Athletic continued their Europa League campaign yesterday, opening the group stage with a 3-0 win over Austria Wien. I personally did not see the game due to my class schedule, but the scoreline tells it all: Athletic have found their form. They opened up the La Liga campaign with two wins, and yesterday proved their worth with a strong showing. Because I didn’t see the game, I will post my impressions from what I’ve read, but if you saw it feel free to correct me or leave your personal impressions.

Llorente awoke (finally) scoring twice, once off of an 8th minute penalty and again in the 24th minute. Munian was given a start and scored the third and final goal of the match in the 56th minute, once again showing great work ethic, pace, and proving to me that he is the future of the club. I hope he and Llorente are cranking out the goals for years to come. As shown in the Xerez game, the Basques drew more fouls and capitalized on the other team’s mistakes. Yeste was able to shake off an injury, return early, and play the entire match. Athletic’s defense did not give up goals like they had previously against what I view as weaker teams (Austria is no different) and for the first time in this campaign I am able to smile comfortably without any doubts as to Athletic’s form.

Athletic will be returning to league action on Saturday with a game against Villareal, and return to the Europa League on October first against Werder Bremen. The next five games are Villareal (9/20), @ Tenerife (9/23), Sevilla (9/26), @ Werder (10/1), and @ Valladolid (10/4). This is a jammed fixture list and the games against Villareal, Sevilla, and Weder will be very tough. Hopefully the good form stays and the boys can get through it with some points.

One more thing to point out- yesterday marks Etxeberria’s 500th appearance for Athletic Club Bilbao. Hats off to him- he has 500 caps (get it?).

Well, Athletic are through to the next round of the Europa League thanks to the away goals rule. Unfortunately, I did not actually get to watch the match because I couldn’t find a working stream. The site I use to tell me when/where streams are on lied to me and told me ETB was showing it and they weren’t. Then the third non-ETB link that site had up wasn’t running. Before I get too off-topic, just know that this post will not have many details because I wasn’t actually able to watch the damn game.

Anyway, Llorente got the scoring started for Athletic in the 26th minute. It’s a shame I didn’t actually get to see the goal.

Then, Munian came on for Susaeta in the 69th minute, only to grab his first-ever goal for Athletic (at least in a competitive first-team match). Congrats to him from the fans! This kid’s definitely a player I’ll be keeping my eye on for the future. By the way, that’s his goal pictured above.

Young Boys managed to get a bit of consolation in the 91st, but it wasn’t enough. Thank you very much, away goals rule!

I am disappointed by this game though. My reasons: I wasn’t able to watch it (I’m not bitter, in case you’re wondering) and the fact that I will no longer be able to make Wankdorf jokes.Then again, I’m glad that I won’t have to read 10,000 articles about artificial grass whenever I look up news on Athletic.

Athletic’s lineup: Iraizoz, Iraola, Ocio, Amorebieta, Castillo; Susaeta (Muniain 70′), Javi Martínez, Yeste (Gurpegui 86′), Marcos (Orbaiz 80′); Toquero, and Llorente.

Unused subs: Armando, Koikili, Ustaritz, Etxeberria

Before it’s too late, let’s take one more opportunity to laugh at Wankdorf.

Wankdorf.

Wankdorf, with its artificial grass.

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.

Reports coming out of Spain state that Athletic has signed 26 year old striker, Iñigo Velez formerly of Real Murcia, for two years. His stats don’t look that great. Last year with Murcia he played 10 games and scored only one goal. But we need more options up front and he’s dirt cheap. With this signing, Caparros has five strikers at his disposal: Extebe, Fernan Llorente, Arduritz, Ion Velez and Iñigo Velez (no relation).

THAT’S OUR NEW KID IN RED/PIMENTONEROS COLORS

RANT TIME

The Athletic fans at the foros/forums are not very happy with the signings so far. With dreams of Europe or UEFA Cup, everyone was expecting one big signing IE Nacho Monreal, Joseba LLorente, etc. Nothing. Del Olmo is the only signing worth bragging about. Instead of fighting towards Europe, Caparros and company will most likely be fighting against relegation. OK, people let’s calm down. Athletic may be one of the most popular teams, run by Socios, that has never been relegated, but due to our philosophies and finances, we do not splurge on the transfer market. We prefer to find that diamond in the rough or potential in the cantera. We need to concern ourselves with the New Catedral. Plus we are hoping that our current squad will step up, and strive for glory. We’ve got the taste of Europe last year and I really think we still have a chance in 2008-9. Yes our left back problem is a gaping hole, but put a little faith in President Macua and Caparros. Sheesh! The available Vascos in the transfer market are slim pickens or overpriced. Quite honestly, we are a team that does not like to get in debt. Very admirable indeed. We also screwed ourselves messing with La Real and this time the courts came after us! So we need to stay away from pinching La Real’s players and it hurts, but somehow we can find a way. We need to hone our skills and attack and defend as a unit. No stars, just Team Athletic. Rant over.

INJURY UPDATE

Joaquin Caparros is working our players’ asses off with three training sessions a day.

Here is a list of the most recent injuries in preseason!

*Youngster (only 15) Iker Guarrotxena – Injured during running exercises, IE overworked. Poor kid! The prognosis is favorable.
*Pablo Orbaiz – recuperating after ankle surgery. He recently did a lot of press, being very positive about his recovery. Slowly but surely, Pablo. There will be more tests upon his return to Bilbao. We need our defensive midfielder back and fast.
*Koikili – Right ankle strain. He is undergoing physiotherapy. Ouch, this is going to hurt. Our Left Back position is probably our most vulnerable. Get well soon Koi!
*Ion Velez with muscle spasms. He skipped training, but nothing major. Phew!

ONES TO WATCH

Two youngsters have really impressed in training so far: Iturraspe and Agueros. Iturraspe is only 19 years old and a “crack”. He has really impressed Caparros and company with his maturity in midfield and is definitely one for the future. Agueros has also been impressive. He is only 18 years old and could be a potential solution or backup for our Left Back dilemna. Do we have one of the best canteras and scouting program around? You bet!

YESTE IS SO STRONG! LOL

THE FIXTURE LIST IS OUT!

Our first rival/victim is Almeria at home on 8/31 – awesome fixture. Our last game will be at the Mestalla vs Valencia. Hmmm. Athletic Fixture List