The Pride of Hercules

NOTE: The updatyed daily excerpts of Bienvenido Al Infierno can now be found at www.laligaweekly.com.
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The 1996-1997 La Liga season is best remembered for the torrid goal-scoring prowess that Brazilian striker Ronaldo displayed week in and week out for FC Barcelona. Yet for many Barcelona fans, that season left a bitter taste due to the second place finish to champions and eternal rivals Real Madrid.

A large part for the reason why the Bobby Robson-led Barcelona finished as runners-up was because a modest club from Alicante beat the Catalan giants twice. Even more stunning was that both wins came in the form of comebacks, including a surreal 2-3 victory after having trailed 2-0 in the first half at the Nou Camp. So who was that club? It was Hercules.

It was a one and done that season for Hercules who then over time slowly sank all the way down to the Segunda B before earning promotion back to the Segunda for the 2005-2006 campaign.

After a successful season last year that saw them finish in the top five, Hercules now sit on the doorstep to promotion and the man leading them is Esteban Vigo.

Known to American soccer fans as the coach who didn't play Jozy Altidore for four months, Vigo coached Xerez to their first ever promotion to the Primera and then promptly left to take the reins at Hercules. An odd decision for sure, but then again, so was choosing not to play the US striker.

Hercules sit in second place currently in the Segunda with 51 points. While fans of about 20 other teams would kill to be in that position, the Hercules faithful have started wringing their hands of late.

The club isn't playing well having dropped their last two matches including a puzzling 0-1 loss at home to Las Palmas last weekend. There was also the 1-2 loss at home to bottom feeder Castellon which basically started this rut.

Xerez went through a similar stretch last season where a fair number of points were left on the table before Vigo managed to right the ship.

The same opportunity awaits the Alicante club this weekend when they make the quick trip over to Murcia, a team that was a Quiniela's player's delight earlier in the season with their seven consecutive draws to open the campaign.

Murcia has since improved and have climbed out of the relegation zone and will pose a tough test. Vigo will be looking to his foreign fowards up front in the form of Romanian Ionel Danciulescu and Andrija Delibasic of Montenegro to add to their season total of 13 goals.

The back is manned by Javier Farinos, who is just 31 even though it seems he has been around forever. Farinos was part of the 2000 Valencia team that fell to Madrid in that season's Champions League final. He then went on to play for Inter Milan in Italy before returning home to Spain with stints at Villarreal and Mallorca. Vigo will require a strong game out of the veteran to slow down Murcia who have accrued 10points in their last 12 matches.

In the past, this is when we have seen Vigo get the best out of his squads and fans tuning in for a Friday night special at the Nueva Condomina will get a chance to see why he is one of the best coaches in Spain.