The Alfa Romeo Metaphor

Brilliant, by far one of the best stories I've read on here. Like Ze Carlos, this has inspired me to look into writing a story going into similar depth you have. Hats off to you mate, simply fantastic stuff. Hope this continues for a long time.
 
Streaky25 said:
Brilliant, by far one of the best stories I've read on here. Like Ze Carlos, this has inspired me to look into writing a story going into similar depth you have. Hats off to you mate, simply fantastic stuff. Hope this continues for a long time.
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spitfire said:
Woah! Great stuff
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Oh, gosh. Now I'm blushing again. Much thanks!
 
Called on the carpet

I gave my coaching staff and players the day off to recover from the "food poisoning." Except for Michel Roman, the physio. Anyone with an ache or an injury could come into the Ramon de Carranza for some treatment.

I, on the other hand, got a call from Alessandro informing me that Florentino was unhappy with my performance as manager and wanted to talk.

I walked into the offices under the stadium and Margarita ushered me into the boardroom where the entire board was gathered.

Uh Oh.

Margarita offered me a chair. I didn't take it.

"We are not happy with your current performance," Florentino began. "We're considering your position at the club. We would like an explanation as to why the team has performed so badly lately. Three losses in our last six matches is unacceptable."

"Because the club is penniless because of this," I said motioning to the stadium surrounding us. "I was unable to sign the few players I needed this summer. As a result, I have a very thin squad. Furthermore, because I have a thin squad I must lean too heavily on a few key players. We've been very unlucky with injuries since the New Year."

"We will take your injury problems into account," Florentino replied. "But we still want to know how you plan to improve the team's performance?"

"I mapped out the fixture list after the Atletico Sevilla loss," I said. "I calculated the rate at which Linense, our main competitor for the final playoff spot, were gaining points. I then calculated how many points we'd need. If you visit the changing room here or at the training ground you'll see that large sheet I have posted as motivation to the players. We're on track. We need 24 points in the remaining 11 games. We also play Linense in the beginning of May."

"You are here right now and we are having this meeting today, because we as a board don't see the positive side as you do," Florentino replied. "We can't afford to wait until the end of the season. We can't adopt a wait and see attitude. We need to see positive changes immediately."

"Really?" I asked. "You all have some ten million in debt, yet you are making everything as difficult as possible to achieve the goals you set. We cannot stay overnight on long away matches. Driving 6 hours on game days is a serious disadvantage. Why? Just to save a couple of euros? How is thirty thousand euros of savings making a difference except to kick team morale in the shins. You do realize I've been motivating my players around how cheap and foolish this board is don't you?"

"We are not here to discuss the board's decisions," Florentino said. He was starting to get angry. "We are here to discuss you and the team's performance. Answer the question."

"What question? Can I improve results in the next month?," I asked. Florentino nodded. "Yes, I can. We play La Roda next. They are relegation candidates. We'll thrash them. After them we play Cartagena. Any points out of that match is a bonus, I'm not calculating needing any points from that match. Almeria B and El Palo are the next two. I guarantee nine points out of the next 12 possible points."

"We'll hold you to your promise," Florentino replied. "If you can't deliver what you've just promised, we'll have no choice but to sack you."

I stomped out.

Walking out of the stadium I ran into Bogdan Laba. How the **** did he know about this meeting.

"Enrico, have you been sacked?" he asked.

"Get out of my way, Bogdan."

"Have you been given a vote of confidence?"

"Have a good day, Bogdan," I said as I gently as possible pushed him out of my way.

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God it is getting very tense, this would make an excellent tv football show. The side stories especially the weekly visit to the barber's is a great touch and now the camorra along with boardroom pressure!! What will happen next.....
 
Bobby Baggio said:
God it is getting very tense, this would make an excellent tv football show. The side stories especially the weekly visit to the barber's is a great touch and now the camorra along with boardroom pressure!! What will happen next.....
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Thanks! My people will get in touch with your people and we'll have a meeting about a potential TV deal.
 
diariodecsdiz.es 25 February 2014
Cadiz manager Pucci on brink of sack?
Bogdan Laba

Cadiz CF Chairman Florentino Manzano called Manager Enrico Pucci on Monday. Manzano issued an ultimatum to Pucci demanding results now. Cadiz have lost three of the last six El Segundo B4 matches.

The embarrassing loss on Sunday to Bay of Cadiz rivals San Fernando CD may have had an impact. Pucci blamed food poisoning for the loss, but Manzano may have had enough excuses from Pucci.

"The board is confident Pucci can deliver the promotion play-offs we demand," Manzano said. He went on to explain that the positive atmosphere in the changing room is probably his saving grace.

Pucci refused to comment on his status.

But with a growing injury list, is this merely the dreaded vote of confidence all Chairmen give their managers just before firing them? Mehdi Nafti is lost for the season and Los Submarino Amarillos is short on left-sided midfielders with Perico, Kike Marques and Andres. They are down to out-of-favor Tomas or playing Jose Villar out of position on the left if oft-hurt Jorge Luque passes a late physical and can play.

Fan favorite Moises thinks Pucci deserves the support of the board, players and fans.

"The players are completely behind him," Moises said. "The club need to be patient. We will make the play-offs. I think a rash decision to fire him would endanger our chances."
 
"Well, where we at?" I asked once everyone had sat down with their own copy of Diaro de Cadiz for our Tuesday morning coaches meeting. I waved my copy.

"They have your balls in a vice," Paco said.

"The noose is tightening," Javi Garcia added.

"The scaffolding is being built for the hanging," Llorente said.

"The pitchforks are out," Zo quipped.

"The firing squad are cleaning their guns," JVP added.

"The executioner is sharpening his axe," Jose Manuel Barla joked.

"You have anything to add to the hilarity, Alejo?" I asked when there was a pause.

"I got nothing, boss," Alejo replied. Everyone busted out laughing.

"Alright then," I said. "Obviously, I'm angry. About the timing. About the continued tone deaf references to cutting salary and expenses when they decided to rebuild the stadium which is the one and only reason when in the mess we're in."

"Where do we stand, Michel?" I asked.

"Perico and Kike Marques are out 2-3 weeks," Michel answered. "Tomas did his ankle. Once the swelling comes down, I'll have a better idea of how long. Jorge Luque has responded and should be able to play 30-45 minutes this coming Sunday. Please do tell him be careful. I want to avoid the pattern of one or two games then out several weeks to a month."

"Thanks, Michel," I said. "The focus this week is offense, especially off-the-ball runs to get behind a defense when they've parked the bus."

Llorente and Javi Garcia both nodded.

"What do you have on La Roda, Jose?" I asked.

"La Roda suck," he replied. "Their in a bad patch and that's saying something. They're going to be relegated, I have no doubt. Their only threat is their right winger Jordi Pablo. Moises is going to have a rough time, Pablo could start for most Liga Adelante side. I have no idea why he signed for La Roda."
 
We practiced at the Ramon de Carranza all week. I didn't feel like showing our heads over at San Fernando's stadium, i.e., our training ground. The players saw the Cadiz Manager Pucci on brink of sack article all week.

I updated the fixture list I'd posted on the message board.

View attachment 434303

This loss and Florentino's demand means that the Guadalajara match just became a must win.
 
things are getting intense now hopefully the board doesnt realize you threw the match against san fernando ;)
 
Round 28: La Roda CF v. Cadiz CF

La Roda is a small town about 25 km northwest of Albacete. If you recall, that's a pretty long bus ride. Six hours and over 600km.

View attachment 434302

At least the players are getting used to the rides. We're not asleep on our feet to start matches anymore.

The stadium is small and not in very good condition. Though the toilets and showers worked, more or less.

View attachment 434301

I wasn't about to risk Luque finally getting over his ailments today, so he started on the bench. Tomas played left mid since I didn't really have anyone else left.

GK: Alejandro
D: Albert Dalmau, Mikel Martins (C), Wellington Carvalho, Moises
M: Kike Lopez, Bruninho, Jose Villar, Tomas
F: Airam, Aymen Souda

Subs: Jose Maria Belforti (D), Juan Ceballos (RB), Josete (D/M), Jorge Luque (M), Abdoullai Fall (M)

We got off to a solid start. Kept the ball well and created plenty of chances. As per usual, their only chances came on the fast break and through the middle.

In the 12th minute, their only decent player, Jordi Pablo, streaked past Moises after a ball over Moises' head. Instead of driving the net, he tried to chip the advancing Alejandro from about 20 meters. Thankfully, it was a little high and a little wide.

Then in the 22nd minute, they broke straight up the middle. Although Bruninho is correctly positioned, as he was in this counter, he never or maybe I should say rarely interferes. The fast break ended with Jose Romero smashing a shot into the underside of the crossbar. Martins cleared it.

If you're thinking we'd played poorly, that wasn't the case. It was the typical stuff from us. Plenty of missed chances.

Airam finally bagged the goal that allowed me to breathe easier. Bruninho played a ball up to Airam. Airam one-touched it to Villar who one-touched it to Souda. He who took a couple of touches and then shot. Their goalkeeper must not have seen it because he made a reaction foot save. The ball trickled out to the right along the line.

Tomas ran over and chipped it back into the danger area. Airam rose and smashed it home.

0-1

We kept the pressure up and were rewarded in the 37th minute. Dalmau threw the ball in from the right corner flag to Airam. He headed it down to Kike Lopez at the edge of the box. Kike headed toward the penalty spot dribbling across the box.

Nobody challenged him.

He smashed it home to double our lead.

0-2

In the 44th minute, landed funny after getting tackled. Michel, our Physio, ran out and quickly signaled that his day was done.

I yelled at Souda to play left mid until the break. I would move Villar out to the wing and insert Luque. This was more time than I wanted Luque to play so I told him to be careful out there.

The second half started more like a basketball or hockey than footie. La Roda did the only thing they could to threaten us: give it to Pablo. Pablo beat Moises and whipped in a cross. Martins read the play well and headed clear.

Luque nabbed the clearance and lasered a pass out to Kike. Kike beat 3 players while storming nearly 60 meters. He kept looking up as he progressed and saw Luque charging all the way upfield and delivered a cross into Luque's path. Unfortunately, their central defender beat Luque to it and headed clear.

Kike ran back upfield and collected the clearance. The La Roda left back Ezequiel took out Kike's legs and the ref pointed to the ball as if it was a clean tackle and not a clear red card tackle. Up until this point, the game had been clean.

La Roda brought it down the left and Nacho Del Moral whipped in a cross. Once again, Martins clears.

Bruninho won the race to the clearance and played a ball up the line to Villar. Villar played a give-n-go with Luque. The return pass was behind the ball-watching right back. Villar shot near post and the keeper got down to force it wide for the corner.

The game calmed down for a bit after that. I think the players needed to catch their breathes.

We iced the match in the 55th minute. A Luque corner from the right was cleared. The ball came out to Villar at the top right corner. His first touch was horrible. It bounced half way between him and the nearest defender. The two raced for it and Villar won smashing a shot in from 14 or so meters.

0-3

They grabbed a comical goal in the 68th. Comical in terms of the defending. I ask you, who was guarding against a near post cross. Alejo, my defensive coach, has been telling all season that we need someone tall or at least tallish who is a decent header of the ball positioned to intercept any near post corner.

View attachment 434293

Alejo had leapt off the bench and was screaming himself purple to get someone to guard against a near post corner. The Cadistas behind the goal were screaming at the players to guard against a short corner.

Del Moral made the near post run and Luque followed. I don't have Luque in the side for his defensive qualities. Del Moral controlled the ball, spun to his left and zipped a pass under Alejandro.

The entire bench face palmed.

Villar finished the scoring in the 73rd minute in a typical Los Submarino Amarillos move in which nearly everyone touched the ball before the keeper fished it out of the back of the net. In the end Luque fed a pass behind the ball-watching right back into the path of Villar and he smashed in his 2nd of the game.

I gave Dalmau and Bruninho rests with Ceballos and Josete getting some playing time.

View attachment 434292 View attachment 434291 View attachment 434290

We stayed 5th, but we stayed close to Guadalajara and Linense who both won.
 
bigwill1xx said:
things are getting intense now hopefully the board doesnt realize you threw the match against san fernando ;)
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Those who monitor for match fixing first look for large bets placed in the various places across the world. When they match large sums with an odd result, they investigate further.

In all of the Italian cheating scandals, they've examined bank records, emails and phone records. They've then been able to deduce that cheating occurred for money.

Gianluca was smart about it and we talked in person. If I'm ever busted, I have the recording of our conversation which I think pretty clearly shows an implicit threat. I wasn't paid, but was relieved of EU120,000 of off-the-books debt I owed my ex-wife's family who are one of the families that make up the Camorra.

Now, I probably only have to worry about my poisonous conscience.
 
Enrico Pucci said:
Those who monitor for match fixing first look for large bets placed in the various places across the world. When they match large sums with an odd result, they investigate further.

In all of the Italian cheating scandals, they've examined bank records, emails and phone records. They've then been able to deduce that cheating occurred for money.

Gianluca was smart about it and we talked in person. If I'm ever busted, I have the recording of our conversation which I think pretty clearly shows an implicit threat. I wasn't paid, but was relieved of EU120,000 of off-the-books debt I owed my ex-wife's family who are one of the families that make up the Camorra.

Now, I probably only have to worry about my poisonous conscience.
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well played lol keep up the story mate its great
 
diarodecadiz.es 3 March 2014
Cadiz totally dominate La Roda
Bogdan Laba

Cadiz CF enjoyed near total domination with a 4-1 victory over a distinctly average La Roda CF at Estadio Municipal before 1,300 spectators. A brace from Juan Villar eased Los Submarino Amarillos to victory.

After 30 minutes of near constant pressure, Airam broke the deadlock with a close range finish. Kike Lopez doubled the lead in the 37th minute with a fierce shot. Villar eased any worries for under pressure manager Enrico Pucci with a pile-driver in the 55th minute.

La Roda had a penalty claim turned down by referee Jose Figueroa Vasquez but scored soon after as a result of some comically incompetent defending from a corner. With the coaching staff and the traveling Cadistas behind the goal yelling for someone to guard the front post and against a low corner, Nacho Del Moral punished Cadiz. Nearly all of the Cadiz defenders were defending La Roda players massed at the back post. Midfielder Jorge Luque noticed Del Moral's run too late to prevent the easy goal.

Man-of-the-match Villar reestablished Cadiz's three goal lead on 73 minutes.

Cadiz Chairman Florentino Manzano must be pleased with this victory, but must still have questions about his manager with the top-of-the-table Guadalajar match looming.
 
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We got back from La Roda about the same time as the Diaro de Cadiz hit the news stands. 7pm game, finished about 9pm. Iced and showered by 10pm. Had some dinner by 11:30pm. Hit the road soon after.

"Hey Michel," I said as we got off the bus. "How's Tomas ankle."

"Not good, not good," he replied then yawned. We turned and watched as Tomas hobbled off the bus on crutches.

"No no no no no no ..." I moaned. "****! Who am i going to play on the left?"

"Me, boss," Villar said strolling past me to his car.

I turned and looked around for Luque. He was walking normally back toward his car.

"Michel, please tell that Luque is okay?" I asked.

"He's fine, quit worrying," Michel replied while getting into his car. "Go home and get some sleep."
 
I'd told the players as we got on the bus in La Roda to take Monday off. Our fitness was high, but we were tired. Monday wasn't a day off for Michel, though. Our physio had the wounded and walking wounded to care for.

"How'd it go yesterday," I asked him as he walked into our Tuesday morning coaches meeting.

"It was more like a triage unit after a natural disaster," he complained as he sat down. "I should demand hazard pay."

"And Tomas?" I asked.

"Out a month," he replied. "Perico and Kike Marquez are both inside two weeks away from returning. Andres is closer to three weeks away."

"Anyone know the American movie 'This is Spinal Tap'?" I asked. "One of the running jokes throughout the movie is their drummers keep exploding. Left midfield is our exploding drummer."

Everyone looked at me blankly.

"Awright then," I said. "Let's get the report on Cartagena."

"They give up more goals from the right," Jose Barla began. "So if you play Villar out there on the left, we need a big game from him. But it's not like they are generous or anything. They are as stingy defensively as we are."

"Their top striker Jorge Galan has been out a bit but is scoring every other game," he continued. "He's strong, quick and skilled. He's the ideal lone striker. They play a 4231."

"Alvaro Gonzalez, Mariano and Alex Cruz are their attacking threesome," he said. "They're all basically wingers and they swap constantly."

"Carlos De Luma is the steel of the midfield," Jose went on. "And Marcos Rodriguez pulls the strings."

"Their defense, as I mentioned earlier is solid though they tend to give up more goals in the first half at least statistically speaking," he concluded.

"Here's what we do," I said. "We all work to get the boys pumped up for the big match. I'm generally pretty calm pre-match, but I'll get them pumped up. We need to grab a lead in the first half and defend it in the second. Sometime between 60 and 70 minutes, I'll pull off a striker and put Josete in to shore up through the middle."

"Sound like a plan?" I asked. Everyone nodded.
 
"I'm worried about you, my friend," Esteban said as I walked into his barbershop for my Tuesday shave.

"Yeah, no kidding," I replied. "I don't think Sunday's victory reduced the pressure. Florentino has no patience. It's not like we're underperforming."

"It's just those big matches," Esteban said as he wrapped me up.

"I've been looking at that, thinking about that," I replied. "Atletico Sevilla ruined our home opener but then we go and disembowel Guadalajara away ... "

"Yeah, that was a fun one," Esteban interjected.

"Then we tied Cartagena away and Albacete at home," I continued. "And Lucena had just been in like 3rd place when we faced them, but we helped their slide down the table continue."

"But in December we were horrid at home. Lose to Melilla. Lose to Linense. And that draw against Sanluqueno, coming back from two down? The bottom line is 4 of our 7 losses have been at home. 5 of our 7 draws have been at home."

"Are we really that awesome on the road?" Esteban asked.

"Yes," I replied. "10 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses. Best away record. 43 scored, 14 conceded. Compared to 4 wins, 5 draws and 5 defeats. 23 scored, 19 conceded."

"That's awful," Esteban exclaimed. "So we can't score at home? Why?"

"Sweet Mother Mary I wish I knew. You remember those two home draws against La Hoya and La Roda? No? Well, the La's suck. Hoya aren't far from the relegation zone and Roda are going down. A late penalty salvaged the draw against La Roda and we came from behind twice to draw against La Hoya."

"Here's the killer number," I continued. "We've been shut out in 6 of our 7 losses. 4 of them were 1-nil losses."

"And your job is on the line against Cartagena," Esteban said rather quietly. "And Cadiz are at home."

"You clearly understand the situation," I replied.
 
diarodecadiz.es 6 March 2014
Pressure grows on Cadiz boss Pucci
Bogdan Laba

The Cadiz CF S.A.D. hierarchy appear to be losing patience with manager Enrico Pucci. Victory against relegation candidates La Roda last Sunday failed to reduce the pressure.

"Cartagena are fellow promotion chasers," Chairman Florentino Manzano said. "We need a victory against them to show our promotion credentials."

The Ramon de Carranza has not been a happy place for Cadiz. Their away record is far better than at home.

"I was hired to get Los Submarino Amarillos back in Liga Adelante," Pucci said. "We're in the hunt for promotion."

Pucci was more coy about the importance of the fixture against Cartagena but admitted all victories at this point in the season are precious.
 
diarodecadiz.es 7 March 2014
Esparrago concerned about Cartagena match
Bogdan Laba

Cadiz and Uruguay legend Victor Esparrago joined the growing list of concerned former stars. The three-time Cadiz manager knows something about promotion having led Los Submarino Amarillos to promotion to La Liga in 2005.

"It is hard to watch the home matches as Pucci hasn't made the Ramon de Carranza a fortress," Esparrago said. "The fans deserve a team that entertains and wins when at home."

Esparrago still maintains hope that Pucci will right the submarine and lead the club to promotion.

"We need results now rather than later," Esparrago said. "Cartagena are playing really well and they will be a stern test to see what this manager and his team are made of."

Esparrago was capped 67 times by Uruguay and was part of the side that finished 4th in the 1970 World Cup. The midfielder's playing career spanned nearly 20 years and he has managed Huelva, Valencia, Sevilla, Albacete, Vallodolid and Zaragoza in addition to Cadiz in 25 years of management.

Cadiz face Cartagena tomorrow in a rare Saturday match.

 
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Round 29: Cadiz CF v. FC Cartagena

Ten games left in the El Segundo B4 season. Nearly every game would be critical. The toughest three would be this one, Albacete who are are running away with the league and Linense who are 2 points ahead of us and in the 4th spot.

  1. Albacete 63
  2. Atletico Sevilla 58
  3. Cartagena 55
  4. Linense 51 (host Melilla, 7th)
  5. Cadiz 49
Linense's 51 points in 28 matches is a rate of 1.821 per match. Ten matches left means they'll get another 19 or so points. That would put them at 70.

Cadiz would need 22 points from the remaining 10 matches. We can only afford 2 losses and a tie and win the rest.

Furthermore, my head is on the chopping block if we lose. On the positive side, Melilla is a tough opponent and we could potentially gain on both Linense and Cartagena with a win.

"Can I have your attention," I said to kick off my pre-match talk. "First of all, this game is on TV so no grabbing yourselves, got it?"

That got a few laughs.

"This is a critical match," I continued. "We haven't shown that we can beat the top sides in this division. The fans out there are used to us playing in Liga Adelante and La Liga. They expect us to make the promotion playoffs."

"Let's show them what we're about!" I exclaimed. "We pass the ball around nicely. We can play solid defense when we concentrate. We can make them proud."

"Watch for the runs into the channels, defense," I continued. "We've been talking about it all year. Let's just concentrate and shut them down. I know you guys can do it."

"Midfielders, track back and help your defense," I said. "Work hard for each other off the ball. Make sure there's always a passing option. You guys know what to do and I have faith you'll do it."

"Airam and Aymen, you two are in the top ten for scoring. You know what you have to do. I have faith you'll come up big for us today."

"C'mon boys!" interjected Mikel Martins, the team captain. "There's no way this is going to be Enrico's last match. Give everything. Leave everything on the pitch. It's that extra commitment that matters. Today is the day we put it all together and beat Carta. C'MON!"

And with that we walked out of the changing room down the tunnel.

GK: Alejandro
D: Albert Dalmau, Mikel Martins (C), Wellington Carvalho, Moises
M: Kike Lopez, Bruninho, Jorge Luque, Jose Villar
F: Airam, Aymen Souda

Subs: Angel Bernabe (GK), Jose Maria Belforti (D), Juan Ceballos (RB), Josete (D/M), Abdoullai Fall (M)

Their striker Jorge Galan was in the mood and exploited the gap between Martins and Wellington in the 6th minute. Fortunately, he zipped his shot just wide of the post.

Cartagena's strategy was to kick the **** out of us and hope to exploit our weakness down the middle. In the 9th minute, Marco Rodriguez who is supposed to be their creative player in the midfield chopped down Luque for the second time. The ref gave him a yellow.

From the restart, we moved the ball around the midfield in and around the center circle. On about the tenth pass, Luque fired a pass up to Souda. Souda had their central defender Carlos on him immediately. Once he felt the player breathing down his neck, he spun off him and took off towards their goal.

The Carta right back Angel Ortega came over to sheperd him toward their other central defender Jose Izquierdo so the two of them could shut him down. Souda dropped his shoulder to feint that he would head toward Izquierdo and when Ortega bit, nipped around the other side of him.

Souda is pretty fast. Neither Carlos, Ortega nor Izzy could catch him. He walloped a shot into the far side netting to give us the lead.

1-0

The nearly 7,000 Cadistas on hand went nuts. Everyone on the bench was hugging and jumping up and down.

The match see-sawed back and forth. Back and forth from end to end more like basketball than futbol.

Souda was racing towards the defense in the 17th minute. Because of his speed, they were giving him a little more room now. Instead of continuing to run at them, he decided to feed the ball out to Villar on the left. Unfortunately, their right midfielder was tracking back and intercepted the pass.

He turned and thumped a Route One Special towards our goal. It was immediately clear that this 60m hoof was brilliantly or luckily aimed and that Galan was going to outrun Martins and Wellington for it. The ball hopped once about 25 meters from goal. As the ball was coming back down, Galan thumped a volley for the top corner.

Alejandro had no chance.

1-1

The basketball game continued. Back and forth. Forth and back. If I had any hair, I'd have started to pull it out. Both teams creating chances. Carta fouling us regularly to try and break up our rhythm.

Then inside a magical two minutes, everything turned golden.

First Dalmau played a ball infield to Luque in the 31st minute. Luque saw that their right back Ortega was cheating in to help cover Souda. He also saw Villar's run into the gap and played a slide rule pass into Villar path.

Villar beat both Ortega and Oscar on the dribble before hammering the ball into the far side netting.

2-1

Before Carta could get their **** together, we'd gotten our third.

From the restart, they played a long ball up to Galan. Wellington intercepted and played a 30 meter pass to Airam in the center circle. Izquierdo came with him to cover him leaving Ortega and Oscar to mark Souda. Airam created enough space for himself to get a pass up to Souda.

Souda controlled the pass, turned and took off running at the space between Ortega and Oscar. As the three converged, Souda simply changed direction and went around the outside of Ortega. Neither were as quick as Souda so he had the same angle he'd had earlier and did the same thing he'd done earlier.

3-1

More hugging. More jubilation. Kissing even. This is a Latin country, you know!

As the players were coming back to the center of the park, I got their attention and told them to settle down and shut Carta down. I wanted them to control the tempo and keep the ball.

Carta responded the only way they could, they tried to kick the **** out of us.

The inevitable eventually happened in the 39th minute. Injury. Izquierdo stood on Airam's planting foot in a dirty, cynical tackle. Airam lay on the turf writhing in pain. Michel sprinted out and soon after signaled for a switch.

I pointed at Josete to warm up before I commenced my typical screaming at the ref and berating the fourth official. I wanted to know how that wasn't a red card let alone why no foul was called.

This was too early, but what choice did I have? I sent on Josete. Josete would play right in front of the defense and Souda would be up front on his own.

Not much happened for the rest of the half. The middle was all gummed up with 5 Cadista midfielders and 5 Carta midfielders. Oh, except for Carta continue to try and kick the **** out of us.

I gave a rousing halftime speech in which I praised them for the commitment to the cause and told them to keep it up.

They did.

The second half was never going to be an exciting match for the neutrals. Luque, Bruninho, Josete, Kike and Villar passed the ball around in the middle of the park and every once in a while someone would try and exploit a gap and create a chance. Barca fans might have appreciated our possession at times.

But Carta were intent on applying special sauce to our feet, ankles and knees. When the ref didn't call the fall, they'd take the ball upfield toward our goal.

By the 60th minute, Luque was tiring. I got Abdoullai Fall up to warm up. I wanted to keep Luque on as long as possible as his passing today was immaculate.

In the 67th minute, Oscar won yet another questionable tackle on Souda and fed the ball up the Alex Cruz on the right about at midfield. He turned and played a long ball behind Wellington. Galan exploited Wellington's slow reaction, ran onto the ball and advanced in alone on Alejandro.

He tried to sneak a shot under the advancing Alejandro but failed. Luckily for him and unfortunately for us, the ball bounced off Alejandro and right back to Galan. He poked the rebound in to make the last 20 some minutes far too exciting for my taste.

3-2

My defenders and midfielders passed the ball around nicely and defending resolutely.

Carta crossed from the left, crossed from the right, but Martins or Wellington headed clear. They couldn't generate anything down the middle as we just sat back and absorbed the pressure.

The fourth official added 5 minutes to the game. Probably for all the fouls and cards Carta received in the second half.

Finally, the ref blew his whistle three times and my managerial career was extended for another week.

View attachment 433785

We'd have to wait for the rest of the results tomorrow. I gave the players Sunday off to relax. Only poor Michel would be forced to heal the wounded and walking wounded.
 
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