Jornada 38 - Sevilla v Athletic Bilbao

By: Elisa | May 19th, 2008

Sevilla were far superior and rallied at home to thump Los Leones del Bilbao 4-1. Too many injuries, players out out of position and once Sevilla got on a roll, our heads just went down. Just like the game vs Madrid. Sad…

I don’t want to rehash all the gory details. Safe to say we were outclassed and outplayed. Kudos Ryan.

What can I say? Yes I am frustrated. One game away from the Intertoto qualification. Four games away from UEFA Cup.

Four critical games where we failed to capitalize on our chances:

*The draw away to Recre
*The loss to Deportivo away
*The loss at home to Mallorca
*The draw last week at San Mames vs Racing.

All key, all winnable? Definitely, maybe, that’s history, that’s football.

Damn it! Valencia sneaked up over us in the table, too. Frankly they don’t deserve it! (Sorry Cesar!)

But when I reflect on this final match and how much Caparros has groomed and improved this team, well I am grateful for all that we have accomplished this year.

-Last season, Athletic was fighting against relegation in the last game. We ended up in 17th place. Not this year! We close the season with 50 points and in 11th position. Not bad, I say! Business as Usual! Back to basics, winning, and European potential. One day, we can look back at last year as a fluke or a bad, bad dream.

- New president, board and regime - Fernando Macua came in and promised to reinvigorate the club with Caparros, a new backroom staff and 13 Million dollars (a record transfer trove) to spend in the transfer market. The intent, to kiss goodbye the poor 2006-2007 wreck of a season and rebuild the team. Mission accomplished!

-Caparros has created a strong base of youth and strength in all areas of the field. He has brought ambition, motivation, and European dreams back to the team. The mega holes in the backline are a thing of the past. Now we need to work on our attacking play - in the midfield and up front. We need to bring in a striker to match up with Fernan Llorente. Someone who is a Vasco goal machine! 39 goals - one per game - just doesn’t cut it in la Primera or Europe.

-Fortress San Mames - this needs to continue. This is our advantage and we need to carry this asset in our war chest over, when we eventually move to the new stadium. Honestly, we had too many draws this year at home and this has gotta stop, pronto.

All in all, things are definitely looking up! The potential is there!

In the upcoming I will spotlight the good and bad players of the year, transfer news, Vasco managers, referees, and players abroad. It’s going to be a great summer!

Gora Athletic!

One last thing - ok rant starting now - the gall of Aragones - not one Athletic player called up for the Euros. Go ahead looney! Keep calling up Albiol, Marchena, Juanito, etc. What about some new blood? Amorebieta will be playing with Venezuela soon, thanks to the old coot. And what about Aitor Ocio? Can’t wait for Del Bosque and some new blood at the reins of the Spanish national team. Rant over.