leading scorer is not happy with coach Luis Enrique.The arrival of Luis Enrique — the clubs fourth coach in as many seasons — was labeled as a return to the Guardiola model of a player coming home. But his erratic lineup choices, which included resting Messi and Neymar for the first half in Sundays 1-0 loss at Real Sociedad that cost Barcelona the provisional league lead, have erased any comparisons other than unfavourable ones with Guardiola.Now, the transfer ban until 2016 means that the clubs institutional crisis has finally spilled over to become a sporting disaster as well.Zubizarretas latest batch of reinforcements from last year have not panned out. Even if Luis Suarez recovers his scoring prowess after one goal in nine league games, Barcelona has slipped in midfield and defence. Ivan Rakitic and Rafina are no Fabregas; Jeremy Mathieu and Thomas Vermaelen (still to debut because of injuries) are far from the second comings of Puyol and Abidal.Mainstays Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta are showing their age at 34 and 30, respectively. Gerard Pique is not the dominant defender he was, and Dani Alves contract is up at the end of the season, pointing to his exit.As Sergio Busquets has said, football evolves.Its impossible for things to stay the same, the Spain midfielder said in November. We wont see the best Barca again. Cheap Jerseys From China . - Roger Federer squandered a big lead and lost to No. Cheap College Basketball Jerseys . Philbin said Thursday he wants players to treat one another with civility and he wont tolerate anything less. In taking questions for the first time since Ted Wells released his report into the bullying scandal that rocked the league, Philbin made it clear things would be cleaned up. http://www.cheapncaajerseysauthentic.com/. Lexie Lou earned a commanding 4 1/2-length win Sunday in the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks. Cheap NCAA Jerseys . Thats exactly what happened. And they enjoyed every moment. Durant remained sizzling with 33 points, Serge Ibaka added 22 and the Thunder roared back from an abysmal start -- they trailed 22-4 early -- to embarrass the Miami Heat 112-95 on Wednesday night, erasing that big deficit out of the gate by outscoring the two-time defending champions by 43 points over a 33-minute span. Cheap College Jerseys . Replay backed him up. Adeiny Hechavarria immediately followed the ruling with a go-ahead sacrifice fly for the Miami Marlins, who held on to beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Sunday completing a three-game sweep.The San Francisco 49ers could be without Aldon Smith for the first half of the season. According to a report from CSN Bay Area, the 49ers are bracing for 6-8 game suspension for their outside linebacker. Smith met with NFL Commissioner Rogerr Goodell as recently as Thursday, and his representatives came away from the meeting believing he could be banned for as much as half of the season.dddddddddddd. Smiths troubles stem from a couple of DUI charges and a gun charge. ' ' '