A hand on one pre season trophy and a winning grip of another were just rewards for two more impressive CD Tenerife displays. Newly loaned forward Choco Lozano from Honduras is waiting in the wings and even a pea souper fog in La Orotava couldn’t obscure the hopeful signs.
Can it ever be a friendly against Las Palmas? Well the 4,325 crowd for the home leg of the Mahou Cup hinted that this wasn’t expected to be the full fire and brimstone of a league derby, but it had its moments. Performance was more important than the result but we got both, Nano got the nod ahead of Cristo Gonzalez for the main strikers role and looked lively, after 17 minutes he was chopped down by Culio when through on goal. Maybe this, and some verbals, led Javi Moyano to flat hand slap him on the half hour near the touchline, the pio went down theatrically and team mate Viera ran in and grabbed Vitolo by the throat as it got heated. The ref showed good sense to just book an offending player on each side, the police were less restrained and went onto the pitch to intervene – surely fines and suspensions for them?
Apart from that Tenerife comfortably shaded the first half, a neat Carlos Ruiz back heel went just wide prior to the break. The second half saw the pios struggle to produce a decent shot, Tenerife looked steady, Abel replaced Nano after 58 minutes and again pressed his claims for a league start. Subs flowed with the biggest cheer reserved for Suso’s first pre season appearance. A 0-0 looked certain but sub Nadjib scored on the rebound in the final minute after first hitting the post, the Barcelona born youngster was signed from Lanzarote youth football as Las Palmas weighed up a move. A good all round performance, especially as the touring 24 man pio squad won 0-5 at Mensajero the previous night and 0-3 at La Laguna the night after.
Onto La Orotava for the annual Teide Trophy, this year against Primera side Eibar. Heavy fog shrouded the pitch and a shipping forecast seemed more appropriate than a team list but both sides played some good football with Tenerife looking the more decisive. Jorge got a start in the centre of defence in place of Carlos Ruiz and Cristo Gonzalez got another chance to shine in attack. Dani Hernandez must have radar or Spider sense, he picked out two long shots that he can’t have seen coming. Abel made some clear chances and Cristo tested the Eibar keeper with a long drive. Pedro Martin was again a class act, playing a support role on the right he carved out a few openings, Nadjib nearly finished off one but it cleared the bar.
The opener came after 35 minutes, Cristo robbed a defender and drilled in a precise pass for Pedro to finish clinically. Just before the break Eibar leveled with a dipping free kick shot that beat the outstretched reach of Dani. Nano was on for the second half and was unlucky to get squeezed wide as he lined up a shot. Suso relieved Abel, Alberto swapped with Jorge and the Tenerife dominance continued, Nano chested the ball down for Pedro but the keeper did well to smother the ball at the base of the post. Eibar could have nicked it with a late free kick but hooked the ball high. Four straight penalties from Vitolo, Suso, Nano, and German, were too much for Eibar as Dani saved with his diving body and with his foot to give Tenerife the trophy.