Archive for November 19th, 2019
Hope On The Pitch But No Mercy In CD Tenerife Boardroom

Aritz Garai Lopez was shocked to be sacked after his patched up CD Tenerife side ground out a 1-1 home draw with Cadiz, the nine points clear top team. Alvaro Cervera, the visiting coach probably wasn´t, he was sacked four years ago after rescuing Tenerife from the doldrums of Segunda B. That´s 18 coaches in 14 years.

Injuries decimated the Tenerife line up. Luis Milla, Luis Perez, and Alex Bermejo, the best players at the club, led the injury parade. Shaq Moore, a left sided defender struggled at right back but even so, veteran captain Suso gave Tenerife a shock 11th minute lead from a Mierez set up. Just before that, home goalie Ortola had saved from Sanchez. Carlos Ruiz, another veteran was at the heart of the home defence, he had been pressed into service due to the poor displays of Sipcic. The Serbian was warming the bench along with Dos Santos, an equally poor defender brought in a year before by the Sporting Director. I´m not trying to make you weep for the departed coach, just enlighten you to why the Tenerife coaching job chews them up and spits them out.

Back at the game, hope was springing eternal, even the return of Honduras striker Choco Lozano, this time in a yellow shirt, wasn´t offering as much threat as was expected. Cadiz did rattle the home crossbar but the midfield pairing of Undabarrena and Alberto slowed their progress and Munoz was playing well alongside Ruiz. Borja was the spark going forward and had two decent strikes at goal. Mierez was picked ahead of Malbasic, he did well holding up the ball but he doesn´t shoot enough and the lack of goals has been one of the main causes of Tenerife´s slump. Just after the half hour Moore was exposed at the post and the ball came loose for Mauro to pop in for the equaliser.
Tenerife didn´t drop their heads, they came out for the second half eager to get at Cadiz. Nahuel looked tired with his socks at half mast but still made his powerful charges like a rhino answering the dinner gong.

Suso was fired up, he roasted his marker and took the ball to the line before hooking it back to Mierez, but he reacted slowly and a defender cleared the danger. Nano, another former Tenerife player came on as sub but didn´t offer much. Negative substitutions is one charge levelled at Lopez, the coach showed ambition this week by adding Dani Gomez for Borja. Alberto picked up a booking, totting him up to a suspension next game, a nice welcome for the new boss. Javi Alonso took over from Undabarrena, and Malbasic entered the attack in place of Suso. Mierez squandered two late chances with a header and a wide strike. In the end a valiant point looked like some sort of platform for the coach to build from. There were no calls for the coach to go from the 9,860 crowd but he had been warned that a defeat would see the end of him, it turned out a few hours later that even a draw couldn´t save him. Terrace calls for the club President to go have been a feature all season, a new takeover bid for the club is gathering momentum and may have played a part in the sacking but patience has never been a virtue at CD Tenerife.

Smash And Grab Duo Send CD Marino Sky High

There’s just no stopping dynamic forwards, Zeben Buades and Nami. A goal each steered CD Marino through a niggling game at home to CD Vera for a 2-0 win to open a four point lead in their Tercera Division group.
For much of the first half Marino were frustrated by the disjointed pattern of the game, thanks to a weak ref and some exaggerated reactions to tackles by both sets of players. The yellows from the north of Tenerife favoured a big punt of the ball but their accuracy left their front men chasing lost causes. Nami´s early long ball was more tempting for Marino as it fell just in front of inrushing Zeben, but he sliced it over the Vera bar.

Zeben and Makana tussled for a loose ball that brought a free kick for the yellows, an easy take for David in goal. Meshack was ready to use his size to pressure the home defence but another wide ball only brought a corner. Mechi took it short and set Barcos up for a shot that missed the post. Charni was strong in the centre of defence for Marino, when Meshack shaped up for a shot, the defender played the ball out calmly to diffuse the danger.

Marino worked hard to take control of the action, Stephane offered good options on the left wing and towards the end of the half he swapped to the right to keep the visiting defence off guard. Nami snapped a low shot in which found Alibey alert between the posts. The half ended with a confident penalty shout from Vera for pulling when Meshack went down in the box. The ref just waved their demands away. Simon tested David with a neat shot as the second half started but it soon switched to the other end where Alberto slipped the ball through. Nami turned on the spot and swung a boot at the ball but it lacked power and Alibey had it covered.

An hour gone and Marino made the breakthrough. Alberto made good progress down the right and put in a tempting low cross, Zeben cruised in and tapped the ball past the keeper to make it 1-0. The goal maker departed soon after as last seasons top scorer Ahmed returned from a spell in Belgium. The striker looked a bit rusty but it´s a frightening thought for the rest of the league to know Marino are going to increase their goal threat. There was still a lot of work to do to ensure the win. Meshack broke clear and only had David to beat but the goalie came out and narrowed the angle before blocking his attempt.

 

Home coach Kiko de Diego, encourages his players to be versatile and support each other. Antonio Samuel demonstrated that well as the left back overlapped and made a great pass into the path of Nami who buried the ball in the back of the net for the second goal with just under 20 minutes to play. Nami went close to adding a third goal, his shot was only half saved but scrambled away. Vera were still hoping for a way back, when Diego lost the ball in defence they were ready to pounce before Charni made a saving tackle. This wasn´t Marino on top form but their work rate and self belief served them well.