The lookie lookie capital of Tenerife, El Fraile, played host to CD Tenerife for the second pre season friendly, this time against local team UD Ibarra. We had all been joking about the reputation of El Fraile as being “a little lively” at night but from our bar stop near the ground, we watched the Guardia Civil shaking down a group of local youngsters. They were being thoroughly frisked, seemed a bit exessive for an overdue library book, it may have been in connection with a gardening offence as several people mentioned that some weed had gone missing.
Anyway everyone was very welcoming to us, they even sold the 10 euro match tickets in the bar, preserving valuable minutes of drinking time. This was a new ground to me, very low walls around the pitch allowing easy pitch access for fans, apparently last time CD Tenerife played there a fan tried to do a streak on the pitch but was so drunk he couldn’t get his trousers down and fell over on the grass, all live on local TV. The Armada Sur filed round behind one of the goals and I joined them after snapping a few pics of the new players.
Results are just part of the picture in friendlies, it’s about looking for good signs, new partnerships, who’s hungry, who’s fit and trying a few younger players. CDT looked good again, Julio Alvarez (above) the big signing from Mallorca caught the eye pulling the strings in midfield and taking all the set pieces, free kicks, corners etc. Dani Kome seems to have got his appetite back and banged in the opener just after half an hour, from a cross by Berenger, the new French right back. Omar made it 2-0 soon after but Ibarra had a few good chances, forcing some convincing saves out of Luis Garcia.
Mass changes greeted the second half, the biggest cheer of the night was for Nino, fresh from signing his new four year contract. It was good to see Venezuelan born youth team graduate Josmar Zambrano (below) get into the action, he has been tipped as a future star for several seasons and he soon showed us what a good midfield player he is, with a hint of Messi about his looks and style of play. Nino was on fire, Bellvis set up his first goal and his second was a class affair with Bertran linking perfectly with him and a cool finish. Turbo, a lively ibarra forward, pulled two goals back, maybe the defence needs a bit of work. Another new boy, Natalio took his turn to shine threading a perfect pass to the unmarked Nino to complete his hat trick.
Another good workout in front of a 1,000 or so, at the final whistle many fans invaded the pitch and the CD Tenerife players patiently signed autographs and posed for photos. The General presented Pablo Sicilia with a new Armada Sur shirt and the central defender surprised us with his impressive English.