All I have to say is don't be surprised if Madrid are champions this year I think at the end Barcelona will slip and lose a game and then Madrid will be the champions so we will have to wait and see.

Beckham should be praising Cannavaro

Hello my friend Giova, long time no hear. I agree with you. Just goes to show Cannavaro is a first class person. It's been a tough week for me & I'm going through the most difficult of times. My dear friend from Argentina, Eddie Altobelli passed away on Wednesday from injuries as the result of a motercycle accident. He was only 39 & leaves behind a wife & little girl. Eddie & I played professional soccer together & have known one another for over 19 years so as you can imagine when he died a part of me died as well. I'm in total shock as it's hard to believe. He was not only one of my best friend's but also my business partner with the soccer academy. What is strange is I didn't find out until early Thursday morning. I had a very strange dream Wednesday night. I was in a church at a funeral. There was a closed coffin. I couldn't understand why I was there & now I know. It was his way of saying goodbye. Giova I'm very shook up about all this. It's really disturbing to have a dream like that & then to find out the next day my dear friend had passed away. I have not slept since Thursday & I'm in a daze. I have to go to the airport this evening to pick up his relatives from Argentina & go back tomorrow as more relatives are coming in from Italy as well. My wife & I are trying to help as best we can with his wife & his parents'. It's an awful situation & I wish I could have come back here to the forum with something positive to say. All I can say to everyone here is life is rather fleeting so keep those you love & care about close to you. My dear friend is gone now & I will not see him again in this life. He's with God now & I know I will see him on the other side. Peace to all of you :)

Rasputin...I haven't talked to you in a while. You are not missing much, the majority of the people that post here now aren't very interesting or creative. I'm sorry to hear about your friend. My condolences. Some people might think that you are talking rubbish when you tell them about your dream, but not me. I have strong premonitions about certain things also. One of them for example was a repetative dream about airplanes hitting buildings and the buildings collapsing...before 9/11 happened. He was saying goodbye. It just proves if not to anyone else, to yourself that there is an afterlife. Lots of ggod soccer going on. Again my condolences. Peace.

Thank's Giova. I have not been able to sleep since Thursday when I first found out. It's strange as I have some very moving & most powerful emotions about my history & friendship with Eddie. 19 years of knowing somebody is a very long time. He was a great player but also very wild back then. He had a bike back then & I used to think he would die young the way he raced around on that thing.I had reached a point where I felt that all my friends' like Eddie & I had made it this far in life so I figured we would all live to a ripe old age. I was wrong. It's rare for me to drink but last night I drank two full bottles of wine & I cried & cried. I just couldn't control my emotions that's how close of a friendship I had with Eddie & to see his parents', wife, & little girl today was just so hard. His little girl is only 6 so she doesn't quite understand what's going on. She think's Eddie is in hospital with a broken heart. I have been trying to contact all our old teamates who happen to be all over the world & calls keep coming in from people asking me if it's true. Eddie bought that stupid bike about two months ago & never told me as I think he knew I would have read him the riot act. Way I see things is when your a married person with a family you shouldn't take risks like that with having a racing bike. Your right Giova my dream really wasn't a dream he was saying goodbye. Still it shook me to the core. It also made me stop & think about what's really important in life. We all get so caught up with careers, making money, buying homes, car's, all the material things. What's most important in life is the relationships we share with other people as that's what makes life worth living. I don't mean to go on & on with the meaning of life I just had to get it off my chest. Thank's for listening to me.

You will find this hard to beleive but a childhood friend of mine died in a motorcycle accident 5 years ago when he was trying to get away from police and they put spikes on the road ahead. He was riding at about 150km an hour and was pronounced dead at the scene 30 meters away from the bike. He was a rush seeker and didn't have to try to get away. He had money a good career and an even better future but the good thing is he wasn't married and didn't leave behind any kids. When your number is called it's called. I know we're far from talking about football but some things are more important. I'll spill a lttle bit of grappa tonight in respect for your friend.

one more question, was the wine you were drinking wolfblass?

That sad to hear. I never had an intrest in owning a bike. To me they are like coffins' on wheels. My friend was like your friend he was also a rush seeker. He was much worse about it when we were younger but mellowed out with age & marriage & having a child. Still I'm surprised he ended up buying this bike in the first place. He had it made. He had a great career. Nice wife & child. Big beautiful house & pretty much everything. No worries. Maybe it was a mid-life crisis, I don't really know. When we played soccer together & first became friends' he was a wild child. He would stay up the entire night before an important match & party non-stop. Roll up to the stadium the next day, change into his uniform & in one particular game I remember he scored 5 goals. All this after having no sleep & not eatting & partying all night. I would just shake my head as it was hard to believe & he did that quite often beleve it or not. Crazy guy! I remember way back then his Dad would tell me he didn't like the idea of Eddie having that rocket on wheels he figured Eddie would end up getting killed. Sad to say Mr. Altobelli was right. He saw it all back then. It just took almost 20 years to become a reality. What's weird about all this Giova is I don't think he planned to be out long as he left the TV on & his wallet, cell phone, & house key's were on the kitchen counter. He was just zipping around the neighborhood mis-judged a turn as chances are he was going way too fast & that was it. So strange how life works. He just flew in that morning from business. His wife was at work & his daughter in school. I wish he never had bought that bike.

It was two bottles of red Italian wine. Funny thing is though it's rare for me to drink. I'm really not much of a drinker but last night after what's happened I needed a drink. I ended up drinking both bottles all by myself. Big mistake! I'm paying for it now.

Hi Giova ...

I found out that was a brand new bike Eddie had bought & he had only been out on it no more than 6 times before the accident. He lost control & went down on some s - turn in the road near his house. My guess is he opened it up & his driving skills were somewhat rusty as no car was near him. I have read that most bike accidents like Eddie's are the result of a guy just getting the bike & not really having things dialed in. I think sad to say it was that case for Eddie.

Hello again Giova ...

Some of my old teamates from the old day's are now in town so a bunch of us are going out tonight for Italain food. Think it will do me good to be out with all these guys' after not seeing many of them for so long. Guess we will drink a toast to Eddie tonight & get it out of our system. Life is strange. It seems the older we get the only time people get together is when somebody dies. When we are young we have no fear. We don't think about getting old or death. Then as we get older we start to see the big picture & life has a way of being able to humble us.

Isn't it ironic, after all the bashing, Capello could lead Madrid to the La Liga title and Beckham could leave Spain with a trophy.

I don't think Capello is going anywhere anytime soon.

Capello makes about as much sense as you two do. Which is to say he makes no sense at all. Fools!

Fools don't win the Spanish Primera. Although, I do not agree with all his decisions, I cannot argue with the numbers. I think Madrid will be a force to be reckoned with next year especially if they land Marcello Lippi. Even if they don't they'll do well with Capello.

Who is writing about my husband???? If it's who I think it is, why are you embelishing the truth??? You write about things that aren't even true. My husband does not have family in Italy and none of his family from Argentina can even afford to come to the states let alone for his service. The two of you were not even business partners in a soccer academy. I understand you're hurting, but please, speak the truth. A few people have read this blog now and are questioning why you have written what you have. And not only that, the dates do not match up with your timeline.

Why is Cannavaro giving praise to Beckham? It's beyond me. Beckham is going where he belongs. To the MLS. It's a league where players' that can't make the grade in Europe & South America go.

I think we souhld play a big game of tag on the field. It would be hard to tag people but fun at the same time!