Impressive... so far

Sevilla B's abysmal play last year in El Infierno opened up the debate that The FEF needs to put together a "Liga de Filiales" so "B" and "C" teams of some of the bigger clubs could compete against each other.

I'm still in favor of the idea and think that "B" teams facing off against other independent clubs in league play is a mistake. But it won't change anytime soon so we may as well make the best of what we have, which in this case, is Villarreal B.

The Baby Yellow Submariners are already well ahead of Sevilla B's pace from last year when the junior Andalucians finished with a paltry 18 points. Villarreal B already have a victory and two draws on the season giving them five points and are currently above the relegation zone.

This apparent success lends even more credence to the fact that Villarreal are doing something right in terms of producing players and finding the right guys at the right time. The senior club is struggling this year with just two points, but prior to, the small club managed to make runs to the Champions League knockout rounds in 2006 and 2009.

You have to understand, Villarreal is tiny. The big huge Real madrid and Barca dollars aren't there. So to combat that, you have to actually rely on scouting and development of youth talent. What a concept!

They're doing something right down there in that Comunidad de Valencia hamlet as three of their players are at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Egypt. And they're not all Spanish either. Two of the Argentineans on the squad, Marco Ruben and Mateo Musacchio, have spent significant time at River Plate. These guys assuredly played in a Boca-River game so having to endure the raining of insults from the fans at the Bombanera probably pales in comparison to hearing a slight from someone shouting at them in Balaidos or Anoeta.

So maybe Villarreal B will disprove my theory that Spain needs a Liga de Filias. Heck, maybe at this rate, they'll simply swap places with their parent side who are in la Liga's relegation zone allowing the B team to play the giants of Spain next year!


So last week's Quiniela didn't go well. Definitely would have lost money. The tally was just three wins. Pretty embarassing. Let's try it again.

Cartagena - Villarreal B X
Rayo - Betis 2
Real Unión - Castellón 1
Levante - Murcia 1
Córdoba - Las Palmas X
Hércules - Elche X
Recreativo - Celta 1
Albacete - Cádiz 1
Huesca - Girona X
Numancia - R. Sociedad 2
Salamanca - Gimnástic 1

Clasificacion:

1. Cartagena - 11
2. Betis - 10
3. Rayo - 10
4. Numancia - 10
5. Hércules - 10
6. R. Sociedad - 9
7. Levante - 9
8. Recreativo - 9
9. Las Palmas - 8
10. Gimnástic - 7
11. Albacete - 7
12. Córdoba - 7
13. Salamanca - 6
14. Huesca - 5
15. Cádiz - 5
16. Villarreal B - 5
17. Murcia - 4
18. Real Unión - 4
19. Elche - 4
20. Girona - 3
21. Celta - 2
22. Castellón - 1