Undeserved loss

It takes me ages to come to terms with losing especially when like this is was undeserved. They played really well and in one minute of unconcentrated play Zaragoza managed to score a goal. I am not the only person, everyone I have talked to says CD Tenerife played well and at least deserved to win. Zaragoza have spent lot of money on players, where as we have spent very little. We looked the better side.
Playing for us were:
Aragoneses, Marc Bertrán, Bellvís, Manolo Martínez, Luna, Ricardo, Román (Omar, 62), Alfaro (Ángel, 80) Kome (Saizar, 86), Richi & Nino.

Playing for Zaragoza were:
Carrizo, Ayala, Pablo Amo, Jorge López, Uche (Obradovic, 88’), Pennant (Ander Herrera, 70’), Gabi, Aguilar (Babic, 70’), Arizmendi, Ponzio & Laguardia.
Yellow cards were given to Arizmendi for Zaragoza and for us to Luna, Román, Bellvís, Manolo Martínez y Nino.

The start of the game had both sides playing very carefully watching to see how the other was going to play. Both seemed more preoccupied with not letting a goal in than actually scoring the first gol. Slowily Tenerife started to move towards the 3/4 line with the aim to score.

In the 4th minute Jermain Pennant ex Liverpool player had a shot towards the gola but Arizmendi failed to convert it into a goal and the ball went out. In the next play Tenerife counterattatcked and Alfaro shot with the ball hitting the post.

shortly after the 30 minute mark Tenerife had a clear shots at goal, first with Richi shooting a header and secondly Nino with a ferocious shot at the Zaragoza goal.

Again and again Tenerife took the ball all the way to the local teams area playing with precision and courage. Just before half time Tenerife players Alfaro and Nino missed great possible shots at goal leaving the half time score 0-0.

The first part of the second half the ball moved from one end to the other in a constant rhythm of up and down. The teams both knowing the importance of starting the league with points. They chased the ball without stopping in a constant stream of energy. Uche and Kome were always in the action and created chances where they played. Inspite of the fact Tenerife played well Zaragoza's goal came in the minute. From a play by Herrera who had just come onto the field ending up at the feet of Arizmendi who scored.

The last few minutes of the game both sets of players were tired and you could see the mistakes. there were fewer sequences of passes and the game was more choppy. It ended in a win for Zaragoza which gives them their first three points.

The Table looks interesting with Athletico Madrid who are actually playing in the Champions league last ( 1 game missing). Tenerife is 16th with no chance of being in the last 3 positions this week.

The team have also announced that they now have 14.050 season ticket holders. I would expect the figure to start to rise after Tuesday when many holders get paid.

What a game

This was really a game to have seeN. We arrived over 1 hour before the start and the stadium was already half full. There was hissing and booing as the Xerez fans came out to warm up and Ovations as the Tenerife players came on.

There was a great mosiac provided by the Caja Canarias which looked awesome in the stadium.

For both teams this was an important game. A draw would have given Xerez (Jerez)mathematical qualification and keep Tenerife in with a chance for going up. Oltra our trainer had said on Saturday "All we need to do is concentrate and win. Even if we don't win we depend on ourselves but a win is what we need."

The game started well with both teams playing their best. An early goal from Alfaro put Tenerife in the lead. But for Tenerife worst was to come. After 27 minutes the ref sent Ricardo off with a direct red card for a foul. Tenerife need to pull theseles together and play even better and tht is what they did. Until half time they held the ball and just got on with defending.

At half time there was "El Chut de tu Vida" an chance for a lucky few to score a goal from the half way line and win money from the BBA bank the main sponsor of the first and second division here. No one won but it passsed a few minutes.

At the begining of the second half Xerez had a few chances but fortunately there wasn't a goal. Nino sentenced the game in the 84th minute. The Tenerife team played like heroes and a team worthy of being in "La Liga"

Next weekend they play against Girona away and hopefully will be mathematicaly qualified to go up.

This was taken  after the game ended. The fans just stayed and stayed. The marked board has Tenerife first which is why there is so much fuss. The player giving up his shirt was Pablo Sicilia but he was not the only one last night.

CD Tenerife to the first division!!!

For the first time there was the shout in the stadium of 'We are going to the first division "Nos Vamos a Primera" 'On a warm sunny Sunday morning nearly 17,000 people managed to come to see their team. Considering the game was also televised this was a great turnout.

There was a memorial for Rommel Fernandez. Cristo presented flowers at the memorial which was at the Popular end of the field.

The game started well and there was a early chance by JuanLu which hit the side bar. Alfaro headed the first goal in minute 23 and followed it up with another header in the goal 25 minutes later. The final goal was form Juan Lu. Although Nino had chances it just wasn't his day. Ayoze, Angel and Cristo Marrero

Tenerife v. Murcia

It seems every game is a final this late into the season. We move form game to game calculating and recalculating to see the possibility of us ending up in the top 3 and actually going up to La Liga.
Tenerife has actually not lost at home since the 30/11/2008. There was a draw on the 15th of march but other than that we have won every game. Tomorrows game is at 12.00 as it is the Canal Plus game for sunday morning. Tickets behind the home goal are sold out but there are seats everywhere else. Murcia have a few injured but will be looking to play well so Tenerife will need to play their best and we should have another win.