Malaga at home, that’s the the opposition for CD Tenerife in the next round of the Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup) on Wednesday October 10 at 9pm.

Lots more league action before then, starting with Hercules at home in Santa Cruz, on Sunday September 16 at 6pm, and a chance to show that last weekends 4-1 away defeat at Granada was just a bad day at the office. Home form will be the key to a genuine promotion push and CDT have already shown they have some great play makers this season but consistency and character will also be vital. The Armada Sur will as always be there to cheer the team on, contact them for travel details.

If you bump into coach Oltra, pat him on the back and give him a cigar, his wife has just delivered a second son Miguel, lets make it a double celebration.

We thought this season would be different for CD Tenerife, but once again they set us up, just to knock us down. This 4-1 defeat at Granada 74 must rank with some of the worst performances of recent seasons.

Juan Pablo in goal looked wobbly and uncertain, the defence were slow and didn’t mark players and Nino was left to forage up front alone with hardly any service, even Cristo had a mare and gifted Granada their 3rd goal.

After 6 minutes, Ayoze lost the ball to Saizer, who strolled past 3 defenders and curled the ball round Pablo. Tenerife were lucky to be awarded a penalty after 17 minutes after Nino slid down in the box after backing into a defender. Ayoze scored twice after having to retake the penalty.

N’Diaye was sent off after 41 minutes for a second yellow after jumping for a 50/50 ball. The Granada player went down clutching his head as if he had just been given open brain surgery, and the ref bought the con.

Just 5 minutes into the second half and the ball bounced off the pitch in the penalty area and struck Nino’s arm and the ref gave a harsh penalty which Luque converted. Manolo saw a long range piledriver hit the bar with the rebound just eluding Nino, and Longas skied an easy chance in front of goal, but that was as good as it got.

Then with Cristo on as sub, a Granada player eluded 4 Tenerife rear markers before running into Cristo on the byeline. Cristo gave the ball away carelessly to Fagoaga who planted it in the Tenerife net. The sorry affair was finished 5 minutes later as Esteban charged down the right, and unchallanged, hit the 4th home goal.

Cats all over Tenerife will be hiding tonight to avoid a good kicking. Â

It wasn’t pretty to watch, but CD Tenerife are through to the next round of the Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup) after a 1-0 home win over Poli Ejido.

Coach Oltra, shuffled the pack and put out a weaker side than the one that shone so brightly in Sundays 2-0 league win. Out went Santos, Longas, Juanma and Nino and local rising star, Rosquette played in the lone strikers role.

Too many long balls up front were easily snuffed out by the big Ejido defenders and the first half ended goal less. It was a bit better in the second half as Ayoze nipped in after 55 minutes to get the all important goal.

Dare we hope for a cup run? Well they will have to play better than this, but looking on the plus side, it was a win, another clean sheet and a 7,889 crowd is very good for a midweek televised game.

What a joyous night of football in Santa Cruz as CD Tenerife beat much fancied Cadiz 2-0 with a superb performance full of attacking flair and solid defensive organisation in front of 13,941 fans.

The night started with a minutes silence for Antonio Puertas, the 22 year old Sevilla player who died from a heart attack last weekend. Once the whistle blew for action, Tenerife showed that they intend to play the ball around this season but a lot of their creative efforts came to nothing as they still lack a big centre forward, Arruabarrena, once fit , will fill that role.

After 36 minutes there was a great opener as Ayoze won the ball off a Cadiz player and fed Nino, who nipped in past 2 defenders and placed the ball perfectly in the net.

It got even better just after the start of the second half as Longas fed Santos who went on a run down the right wing and crossed for Ayoze to head the ball home and double the lead. The defence coped well with the few chances made by the visitors but the new look Tenerife had confidence and easily held their advantage.

This Wednesday, Poli Ejido are the visitors in the Copa del Rey, kick off 9pm, not to be missed. The Armada Sur will of course be running a coach, so get in touch.Â

After kicking off the season with a useful 1-1 draw away to Sevilla Athletic last Saturday, CD Tenerife crank up the home campaign this week.

On Sunday, it’s home to Cadiz, one of the other fancied teams for promotion, kick off 6pm in the Heliodoro Rodriquez Lopez stadium, Santa Cruz. The transfer window closed without the hoped for return of former goal hero Paunovic but Cristo Marerro is fit again. The Armada Sur have 2 coaches running to the game and will be in good voice.

On Wednesday September 5, it’s cup time as CD Tenerife take on Poli Ejido in the Copa del Rey (Spanish F.A.Cup) kick off 9pm. Congratulations to south based Raqui San Isidro who got through the preliminary round last week with a 1-0 away win at Caudal Deportivo and also on Wednesday, will host Racing Portuense in the next round.

News of a former backroom member at CD Tenerife, Paco Ayesteran, has reportedly quit as number 2 to former CD Tenerife manager, Rafa Benitez at Liverpool, after working with him since their Tenerife days.

The waiting is over at last and the new Spanish football season is underway. CD Tenerife started off with a good 1-1 draw away to Sevilla Athletic in the Segunda Division, thanks to a second half goal from new forward, Nino, after 66 minutes.

It was a poor first half display and Sevilla took the lead after 29 minutes with a Sanchez penalty after Culebras was judged to have handled in the area. A better showing in the second, especially after a double substitution at 58 minutes brought Iriome and Rosquete into the action. The equalising goal came when the creative Longas sent the ball across for Nino to head home. A good point, cant wait for Cadiz at home next Sunday at 6.00pm, contact the Armada Sur if you want to go.

Elsewhere, good to see our nearest and dearest, UD Las Palmas lose 3-0 at Numancia, the first of many stuffings for the Pio’s. In the Primera, Barcelona drew 0-0 at Racing Santander, Real Madrid started with a 2-0 home win over city rivals, Athletico, and Almeria had a superb start to life in the top tier with a 3-0 win at Deportivo.

A sad postscript to the weekends games. Sevilla senior team player, Antonio Puertas, collapsed twice in their weekend Primera game and was taken to hospital with heart problems. sadly he died on Tuesday, aged just 22.

Still a week to go until the Spanish football league starts and CD Tenerife have added 3 trophies, well friendly ones, and signed another forward.

On Sunday 12 August a 2-2 draw at La Orotava with Sevilla Athletic, saw them pick up the Teide Trophy 4-1Â on penalties. Good to see Icod boy Ruben Rosquete score and another young gun Omar get the second.

On to Tuesday at La Laguna and a 0-0 draw with Valladolid followed by another penalty win for the Puma Trophy. Enter another forward signing with Nino finally joining from Levante but not in time for the Hermano Pedro Trophy at Raqui San Isidro last night, 15th August.

A nice 3-2 win and again the young local players grabbing the headlines. Suso equalised an early San Isidro goal and by half time Rosquete and Sicilia had made it 3-1. The home team pulled one back late on but Tenerife got their hands on some more silver ware. Things are shaping up nicely.

It may look like something that has been sent in to Vision On (ask your parents) but the Teide Trophy is well worth winning and could be the first honour of the football season for CD Tenerife.

Last night the mighty Blanquiazul won through their semi final on penalties after a 1-1 draw with Universidad Las Palmas in La Orotava. Earlier in the day the 2 newest playing recruits signed in, Antonio Longas a midfielder from Zaragoza and at last a forward, Mikel Arruabarrena from Xerez.

Anyway back to the action. A typically boring friendly first half for 0-0 at the break then a Tenerife lead after 66 minutes via a penalty from Ayoze. Universidad levelled after 77 minutes, the first goal conceeded in 347 minutes of friendly pre season action. Penalties loomed with 5 each, Raul Navas saved Las Palmas 3rd and Tenerife hit the target with all theirs from Martinez, Iriome, Perez, Hormiga and the winner from Ayoze.

So it’s back to La Orotava on Sunday evening for the final against the winner of UD Las Palmas (the Pios) versus Sevilla Athletic. Vamos Tenerife, oh and please can we have another new forward (looks like Nino from Levante) and we can really start to be confident about the new season in 2 weeks time.