The Alfa Romeo Metaphor

Monday Morning Blues

"What the **** was that last night?" I asked once all the coaches had gathered in the cafeteria.

"Do we just overlook it and be thankful the ref granted us a penalty?" JVP said. "Focus on La Roda next Sunday and the derby with San Fernando?"

"I think they all know we were lucky," Paco said. "I'm with JVP."

"I don't think we should use our training ground this week," Javi Garcia said. "It's in enemy territory."

"Literally," interjected Llorente.

We rent San Fernando CD's stadium and sports facility from the city of San Fernando. The team San Fernando CD was only formed in 2009. Up until this season, Los Submarino Amarillas were leagues above Los Islenos. But as fate would have it, we were both in El Segundo B4. Since we rub shoulders with their players occasionally, the game in a week and a half would be a really big one for them.

"It'll just unnecessarily wind the players up," Javi continued. "Let's train in the Roman de Carranza."

"I've noticed their manager, Juanma, giving me the evil eye," I added. "I can't argue with you."

"We can get the players on a bus as soon as they arrive and then drive in to the stadium all week.," Paco said. "I'll go and get that arranged now."

"Don't forget that Aymen Souda heads out tomorrow for Tunisia duty," JVP said.

"****, I forgot," I said. "This means I can't give Luque a game off and move Villar into the midfield. He really needs a rest."
 
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Round 8: Cadiz CF v. La Roda CF

Training in what seemed like the cavernous Roman de Carranza took some getting used to. I hoped it would have some effect on the players. Maybe remind them that Cadiz is a far bigger club than La Roda and San Fernando and encourage them to really kick the **** out of an opponent for a change. No more weak-assed defending or laziness.

It was a quiet week for me personally. Ana Maria and I had our mid-week date but didn't do anything exciting. Well ... exciting as site-seeing or swimming on the beach or etc. We ate at a nearby restaurant and took a walk along the bayside. I could tell that she wanted to sleep over at my apartment as she came down from her parent's apartment with a duffel bag sized purse. See? We men can be quite perceptive on occasion. Same thing on Saturday except we went dancing after dinner.

So I was in a quite pleasant frame of mind as I rolled into the Roman de Carranza at 3pm to prepare for the 7pm kick-off.

GK: Alejandro
D: Dalmau, Chara, Martins, Tomas
M: Kike Lopez, Bruninho, Luque, Andres
F: Airam and Villar

I was hoping Andres would help Tomas shut down our left flank.

It was a cagey start. Both sides unwilling to try anything adventurous. Our defense gifted them the opener the first time when they brought the ball into our half with any malacious intent. Their right winger Jordi Pablo played a ball into their lone striker Matias Saad.

Normally, when everyone does their job, this isn't a problem.

Unfortunately, Tomas got caught ball-watching. He followed Pablo's pass rather than kept track of Pablo himself. Pablo took off for the goal. Once Tomas realized what he'd just done, he stopped and watched. Saad one-touched the ball into his path and Pablo snuck a roller under the onrushing Alejandro.

0-1

Alejo Indias turned purple.

At least the goal woke us up from our slumber. La Roda didn't get the ball back for any length of time, but we weren't finding that killer pass or inspired move.

Finally, in the 27th minute we got our first chance. Kike Lopez took off down the right flank. He cut inside and played a ball into the path of Airam. Airam took off. He was going to try and beat their central defender around the corner. It wasn't going to work. So Airam back-heeled the ball to Kike who toe-poked it into the path of Dalmau who'd come storming up the field.

Dalmau rung the crossbar with a pile driver.

From the ensuing goal kick, Chara won the header at midfield and Bruninho picked up the scraps. He fed it out to Kike Lopez and the Keekster was off to the races. His cross from the byline was cleared but only to the top of the box. Dalmau had raced forward and corralled their clearance. He dribbled along the top of the box, but couldn't find an opening. He did spot Andres who'd come inside from his left wing.

Andres side-footed it into the left side netting with his weaker right foot.

1-1

The match returned to a cagey affair. We only had long-range chances and they didn't really do much at all. The only excitement before halftime was Luque's freekick from 25m grazed the outside of the right post.

At the break, I told them to continue work hard and the result would come.

It didn't.

In the 50th minute, Airam met Tomas' left wing cross with a flick on that was destined for the top corner until the La Roda back-up keeper who was only playing because their Numero Uno was hurt, Pedro Berrocal, clawed the ball away.

Luques' corner was headed right back at him. Same thing with his second cross. Only this time he'd moved several steps in. He dribbled in a little further then smashed a shot near post. Berrocal got a finger tip to it, it glanced off the crossbar and we'd just missed another.

Berrocal was proving himself a decent keeper, **** the little ***** ***** ********.

They cleared the corner out to midfield. We regrouped and built the pressure back up. Martins won the header from the goal kick directing it out to the left wing where Andres got to the ball first. He tapped it to Tomas who one-touched it to Luque. Luque spun around the midfielder that came over to close him down, spotted Villar ahead of him and put the ball on his toe. Airam then made a run between their central defenders. Villar saw this and fed the ball into the space.

Airam's shot trickled just past the left post.

We kept the pressure up on La Roda with wave after wave of attacks.

In the 64th minute, Bruninho timed it perfectly and intercepted a La Roda break-out pass. Villar was open betwen the central defenders. Airam was open between the right fullback and central defender. Bruninho played it to Airam. Instead of turning to face the defender who was late in arriving, he played a one-touch pass straight to a La Roda midfielder. I have no idea what was going through his head.

I got a sudden lump in my throat. Our shape was horrible. Both wingers were far upfield. Luque was, too. They had acres of space in which to attack.

And their first attack of the second half in the 65th minute was direct and deadly. The midfielder fed the ball to their lone striker Saad. Saad half-turned and just simply dumped the ball behind Tomas. Tomas, as you can probably guess had no idea where the La Roda right winger, Jordi Pablo was. Pablo was storming into the space behind Tomas.

As the ball bulged our net, I spun, pointed at Moises and mouthed "get ready." I immediately replaced Tomas with Moises. That's the last time Tomas will play left back for Cadiz.

1-2

I know what Alejo said into Moises ear just before he crossed himself, hopped across the touchline and sprinted over to his position. Do you?

We suddenly lost our attacking flair. Suddenly we couldn't put a string of two passes together.

In the 70th minute I replaced Bruninho and Andres. Both were spent. My only option was that Josete and Kike Marques would somehow spark the team to life.

Surprisingly, they did. Not they they were involved, but, hey, I'll take credit for inspiring the team with my brilliant substitutions.

From the resulting throw in, Moises threw it to Luque who beat his challenger and jogged forward with the ball. Luque doesn't look particularly nibble nor particularly speedy. But he's deceptive. I know. I know what his 20m, 40m and 100m sprint times are. By jogging forward he drew in a center back, the other midfielder and their right fullback. The brilliance of Luque is he'll let them get in close then somehow get a pass, and usually a killer one, to someone in a dangerous position. He was fairly quickly about 40m out when he slipped a pass through the on-rushing defenders.

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In this case it was Villar who received the pass and stormed forward into the empty space with the ball. His laser beam of a shot destined for the far right corner smashed into the back of the retreating fullback who was keeping an eye on Airam. The ball caromed across the penalty box, bobbling and hopping because of the resulting spin from the direction.

This is what I mean by deceptively fast when I refer to Luque. Luque beat everyone to the spinning, bobbling ball and smashed it into the open net.

2-2

I could finally breathe and the players looked pumped up rather than relieved.

They continued to press for the winner. But that gave La Roda their third attack of the game. We got caught with our pants down again. Only Josete, Chara, Martins and Moises were back. They had four attackers sprinting forward.

"Don't get caught out, Moises," I mumbled under my breathe. "Don't get caught out, son."

I nearly crapped my pants. Okay, I didn't. But I certainly was nervous.

I knew what La Roda were going to do. They were going to play the ball behind Moises.

"Don't get caught out, Moises," I mumbled under my breathe again.

They played the ball up to Saad who predictably just dumped the ball into the empty space behind Moises.

"Don't get caught out, Moises," I mumbled under my breathe again.

Pablo got the jump on Moises, but the kid is pretty fast. He overtook Pablo as Pablo was trying to get his feet set to shoot. Pablo then tried a shoulder feint on Moises. It didn't really work and Pablo squeezed off a shot just as Martins was about to close him down.

It wasn't much of a shot and Alejandro grabbed hold of it and smothered it as the whole stadium breathed a gigantic sigh of relief. I realized that I'd held my breathe for the entire counter attack.

View attachment 442956

We continued to press, but I knew we wouldn't do it. We didn't.

'The real difference maker, the player who could ****** points for us in games like this,' I mumbled to myself as the ref blew the final three blasts on whistle. 'Is Michael. And Michael sits forlornly in the stands unable to play any ****ing football until ****ing February of *****-****ing 2015. ***-**** but that ****s the ****ing ****** *** ******* *******!'

I told the players they were unlucky. I didn't have to say anything to Tomas. He looked shattered. It was going to take a while, maybe not this season, for him to regain his confidence. He really was that bad out there and looked that distraught in the changing room.

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We were third in the league behind the Sevilla teenager wash-outs, Sevilla Atletico, in 2nd and Albacete who were top after their 7 game unbeaten streak.
 
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Don't get me wrong. I love Spanish cuisine. Patatas Bravas, Jamon Iberico, Paella, Chorizo, Tortillas ... the list of great things to eat is endless. The hotel the club put me in when I first arrived has the best breakfast. I go there on mornings I don't need to be at the training ground early. But I'd been in Italy for half my life now. Bologna sits in the heart of Emilia Romagna, the indisputed capitol of Italian cuisine. I've been spoiled. I had physical craving for it. I was jonesing bad.

"I'm dieing Margarita, dieing," I said as I walked up to her desk.

"You look fine, what's the problem?"

"I need Italian food and I need it now," I exclaimed slumping into the chair across the desk from her. "Dieing. Please help me?"

"You're homesick, that's so adorable," she cooed. Then the walls were sprayed with her machine gun laugh. "I think I can help you. You have several option. But it will cost you."

"Oooh," I cringed. "How badly will it hurt?"

"Word is you've been dating Ana Maria," she said. "Tell me everything."

"Um..."

"Tell me everything or else I will resort to harsher methods."

"Okay, okay, anything for some Tagliatelle ala Bolognese or Pizza Napolitano or Spaghetti ala Carbonara or Lasagna Al Forno ..."

"You haven't told me ****, yet," she said giving a stern look. "I'm not telling you **** about any Italian restaurants until you confess to everything."

"I did it, I shot JFK," I faux-sobbed.

"In Spanish, please, you little ****."

"Okay, alright, don't get out the Iron Maiden quite, yet. I've been seeing her twice a week. It's great. She's perfect. What else can I say?"

"Is she sleeping over, yet?"

"Oh ****ing **** *****! Come one!"

"Well? You want to eat your beloved Italian food?"

"Yes, I do. Yes, she is."

"I knew it. I knew it."

"I'm not telling you anymore."

"You'll bring her in soon, won't you?"

"I'll consider."

"Bolognese..."

"Fine, yes, I'll bring her into the office to meet you."

"Okay then. See? That didn't hurt that much did it?"

"Only my pride."

"Here's the three places you want to go for Italian in Cadiz ..."
 
The allure of taking down the big kid on the block ...

San Fernando is the town you cross into when you leave Cadiz by the southeast. It's a town of just under 100,000 souls. It's unremarkable. Islenos would vehemently tell you otherwise. It's a pleasant community, I'll give them that, but Cadiz is the Capitol of the province of Cadiz in the region of Andalusia. In American terms, it's a bit surburban while Cadiz is dense and urban.

Cadiz CF S.A.D. rent their municipal athletic facility as property values in Cadiz are prohibitively high. Ciudad Deportivo Bahia Sur only became San Fernando CD's stadium in 2009 when they formed. It had been Cadiz's training ground for a while.

What I'm trying to say is that this match was huge for the Islenos, but not for the Cadistas. I'd prefer to keep it that way. That's why I agreed to move our trainings into the Ramon de Carranza. Avoid any drama.

San Fernando manager Juanma Carrillo wanted to ramp up the drama. In the both the San Fernando weekly paper and the Dario de Cadiz, Juanma talked about the intense rivalry and how important a match it was in their season. He even mentioned the history between the two teams. Funny. The only history is that Cadiz were tenants in your stadium before you were formed. Tenants as in your home stadium is our training ground.

Bogdan Laba from the Diaro de Cadiz called me about Juanma's comments and about Wednesday's match.

"Listen, I take his comments with a pinch of salt," I replied. "I get it that this match is huge for San Fernando. We're a big club. Their stadium is our training facility. We're just going to focus on preparing for the match and me, my staff and my players won't be letting anyone from their camp's comments get under our skins."

"I've watched San Fernando play, they play a quick passing game, what do you have to say about the way that Juanma has them playing?" Laba asked.

"It try to focus on the way my team plays than the opposition," I replied. "We'll concentrate on our own game. We've had some isolated problems that our opponents have exploited. We hope to have them addressed by Wednesday night in San Fernando."

"Your response suggests that you don't adapt to your opposition," Laba suggested. "Are you unwilling to adapt to the tactics of the opposition? Is there a danger your stubbornness could see you come unstuck?"

"Really, Bogdan? That's all you've got?" I responded. "We're undefeated on our travels. 15 scored, 4 conceded. I need to figure out what's going on when we're in Estadio Ramon de Carranza."

"It's not an unwillingness to adapt," I continued. "It's that I have a limited squad of players. At this point we play very well when we pressure high and move the ball around quickly. I'd love to spring tactical surprises on our opponents, but with the small squad, I've worked out a manner of playing that suits them best. We are in a play-off position."

"Moving on," Laba said. "Kike Lopez has played nearly every minute of every match. He must be getting tired. Do you plan to rest him against the Islenos?"

"I'm not sure," I replied. "We established baselines at the beginning of the season. He's still within them. I do need to rotate some players and give them a rest. I haven't decided anything yet for Wednesday."

"Would you agree that you have to overcome the considerable talents of their center back Paco Borrega to get a positive result?" Laba asked.

View attachment 442740

"He's the heart and soul of their defense, isn't he?" I replied. "But we have our plan. We play our way. I have confidence they can't stop us."

"How do you plan to beat Borrega and San Fernando?"

"Seriously, Bogdan? It woudn't be very sensible to reveal my plans to you so you can publish them and Juanma can read them, would it?"

"What do you think about the Albacete hosting Atletico Sevillas?" he asked. "This is the table topper match of the week in the Secundo B4. Both teams will want to show their promotion play-off hopes are real. Do you think Albacete will win this one?"

I actually think that Sevillas might be able to knock them off, but I know Albacete will probably get word of my comments. So I played the tactical choice; heap pressure on Albacete.

"I'd be surprised if they didn't," I replied. "Anything else, Bogdan?"

"No, thanks for you time as always, Enrico."

"Ciao."

"Ola."
 
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Round 9: San Fernando CD v. Cadiz CF

The stadium was nearly full. The Cadistas had crossed the isthmus to San Fernando and outnumbered the Islenos. We could hear them singing the Cadiz anthem from inside the changing room:

"Alcohol alcohol alcohol, we came here to get drunk and the result doesn't matter!"

I'd posted the line-up on Tuesday once I'd evaluated the regular's fitness. This was my strongest squad. Aymen Souda wasn't back from Tunisia duty so Villar got the start up front.

GK: Alejandro
D: Dalmau, Chara, Martins, Moises
M: Kike Lopez, Bruninho, Luque, Andres
F: Airam, Souda

I had decided that this one-sided derby, i.e., it was a big match for San Fernando, needed some passion. We hadn't been playing the way I wanted. It was time to jolt them out of it.

"Here we go," I said. "This is a big, big match for them. They are playing the illustrious Cadiz. The former La Liga team. The Islenos probably rooted for Los Submarino Amarillas back when San Fernando CD didn't exist and we were a top club."

"They are going to be pumped," I continued. "Are we going to let our neighbors humiliate us? Are we going to let them dictate the play tonight? Think about it. Beating us would be the highlight of their season. The Islenos would taunt the Cadistas for years if they could pull off a win tonight. We can't let that happen."

"Go out there tonight and take it to them! Keep it tight at the back and no ball-watching. Keep the pressure high up the pitch. Don't give them any time to breathe. Let's shove it down their throats the whole match!"

"I WANT YOU TO GO OUT THERE AND SHOW THE CADISTAS THAT WE CAME HERE TO FIGHT FOR THEM. I HAVE FAITH THAT YOU CAN GO OUT THERE AND TAKE THE GAME TO THEM! LET'S KICK THEIR ***** INTO THE BAY AND LEAVE THEM THERE!"

That seemed to work. They all looked pretty pumped. It's good I don't do that often. It'll have more of an effect this way.

San Fernando were pumped up and it's good I'd given the team talk I did. We weren't exactly flat, but Juanma had wound up his players to a fever pitch.

Alejandro made two fantastic saves in the first 10 minutes. Alejandro was pumped at least.

For a change, we scored on our first meaningful possession in their half. Kike Lopez won a corner down the right flank. Luque's corner was cleared straight up the pitch. Martins controlled it and thumped it over to Luque. Chara, Bruninho and Airam were still standing in the goalmouth. Villar was making an unmarked near post run. Luque spotted it and dropped his cross right on top of Villar's head for a flick header that their keeper couldn't really deal with because of the six bodies jostling him.

0-1

The Cadistas sang:

"Villar is our hero. We'll buy a beer for you because you're going to lose."

We kept the pressure up and the ball in their half. After 24 minutes. Andres drove up the left wing, passed it inside the penalty box to Villar. Villar drew three defenders then slid a pass to Luque. Luque blasted over from 15m.

Two minutes later, Borrega clipped Airam's ankles and we had a free kick from 22 or so meters out. Luque free kick was well high and wide. He wasn't looking sharp. I definitely needed to rest him in the next match.

Villar on the other hand was dancing with the ball at his feet and nearly taunting the Islenos.

On 35 minutes, Moises started a move up the left flank with a ball to Andres. Andres raced toward the byline but was shut down about 20 meters from the it. He passed the ball to Luque. Luque just hadn't worn his shooting boots today. He played a slide-rule pass into Villar's path. Villar's shot grazed the bar.

At halftime I calmly told them they were playing fine, but could do much better. Bruninho looked completely gassed. He just sat with his elbows on his knees like he was still trying to catch his breathe. I replaced him with Josete.

We continued our waves of attacks. Juanma was screaming himself hoarse with directions and encouragement. His effort up and down his coaching area was epic. His players tried to respond and worked their butts off to keep us at bay.

They finally broke on the counter attack in the 54th minute. Their central midfielder Jose Luis Vergara beat Josete on the dribble and fed the ball to their right winger. He played it into the path of their hard-charging striker Pedro Carrion. He smashed a shot high near post that Alejandro palmed around the post.

Yet another fabulous save by the Cadiz keeper!

In the 61st minute, Andres and Villar had worked the ball into the box and were playing a cheeky little game of keep-away. Both were trying to create an opening or find someone open. Juanma's face was bright red from screaming and you could see the veins in his neck sticking out from anywhere in the stadium. I worried that he was going to have a coronary right then and there.

Villar finally saw an outlet and stabbed the ball over to Luque who smashed a low shot (for a change) from 15 meters but right at the keeper. Their keeper deflected the ball rather than really saved it. The ball squibbed away along the far right side goal line. Kike Lopez beat everyone else to the ball and one-timed a shot from a nearly impossible angle into the net for his first goal of the season.

0-2

The players mobbed him in the corner in front of the Cadiz fans. They responded by chanting:

"Kike! Kike! Kick them in the balls! Kike! Kike! Ooh it hurts so good!"

As the team made their way back to their side of halfway for the restart, I got Martins and Luque's attention. I told them to calm things down, slow things down and keep this lead.

Alejandro made sure of it immediately after the restart. It was Carrion again. The Islenos striker smashed another shot, this time from the top of the box that Alejandro leapt across the goalmouth and tipped past the post. Another spectacular save.

I replaced my wingers Kike Lopez and Andres with Ceballos on the right and Kike Marques on the left. I gave them both instructions to stay back and help our fullbacks protect our shutout. Alejandro deserved one after how well he played.

I gave them instructions, too. Josete was to drop into a defensive midfielder position and Villar was to drop into a central midfield role. I was going to leave Airam alone up top. We had enough goals, I wanted the shutout.

In the 85th minute, Villar put on a show with a little help from Ceballanos and Airam. He got a pass from Josete about 35 meters out. He beat two San Fernando players, but couldn't get past their main man, Borrego. Now Borrego couldn't stop him or take the ball all he could do was slow him and keep him in front of him. When Villar reached the 5m box, he spun and played the ball out Ceballanos.

Ceballanos whipped in a cross for Airam who'd posted up about 7 meters from the goal. It wasn't high enough to try a flick header. It was about stomach high, quite an awkward height. Rather than try and control it with two defenders on his back, he smacked it with his chest toward Villar who'd dropped to about 10-12 meters from goal.

Villar cemented our victory with a smashed half-volley that the keeper didn't really see because of the traffic in front of him.

0-3

I checked my iPhone. Albacete were losing 1-2 to Atletico Sevilla. That was good news for us.


The Cadistas sang:

"We're so sorry. Come visit us, we'll buy the beer. Alcohol will wash away your tears."

While we'd been happy and jovial after previous victories so far this season, the changing room atmosphere was pumped after this performance.

Despite Villar's stylish dancing on the ball and brace, Alejandro was definitely man of the match. But what a team performance!

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Bogdan Laba caught me on the way back into the changing room:

"Congratulations!" he said into my ear as the singing Cadistas who were slowly filing out of the stadium. "I've already spoken with Juanma. He said that you're mind games in the run up to this inaugural Derby de Cadiz contributed to the result. Is it fair to say that you got under his skin?"

"I don't think so," I said into his digital micro-recorder. This has got to look weird. Bogdan yelling in my ear and then me speaking into Bogdan's hand. He had headphones plugged into the recorder. "Juanma is a good manager and while that's kind of him to say that, I don't think that anything you, Bogdan, tried to drum up in the run up had that much affect. This is no Pep-Mourinho mind games. It was a fun atmosphere here tonight, though."

"A quite incredible victory for you here tonight, how pleased are you?"

"We were excellent and I'm really proud of my players."

"You've managed to extend your unbeaten run to eight games," Bogdan said. "Cadiz seem invincible. Can you keep this form going?"

"These runs can't last forever and I don't want any Cadistas to overreact when the run does end."

"Kike Lopez finally got on the scorers list, how important is that for him?"

"Vital," I replied. "He's playing great and it will just add to his confidence."

"Last one. We all hear how managers and Chairmen don't get along, but what can you tell me about your relationship with Florentino Manzano."

"I knew full well coming in that finances were tight because the the lovely new Estadio Ramon de Carranza. I've brought in a complete staff of my choosing. I've added the players I needed. We were both shocked about the Michael suspension. We talk often. Director of Football Alessandro Gaucci and I talk all the time. Between the three of us, we work out any problems that confront Cadiz Club de Futbol.

On the bus ride back to the Ramon de Carranza, I got a text from Ana Maria:

"Fun match. My brothers took me. They can drop me at Mina's. See you there?"

I texted back "Si!"
 
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This is a cracking little story, really, definitely going to be keeping a keen eye out for each update, very good work sir! keep it up!
 
dariodecadiz.es
Los Submarino Amarillas sink Islenos
Bogdan Laba

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Villar smashes his second as Airam, top, and Jorge Luque, left, watch.

Cadiz smashed three past San Fernando in the inaugural Derby de Cadiz. Separated by a mere isthmus, Cadiz visited Cuidad Deportiva Bahia Sur to ignite a brand new rivalry.

Villar led the line with a brace, but the man-of-the-match was Cadiz goalkeeper Alejandro. He made four spectacular saves to keep San Fernando at bay.

"We were excellent and I'm really proud of my players," Cadiz Supremo Enrico Pucci said.

Islenos manager Juanma Carrillo admitted that Pucci won the mind games battle.

"I think that Enrico certainly did increase the pressure on us and ultimately his side came away with the result they wanted," Carrillo said. "Maybe I need to work on being less affected by occasions like this."

Cadiz dominated possession, had double the shots taken and on goal. They also had the majority of the fans inside the Bahia Sur nearly making the match a home game for Los Submarino Amarillas.

Kike Lopez finally got on the scorer's list with his first goal of the season after a rebound found him alone with the ball but at an impossible angle.

Cadiz remain in the promotion play-off hunt while San Fernando are a credible 12th in their first season in El Segundo B4.
 
Another good update after a good result, and hopefully that'll be a sign of things to come for you against the rivals! Hanging onto the play-offs, hopefully a promotion in sight!

All the best!
 
TheWriter said:
Another good update after a good result, and hopefully that'll be a sign of things to come for you against the rivals! Hanging onto the play-offs, hopefully a promotion in sight!

All the best!
Click to expand...

Thanks and thanks for reading.
 
Potatoes eaten Monday morning on the couch

"That was a fun one, eh?" I asked once everyone was gathered in the cafeteria on Monday morning. Everyone nodded and murmured their agreement. Everyone had a copy of the Diaro de Cadiz with the picture of Villar scoring the third goal. "The Cadistas will be gloating in the faces of their Islenos co-workers today, that's for sure."

"I'm really pleased with Moises development," Alejo Indias added. He's in charge of the defense. "For once our left flank wasn't the obvious place to attack us."

There were more murmurs of agreement and nodding heads. Alejo hadn't turned purple even once last night.

"Our training focus for the week is team cohesion," I said. "As always we'll practice corner kicks on Saturday. We haven't been winning many nor have we looked dangerous in the last three matches. What can we do about that?"

"Get Mehdi Nafti back," Paco said. "But seriously, maybe we need Airam drifting off the back of the crowd for a back post header?"

"What about working on short corners?" Javi Garcia asked.

We talked for a few minutes about corners.

"Next up is a long bus ride to Cartagena," I said. "We'll leave on Saturday afternoon, get to our hotel late."

"I want to talk about Cartagena's strengths and weaknesses right away this week and plan how we prepare," I continued. "Take it away, Jose."

"Thanks, boss," my Chief Scout began. "Cartagena are fast. They've been rotating players and either striker is fast. Their wingers are fast. I think their weakness is their keeper. He's decent enough in the air, but nobody would ever describe him as cat-like. He gives up rebounds, we need to be on them."

"They play a 4-4-1-1," he continued. "Their withdrawn striker or attacking midfielder is their key player. Everything flows through him."

"I need to rest Bruninho and Jorge Luque," I said. "I want Martins in midfielder as ball-winner. His job will be to shut down Alvaro Gonzalez. Jose Villar will drop into the creative midfielder role. Souda is back so that gives us a pretty healthy attack."

"Perico won't be ready by next weekend," Michel Roman my Head Physio interjected. "I know you were hoping. He'll be fit and ready for Almeria "B" in two weeks."

"Okay, thanks for the update," I replied. "Kike Lopez also needs a rest so this is Kike Marques' chance to shine."

"What are Cartagena's weaknesses?" I asked.

"On paper, they should be challenging for the promotion play-offs," Jose replied. "But Luis Tevenet, their manager, tinkers so much they haven't built up a rhythm, yet. We need to make sure they don't build up any positives against us. They're a solid side."

"We need to hit them hard early then hold on," Jose opined.

As the players rolled in for some breakfast prior to yoga, I talked to Bruninho, Luque and Kike Lopez. I reminded them that they were key players and I need to give them a rest. I asked them to remember that the season was 38 matches long and I planned on getting us into the promotion play-offs. To win promotion, we'd need everyone fresh in May and June.

A bunch of players were in the Physios room, but only Perico was there for his injury. Mehdi Nafti was still two months out with hip condition, he was in the gym riding the stationary bike very slowly as per the specialists orders.
 
Fantastic update, your conversational writing is insane and I just love these updates! Can't wait for the next one :)
 
"Good afternoon," I said as I walked into a rather crowded barbershop for my Tuesday shave.

I shook hands and back slapped with three of the four customers who were hanging out. The other was getting shaved by Esteban's partner in crime, Roberto.

"Good afternoon to you, Enrico," Esteban said motioning to his empty chair. "What a win on Sunday, what a win, eh?"

"It was nice, the boys kicked their ****ing *****, didn't they?"

Everyone agreed. And loudly.

"Alejandro was awesome," Esteban enthused. "And when did Villar buy those matador boots? The way he danced with the ball and teased those defenders just like a matador does with the bull? What a thing of beauty."

"Why can't Los Submarinos Amarillas do that at home?" a customer named Marcos who I'd often seen there asked.

I sighed.

"When I figure that out, you'll instantly know that I've figured it out," I replied. "It's one of the big problems we face."

"I think it's just your left back," Esteban intoned. "That kid Moises seems the only one of Andres, Tomas and him that can defend."

"I agree that Moises is solid defensively," I said. "But our offense looks listless, too."

"When Perico gets back, all will be well," Esteban predicted.

"You've been right every time," I agreed.

"I'm thinking of opening a Psychic, Tarot Card business," Esteban said.

"Yeah, we'd have a use for that third chair finally," Roberto said. Everyone looked at the always empty third chair and nodded.
 
So I checked out all three of the Italian restaurants Margarita recommended. The first two imported nearly everything from Italy, but were too touristy for my taste. I walked into the third option around 3pm. No hostess around, no waiters. It was a fairly small space and what looked like the chef was reading the newspaper at the bar.

"Buon Giorno," I greeted him in Italian.

"Eh, we're closed," he said in Italian without looking up. "But I can't place your accent."

"You must save me," I begged. "I am dieing for lack of some home cooking."

"Really," he said looking up. "Aren't you the Cadiz manager? The Italiano?"

"The same," I replied.

"You're from ... uh ... somewhere in Emilia Romagna, I remember that much," he said standing up.

"Bologna," I replied. I was prepared to get on my knees and beg some more.

"I have lasagna I could heat up," he suggested. I nodded approval vigorously. "Join me at the bar then."

"You are my savior," I said buttering him up. "Tell me about your restaurant. I had one in Bologna, but it failed with the economy."

"Yes," he said strolling into the kitchen. "That's why I'm here."

"Do you import or get it locally?" I asked.

"Locally," he replied from the back. "That's the beauty of food, no? Everything high quality, locally grown. I'm a member of the Slow Food movement."

"I really like the local olive oils," he continued. "Do you know that Spain produces around 3 times the oil that Italy does? And the pigs are different than around Parma where I'm from, but they're good. Really good."

We talked for a while about food. The lasagna was excellent. Guiseppe was the proprietor's name. I would be back here regularly.
 
Give a man lasagne and he won't go wrong ;) Great installment once again, loving this, always eager for the next!

Buon lavoro! *Closes Google Translate*
 
Round 10: FC Cartagena v. Cadiz CF

Cartagena is nearly 600 km away, a six hour bus ride across the entire length of the Costa Del Sol.

View attachment 442212

Herc, Cadiz's chef, had packed a feast into several coolers so that made it bearable. We drove to Granada and then into the Sierra Nevada range. I'd never been to Granada, but I'd heard that the big Moorish palace, the Alhambra is pretty cool.

View attachment 442210

We arrived a bit before 11pm at our hotel. Margarita had picked a pretty nice hotel and I got a decent night's sleep.

Our match was at 7pm so we had all morning and afternoon to wander around Cartagena. We were going to have a pre-game meal at 3pm then head over to the stadium.

Paco and I wandered around, saw the Roman amphitheater. Even an oaf like me can snap a pretty good picture with his iPhone of it. Cartagena has a deep, natural harbor and has been settled since around 400BC or thereabouts. I love the old, narrow streets especially.

View attachment 442204 View attachment 442203 View attachment 442200

After a pleasant morning and afternoon, we had our pre-game meal and headed over to Estadio Cartagonova.

View attachment 442198

I didn't want to rest Bruninho and Jorge Luque. Luque made everything flow and Bruninho worked his *** off every match. But they both needed a rest. Martins would move up into the ball-winning midfield role, Villar would drop into the box-to-box midfielder role. Aymen Souda was back from international duty so he'd partner Airam up top.

GK: Alejandro
D: Dalmau, Chara, Belforti, Moises
M: Kike Marques, Martins (C), Villar, Andres
F: Airam, Souda

The stadium was about a third full. A small pack of Cadistas looked lonely in a corner of the stadium with nobody around them. Cadistas are well-known across Spain for their pleasant dispositions and fun chants and songs. They never cause trouble. Even if someone would have wanted to, they'd have had a long walk to get there from where all of the other fans sat.

We got off to a dream start.

Dalmau got fouled by their left winger. He tapped the free kick to Martins who to a few touches with it and then passed it to Kike Marques. Marques controlled the ball and dribbled into the middle of the pitch. Souda came over and he fed him the ball. Souda one-touched it to Airam who in one fluid motion, controlled the ball into space and unleashed one of those dipping, wobbling Ronaldo-eque missiles. It was bound for just inside the near post. The keeper was diving for it but it one hopped right in front of him. The ball seemed to accelerate past their diving keeper.

0-1

The problem was that was our one and only foray into Cartagena territory that half. They pinned us back for the entire half.

A strong right hand from Alejandro kept their lone striker Antonio Megias' near post rocket out in the 3rd minute.

Moises had to make a desperation tackle after getting beat inside the box at 5 minutes. I gasped as I realized he was airborne, diving in to make a tackle from behind. But he took all ball, no man and Belforti thumped it to safety.

Martins, my Captain, didn't help matters. When he got the ball he either held it too long or failed to control a pass or passed it directly to a Cartagena man. During a break, I got his attention and yelled at him to make the quick, short pass. He was so hopeless out there, I considered replacing him before 30 minutes were up.

On 27 minutes, Martins had the ball yet again and telegraphed a simple pass back to Dalmau. Their right winger Miguel Angel Riau nipped in and stole the hospital ball pass and fed their withdrawn forward Alvaro Gonzalez. Gonzalez sprinted right at Chara who back-pedaled in a panic. Chara never stepped up to challenge and Gonzalez unleashed a cannon of a shot that Alejandro managed to parry. Unfortunately, the ball richoceted back in the direction where it came from and fell to Riau. Riadu smashed his volley in to tie the score.

1-1

Unfortunately, I had to replace Airam. He did his best to provide outlets to our beleaguered defense, but all he accomplished was to get beat up. It was pretty clear they were targeting him for some special sauce. He was trying to walk off yet another collision in the 29th minute when Paco, Michel and I had a quick conference. It wasn't worth risking an injury to our top scorer.

I replaced him with Josete who slotted in between the midfielders and the defense. Souda would be alone up top, but if I didn't insert Josete into the breach Cartagena were threatening to turn this into a route.

"Into the breach, Josete," I said into his ear just before he went on. "I have faith that you can stem the tide."

While the ball stayed in our half and Martins continued to show me he was no longer a midfielder anymore, we weren't in imminent danger of being swept away by a tsunami of Cartagena attacks.

They nearly took the lead just before the break. They'd won their 8th corner, Paco was keeping count, and their center back Javier Taranto rung a free header off the crossbar.

We were lucky not to be trailing by a lot. I told them so at the break. I replaced Martins with Bruninho.

We parked the bus and kept Cartagena at bay. It was hard, exhausting and boring work. But we kept at it.

In the 58th minute, Andres chopped down their full back out on our left flank. Alejandro, Chara and Belforti got everyone to play a high line at the top of the box. Their captain, Mariano, dropped a beatiful free kick right into the middle of the goalmouth on the 5 meter box. We'd tried to play the off-side trap, but failed. Gonzalez lunged and toe-poked a ball goalward.

Alejandro saved us by taking a step out, making himself large and blocking the point blank shot.

Cartagena continued to press, but could only manage long-range efforts that sailed either high, wide or both.

Dalmau was dragging the worst of the defenders from their herculean exertions so I sent on Caballos for the last ten minutes.

I stood there with my hands in my pockets, desperately watching each minute pass, hoping we wouldn't break or tire.

We did in the 87th minute. Chara cleared a cross out and Villar picked up the ball, he took one too many touches and gave the ball away. The defense had all relaxed for that moment hoping Villar would waste some time. Unfortunately, he gave the ball away and we were unprepared. Several diving blocks and two desperation tackles later and all they could manage was a tame long-range effort that Alejandro easily saved.

I knew we weren't free and clear. They'd replaced their starting striker in the 70th minute when he began to tire. His replacement, Galan, had been terrorizing us since then. He managed to get himself free in the 90th minute and figured this is it, all that effort wasted for nothing as he teed up his shot.

Thankfully, it grazed the crossbar. Alejandro was cleanly beaten.

That was all the luck we needed. The match lasted 97 minutes (3 extra at end of 1st half, 4 at end of 2nd). Of those 97, 95 were torture to watch. I was drained.

My post match speech was short and sweet.

"What the **** happened out there? How could we not put any passes together. I'm not happy with how you played. Get showered, get on the bus, let's go get some dinner back at the hotel and let's get the **** out of Cartagena."

View attachment 442175 View attachment 442174

Wait. What? They credited us with a 2nd shot? When did that happen? Our 37% possession was pretty much all in the 1st half.
 
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Cafeteria advice

"I'm actually in a better mood about yesterday's result than I was last night," I said to start off our Monday morning staff meeting. "We actually held off an onslaught last night. Compare that to just a few weeks ago when our defense panicked every time they were called upon. All credit to Alejo."

There were murmurs of agreement.

"We found out how important Luque really is to our side," Javi Garcia said. More murmurs of agreement.

"And Martins is now playing midfield like a center back," Alejo said to chuckles.

"And don't forget we have two easier matches ahead of us," Paco added. "Almeria B and El Palo are relegation fodder."

"Speaking of that, let's get straight to Jose and the report on Almeria B unless someone has something else," I said.

"Perico is back next week," Michel said. "I think he'll be good for 60 minutes."

"Almeria B stink," Jose summarized. "They're a bunch of cast-offs except for their left back and their right winger. They were embarrassing yesterday. They play a 4-2-3-1 and their attacking foursome, aside from that right winger, should be playing in an amateur league.Which is what they'll all be doing next season once they wash out of the Almeria system. I'm pretty sure they don't have a out-and-out striker. The kid who played there last week is harmless."

"Tell us how you really feel, Jose," Llorente joked.

"So we've got to guard against complacency and overconfidence," Paco warned. "Feel free to yell at them and make them do Killers if they start getting full of themselves."
 
Round 11: Cadiz CF v. Almeria "B"

For the first time in a while, I had some choices. Perico gave us a legitimate threat and creativity down the left. Luque could pull the strings with a real range of options. I had to choose between Souda and Villar to accompany Airam up top.

Bruninho is not playing confidently, but I think that these next two games should give him some confidence.

GK: Alejandro (C)
D: Dalmau, Chara, Belforti, Moises
M: Kike Lopez, Bruninho, Luque, Perico
F: Airam, Villar

Subs: Andres, Martins, Josete, Kike Marquez, Souda

It didn't start well for us. They brought the ball back from the kick off and swung it out right to their right winger, one of the two who could play Jose had warned, and he promptly beat Moises. Moises sprinted back and caught up with him before he could decide what to do with the ball. They danced a bit in the corner and eventually Moises nicked the ball off his toe for a corner.

That was the only danger moment for us all game. Talk about a contrast from last week against Cartagena.

We attacked rather nervously at first. But eventually we got in a groove and it resulted in a Jose Villar goal in the 22nd minute.

Luque played in a low, two-hop free kick in from the left. He saw that Villar had broken free from his marker. Villar volleyed home.

1-0

We kept the ball in their end for the rest of the half. Jose was right. They were useless going forward. At one point we got caught out. They had five against four defenders yet couldn't figure out what to do. Eventually, their left winger tried to play a ball out to the right but only managed to hoof the ball out for a throw on the far side.

We couldn't find that second goal before halftime.

In the changing room, I told the players that they'd played well, but had plenty of room for improvement.

It was just a matter of time before we scored again. It didn't take long.

Kike Lopez brought the ball down the right flank, ran into trouble, lost the ball but won it back and passed it to Dalmau. Dalmau teed it up for Bruninho. Just like it was in training, he stepped into it and launched a knee high, near post drive. Keeper had no chance. 2 minutes into the second half and we could coast.

2-0

We coasted.

Perico was tiring and should've gotten a second yellow card in the 59th minute for a stupid foul. Andres was just about finished warming up to replace Perico so I pulled the swap. He was back and would be back in form soon.

A few minutes later I sent on Martins for Belforti. I wanted to give him some minutes to regain my confidence after his debacle in Cartagena.

Villar wrapped up the scoring in the 69th minute. Martins controlled a long clearance and passed to Luque. Luque fed it to Villar who turned the defender one way then another before curling a shot into the far corner.

3-0

Josete replaced Bruninho with 10 minutes to go.

That was it. Easy victory. Almeria B really do suck.

View attachment 441983 View attachment 441982

Alejandro only had to take 8 or so goal kicks, deal with a couple of back passes and one maybe two long balls. Albacete and Atletico Sevilla also won so everything remained the same at the top.
 
No soup for you

I walked out to my Alfa Tuesday morning, got in, put the key fob in, pressed start and nothing. Not a click, not a huff, not a cough. Nothing.

I sighed. I sat there. I tried again.

Nothing.

Had I left the headlights on? Dome light? Regardless, it was dead.

I was standing there looking at it wondering if this was an omen of ill fortune when my phone jangled. It was Alessandro Gaucci, Cadiz's Director of Football.

"Ciao, Alessandro."

"Enrico, how's it going?"

"For starters, the Alfa won't start. Totally dead. But I have a bad feeling and imagine you have bad news for me."

"Sadly, I do. The players and staff aren't going to be paid on the 1st. We're having cash-flow issues. Florentino is working on the situation, but we don't know when this problem will be resolved."

"****."

"You need to inform the players and staff. Please tell them this morning."

"Will do, Alessandro."

"I'm sorry, Enrico."

"I know, I know. I'll take care of it."
 
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