Welcome to The Daily Merengue — a place where you can feel free to discuss all things football. Do not be alarmed by the overt RMCF bias. It’s in the name!
Shoutout to the Mods who do a fantastic job, Valyrian
Steel, Ezek XI, KungFuZizou, NeRObutBlanco, Felipejack, and Juninho.
INTEGRITY
Now, we are not a moral authority by any means. But with the current big refereeing scandal in turkey and our neighbors current court case. one has to wonder about the integrity of the sport. It’s a shame that some referees are now the ones determining match outcomes because they want to ensure they win the bets they’ve placed ahead of the game. This defeats the purpose of planning, player brilliance, skills, coach tactics, strategy and trust. Idk, keeping quiet about shady referees doesn’t seem to be working…at all.
REALITY: FORGET NICO PAZ…
And this is just me weighing in on this fantasy convo that folks have been having for a while now. And yes it’s a fantasy because Fede is the only midfield player that went through our castilla that was sent out and brought back to be a starter in the team in the last decade or so, correct me if i’m wrong. Every other time we needed a midfielder, we went out to go and buy, we hardly ever bothered with calling back former castilla grads from the clubs they were at. Odegaard is super talented and we still didn’t bother with him, as he was sparingly used when brought back. I don’t know why ya’ll think Nico has a chance. My take is that with the way Arda has been playing, it would do you a world of good to forget that Nico Paz will somehow have a place in this team, IF he’s brought back. And that’s a big IF. Considering that the average age of our midfielders are STILL IN THEIR EARLY 20’S!!!!!! to mid 20’s. Starting: Arda is 20 yrs old, Jude & Cama are 22, Tchoua is 25 and nico aint do DM with CB capabilities, so that cancels out forever. Fede is the oldest at 27. And all of them are crazy talented and skilled. It’ll take a generational talent level player like Pogba was in his early 20’s to displace any of these guys.
I’ll re-iterate in a different way. Xabi has given Arda the keys to the Maybach and Arda is driving that thing pretty darn good and he’s only 20 yrs old. So that gives the club rest on having to bother the transfer market about a midfield purchase for another 10+ years, unless an absolute generational midfield talent shows up.
VINICIUS MAY LEAVE
Until we hear anything officially from the club or vini’s camp. Everything being said in the media is hearsay about his outburst in the clasico. I’m fully prepared for Vini to leave us. Real Madrid doesn’t love for long and some players know that and others find out the hard way.
OUR FEMENINO
Athenea and Linda Caicedo have been shortlisted for the FIFApro World 11 2025. Congrats to them for their standout performances. Set to be announced on the 3rd of next month. So far they’ve been on a steady string of victories.
ICYMI:
9 Tactical observations from our Clasico masterclass. A guide to Madrid. Vinicius will not face formal punishment from our club, It’s Xabi’s call.
