Before I get into my rant, let’s review the latest friendly tournaments. Athletic returned to Huelva and played two games in the Colombino Tournament. The first game on August 6th was a cakewalk. Athletic with a decisive 3 points against new boys Malaga. Ongi Etorri (Welcome) Ion Velez – cantera player returns from his loan last year to Hercules and he scores a brace (very nice). He also provides an assist to Iraola. 3-1 no big deal and with only 10 men. (I’ll get back to that later). Caparros played the big guns (Susa, Etexbe, Gorka, Yeste, Ocio) for the most part against newly promoted Malaga, odd?

The very next day, August 7th, Athletic played for the trophy vs Recreativo Huelva, the home team. This is Huelva’s tournament and this is probably the best competition that Athletic has encountered this summer. To date, Athletic has played (9) friendlies.

Caparros brought out more of a B team vs Recre. OK???? Recre beat Athletic 2-1. Athletic’s first pre-season lost. Another penalty and another expulsion or red card.

What is going on? Too many penalties given and too many red cards! Four expulsions in the last four friendlies. FRIENDLIES! Houston we have a problem. What is going to happen to the team during the regular season? This cavalier, bully, attitude is going to lose points and hinder our abilities to succeed and get back into Europe. Caparros doesn’t think there is a problem. I hope he’s right, but this poor pattern needs to be nipped in the bud and fast! Our rivals will use this to their advantage. Piss off Athletic and they will go ballistic. Nice!

Let’s take a look at our culprits….

ARITZ ADURIZ – 27 year old striker with a bone head move vs Charlton. Sent off in the 87 minute. Why?

ANDER MURILLO – 24 year old defender/right back, hard man, who lost it against Colchester. A rush of blood to the head. Direct red card in the 61 minute. OK, he is fairly young but he has been playing with the first team since 2005!!

FERNANDO AMOREBIETA – 23 year old central defender, a class act. Our future and the future of Spain. It is sooooo frustrating that Fernan got sent off in the 40th minute vs Malaga. We schooled Malaga. Was this really necessary? I know we pride ourselves with having the most yellows, fouls, etc but NOT red cards.

AITOR OCIO – Our poster boy or hawyt dude and 31 year old central defender. If anyone should know better, it should be veteran Aitor. But once again he was sent off with two yellow cards vs Recre in the 92 minute for naught. Brilliant!

CAPARROS SPEAKS

And what of the Mister? Well, he hasn’t come out chastising the boys. In fact he has come out a bit defensive on the issue of 16 friendlies. This is the total number that Athletic will have played this preseason. The Spanish press decided to have a go at the Manager. Here’s his response:

“I’m in my element at this club,” enthused Caparrós.

“When I first came here I was asked if I’d be watching the ‘B’ team. It amazed me that it was even conceivable that the coach wouldn’t watch the reserves.

“We have also reached an agreement with a team in Iparralde, in the French Basque country, to incorporate interesting players in the future.

“We all work 24 hours a day. What I want is footballers with intensity. We don’t stop. We train, we do reports, we monitor the characteristics of each player, we watch matches of other teams. We’re above all!”

Well, I hope there is an endgame or method to his madness. There’s gotta be. I still believe in the gaffer and his methods. Bit why play the stronger team against Malaga rather than Recre? Oh well, life goes on. But I worry about injuries and I especially worry about the emotional strength of the players. What are we a bunch of hot heads? We have got to keep our cool.

IN OTHER NEWS

Zubi (Iban Zubiaurre) has had a helluva year with the whole Real Sociedad fiasco, courtroom drama, the guilty verdict and having to pay millions to La Real for his “illegal” transfer. (All dirty laundry from the past President Lamikiz era). Zubi needs time away from the spotlight to recoup and play football. Well we have found him a home. He is being loaned this season to Elche in Alicante, the second division team. Good luck Zubi.

THIS WEEK’S FRIENDLIES:

Sunday 8/10 – Teide Tournament vs Tenerife 9pm
8/12 Friendly vs Eibar @ Zarautz 6pm
8/14 Friendly vs Cadiz 10pm Ramon de Carranza Tourney
If they win they will play 8/16 for the Trophy

Possibly 4 games in one week. Hot damn!

Well the team squeeked by with another win in London, but this time a little rough housing occurred. Here’s the jist of it.

* Early score thanks to a link up by Susaeta and El Gallo, Extebe~*
* Missed Opportunities galore, yes you Llorente!
* Missed penalty by Charlton’s Thomas. Hit the post.
* Second half full of argie barge and substitutions galore.
* Aitor Ocio yellow carded for dissent. Whuh???
* Aduritz red carded in the 90th for violent conduct or rather trying to smack Fortune.

Check out the Charlton Athletic view/Match Report.

Colchester should be fun! I hope we hear from dear ol’ Dave with his personal report on the two games.

RUMORS

It looks like President Macua is working on another kit sponsorship deal. This time with Umbro. The deal is for an additional $2M Euros per year for 3-4 years. More needed cash flow per our Prez. Athletic’s shirt sales average 60,000 units per year. This is second only to Madrid and Barça. An official announcement from the club is expected this week.

More NAYS to Premier Clubs, this time Everton who put in a bid for our young starlet midfielder Javi Martinez. Rumored to be around 6M Euros. NO, no way! Too cheap and he is critical to our success. Thank you, but NO thank you.

Under the fact stranger than fiction category – Restorations in a 13th Century Spanish Cathedral have discovered the shield of Athletic Bilbao. What??? If someone finds a foto of this, please send me a link.

FRIENDLY IN BIZKAIA VS LEMONA

7/30/08 – Another near miss. Athletic eked out another one-nil win. This time on an Own Goal forced by Orbaiz. OK, we played a reserve team, but this little Third division team from Viscaya almost beat us!

Six friendlies to date. Just nine more to go… Is Caparros sane?

Los Leones squeaked by with a win on penalties against AS FAR from Morocco in the Semi Finals.

Here are the stats:

34′ 1-0 Kaddioui
42′ 1-1 Fernando Llorente off a cross from Javi Casas

Penalties:
Athletic: 1-0 David Lopez
FAR Rabat: Mohamed Mrini hit the post
Athletic: 2-0 Gurpegi
FAR Rabat: Issam Eraki miss
Athletic: 3-0 Muñoz
FAR Rabat: 3-1 Mohamed Anime Kabli
Athletic: 4-1 Aitor Ocio

OK, Athletic played poorly for the most part, but grinded out the win and now we face UEFA Cup bound Udinese on Friday 7/25. It should be a fantastic match.

ANOTHER TOURNAMENT

Athletic will participate in the Ramon de Carranza tourney in Cadiz along with Villarreal, Cadiz and Sevilla – August 14, 15 and 16th.

TIDBITS

* The club is trying to offload Tiko. So far no takers. Sigh.

* Yeste refuses to talk to the Bilbao press. i don’t blame him. Leave our resident psycho genius alone. He needs his space.

* Xabi Castillo from Real Sociedad refuses to do any business with Athletic. What can I say. There is too much bad blood between our respective teams. Best to lay low and allow the recent bad karma to play out. Athletic needs to leave La Real’s players alone and stop depending on stealing their players, at least for the interim.

*Fernando Amorebieta is still in Bilbao recuperating from his nose surgery. He will most probably join us for our friendly tour of England against Charlton and Colchester.