It’s official CD Tenerife are better than Wigan Athletic, well semi official. A convincing 1-0 win for CD Tenerife in La Orotava made it three straight friendly wins, this time against La Liga opposition Real Zaragoza, a few days after they won in England 3-1 at Wigan. Nino took his pre season tally to 6 goals and although Zaragoza put out a weakened side, Tenerife were all over them for most of the game.

It was a change from our usual northern runs for Santa Cruz home games, given an extra twist by the leg crossing need for a leak by Mrs Moron. We dipped off the motorway and down into Las Caletillas just past Candelaria and found a nice bar for the emptying and filling of various alcoholic liquids, at least we boosted there trade for the day. As we cut across through La Laguna and past El Sauzal, the clouds closed in and our 30 degree start point seemed another continent away. Getting off our sawn off coach, not enough numbers for the full size bus, at La Orotava it had dropped a good 10 degrees but that didn’t worry us as we found many of the other CDT fans at our usual bar up a steep back street. After a few Dorada’s we headed up to the ground, the evening dusk lit up by a couple of blazing fire crackers, The General had already sorted out the 12 euro tickets for us. The ground was pretty packed, about 6,000, so we made our way to the far corner to welcome the players onto the pitch.

From the kick off it was clear that Zaragoza didn’t have their strongest line up but CD Tenerife again played good football and soon got their reward. Ricardo, looking commanding in midfield, set up Nino after 11 minutes and his finishing was clinical making it 6 goles in 3 friendlies. Midfield was working well with Juanlu making good breaks, and defence looked a lot tighter, thanks in part to David Prieto who looks a wise signing for the centre of defence.

Both sides made changes for the second half, Zaragoza brought on former Arsenal and Liverpool forward Jermaine Pennant and he must have been delighted to hear so many English voices welcoming him. We were able to offer him honest assesments of his past performances, valuable career advice, and even suggestions for leisure activities he may like to indulge in. Tenerife kept the upper hand, Omar made a big impression that was to earn him the man of the match award and the defence was so good they restricted Zaragoza to very few chances. The only bad points were injuries to Sergio Aragonoses, Omar and Pablo Sicilia. The final whistle signalled a pitch invasion as the Teide Trophy was awarded and players signed autographs, even Pennant posed graciously with his tormentors. Overcome with emotion, and rather a few Dorada’s, the Morons missed the coach as we sailed off down to the south with more reasons to look forward to the league campaign with hope.

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.

The World Cup was a nice distraction but you can’t beat live football, that’s why I was tingling with excitement, singing football songs in the shower, and slipping on my CD Tenerife shirt with a renewed sense of pride and expectation. It’s become a traditional curtain raiser now to play at CD Marino in the first friendly so I headed down to the Royal Oak 2 to meet the Armada Sur, a chance to meet some good friends again and pick up my laughably cheap (125 euros)Â new season ticket.

It had been another baking day and the cold beer was very welcome, a large crowd of us had gathered and set off for the short walk to the Las Americas stadium. Part way down the road someone, who obviously we didn’t know and hadn’t met before, let off a big red smoke flare which illuminated some wild singing before being thrown across the road to smoulder on the waste ground. At this point a police van cruised by and pulled up, whoops time to stride on fast, the police went across and put out the sparking flare and thankfully didn’t try to snuff us out as well. Passing the small annex stadium we could see the huge stage and rig for the Saturday night Alejandro Fernandez concert.

Negotiating the long queue and paying the 10 euros entrance, well it’s CD Marino’s main source of income for the season, we passed the same raffle prizes that were on display last year and headed for the bar as the minutes ticked down to kick off. As always the bar staff used to home crowds of barely 200 struggled to cope with a 2,500 turnout and the ever thirsty Armada Sur, the service was slow and erratic. There is nothing worse than waiting to get a beer as people in front of you take ages to buy a packet of crisps. Anyway beers in hand we took our places on the terracing and tried to work out who was lining up in CD Tenerife’s snazzy new home strip. It was a mixed bag of returning players, new signings and youngsters that had been brought up for the pre season training camp over in La Palma.

CD Marino were poor, they have given us some tough games in the past but not this time, but for a first proper friendly it was pleasing to see CD Tenerife show some good signs. Nino has yet to sign a new contract extension but it’s looking more likely by the day that he will stay and it was good to see him in action again. Returning midfield player Hidalgo, back after a five year gap, opened the scoring after 10 minutes from a pass by Bertran, another key player looking close to committing his future to the cause. New signing Natalio set up Nino to make it 2-0 after 17 minutes and the play was flowing well. Iriome made a good start to his return from loan supplying Nino for a comfortable half time 3-0 lead. After some more scrumming down at the bar we were back for the second half as wholesale changes were made to the on pitch 11. Dani Kome came on and looked sharper than last season scoring a good goal cutting in from the left to round up the scoring after 75 minutes.

A good work out for the squad, and for our singing and drinking talents. There will be many tougher games than this but the new coach should be pleased with what he saw. Vamos El Tete.

Just up past San Miguel said The General, we were to discover it was quite a long way past. The football season is nearly upon us so what beter way to rally the Armada Sur troops than a barbecue up in the hills of Tenerife. It was all organised in advance with The General and German Frank going up early to the public barbecue site at Cho Pancho to stoke the fires and reserve us a decent space to spread out and enjoy ourselves. The coach picked us up from the Toby Jug and the The Royal Oak 2, a couple of our favoured watering holes, and then we headed up, up and further up the tight hill road way past San Miguel. It seemed we may have gone too far so we got the driver to do his best Italian Job impression by reversing and doing a three point turn just above a sheer drop. We should have had more faith, turns out we hadn’t gone far enough, another U turn later and a few frantic phone calls and we screeched to a halt just short of running over The General and Frank.

The barbecue site was down a slip road that we could have easily missed, even Yogi Bear would have trouble finding this place. Some were ferried by car down to the main site and other of us walked and what a fantastic site greeted us. Two sturdy toilet blocks signalled that we wouldn’t have to get too native and then the path led down into the forest and a clearing adorned with Armada Sur banners and flags. The hard working advance party had even hung a Pio from a tree, he was always going to meet a sticky end. As the chicken, pork, sausages and burgers sizzled nicely we found some nice shady seating either on the large benches and tables or on convenient rocks. Kevin and Karen had provided one of their trademark hot curries, mine slipped down nicely followed by a cold beer from the bottomless iced bins.

It was a very hot afternoon, we had a few worrying days waiting for the heatwave warning and fire ban to be lifted but our timing was spot on. Even in the shade the heat made its mark, some of the younger members started to spray water around, it was very refreshing and soon the impromptu showers had spread to the next party just along from us. Just a short walk up from our spot was a flat clearing, perfect for a game of cricket, one of our group had brought a wicket, bat, ball etc so Frank proceeded to show us that the Germans could whoop us at cricket as well as football. There was quite a drop if the ball went out of play, thankfully it didn’t happen that much. Cricket gave way to football but the heat and thirst drew people back to the barbecue area and some much needed iced drinks. The Pio was starting to look smug on its lofty perch so The General cut it loose and placed it over one of the grills. The yellow menace took a while to get going but burst into a satisfying ball of flame, the first of many pios to be punished this season.

Reluctantly we had to pack up and head up the slip road for our bus back to the south, everything was of course cleared up and we took all our rubbish with us. The bus back was boisterous and musical as the beer fuelled passengers refelcted on a superb afternoon of good company, good food and the best of Tenerife’s rural charms. Less than 2 weeks to go and we can get back on the terraces belting out our support for the mighty CD Tenerife.

With CD Tenerife’s La Liga adventure ending several weeks ago my blog has been sadly devoid of football – time to put that right. We are of course just over half way through World Cup 2010 and it’s getting interesting with several big nations going out. In 2006 Italy and France met in the final, this time they are meeting at the airport. Some of the unexpected teams are showing well, I just watched Japan play some great football to beat Denmark.

IÂ was going to do a photo special for www.tenerifemagazine.com on different nations and their support in bars around Tenerife but it has not really worked out. To date the turn out for some games has been poor, partly because of the lack of people here in general and partly due to bars baulking at the gamble of bringing in giant screens and signing up for different TV packages. I saw the opening game with a few South Africa fans at Legends in Los Cristianos but apart from that and the obvious Spain and England games it has been slim pickings. One glowing beacon has been the Holland fans, they have been filling several bars around San Telmo in Los Cristianos and really getting into the spirit with orange clothes and make up, good on them. I loved the Holland teams of 1974 and 1978 and even painted my Subbuteo players in the Dutch strip.

FIFA have been pumping out stats all over the place, here are a few from todays batch. The most distance covered by a player – Khedira of Germany with 35.87 kms to date. Fastest player is Hernandez of Mexico at 32.15 kms per hour. Here’s a sobering stat, the most lost balls stands at 35 for Wayne Rooney, lets hope for better things to come.

Even the lure of the beer couldn’t keep us from heading for the Valencia stadium 90 minutes before kick off to greet our players. Threading our way through the side streets from Plaza del Virgen we arrived ahead of time and grabbed some seats outside a small cafe bar in sight of the ground. The Mestalla stadium is partly shrouded by office and apartment blocks and rises high on all sides. Refreshed we headed to the players entrance and found hundreds lining the road with banners and colours, barriers marked out a short corridor from the parking spot to the open door and mounted police kept the crowds back on the pavements. After a short wait the coach pulled in and our tense looking players filed off, most of them too wound up to acknowledge the roar of the crowd, coach Oltra gave a flambouyant wave and they were gone, alone with their thoughts in the dressing room.

A bar across the road had already caught my eye and with an hour to kick off a few of us squeezed in and forced some more sedative down. Our alloted entrance was easy to find, mingling through the crowd with colours proudly worn, the locals greeted us in friendly fashion, well their third place finish was assured. The steps up to the top of the ground seemed endless but our perch had a great view as a sea of CD Tenerife fans spread out around us. The older part of the ground on the far side was dwarfed by the steep tiers we occupied and we cranked up the noise levels as CD Tenerife took to the pitch.

Manolo nearly gave us a dream start but Moya made a comfortable save. That was about the best that Tenerife could muster in the first half as Valencia, without rested Villa and Silva, took control of the game. Ten minutes in and we were crushed by news of a Malaga goal at home to Real Madrid, the collective sinking of hearts seemed to signal the inevitable. The team must have been aware as well, an away win against a classy Valencia side seemed impossible.

Sergio Aragoneses was as always brilliant, a strong block from Rodriguez and a weak Zigic header denied a home advantage. Baraja and Dominguez saw their casual shots miss the target and at half time it was all square. There was still hope but it was fading fast, Madrid levelled but we still needed a win. Alfaro troubled Moya but at the other end Sergio turned in two more fine saves to deny Dominguez and Hernendez. Ricardo managed a weak shot as the Valencia pressure built. The game was nearly finished and the Tenerife fans were wilting as Alexis drove in the final nail with a header from a Dominguez corner.

The Tenerife players were drained and could barely return the applause of the fans as the reality hit home. As if we weren’t depressed enough, the local police decided to hold us back as the stadium drained of fans, a misserable 30 to 40 minutes passed before we were allowed to descend the tight stairways, for good measure they then turned the lights out. It was totally un called for as our coaches were just below us and there had not been any hint of problems between the fans.Carefully sidestepping the calling cards of the police horses we found our numbered coaches and headed for a quiet low key flight home.

Away form did for us, and lessons need to be learned about life at the top level, but the whole experience has been an uplifting one, our appetities are whetted for more and that new season can’t come quickly enough.

Football, beer and travel, what a great combination, there has to be a downside of course, there was the small matter of the nail biting, gut grabbing climax to the La Liga season with CD Tenerife slugging it out to avoid relegation. Volcanic clouds diverted and a nervous evenings intake of Dorada to settle the nerves, and a small section of the Armada Sur joined the other football pilgrims at Tenerife South airport for our Sunday charter flight from Viajes Halcon.

Canarian TV cameras hovered around us as we queued at check in and Kirsty uttered a very naughty Anglo Saxon word that may be picked up by English speakers over their morning Gofio. No delays and we were soon touching down in Valencia, a much smaller airport than Madrid and easy to filter through to our awaiting coaches. First stop was the stadium to collect our tickets, the local marathon was in full flow and the sun spotlighted this very clean city where ancient and modern rub shoulders. The tickets weren’t ready for us so a few of us jumped off the bus, careful to avoid the many cycle lanes that criss cross the city.

Was it a mischievious IPhone or did Kirsty need to brush up in her map reading skills, either way we were headed in the wrong direction for Plaza del Virgen, the pre arranged fans meeting place. A quick about turn and we found our way to Plaza del Reina and regrouped over a few beers at a fast food cafe. Lookie lookie men have big ideas and even bigger displays of sunglasses here and we amused ourselves watching them set up and hurridly dismantle their pavement wares as the police played cat and mouse with them. Some of the previous days arrivals found us and we realised we were just a short walk from Plaza del Virgen.

Passing through the narrow connecting street we were in a large open square with cafe bars one side and a performance but it was the ornate statue draped fountain that really attracted us. Mingling with other CDT fans we swapped good wishes, beer and brandy as The General went in search of bubble bath and washing up liquid to liven up the flowing water. it certainly worked, the local kids loved it, tourists posed in the foam and the police looked on bemused. It was a lovely setting and I couldn’t resist a trip up the Torre del Micalet for 70 km high views over the city. A cluster of 14 bells held off while I snapped away at the gorgeous city unfolding below.

Time was moving on, the beer was flowing and the game was beckoning, Viajes Halcons rep had delivered our tickets so it was time to head for the ground to welcome the Tenerife players. Our date with destiny was almost here.

Written by Stephen King and directed by James Cameron, CD Tenerife’s La Liga relegation drama has been an epic and will now go to the dramatic finale at Valencia next weekend. Almeria showed scant regard for the script and came from behind to lead 2-1 in Santa Cruz before Nino equalised in injury time as the credits were about to roll.

Pre match nerves have never been so frayed as 20,810 packed the Heliodoro to sing, chant and will Tenerife to a vital win. It started so well, Roman had a strong header tipped over by Alves just 2 minutes into the game and Nino gave the keeper plenty to think about a few minutes later. Captain Bertran was on top form prompting the attack with a series of tempting crosses but he was more direct for the Tenerife opener after 15 minutes, picking up a loose clearance and curling his shot into the visitors net – cue an explosion of celebration in the stands.

But it couldn’t really be that easy, just three minutes later Cisma took advantage of some indecision from Hector and Sicilia and set up Piatti who stroked the ball into the bottom corner of the net to level. Almeria had nothing to play for but showed lots of spirit and took the game to a nervous Tenerife. Sergio Aragonoses was again the saviour with some fine saves especially one from Soriano. All square at half time and nails were dissapearing at an alarming rate.

Almeria grabbed the game by the throat as the second half started, Corona tested Sergio with two good strikes and found him up to the task. Nino and Roman both went close at the other end with headers as Ayoze and Alfaro tried to fashion another home goal. Then disaster struck as Almeria broke away and Crusat grabbed the lead beating Sergio at close quarters. There was barely 20 minutes left, Dinei was on and soon joined by Angel and Omar as the search for salvation got more and more desperate. Into injury time and hope was fading away, thankfully we have Nino a natural goal poacher, as the referees hand headed for his whistle Nino pounced after Manolo headed the ball down, time seemed to stand still as the ball eeked its way across the goal line and the stadium heeved a collective sigh of relief.

As the dust settled and the other results came in the task ahead became clear. Xerez are virtually down, that leaves four teams, CDT, Malaga, Racing Santander, and Valladolid tied on 36 points and hoping to avoid the two remaining relegation slots. A point may well be enough at Valencia with Valladolid at Barcelona and Malaga at home to Real Madrid. The Great Escape will have to be achieved without Ayoze and Bertran, both suspended after picking up yellows. All roads lead to Valencia and hopefully a happy ending, it’s gonna be a real blockbuster.

After 62 minutes it looked like an unlikely point for CD Tenerife as they held Barcelona 1-1 in their own backyard while resting several key players. The referee, a home banker, let Barcelona back into the game with a Bojan goal that looked clearly offside and the game was washed away from Tenerife in the torrential Catalan rain.

Coach Oltra rested Nino, Ayoze, and Bertran from the starting line up with an eye to the vital home game against Almeria this Saturday but Tenerife still gave a good account of themselves and had Barcelona worried. Alfaro set the tone, finishing off a great flowing move with a shot that went over the home bar. The forward nearly got caught out when defending at the other end, he lost a tackle to Alves and was relieved to se him shoot wide. Barcelona made the breakthrough aftr 16 minutes when an Alves cross was headed down by Ibrahimovic for Messi to nip in at the post and chip his shot over the diving body of Sergio Aragoneses.

 Messi was getting more into the game and hit a curling shot just past the Tenerife goal, and a dazzling run allowed Maxwell to unleash a shot that Sergio tipped aside in impressive fashion. It was a frustrating evening for Tenerife as the referee gave every decision to the home side but Tenerife rose above it and shocked the crowd with a well taken equaliser six minutes from the break. Kome broke and passed to Roman who gratefully slotted the ball past the Barca keeper.

Pedro, the man from Abades in Tenerife, came on for Barcelona to start the second half but the visitors had the first chance but kome was too slow to get to the ball with a clear sight on goal. Borjan looked in for decent chance but Sergio slid along the soggy surface to take the ball off him. The ref gave the home side a gift free kick whick Messi put over the goal but then that phantom goal gave them the lead. Alves slipped the ball through to Bojan and despite Tenerife appeals, the ref ignored the offside and allowed his goal.

That was a killer blow to Tenerife and gave Barca the boost they needed. Pedro skipped a tackle and nearly added another goal but shot wide. Xavi launched a free kick over the defensive wall but Sergio was at his best to  make a great save. Nino came off the bench and was just short in a one on one chance before Pedro shrugged off Sicilia to make it 3-1. Nino had the ball in the Barca net but his effort was offside, Angel arrived for Alfaro but the game was slipping away by then. Messi showed his skillful control to latch onto a cross and fire a 4th goal, Culebras was just about playing him onside. It was a flattering end for Barcelona and Tenerife trudged off soaked but with plenty of pride.

Dragging Racing Santander into the relegation dog fight, CD Tenerife were good value for their 2-1 win, only defiant goalkeeper Coltorti prevented a bigger winning margin. This weeks press spoke of a 20,000 euro squad bonus per every league point, if Tenerife stay in La Liga, but when it comes down to it, the character of the players will make the difference. Against a useful Racing side, Tenerife looked hungry and pushed all the way to the final whistle.

Roman had an early chance for Tenerife but Coltorti made the first of many strong saves to deny him. Sergio Canales (below in centre) is the rising star of Spanish football, at 19 he is poised for a big money summer move to Real Madrid and showed his potential forcing a save out of Sergio in the home gaol and putting 2 other efforts narrowly wide. Tenerife worked their way into the game, Nino missed a close range shot and Juanlu was unlucky to see his thundering 25 yard free kick hit the post.

Racing put some good attacks together with Canales and Tchite combining weel, but the CDT defence looked calm, captain Bertran mopped up several of their efforts. Canales sent his free kick over the bar and Ayoze headed over the visitors goal from a Bertran cross. All square at half time would have been ok but Tenerife had other ideas, Ricardo launched a telling cross and in form Roman was on hand to head home a lead just before the sun kissed 18,945 crowd took a shade break.

Juanlu opened the second half with a charge on Racing’s keeper but he was strong and blocked him. The Swiss stopper made his only bad mistake of the afternoon after 56 minutes, bringing down Alfaro for a penalty. Ayoze (below) took his time and delivered the perfect spot kick into the net to send the crowd wild. It was no more than Tenerife deserved, they looked by far the better team. This relegation tussle looks determined to keep us on our toes all the way, Arana put in a low cross and Xisco tapped it in from close range to add some doubt to the result in the last 20 mins.

For the remainder of the game there was a real duel between Coltorti and Nino, the diminutive Tenerife striker was denied 3 times by the sheer prescence of the Racing keeper. Nino’s determined clashes with the keeper were typical of the home spirit. The referee didn’t have the best of games, missing many of the more obvious calls, and when he added on 5 minutes of injury time it sent a shudder through us all. Tenerife did the sensible things well and played out the game, Nino even had a chance to increase the scoreline at the death but found his nemesis there to deny him.

The final whistle saw the ground erupt, Zaragoza’s 1-0 win at Deportivo was a let down but home draws for Malaga and Valladolid mean Tenerife are now third from bottom with just goal difference putting Malaga above them in a safety spot. Tuesdays game in Barcelona is unlikely to bring any points, but all eyes will be on our relegation rivals. La Liga just get worse, they still can’t tell us when the last home game is next weekend, whenever it is another win should set it up for the final game away to Valencia. Vamos Tenerife.