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