Wednesday at 8 Saturday at 5

Tenerife v Athletic Bilbao Wednesday 23rd at 8pm

Real Madrid v Tenerife Saturday 26th at 5pm (Canarian & UK time)

If it's Tuesday this must be Belgium If it's Wednesday this must be Rome Or so the song goes ...

We now know 3 games in advance the federation is improving. For those of you in the UK the thought that we wait week in and week out to know the date and time of the following weeks game brings amazement. But here it is that way having a mid week game means we have the times of 3 games in one go. The LFP has originally decided that the game should be at 7pm Canarian time but after the club complained the time was put back to 8pm. Tickets for this game will go on sale on Monday the 21st of September at 10am.

There have been announced some statistics about the first 2 rounds of the liga BBVA. CD Tenerife has had more shots at goal than all but 2 other teams. In the 2 games they have had 35 shots at goal. Only 2 of the giants Real Madrid (46) and Athletico de Madrid (43) have had more. If we look at which player shot these passes the Alejandro Alfaro had most shots with a total of 13 followed by Barcelona player Ibrahimovic, with 11; and the Real Madrid player Cristiano Ronaldo, con 10 (4).

In an interview Nino announced that the fans we wonderful and that the players could ask not more from the fans. When asked about his goal he replied that a forward always likes to scored but he tries not to get obsessed about it. Yesterday the players had a training day, today they are off and tomorrow they start to prepare for Saturdays game.
Román Martínez talked about how great it is to win, especially at home. Now he stated they need to continue along the same path and continue gaining points. He said he felt much more comfortable then he had against Real Zaragoza although he hopes his play continues to improve. His final comment was about the Osasuna game who he said that CD Tenerife were much better then Osasuna. And he looks forward to a victory in Mallorca.

What a win but what a scorcher.

Yesterday's game was wonderful. The stadium was full, the atmosphere was great we have wonderful seats facing the home goal near the singing bench so we can hear the Frente Blanquiazul, Armada Sur and the other fan clubs as they shout and sing. I am not sure if I have mentioned it but we are sat in the Under 23 area. This is because we get a cheaper seat for my under 23 year old son. This was a great thing the club did for the young fans and the area is full. There are families like us with older children and young people. The area is noisy and given a little encouragement will be noisier. Yesterday especially towards the end of first half there was a feeling of heat malaise that was difficult to overcome. I have never see the stands empty at half time like yesterday. Everyone just wanted to get into the shade. The club had really tried to get the time of the game changed and I hope for the next Sunday game we don't have 4pm.
Playing for Tenerife were

Sergio Aragoneses; Marc Beltrán, Manolo Martínez, Ezequiel Luna, Bellvis; Ricardo, Román Martínez (Dinei, 87’); Alfaro, Richi (Mikel Alonso, 72’), Kome (Omar, 82’) y Nino.
And for Osasuna
Ricardo; Azpilicueta, Sergio, Flaño, Monreal; Puñal, Nekounam; Juanfran (Rúper, 72’), Camuñas, Masoud (Calleja, 58’) y Walter Pandiani (Portillo, 81’)

Referee
Carlos Velasco Carballo, from Madrid. He sent off with a direct red card the Irannian Nekounam (71’), for hitting the Tenerife player Román Martínez, and with a double yellow his fellow player Monreal (47’). Yellow cards were given to Tenerife player Román Martínez (38’), and Osasuna Players Flaño (17’), Aspilicueta (32’) & Puñal (61’).
Goals
1-0: (47’) Nino scored from a pass by Ricardo over the head of a defender. 1-1 (51’) Pandiani, from a header with no one marking him. 2-1: (62’) Ricardo, with a great shot from 30 metres away.
Incidents
This was the second round of the BBVA league there were approximately 18,323 spectators , and a minute silence was kept for the trainers, share holders season ticket holders, fans and their families who died during the last season and also the ex CD Tenerife player Juan Herrera.

The entrance to the game was a problem. For some reason on the San Sebastian side only 3 of the possible 5 entry gates were open causing queues and bad feeling. Some of the fans didn't get into the stands until 10 minutes after the game started. We actually got in just in time but queued for over 25 mins to enter. Hopefully Wednesday week will be better.

The game itself was great. The players played their best. We had some great shots at goal which didn't go in during the first half and then 2 great goals in the second half. Ossasuna announced that the ref was over rigorous with calls but he missed a back pass to their keeper which the keeper should not have picked up. Jose Luis Oltra said after the game that he was pleased how they played, that they they need to make better use of their chances in order not to be stressed. When asked about the time the game was played his only comment is we play when we are told but we had to eat lunch at 11.30. José A Camacho, Osasuna's trainer complained about the calls and how unfair it was to have 2 sent off.

Big game - on the radio

The lead up to Sunday's game is exciting and suspense filled. The club will be selling the season tickets until the start of the game in the Stadium. I am not sure what other clubs do but this seems like a great thing for a fan to be able to arrive the day of the first home game, pay for his season ticket and go into the game.
The team has been working all week towards tomorrows game. Kome finally came home yesterday and was able to take part in the training session. He had travelled 14,000 Km round trip and played three minutes in the game against Gabon. Still he is home safely and uninjured. Whether he will start for us hasn't been announced.
The fan clubs are calling for fans to be there when the team arrives 2 hours before the game to greet them. Also for ticket tape bits to throw as the players come out and scarves to wave as they play. I was cutting up bits of old magazine when the girlfriend I go with explained to me they have a shredder that cuts paper into great sized pieces so I am not cutting any more and she will bring bits with her for all of us. We are planing to have lunch in Santa Cruz before the game and I am not sure I will make the teams arrival this time but there will be other games.
It has been announced that next weeks game in Mallorca will be at 5pm Canarian time on Saturday. After taht we have a midweek game and then the Real Marid away game. We are still waiting to hear which dates that game is but we have flights which leave us in Madrid from Saturday am until Monday am so either day will do.

The game will be commentated on Oasis Fm in English if you can't make it or are in the UK

President Miguel Concepción says

In the last couple of days the President of Club Deportivo Tenerife has talked about in the medium to long term building a 40,000 seater stadium. This would be built in conjunction with the Canarian Government in the area between La Laguna and Santa Cruz. This was talked about yesterday when the 15,000th season ticket was bought. Jorge Perera Castro was the Tenerife fan who registered for this season ticket and he was gifted one of the going up remembrance shirts with his name on it.
There has also been stated that the club will keep communication with the Spanish football federation that home games are not played at 4pm on Sundays due to the excessive heat. although negotiations failed for Sunday the 13th of September in the game against Osasuna the club will continue to fight for the players and the fans.
The refurbishment will not be finished by the start of the season and the VIP stand is expected to be finished by the winter break. The Offices under the Popular stand should be finished by the end of the season and this will allow the club to move their administration to the Stadium grounds.
Tickets went of sale this morning from 10am in the Stadium and in the registered sale points in Puerto de La Cruz and Playa de las Americas. Tickets are expected to sell out before the game starts.
The club president also stated that he expects the club to stay in the first division this year. He expects the support for the fans to help the players maintain the high level of play they had last year.

Game time confirmed

Although the club has tried to have the time of Sundays game put back an hour so we start at the same time in time terms as the rest on the other games the Spanish federation have decided that we should play at the same phyisical time as the rest of the games. I hope it is not too hot and perhaps we can wish for a cloudy day like today.
Tickets for the game go on sale on Thursday morning and will be available in the stadium, in Bar Canario, in Puerto Cruz; and in Librería Papelería Raquel y Carla, in Playa de Las Américas.As previously mentioned prices are
Tribuna: 65 euros.
San Sebastián: 45 euros.
Herradura: 35 euros.
Popular: 20 euros.

Míkel Alonso stated in an interview today that if the fans support them he is sure the team will win on Sunday. We all hope this is the case.

It is still not clear who will play in Juanlu's place.
Juanlu and Culebras are the only players on the injured list and Culebras is expected to train with the rest of the team from next week.

CD Tenerife B had their first win in 2B this season beating Cerro Reyes 3-0. The away team ended up with 9 players on the field and missed a penalty which could have equalised them at 1-1

Long week

Last week was a very long week the transfer market is closed and there was no build up to the game. Nothing really exciting happened and the stadium refurbishment hasn't really moved forward. There were international games to look forward to but thats not quite the same.
This week on the other hand is full of excitement. Our first home game is on Sunday at 4pm. I feel sorry for the team who are coming as 4pm here is very hot and this will be a home advantage all season.
The people who haven't collected their repeat season tickets up to now can no longer do it via the club web page or the Cajacanarias they now have to do it in the stadium. Up to now 15,100 tickets have peen paid for. This is 1400 more than the best ever record for the club.
the refurbishments will need to come this week if not the VIP area then at least the singing stand would be great to have seating. If you sell seats it would be good to have them in place
The photos below are from the Armada Sur fan club Forum.

Marc Bertran - happy with his position

Although there had been several teams interested in buying Marc he is staying here in Tenerife. Zaragoza had offered 2 million euros for him but were turned down by the club who are interested to maintain the block from last year and have added to it with players like Dinei and Roman.

In an interview this week Marc Bertran CD Tenerife's new captain announced that he is very happy to have been elected main captain. He stated in an interview yesterday that he was happy the club had shown maximum faith in him. He talked about the players commitment to the next game at home against Ossasuna which they are going to play with maximum effort. He also commented on the fact that the home fans are a big support in the trail to stay in the first division.

There have been over 1000 tickets applied for for the following weekends game on the 27th away against Real Madrid. The requests are high as it is an important game but also because the stadium is easy to get to from here with no flight change or long journey on arrival in Barajas.

Aitor Nuñez has a contract with the second team Tenerife B although he is expected to play for the first team. This was a technical decision which leaves the club with 4 free spaces in case they need to buy more players in the winter break. Nuñez said when he first heard he was shocked but after speaking with Santiago Llorente he understood the club's position and was happy with this.

The sale of season tickets continues both in the club and in the Centro Comercial Meridiano