Barcelona recently ended their tour of Asia with a 4-0 win against Mission Hill of Hong Kong. The match which was played on Saturday, was originally supposed to be played a few days earlier, however, Hong Kong was hit with Typhoon Pabuk and the match had to be delayed. Nevertheless, the game brought with it some occasional showers, but the weather did little to relieve Mission Hill from the typhoon of goals coming their way. You can find my commentary on the various goals below.

Xavi - 22nd min

Rather lucky for Xavi here as the ball nutmegs the keeper, hits the post and then goes in for the goal. The movements up until this goal is great and the team work is spectacular. Take note of the turn by Samuel Eto’o and the sheparding of Henry to keep the ball away from the Mission Hill defender.

Eto’o - 28th min

The attacking trident of Henry, Eto’o and Ronaldinho continues to thrive with this great goal and lead up. Wonderful pass by Henry to split the defence to Ronaldinho and great flick pass by Ronaldinho to find Eto’o to calmly place the ball in the net.

Henry - 36th min

Great movement from Xavi to Iniesta. Take note of how Eto’o crosses the ball first time. Great vision by the Cameroonian to find Henry who dives on the ball to find it rockets to the top right hand corner. Great team work.

Dos Santos - 86th min

The wonder kid does it again with another great goal to add to his tally. Great run by the young Mexican and calm finishing against the goal keeper. (Note: The defender marking Giovanni should have done a much better job, he shouldn’t have let him make that run)

Success For Barca

It has been a successful campaign for Barcelona and Ronaldinho in particular who has made a solid 4 goal contribution to the team over the tour. Barcelona now faces Bayern Munich next who have already recorded their first win in the German Bundesliga. many say that this will be a high pressure game for Barca, but coach Frank Rijkaard maintains that the next match will be another practice game like all the others leading up to the Champions League.

Yes I finally got my hands on some 10R Ronaldinho Football Boots after my last pair was stolen. I thought that reporting on the recent Barcelona games continually would get  too repetitive so I thought this would be good to mention. Anyway, last month I wrote a post about how I’ve been looking at investing in some new football boots and after a month, it has come true. But there’s a catch, I’ll explain that a little later. To my delight I was able to get myself a replacements at the killer price of 80 USD and with shipping it came to 110 USD, which converts to just under 130 Australian Dollars. Pretty good when you consider that I was prepared to pay $280 AU a few months ago, so I saved myself around $150 or 60% off the retail price. I was foolish enough to go buy the boots at retail price, but now I’ve learn’t my lesson. Now some pictures and you realise something as you look at them.

The New Red OnesI’ve expressed my liking for this latest version of the 10R boots and when I saw these Ronaldinho Tiempo boots being auctioned for 80 USD I knew that they were for me. They only had one size available, and that was my size Moving on, I saw this deal displayed on the ads in this blog and like I’ve said before, there are some great deals to be had here and even I click on these ads to get myself some merchandise. I’m happy with the investment and they look great. I had previously expressed the notion that I would be looking to get the creamy white version of these boots, but when I saw the red ones available and the fact that stores don’t have these in at the moment, I had to get them. What is your favourite colour so far? Has anyone heard of any plans to have any new colours? Please let me know

I know it’s probably a little late, but I wanted to report on the win Barcelona registered against Beijing Guoan, but more importantly the latest win they recorded against Yokohama Marinos. It has been a 100 per cent start to the footballing season, with a flawless run of wins for the Spanish side and more importantly, Ronaldinho is back to form with some great display of skill and goals throughout the pre-season.

“A rest over the summer was the best thing. I have been able to share a few moments with my friends. I’m 100% happy again. I am feeling fine physically, but I need to get my ankle right before I can fully relax. But the ball is helping me to forget the pain”

The last time I posted was about Ronaldinho damaging his ankle, but he went on to play for Barca against Beijing. In general, the match featured a great flurry of goals and all reeked of quality. You can find the great goals of the match below.

Dos Santos - 8th Min

In my last match report I said to keep an eye out for this kid, and he just keeps proving me right. Great execution.

Iniesta - 57th Min

Wonderful lead up by Samuel Eto’o and great pass to Iniesta.

Ronaldinho - 77th Min

You hardly see Ronnie take free kicks from out here, but he shows here he is more than capable. (On another note, the keeper should have dived for the ball)

FC Barcelona vs Yokohama Marinos

Barca came into this game with the dream attacking trident of Ronaldinho, Henry and Eto’o. Little surprise when they carved up the Japanese defenders via technical brilliance, however, lacked the goals that they needed because they were lacking accuracy. It was a great display by the three strikers and Eto’o got through to the keeper and slotted the ball against him, only to find that the offside flag had been raised against him. It was a very questionable call by the referee. Henry was soon after substituted for Dos Santos and with that strategic change, the goal Barca wanted finally came. You can find the video clip below.

Dos Santos - 75th Min

Pure brilliance here by Ronaldinho to play the switch off of his right foot to Eto’o on his other side. With this change in direction the Cameroonian has time to find Dos Santos making a run and the rest is history. Quality football.

With these two games, the Chinese and Japanese visits have concluded for Barcelona. Now they will travel to Hong Kong to take on Mission Hill and with that, we will wait eagerly because as I write this, in less than 3 weeks, the Champions League begins and these matches are instrumental for the purpose of Barcelona. Naturally we want to see Ronaldinho flourish this year and I honestly believe he will, so hang tight for some great football coming up.