Time to pick up the pace a little, CD Tenerife took on Real Sociedad last night for the Teide Trophy in La Orotava, there was to be no pre season silverware though, as their former Segunda division rivals snatched a 1-0 win. Leaving the scorching south, we found the chill and cloud of the La Orotava valley quite a contrast as we met up with our blue and white comrades in a pre arranged bar, just down the road from the ground.
There was a good sprinkling of island based Sociedad fans, and a good few hundred of the all singing, all dancing peñas of CDT in our far corner of the ground, our police guard had swung from last years in your face close scrutiny to a more laid back, hardly interested approach. Super Mario made an appearance but had a rival in the “what planet am I on ” department, with a drunk, wobbly local who looked like an extra from a scouse soap.
A mintes silence was held before kick off for the 26 year old Espanyol captain, Dani Jarque, who died of a heart attack the previous day, and players wore black armbands. It was a young inexperienced line up for Tenerife, Airam and Angel led the attack, and their youthful enthusiasm gave Real problems in the first 15 minutes, Airam had a good shot saved. Sociedad looked strong and came more into the game while Dani Kome prompted CDT attacks from midfield.
The first half ended 0-0 but Sociedad came out strong after the break, and within 7 minutes some sloppy defence by CDT left Estudo to beat Aragonoses for a 1-0 lead. That sparked mas substitutions as Tenerife brought on 7 of the more experienced players, including Nino. It certainly spiced up the Tenerife attack, Nino and Richi both went close, but too many shots were going high over the goal. Late in the game Tenerife had a fierce shout for a penalty, but it wasn’t to be and the trophy went to Real Sociedad.
A much sterner work out for CDT against a side that should be one of the front runners to join Tenerife in the Primera. Many of the 4,000 crowd swarmed onto the pitch as both sets of players posed for photos with fans. As we headed back to the car, there was time to weigh up lessons learnt and the need for at least a couple more new players, certainly up front. Not a good end to the night for the few people who had parked in the shopping centre car park, only to find it now all locked up, thankfully we didn’t fall for that schoolboy error. It will be just over a week until we can see CDT v Lanzarote in La Laguna, in the meantime, they are off for a few more friendlies on tne mainland, and we will plan and ponder as the days tick down to the start of La Liga.