A one-off game where Athletic fielded a reserve team for the most part:

Lafuente: Murillo, Koikili, Exteita, Amorebieta; Orbaiz, David Lopez, Muñoz, Ion Velez; Iñigo and Del Olmo

On the bench/Second Half transfers: Armando for Lafuente (46′), Agueros for Orbaiz (88′), Ariño , Toquero for Ion Velez (46′), Ramalho for Murillo (80′), Julen Goni for David Lopez (46′)

Good News:
* No red cards or expulsions!
* Cracking goal by Muñoz in the first half. GOLAZO! Ashame that he refused to celebrate and raised his fist at Caparros. Iñaki is not very happy that he has lost his place in the first team to Iturraspe and others.
* Orbaiz looked back to his old uninjured self in the first half
* David Lopez was very dangerous as well in the first half
* Canterano and central defender Xabi Exteita looked solid. He was very good in the air and quick. He is possibly our number three or four defender. Ashame he injured Ustaritz in training. Usta will now be out for a month.
* I like Joseba Del Olmo’s play and what he adds to the team. He likes to dribble, has great ball control, and dynamism. He tries to beat his man and reminds me of the phenom Markel Susaeta, which is fantastic.
* Did I mention we had a decent first half?
* Armando saved Los Leones from a rout in the 2nd half.

Bad News:
* Long haul a** day, flight complications, and delays. No direct flight. After a 16 hour hell day, the team finally gets to play vs Tenerife.
* Craptastic second half
* Lazy a**, piss poor defense in the 2nd half
* Long ball heaven in the 2nd half
* No midfield in the 2nd half
* Poor ball distribution, circulation, and ability to make any attacking play in 2nd half
* Schooled by second division, mid table Tenerife in 2nd half

Why the crappy display? Was it the long 16 hour day? Was it pure laziness? Or was it those constant long balls coming out from our defensive back line? Bottom line – the midfield went missing and we got thrashed. Thank goodness for Armando or it would have been 6 or 5 to 1. And whose fault is the coordination of a very long trip and day for our team? After the game the boys flew straight back home, cuz there’s another game on AUGUST 12TH. I blame Caparros. The players are NOT robots.

I am not going to go ballistic, as this is just a friendly, but I hope that our boys do not get burned out with this intense, grueling, pre-season schedule. I still have faith in Caparros and his crazy methods. It is just frustrating. I was finally able to watch the whole game online. (Thank you TV Canaria) And the team was just blah.

Boy that felt good, getting that off my chest! OK next game, close to home, Zarautz, Gipuzkoa, Paises Vasco vs Eibar. Starting over. Gora Athletic!

Was I expecting a 5 nil thrashing? Perhaps. Athletic had the majority of possession, especially in the first half. Caparros rested a lot of the A team and played 4-5-1 (Extebe, Yeste, Ocio, and Susa watched from the stadium. Javi Mar, Llorente, Casas, and Iraola came in as subs).

Team line up: Iraizoz; Murillo, Ustaritz, Amorebieta (46′ Casas), Koikili;
Iturraspe, Gurpegi, Del Olmo (92′ Iraola), David Lopez (90′ Javi Martínez), Gabilondo;
Aduriz (76′ Llorente);

El Zorro, Aritz Aduritz scored early after a nice combination between Gabilondo and young Iturraspe. This kid has been getting considerable time this pre-season and his distribution and passing has been quite impressive. But Athletic was taking the game in stride, and playing on the counter. Sort of taking it a little too easy.

Kudos to Colchester for taking it up a notch and taking the game to us. Ustaritz blocked a half volley by Yeates with his hand in the penalty area. Whoops! Talk about giving your opponent a gift. Vernon slotted in the penalty nicely. He faked out Gorka who went the wrong way. Even Stevens. Embarrassing.

In the second half, Colchester brought in new blood with five changes. Athletic only made one change Casas (at center back!!!) for Amorebieta who came off with a knock. Colchester on pure adrenalin looked sharper, more dangerous, and quite frankly ready for a rumble. I don’t know what their manager said in his half time talk but they boys came out to rattle and crunch Athletic. Colchester started kicking, bruising and clashing with our boys. The ref just turned the other eye, IMO. Murillo clashed with Coyne and then Izzet. Izzet only saw yellow, but it should have been red. Well Athletic are no boy scouts, Murillo lost his cool in the next clash and received a red in the 61st minute.

Athletic, now down to 10 men, had to watch their backs while doing whatever it takes to get another goal and not go home with their tail between their legs. New signing Joseba Del Olmo, who was having a great game, was fouled in the penalty area. Thank you ref, justice at last! David Lopez stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way. Another preseason victory for Zurrigori!!

Was this the best of wins? Of course not. Am I concerned as red cards seem to be a trend in our preseason games? Not really, that’s how we play. I’m proud of our boys. They don’t back down and will do whatever it takes to win. We do need more goal production, but that will come.

Check out the match report from the Colchester point of view.

Up next… The Colombino Trophy in Huelva as Los Leones face Malaga and then Recreativo on August 6th and 7th.

LATEST NEWS

Pablo Orbaiz and Ion Velez have recuperated and will rejoin the team in Huelva for the Colombino tourney.

Several Peñas have decided to come out against the new sponsorship on Athletic shirts. Peña Leones Italianos are boycotting the shirt. Peña Catedral de Leon will offer kits without the sponsorship. Peña Corredor de Hernanes is also boycotting the sponsored shirt.

Athletic Bilbao Google Calendar : The dates, times and events will be updated as they are confirmed. This is a great resource, so be sure to set it as a favorite on your PC. Check it out.

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?

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