Is Cartagena For Real?

OK... Admittedly I've been slack about updating this blog. Stuff happens when you have a one year old daughter, ya know?

So on to the futbol. Without question, the big story so far this season is the surprising good play of FC Cartagena who are newcomers to El Infierno. The club is relatively new being founded in 1995 and has never spent a season above Segunda B until this year. Expectations were modest coming into the season and any Cartagena fan would have been happy with simply surviving its first year in the Segunda.

Well, apparently the players didn't get the message. Turns out that the squad decided to pick up 10 points in their first four matches thus making them lider.It is mainly a domestic squad with the exception of a Panamanian and a Frenchman. Upon further inspection of the roster, you can see why the club does generally well as there are quality players with experience at even some of the biggest clubs in Europe.

It starts with goalkeeper Ruben who rose through the youth ranks at Barcelona and even managed to snap a couple appearances back when Ronaldinho was running rampant for the Blaugrana. Unfortunately for Ruben, Victor Valdes and Albert Jorquera were firmly entrenched ahead of him so he elected to head south along the coast towards Murcia and has been with Cartagena since last season.

The aforementioned Frenchman is Pascal Cygnan who came in from Villarreal and also spent four years at Arsenal, including playing a role in Arsenal's legendary "Invincibles" squad which went unbeaten in the EPL. Before that, it was eight years at Lille. He might be 35 but this guy knows how to play and was a wise 'fichaje'.

There's another graybeard who plays up front, Victor, who is also 35 and has nine years at Valladolid and four years at Villarreal under his belt. The man has scored nearly 150 goals in all competitions and serves a perfect complement to his partner in crime, Enrique de Lucas.

Lucas also has a European portfolio after spending time with PSG in France and then one season at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho. He is native Catalan but don't ever expect to see Lucas at Camp Nou cheering on the reigning Europeam champs. Lucas is a 'Perico' through and through after getting his start at Espanyol.

So there you have it, a very nice blend of hungry young players combined with players who may be on the wrong side of 30 but are still very apt and very skilled to teach the other teams in El Infierno a thing or two about class futbol.

This weekend they get their biggest test when they travel to Sevilla to play Betis who still pretty pissed about not being in the Primera.
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I decided that in order to make things more interesting, instead of just listing last week's scores, I'll be giving my predictions of this week's upcoming matches in true 'Quiniela' fashion.

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


Clasificacion:

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

Back and Back Big!

Now you really didn't think I was going to forget that my beloved El Infierno had started back up, did you?

As is custom, the Spanish gratiously allowed the rest of Europe to start their futbol season prior to their own kickoff. We are all aware of the headlines made by Real Madrid over the summer with their infusion of Galacticos 2.0, but largely unnoticed was what transpired over the summer in the Segunda Division in what in my opinion was the biggest news piece.

Esteban Vigo. Remember that guy? We talked about him alot last season. He was the Xerez coach who got Confederation Cup hero Jozy Altidore in a midseason loan from Villarreal but elected to never play Jozy, hell, that's doing it justioce. Esteban only called his name once to sit on the bench and then Jozy never even saw a minute of action in that 3-0 blowout over Hercules.

Well, it was hard to be critical at that time seeing that Xerez rode the brilliant coaching of Vigo all the way to their first ever appearance in the Primera Division where they will get smacked around all year long by their older and stronger opponents.

But in a rare move, Esteban said, "Thank, but I'm pretty comfy here in El Infierno, so good luck playing Barca next year and I'll just head east to Alicante to coach Hercules."

So there you have it. The best coach in the Liga Adelante was so taken with the second level of Spanish futbol that when he was given the once and a lifetime chance to coach a Primera Division side, he turned it down and decided to go coach another team in El Infierno. In a way, I admire his spirit.

That said, I hold a grudge against the guy for keeping Jozy on the bench, but I cannot dispute his ability to coach up a team so here I am on September 4th telling you that Hercules will return to the Primera Division for the 2010-2011 La Liga season. In the meantime, let's enjoy the games, shall we?

Jornada 1 - Resultados

Celta - Numancia 1-2
Cádiz - Salamanca 0-1
Villarreal B - Levante 2-2
Betis - Córdoba 3-0
Castellón - Hércules 0-0
Real Unión - Recreativo 0-1
Rayo - Albacete 3-0
Girona - Cartagena 0-1
Murcia - Gimnástic 0-1
Las Palmas - R. Sociedad 1-1
Elche - Huesca 0-2

Clasificacion

1. Betis - 3
2. Rayo - 3
3. Huesca - 3
4. Numancia - 3
5. Cartagena - 3
6. Gimnástic - 3
7. Recreativo - 3
8. Salamanca - 3
9. Levante - 1
10. Villarreal B - 1
11. Las Palmas - 1
12. R. Sociedad - 1
13. Castellón - 1
14. Hércules - 1
15. Celta - 0
16. Cádiz - 0
17. Girona - 0
18. Murcia - 0
19. Real Unión - 0
20. Elche - 0
21 Albacete - 0
22 Córdoba - 0

Enhorabuena

Unlike most years, the final 'temporada' of the Spanish Second Division will be one without drama which is unfortunate for people like myself who crave the torture and ecstasy within futbol. My sentiments, however, fall on deaf ears in three Spanish towns which are celebrating the euphoria of a triumphant return to the Primera Division.

Let's start with Xerez. The land of flamenco has never had a Real Madrid or a FC Barcelona come to the Estadio Chapin so the locals will be in for a treat. I'm glad for the people but frankly, personally I'm still bitter at the way Jozy Altidore was treated by the club. He would have been much better off being loaned out to Levante or maybe Real Sociedad where he actually would have gotten some playing time. Xerez coach Esteban Vigo never wanted Jozy there and that was evident. Only the clubs execs wanted him and thus started a cluster-you-know-what of epic proportions.
But, let's set that aside briefly and tip our caps to Xerex who put away some old choking ghosts of the past and will delight their fans with their first ever appearance in the Primera Division. Enhorabuena.

Next is Tenerife who returns to La Liga for the first time since the 2001-2002 season. For a side that spent so much time in the Primera back in the 80s and 90s, the seven year drought must have felt like an eternity. It's good to see the Canary Islands represented in the First Division and we'll have that next year. Who knows, maybe the islanders will even be able to make a run towards a Europa League berth like they did back in the mid 90s. La Cara de Tenerife is back!

Last but certainly not least is Zaragoza. The long-time first division club from Aragon is rightly back in the Primera. Credit players like the Brazilian Ewerthon who muscled his way to being the leading scorer in this year's Liga Adelante. The 1995 Recopa Champs will be competitive in next year's la Liga so don't expect them to be a one and done.

So this weekend all matches have zero implications except where teams will lay in the final standings. Alaves secured their fate of relegation when las Palmas tied so the 2001 UEFA Cup runners up will descend further down to La Segunda B and who knows if we will ever hear from them.

Speaking of the Segunda B, there is still work to be done in the promotion playoffs. Cadiz and Cartegena have already secured their spots in next year's El Infierno leaving two more spots to be had. Sunday sees the return leg of the two playoff matches between Alcorcon-Real Union and Villarreal B - Real Jaen. Both first leg games ended in 0-0 draws so look for the Real Madrid giant killer Real Union to advance and the modest club from the north of Granada, Jaen, to lay claim to the final spot in next year's El Infierno.

Resultados - Jornada 41

R. Sociedad - Levante 1-1
Zaragoza - Cordoba 3-1
Hércules - Albacete 4-1
Alavés - Alicante 1-0
Las Palmas - Rayo Vallecano 0-0
Castellón - Eibar 4-0
Gimnástic - Elche 2-0
Murcia - Salamanca 2-1
Xerez - Huesca 2-1
Girona - tenenrife 0-1
Sevilla At - Celta 0-0


Clasificacion

1. Tenerife - 81 Ascendido!
2. Xerez - 81 Ascendido!
3. Zaragoza - 80 Ascendido!
4. Hércules - 75
5. Rayo - 69
6. R. Sociedad - 64
7. Levante - 63
8. Castellón - 62
9. Salamanca - 60
10. Gimnástic - 57
11. Elche - 53
12. Murcia - 52
13. Huesca - 50
14. Córdoba - 50
15. Girona - 49
16. Albacete - 48
17. Celta - 47
18. Las Palmas - 46
19. Alavés - 43 Descendido
20. Alicante - 34 Descendido
21. Eibar - 32 Descendido
22. Sevilla At - 18 Descendido

The Cava Is On Ice

Tomorrow just may be the day where all positions in El Infierno are decided. Then again, it may not. After this weekend, this is still one last week to play, yet the teams at the top who are so close to promotion still have some work to be done. More on that later.

Meanwhile, at the bottom, Celta took a huge step towards avoiding relegation to Segunda B by beating Alaves 2-1 thanks to two goals from iago Aspas, a player who will now go down in Celta lore. Only Las Palmas can be caught by the Basque side and the gap is a fairly wide five points. This all but closes a sad state of affairs for Alaves who, as mentioned numewrous times before in this blog, rose to European glory by coming oh-so-very close to winning the 2001 UEFA Cup. The only holdover from that team is Astudillo who promised to walk back to Vitoria completely naked should Alaves survive. Thankfully for the majority of the northern Spanish countryside, it looks like that won't happen so cows in Asturias will be spared the site of a naked poney-tailed futbolista doing a reverse of the Camino de Santiago.

Back to the top, Xerez lost at Tenerife to drop to 2nd place but it doesn't really matter as they are still just a single point away from earning promotion to the Primera Division for the first time in club history. Part of me hopes they drop the home encounter against Huesca and then lose the season finale in Balaidos mainly because I'm still smarting from the fact that Jozy Altidore never played a single minute for Esteban Vigo. I can only imagine what kind of hand-writing might be happening should Huesca pull off the stunner and Hercules creep to within three points heading into the final weekend of the season. But let's be honest, it won't happen and Xerez and the islanders out in the Canaries look safe for promotion. Tenerife travels to Catalonia to play Girona who should be applauded for a stellar performance their first season in El Infierno. Playing in the smallest stadium with one of the smallest budgets, the club still finished with 49 points in 15th place. Not bad.

As for the other team destined to drink cava on Saturday, Primera Disvision stalwart Zaragoza looks safe to secure their pass back to glory as they are at home against Cordoba who are just glad to not be relegated. The 1995 Recopa winners belong back in the elite of Spanish futbol and it will be good to have them there.

Resultados - Jornada 40
Albacete - Murcia 0-0
Celta - Alaves 2-1
Rayo - Real Sociedad 4-1
Salamanca - Zaragoza 1-3
Tenerife - Xerez 2-0
Eibar - Girona 2-2
Levante - Elche 2-0
Huesca - Sevilla Atletico 3-0
Gimnástic - Castellon 0-1
Córdoba - Las Palmas 4-1
Alicante - Hercules 1-2

Clasificacion

1. Tenerife - 78
2. Xerez - 78
3. Zaragoza - 77
4. Hércules - 72
5. Rayo - 68
6. R. Sociedad - 63
7. Levante - 62
8. Salamanca - 60
9. Castellón - 59
10. Gimnástic - 54
11. Elche - 53
12. Huesca - 50
13. Córdoba - 50
14. Murcia - 49
15. Girona - 49
16. Albacete - 48
17. Celta - 46
18. Las Palmas - 45
19. Alavés - 40
20. Alicante - 34
21. Eibar - 32
22. Sevilla At. - 17

Bienvenido Recre, Numancia y.... Betis!?!

It is that special time of year when drama unfolds for teams who have been barely noticed all season long due to their inability to string together victories. In Spain's Primera Division, the fate of Recreativo was already sealed going into the final weekend as they will be part of this blog during the 2009-2010 season.

The Pajaritos from Numancia had at outside shot at survival but it was not meant to be. The club that started off its season beating the trichampions FC barcelona 1-0 at their modest little stadium, will be playing in El Infierno next season.

The third team would be playing in El Infierno next season was the one subject to tons of debate. Who would it be? Surely it would be Osasuna who had to beat Real Madrid at home to have any chance at not being relegated. But credit the Pamplona side for overcoming a 0-1 deficit and winning 2-1 setting of pandemonium in the stands at the Estadio Rey de Navarre. Maybe it would be Getafe who had to get a point in Santander against Racing to ensure their survival? Nope. A Granero goal in the first half was all the suburban Madrid team needed and so last year's UEFA Cup quarterfinalist gets to play with the bog bioys next year. What about Sporting? The newly promoted side had the luxury of playing Recre but still the Asturianos had to overcome a 1-0 deficit and won 2-1.

That left us with the Betis-Valladolid match which at first shaped up as one of those *wink* *wink* let's tie this match so we both can stay up. But a funny thing happened on the way to summer vacation. All the teams below them won and so the enxt thing you know, Betis were fighting for their survival because they did not own the tiebreaker against Getafe. The purple men from Castilla y Leon struck first but Betis would equalise in the second half and were desperately seeking the game-winner. Time after time the Betis chances were brushed aside. At the final whistle, disbelief set in at the Ruiz de Lopera as the beticos will now be playing in El Infierno next season. For the Betis fans, some of the most passionate in Spain, it was like a funeral except that with the tears, there were also riots in the streets afterwards and fans yelling at the team president that he was a 'cabron'. Needless to say, betis in El Infierno next year will make things very interesting.

As for our actual Segunda Division teams themselves, props to Xerez for now being just a single point away from promotion. With three weeks left in the season, all they need is a draw in one of those matches. It may not come this week since they travel to second place Tenerife, but depending on what Hercules does at now relegated Alicante in the Alicante derby, both teams could be celebrating promotion out on the island this weekend and what a fun party that would be.

Speaking of Hercules, their draw against Celta now leaves them five points behind Zaragoza in the race for the third and final promotion spot. Making up five points in three weeks is a long shot. Hercules need to beat their crosstown rivals and then hope Zaragoza gets tripped up in Salamanca on Saturday which will be a tough match for the Aragoneses.

So the drama unfolding at the top is starting to look anticlimatic but the drama at the bottom, once an afterthought, is getting serious. Alaves are three points behind Celta in the fight for the last surivival spot. How sad to see two clubs who fared so well in recent years in European play now struggling to avoid relegation to the third level of Spanish futbol. The noose is tight for the Galicians whose nightmarish second half continues. The match of the weekend could very much take place on Saturday when the two teams meet.

Resultados - Jornada 39
R. Sociedad - Cordoba 0-2
Zaragoza - Albacete 3-0
Hércules - Celta 2-2
Alavés - Huesca 3-0
Las Palmas - Salamanca 1-1
Levante - Rayo 1-0
Elche - Castellon 0-1
Murcia - Alicante 3-1
Xerez - Eibar 3-0
Girona - Gimnastic 2-1
Sevilla At - Tenerife 0-4

Clasificacion:

1. Xerez - 78
2. Tenerife - 75
3. Zaragoza - 74
4. Hércules - 69
5. Rayo - 65
6. R. Sociedad - 63
7. Salamanca - 60
8. Levante - 59
9. Castellón - 56
10. Gimnástic - 54
11. Elche - 53
12. Murcia - 48
13. Girona - 48
14. Córdoba - 47
15. Huesca - 47
16. Albacete - 47
17. Las Palmas - 45
18. Celta - 43
19. Alavés - 40
20. Alicante - 34 (Relegated)
21. Eibar - 31 (Relegated)
22. Sevilla At - 17 (Relegated)

Four For Two

With the first promotion ticket almost booked for Xerez, we can safely say that the race to the Primera Division will now see just four teams battling for two spots. The efforts of Real Sociedad and Salamanca are probably going to go by the wayside. It now boils down to Hercules, Tenerife, Zaragoza and Rayo Vallecano who are separated by just four points. There are five weeks left in the season and there is no reason to think that any of the four will be out of contention by that last Sunday.

Tenerife lost to Hercules over the weekend making it their first defeat in 18'jornadas', a truly astounding statistic. Despite their 'puntuando' ways, their pormotion is not secure.

Rayo got a boost from the previously mentioned Teresa Rivero and ripped off two straight wins since the BBQ held at the presidenta's home. Apparently all they needed was a little home cookin.

Hercules to me look the most solid of the bunch and I think they will secure promotion. Yes they have their setbacks and occasional defeats, but from a consistency standpoint, they have been the most solid.

Zaragoza has their hands full this weekend against an Alicante team that has completely defied the odds and are now just 6 points away from safety. Back around the Christmas holiday, people, including myself, were making a mockery of their coaching carousel. Evidently Carlos Granero ended up being the right guy and I'm gonna pick an Alicante upset over Zaragoza this weekend which may very well leave the Aragoneses out of the promotion spots for the rest of the season.

Alicante also faces off against Hercules and could hurt their hopes. A week later they could seal Alaves' fate into releghation to the Segunda B. The Alaves fans showed their displeasure with their team's recent play by spraypainting the team's painting ground. Classy! Sad to see the former UEFA Cup finalists have fallen.

In any event, a meeting with already relegated Sevilla Atletico in the last week of the season just may push Alicante to safety. It'll be worth watching.

Jornada 37 - Resultados

Rayo - Cordoba 5-0
R. Sociedad - Albacete 1-0
Zaragoza - Celta 3-0
Hércules - Tenerife 3-1
Alavés - Eibar 1-1
Las Palmas - Alicante 0-1
Levante - Salamanca 1-2
Elche - Girona 2-1
Murcia - Huesca 0-0
Xerez - Castellon 1-0
Sevilla At - Gimnastic 1-3

Clasificacion

1. Xerez - 75
2. Tenerife - 69
3. Zaragoza - 68
4. Hércules - 67
5. Rayo - 65
6. R. Sociedad - 60
7. Salamanca - 59
8. Levante - 56
9. Castellón - 53
10. Gimnástic - 51
11. Elche - 50
12. Huesca - 46
13. Las Palmas - 44
14. Albacete - 44
15. Murcia - 44
16. Girona - 42
17. Celta - 41
18. Córdoba - 41
19. Alavés - 37
20. Alicante - 34
21. Eibar - 30
22. Sevilla At - 16

Mama Knows Best

Saturday afternoon features one of those juicy affairs where two teams face off against each other and the only worthwhile result is three points. In this case, Rayo Vallecano will make the quick bus trip out of the capital city and over to Salamanca to play in what is essentially an elimination game for any chance of reaching the promotion zone to La Primera.

The last two weeks have been very unkind to Rayo as they have lost rather horridly to Segunda B bound Alicante and 13th Albacete, 2-0 and 0-3. In an effort to cheer up the squad, Rayo President Maria Teresa Rivero, had the team over for dinner not to chastise them, but to cheer them up, give 'em a pat on the back and assure that she is 100% behind them.

As the mother of 13 children and 36 grandchildren, the woman knows a thing or two about trying to get the best out of youngster. I'm not sure if the same applies to her futbol children, but nevertheless, I applaud her efforts. I just wonder that if Rayo drops this weekend's affair in Salamanca, will she give them a spanking at the next home match in front of the whole crowd at the modestly named Estadio Teresa Rivero?

At the very least Rivero is now able to amply follow a futbol match. She admitted back in 1994 when she became president of Rayo after her husband died that she had only seen one futbol match in her entire life and that was in Murcia when she was a little girl... and she didn't even know which teams were playing (Real Murcia had to have been one of them, right?!?!). Not exactly the kind of business/futbol experience that men like Joan Laporta or Florentino Perez have, but it still merits respect that a woman in a machismo country like Spain has been the President of a futbol club for 15 years. Rivero should also be credited for trying to forward women's rights within the futbol world which included publishing a book on the topic.

Rivero has come a long way since 1994 when she was found bored to tears and actually asleep in the 'palco' of Rayo's stadium. Now universally respected by her club presidential colleagues, Rivero is carving a special niche in Spanish futbol and we're lucky that we get to see it in El Infierno.


One other note from El Infierno - Cheers to Sevilla Atletico for beating Girona at home last weekend! Maybe once the relegation was made official, they could kick back and play relaxed futbol. Evidently that worked. Too bad only 100 people were in attendance in the stadium to see it.

Resultados - Jornada 35

Rayo - Albacete 0-3
R. Sociedad - Celta 2-2
Zaragoza - Tenerife 1-1
Hércules - Gimnastic 2-2
Alavés - Castellon 0-1
Las Palmas - Huesca 1-1
Levante - Alicante 2-0
Elche - Xerez 0-1
Murcia - Eibar 2-0
Córdoba - Salamanca 0-2
Sevilla At - Girona 2-1


Clasificacion

1. Xerez - 69
2. Tenerife - 66
3. Zaragoza - 62
4. Hércules - 61
5. Rayo - 59
6. Salamanca - 56
7. R. Sociedad - 54
8. Levante - 53
9. Castellón - 50
10. Gimnástic - 47
11. Elche - 46
12. Huesca - 45
13. Albacete - 44
14. Murcia - 43
15. Girona - 42
16. Las Palmas - 41
17. Celta - 41
18. Córdoba - 40
19. Alavés - 35
20. Alicante - 31
21. Eibar - 29
22. Sevilla At - 16