Hey, isn't that???.....

It is really no mystery to those who know me or who read this blog (are there some of you who actually do?) that I tend to favor the Catalan Giants of FC Barcelona rather than Franco, err, I mean Real Madrid. I openly admit but luckily in the blogging world, one does not have to have retain any journalistic objectivity and integrity! :)

Yet there is one team that will always have a soft spot in my heart, and that is the wonderful Deportivo de la Coruna team, who along with Valencia, made Spain a four horse race from 1994 - 2004. In that span of a decade, 'Super Depor' grabbed two Copa del Rey titles, one La Liga championship and a run to the Champions League semifinals in 2004. They would have had another Liga title if Yugoslavian forward Djukic had converted a last minute PK versus Valencia on the final matchday in 1994. He didn't and Barca were crowned champs.

Those Depor teams had wonderful players: Fran, Mauro Silva, Makaay, Rivaldo, Luque, Valeron, Sergio, Bebeto, Djalminha... I could go on. But there was one striker who came aboard in the summer of 2000 that terrorized defenders everywhere in Spain. His name was Diego Tristan.

Tristan joined the club after almost signing with Madrid following a stint with Mallorca. The Andalucian broke through in 2002 and had a massive year. 32 goals in all competitions one of which was scored in their epic Copa del Rey final against Madrid when Depor pulled off the 'Centenariazo'. It was the 100th anniversary of Real Madrid to the very day and they were planning a giant party that night with the a victory in the Cup final as the icing on the cake. Well Depor evidently sent back their invitation to the after-party and decided to have their own fiesta during the match. Depor ran Madrid ragged. Mauro Silva was a genius in the midfield, Fran composed and poised as always, Sergio abusing Hierro up top and then there was Diego Tristan whose play had the likes of Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stefano calling him the best player in La Liga afterwards.

In the third minute, Tristan issued the first warning to Madrid that if the capital city expected the visitors from Galicia to roll over, then they would be sorely mistaken. Tristan, with his back to Madrid goalkeeper Cesar, spun and chipped a shot towards the right corner of the goal that needed every bit of Cesar's long fingertips to deflect it. Four minutes later Sergio gave Depor the lead with a goal and then just minutes after that, it was Tristan's turn when he took in a cross and slipped a shot just inside the far post while the Madrid defenders were screaming for offsides. But there was no infraction, just expert shotmaking and goalscoring.

Only the championship pedigree allowed Madrid to hang in the match as Zidane, Raul and Figo fought back to halve the score in the second half, but still fell short. Depor were crowned champs and Tristan was the toast of Spain.

The newly crowned 'Pichichi' had his sights set on that summer's World Cup, but then an unfortunate injury against Northern Ireland that spring forced Tristan to the sidelines. He never did see a single minute of action at the World Cup that summer. Spain could have used Tristan especially in their quarterfinal after an injured Raul was also unavailable. La Seleccion had two goals disallowed against Korea in that quarterfinal and eventually lost in PKs. In the chaotic aftermath, the Spanish were outraged but none more so than Tristan who was snapped in a memorable photo having to be restrained by teammates to not attack the referee.

Tristan's time in La Coruna came to a sad close in 2006 when he was ushered out the door by new coach Joaquin Caparros. From there, he went back to Mallorca for a season, then to Livorno in Italy and then up to West Ham in England.

Finally, before the 2009 season, Tristan returned home to his native Andalucia and signed with Cadiz, newly promoted to El Infierno from the Segunda B. Even at 33 years of age, Tristan is more than serviceable as a forward and has already scored several goals on the season, albeit none in league play. An ankle injury has slowed the former 'crack' but you would be hard pressed to find a fan of Spanish futbol who doesn't want Tristan to succeed at Cadiz. Let's hope he does.


As for other action in El Infierno, things have turned from bad to worse for Betis as they keep slipping further and further away from the top three. Several Betis fans took it upon themselves to remind the players of their poor play by egging their cars as they left training! 'Beticos' have tons of passion, but it should also be said that some of that passion seems to have taken up space in their heads normally reserved for the brain.

On to the games....

La Quiniela - Jornada 13

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

Clasificacion:

1. Cartagena - 23
2. Hércules - 22
3. R. Sociedad - 22
4. Levante - 20
5. Rayo - 19
6. Córdoba - 19
7. Recreativo - 18
8. Gimnástic - 18
9. Elche - 18
10. Betis* - 17
11. Numancia - 16
12. Las Palmas - 16
13. Salamanca - 16
14. Albacete - 16
15. Villarreal B* - 15
16. Girona - 13
17. Cádiz - 13
18. Real Unión - 12
19. Celta - 12
20. Huesca - 11
21. Murcia - 7
22. Castellón - 7

Upsets Galore

The boys from Alcorcon are going to be grabbing the majority of the headlines, and rightly so, for their superb effort against Madrid this week in the Bernabeu. The Galacticos were only able to muster up a single goal in the span of 90 minutes and never really threatened the four goal deficit that Alcorcon layed at their feet in the first leg of their Copa del Rey fixture.

But let us not forget some of the other 'sorpresas' that we got to enjoy from Tuesday to Thursday during the Copa del Rey. One that also stands out is another lower division club from the outskirts of Madrid, albeit slightly closer to the town center, taking down a traditional first division stalwart. In this case, it was Rayo Vallecano building on their 2-0 win in Vallecas two weeks before to take down Athletic Bilbao in San Mames. The final result was 2-2 but Rayo had Bilbao chasing the whole way and last year's finalists never had a chance.

Most impressive on the evening was how Rayo held the Basques in check with impressive goalkeeping and opportunistic attacks including quite possibly my favorite goal of the Spanish season. A Rayo defender cleared a ball after an Athletic corner kick that made its way to striker Collantes. An Athletic defender tried to clear that ball only to send it skyward and towards his own net. As the ball dropped down, Collantes positioned himself perfectly and rifled a volley into the net. An absolute rocket.

Rayo's sealed the decision with a late goal and sent the boisterous faithful home with long faces. A similar scene played out in the Canary Islands as Celta shocked Tenerife with a 0-1 win. Granted, this is Tenerife's first season back in La Liga but Celta has been dreadful this season and are mired in the Infierno relegation zone. Apparently their Cup play took no note of their league play and the Vigueses were on their way to the next round.

Lastly, we must pay attention to what happened in Almeria last night as Jozy Altidore's least favorite coach ever, Esteban Vigo, brought Hercules into Almeria and stunned the first division side with a 0-1 win. Almeria are coached by former Real Madrid star and former Mexican national team star and coach Hugo Sanchez who probably would have liked to have suited up for the one if he knew his team would play they way they did. Almeria's lackluster effort included a penalty kick that was flubbed by Argentine striker Piatti who gave Diego Armando zero reason to include him in Saturday's Spain-Argentina friendly after that effort. Vigo's men pulled off the upset and now he continues to look like a genius... again.

International play dominated the futbol world this weekend but the 'tios' in El Infierno would rather have a go at league play again unlike their pansy cousins in England and Germany so we have a Quiniela this week!

La Quiniela - Jornada

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

Clasificacion

1. Cartagena - 23
2. R. Sociedad - 21
3. Hércules - 19
4. Levante - 17
5. Betis* - 16
6. Rayo - 16
7. Numancia - 16
8. Salamanca - 16
9. Córdoba - 16
10. Las Palmas - 15
11. Recreativo - 15
12. Gimnástic - 15
13. Elche - 15
14. Albacete - 15
15. Girona - 13
16. Cádiz - 13
17. Villarreal B* - 12
18. Real Unión - 11
19. Huesca - 11
20. Celta - 11
21. Murcia - 7
22. Castellón - 7

Paliza!

This might be a little late but it still needs to be discussed. Of course I'm talking about what happened last Tuesday in a growing suburb of Madrid called Alcorcon. The third division team welcomed the 'Galacticos' to town, sans Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, and thumped their skulls 4-0.

It's not like surprises have never happened to the 'gigantes' of Spanish futbol in the Copa del Rey. Just in the last 10 years both Real Madrid and Barcelona have each twice been taken down by 'un pequeno'. Madrid were beaten back towards the beginning of the decade by nearby Toldeo 2-1 in a winner take all affair. Then of course last year the Segunda B team from Irun, Real Union, shocked the Madridistas by scoring a late goal in the Bernabeu to advance on away goals.

Barcelona's issues in the Copa also came a fair number of years ago but their fellow Catalans from Figueres still remember the day they shocked Rivaldo, Patrick Kluivert and that group. And the Barca team that flirted with relegation in 2002-2003 saw their fortunes go south against little-known Novelda 3-2.

But those were all nail-biting encounters which saw the lesser teams barely squeak out the victory. What happened last week was a complete drubbing. Madrid was disinterested and lethargic while Alcorcon looked the side that had the 450 Euro payroll.

Alcorcon resides in the southwestern suburbs of Madrid containing a growing immigrant population. The town's population has grown significantly in the last 10 years due to the influx of immigrants to Spain and social services have been built up to support the city (including now having a Metro stop!). It looks like futbol has become another one of those social services as the team could parlay this win towards getting promoted to the Infierno at the close of the season. A return leg in the Bernabeu awaits, and if there is a team that can overcome the odds and win 5-0 to advance, it's Madrid, but for now let us take a step back and celebrate the exploits of Alcorcon and their 1 million Euro payroll. Me quito el sombrero.

No action last week between Betis and Villarreal B who had to cancel their match due to the Swine Flu.

Also, take a moment and keep Fernando Caceres in your thoughts and prayers. The former Celta, Zaragoza and Valencia man was attacked by a couple hoodlums this past week in his native Argentina and his chances of living are bleak.

Sorry for the lack of Quiniela picks this week. Probably wouldn't have made my new commenting friend from Poland any money anyways!

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

Clasificacion:

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