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 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?

Five youngsters were presented as part of the first team. 14 and 15 year olds who will be training with the first team and may be brought in as needed, by Caparros and staff. I hope to see these boys get some time in the Copa Del Rey and friendlies. All 5 youngsters have been called up to play against Lemona today in another friendly. Watch out for future stars: Ander Iturraspe, Ander Agüeros, Jonás Ramalho, Iker Guarrotxena, Iker Muniain y Iago Herrerín.

It was nice to hear Caparros start his brief speech with a few sentences in Euskara. President Macua also spoke and insisted that the main objective will always be the cantera and to maintain our 100% Basque only policy. This in juxtaposition to a global economy and recessionary times.

You can see the full presentation on the official site.

The new first kit and second kit have now been presented. The second kit is a metallic blue kit, very stylish IMO.

There is a poll on the official Athletic site – What do you think about the advertising? Good, Bad or No Idea. The current poll results: Out of 5,500 Good 48.65% Bad 39.71% and No Idea 11.64%.

It is going to be a very interesting year. The results on the pitch will be extremely vital. UEFA or bust!

Next Lemona, Charlton and Colchester!

Athletic won their 24th Antonio Concepcion Reboura Trophy. They played two Fourth division (Spanish Tercera) teams from Huelva – San Roque LEPE and Ayamonte.

MATCH RECAPS

The first game on July 18th vs San Roque was a goal fest. Nice to see Extebe with a hat trick. Athletic definitely got into the spirit of things quickly. Nice to see youngsters, Agueros and Ramalho get some minutes in the 2nd half.

San Roque de Lepe (IV) 0 – 7 Athletic Club
10′ Susaeta 0-1
34′ Yeste 0-2
43′ Llorente 0-3
68′ Etxeberria 0-4
70′ Murillo 0-5
78′ Etxeberria 0-6
83′ Etxeberria 0-7

First half; Iraizoz; Iraola, Ocio, Ustaritz, Casas; Susaeta, Gurpegi, Javi Martinez; Del Olmo, Yeste, Llorente

Second; Iraizoz; Casas (Agüeros 60′), Murillo, Koikili; Garmendia, Javi Martinez (70′ Jonás Ramalho), Garmendia, Gabilondo; Etxeberria, Aduriz, David Lopez

The second game the next day (7/19) was against Ayamonte. Athletic just squeaked by with a lucky win. Itturaspe and Toquero got a chance to strut their stuff. Ustaritz made a horrific mistake in defense. This gave Ayamonte’s Cris Baiano the opportunity to score. Lack of fitness was apparent. Luckily Arduritz scored with a late header or the game would have went to penalties.

Ayamonte (IV) 1-2 Athletic Club
10′ Baiano 1-0
46′ Gabilondo 1-1
89′ Aduriz 1-2

First half: Armando; Iraola, Ocio, Ustariz, Casas; Iturraspe, Gurpegi, Yeste, Susaeta, Del Olmo, Toquero

Second; Armando; Murillo, Ocio, Casas, Koikili; David López, Garmendia, Muñoz, Gabilondo; Etxeberria, Aduriz;

Next up for Athletic is the Morocco Summer Cup. Athletic will play AS Far of Rabat tomorrow in the semifinals. Udinese will play Pacos de Ferreira of Portugal in the other semifinal. The winners will face off in the tournament final on Friday. There will also be a consolation third place match that very same day. Yay, more silverware.

TRANSFER UPDATE

Igor Angulo (24, left sided midfielder) and Aitor Ramos (23, forward) have been transferred to Ecija in Segunda B. The club has sold the duo with options to repurchase should the need arrive or the players improve greatly. The two players had few appearances (5 and 7 respectively) with the first team. Both players are still quite young, so we may see them back at Bilbao.