Archive for the ‘Football’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

SSD Vis Pesaro v Carrarese Calcio, Sunday 21st January 2024, 6.30pm

August 4, 2024

Pesaro is a seaside town with an old centre and some interesting buildings. There wasn’t a great deal going on out of season, but it was fine for a wander around. On Sunday morning I stumbled across a flea market and whilst there were all sorts of things that I could easily have bought, I limited myself to a few records and a couple of table lamps which the fella had to rewire and, to my surprise, actually worked when I got home.

The main reason I’d picked Pesaro though was that there was a third-tier Serie C fixture on the Sunday evening at the Stadio Tonino Benelli. It’s home to Vis Pesaro, holds just under five thousand and is approaching its centenary, although it was tarted up around ten years ago.

It was an easy walk from my hotel and whilst I initially couldn’t find the entrance for my twenty-five euro seat in the Tribune Central, two friendly coppers were happy to give me directions.

Less friendly were the home fans drinking outside the ground. I’d taken what I thought was a discreet snapshot when I heard shouting. I ignored it until it got so loud that I had to turn around. By that time a couple of fellas had run up the street to tell me that it was forbidden to photograph ‘ultras’. They demanded that I delete the evidence of their existence with the sort of whinging usually reserved for when their Mam’s don’t serve spaghetti hoops for tea.

I made a show of deleting a picture, safe in the knowledge that I’d another couple of shots in the bank and went on my way.

Once inside I bought a proper espresso for a euro and was given a free team sheet and a two page A2 programme. Most people used them as protection from the pigeon shit on the seats. At half time I got myself a Heineken, just because I could, and took pleasure in drinking it at my seat.

I was in the stand that catered for old people and kids. The away fans from Carrarese were penned in to my right and the main home singing section, including those whose souls I had captured and now owned, was opposite.

This was a promotion clash with Pesaro in sixth and Carrerese two places above. Both teams managed to hit the bar and the keepers acquitted themselves well but ultimately neither side could make the breakthrough and it finished goalless.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Football | Leave a Comment »

AC Libertas v SP La Fiorita, Saturday 20th January 2024, 3pm

August 3, 2024

With Jen still away in America I thought I might as well head off abroad again and planned a trip that would enable me to tick off San Marino and Albania as countries where I’d seen a match. As San Marino doesn’t have an airport of it’s own, I flew into Bologna on the Friday night and then drove to Pesaro. It was all cheap enough as not many people holiday in Pesaro in January. Or, I suspect, any other time of the year.

Next morning I drove up into the hills for a fixture in the Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio, which is the top tier of domestic football in the principality. I forget what town the game was in, but there were some spectacular views from the windy roads as I gained height. Interestingly, there were no border posts, so presumably everyone who lived nearby had unlimited tax-free shopping opportunities.

I tried to get some lunch in a bar, but it was one of those places where everyone stares at you when you enter. As there were no chairs available, I turned around and walked straight back out. There was a café in a small shopping arcade nearby and they had some giant ravioli that I think may have come out of the fryer. I couldn’t fault it.

The game was down the hill on the other side of town at the Campo Sportivo di Fiorentino, home of AC Libertas. I had to park a few hundred yards further down the hill and walk back up.

It was free to get in and I took a seat in a small, covered stand. There wasn’t really any choice as spectators were only permitted on one side of the pitch. The only other option was watching from outside the ground, from the road. I had a wander out there in the second half and it, too, was a decent view. There were probably around sixty spectators in total, in and out of the ground.

Visitors La Fiorita were top of the league and in line for Champions League qualification. They took the lead after half-an-hour with a scrambled effort that had the home fans grumbling.

As befitted their status as league leaders, La Fiorita were the better side. Their captain, Gasperoni, who sounds more like a brand of Italian cigarettes than a footballer, ran the show.

The floodlights came on at half-time and as the sun started to disappear the temperature dropped. Once the last remnants had slipped below the horizon it was cold enough to see people’s breath.

By that time La Fiorita had added another two goals to take the points in their quest for that Champions League spot.

Tags:,
Posted in Football | Leave a Comment »

Almeria v Girona, Sunday 14th January 2024, 2pm

August 3, 2024

The last game of this Spanish trip was in Almeria for a La Liga clash with surprise package Girona. I’ve been to more than sixty grounds in Spain but most of them are lower tier clubs.  I’ve added a few top-flight grounds more recently though and with the aid of the futbology App I was pleased to see that I’m now on fourteen of the current twenty.

It was a two-and-a-half-hour drive to Almeria from Fuengirola. I parked  twenty minute’s walk  away from the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterraneos and by following a couple of blokes who looked as if they were going to the match I made my way to the stadium through an industrial estate.

I’d already bought a ticket online for fifty euros. Top flight football is expensive in Spain, although I can recall paying as much as that, and occasionally more, nearly twenty years ago when I was living in Ferrol.

There were some good food options around the perimeter of the ground but the queues were long enough to deter me and I ended up with a chorizo baguette from the concourse instead. It was ok, but I should have joined a queue outside.

Girona have a couple of ex-Boro player’s in their ranks. You’ll know about Stuani, who has reached legendary status with the Catalonians, but you’ve likely forgotten about Espinosa. I certainly had. To save you googling him, he played a handful of games for us in Karanka’s Premier League season. Anyway, Stuani was on the bench and Espinosa wasn’t. That was because he’d actually signed for some Colombian team a few days earlier. So just the one ex-Boro player at Girona.

With the game being an early kick-off, Girona would have gone top with a win. Almeria were rooted to the bottom of the table, so far adrift that I don’t think any result would prevent them from dropping into the second tier at the end of the season.

There was a pre-match round of applause for the police. As they were lined up with their batons and guns looking into the crowd the clapping was pretty much unanimous. The stadium had a lot of space between the pitch and the stands. If the pitch were lowered, then another few rows of seating could have been added to fill the gap.

Somewhat surprisingly, Almeria had the best of a goalless first half. Stuani made an appearance twenty minutes into the second half but failed to perform his usual heroics. One of his teammates picked up a red card for a DOGSO challenge ten minutes from time and I suspect that Girona were content with the point after that.

Despite the lack of goals, it was an enjoyable game, and a point a piece seemed scant reward for each team’s efforts.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Football | Leave a Comment »

Cordoba v Intercity, Saturday 13th January 2024, 4pm

August 2, 2024

This was a third-tier Primera Group Two game at the New Arcangel stadium. New presumably to differentiate it from the previous Arcangel stadium, as it is now over thirty years old. Mind you, the Riverside will be thirty years old next year and I see that as new. If I’m still alive in twenty years time I wonder whether I’ll still feel the same.

It was fifteen euros for a seat in the Preferencia stand, the biggest one in the twenty-five thousand capacity ground. It was less than half-full though, so clearly visitors Intercity weren’t much of an attraction.

I’d been keen to see former Boro player Emilio ‘Ain’t nobody like’ Nsue turn out for Intercity. Sadly, there was nobody like Nsue on the team sheet as he was away playing for Equatorial Guinea in the African Cup of Nations. He won the Golden Boot in that tournament before being banned by his country for misbehaving and then by FIFA for having never been eligible to play for them in the first place. Shame they couldn’t have banned him a bit earlier so he would have been available for this game.

This was a promotion clash, with Cordoba in the play-off spots and Intercity just below. The home side took the lead mid-way through the first half when a ball from the right was steered home. That was the cue for some scarf twirling from all four stands.

That reminds me. When the grandkids were small, we discussed what happens if kids are late for school these days. Nothing, apparently. I recalled to them, perhaps not entirely truthfully, that back in my day one of the teachers had a dead otter whose insides had been removed, replaced with stones and then stitched back up. If you hadn’t made it inside by the time the bell went, the teacher would twirl the preserved corpse above his head and then bludgeon you with it as you entered the classroom.

Even now that they are teenagers, I just have to twirl an imaginary aquatic mammal above my head, and they’ll know that we need to get a move on.

Anyway, I digress. That first half goal was the only one of the game and the win kept Cordoba in line for promotion to the second tier. Maybe Intercity will get there too now that Nsue can focus on his club football.

Tags:,
Posted in Football | Leave a Comment »

Seneca U16 v Cordoba U16, Saturday 13th January 2024, 1.30pm

August 2, 2024

Cordoba is a couple of hour’s drive inland from Fuengirola and a third-tier fixture was sufficient to draw me in. I arrived with more than three hours to spare and after picking up a ticket went for a wander around. I’d seen another ground on the map that I’d looked at and so headed that way first. Just in case.

As sometimes happens, I got lucky. There was a game going on at the Campo Enrique Buga, on the new artificial pitch rather than the adjacent grass pitch with the derelict stand. It was five euros to get in and after finding a spot on the concrete steps along one side I was informed that it was an under-sixteens game between Seneca and Cordoba. Seneca were the home team and wore a red and black kit, whilst visitors Cordoba were in white. 

I’d arrived a few minutes into the first half, with the game still goalless. The fella who had told me the teams was keen to know who I supported. When I told him he smiled and dropped Mendieta into the conversation. I was impressed with that, but not as much as when he went on to mention Kike. Presumably Garcia and not Sola. That would have been some level of knowledge.

Seneca were the better side and opened the scoring early on with a shot from outside of the box. They soon added a second, a scrambled effort following a corner. They went three up midway through the first half when the Cordoba keeper misjudged a cross enabling someone to head home into an empty net.

I bailed out at half-time as I wanted to get something to eat before the main game. I did a lap of the ground and as I passed the ticket office for the second time that afternoon, people were still handing over their five euros and heading into the game.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Football | Leave a Comment »

VV Vierpolders v SC Botlek, Friday 12th January 2024, 12.30pm

August 1, 2024

The next winter-break game was a little closer than my trip the previous day to the Gibraltar border. It was at the Polideportivo Benalmadena Pueblo, which is just on the edge of Benalmadena and about a twenty-minute drive from where I was staying in Fuengirola. I did think about walking it on the basis that I could pretty much follow the coast for most of the way, but it was two and a half hours in each direction, and it looked like there might be a storm at some point.

I found the ground easily enough and there was plenty of parking. Not surprising really for a game between two amateur teams from the Dutch sixth tier. I’m not really sure why they felt the need to drag their arses all the way to Spain, unless the tour was more for drinking than fitness. Even then, you’d have thought that they might just have gone to Belgium.

The game kicked off early. There’s no point in hanging around I suppose when there’s supping to be done. It seemed like I was the only person there to watch and I took a seat in the main, and only, stand along one side. The price I paid for a seat was having to watch the game through a fence.

Vierpolders were in blue and black, with Botlek in white and blue. The Vierpolders kit clashed with that of the officials and so the ref wore a pink bib. It all looked very small-time. One of the keepers was in an old-school mismatched strip of brown shirt with white shorts and socks. It was as if he’d brought his own kit with him. Perhaps he did.

Highlight of the first half was a woman walking past my stand with a black and white Jack Russell. You don’t often see that breed of dog without a bit of tan colouring in there somewhere. I didn’t make a note of the score and the only goal I can remember now came from a defensive mix up early on. It brought some cheers from a balcony in the main building to my right, revealing a few other spectators who had reluctantly appeared from the bar not long after kick-off. Presumably they were part of the touring party and had opted for a beer rather than a run out.

Tags:,
Posted in Football | Leave a Comment »

FC Zurich v Hamburger SV, Thursday 11th January 2024, 1,30pm

July 31, 2024

The next winter break friendly was down next to the Gibraltar border at the Estadio Municipal de La Linea de la Concepcion. I presume the locals refer to it as the Linny. It’s a proper ground in that it’s the home of fourth tier club Real Balompedica Linese rather than a training complex. Or at least it will be a proper ground once the ongoing construction works have finished.

The current venue looks nothing like the photos that I’d seen, and it appears that the entire ground is being rebuilt whilst the existing pitch remains in-situ. Fortunately this was my first time at the Linny, but if I’d been before I’d have no idea whether to have counted this match as a re-visit or a new stadium.

Three stands were just about finished, although the main stand to my right was having part of its roof manoeuvred into position as the game went on. The stand to my left was a lot less advanced and at the foundation stage only. That meant that I got a good view out to sea where cargo ships were sat a mile or two out, presumably waiting for their turn to dock.

It was free to get in, although I had no choice of stand and was directed to a seat behind the goal, looking into direct sunlight. It would have been better if I’d brought some sunglasses or even that truckers cap that I’d won in a raffle at some non-league game a few months earlier.

The fixture was between Hamburg and Zurich. There was a minute’s silence before the game for former Hamburg captain Franz Beckenbauer. It wasn’t announced so it was only when I noticed the players bowing their heads that I realised what was going on.

I’d forgotten that Beckenbauer played for Hamburg. He’s someone that I’d always associate with Bayern Munich and I suppose New York Cosmos to a certain extent, but a quick search online confirmed that he’d had a two year stint with Hamburg in the early eighties, winning yet another Bundesliga. I suppose in my mind Hamburg is Kevin Keegan’s team, in his curly perm days.

There were a few Hamburg fans around me with their blue shirts, hats and scarfs and maybe two hundred spectators in total. Hamburg had the best of the first half, scoring once and hitting both the post and the bar. Zurich managed a goal of their own, so it was one-each at the break.

I was pleased to find the food kiosk open and bought a jamon baguette and a coffee. There were plenty of chances in the second half with Hamburg going ahead late on before a curler into the corner five minutes from time salvaged a draw for the Swiss.

Tags:,
Posted in Football | Leave a Comment »

Borussia Dortmund v Standard Liege, Tuesday 9th January 2024, 11am

June 13, 2024

My second winter-break friendly was at the Marbella Football Centre. I had fully intended to be there early but my sat nav had clearly mixed up the complex with somewhere else. By the time I arrived the field that had been allocated for spectator’s parking was full and I had to U-turn in a country lane, retrace my route and park in a nearby housing estate.

Despite all that I still made the main gate with around twenty minutes to spare. Unfortunately, I found myself facing the same situation as the previous day with an all-ticket fixture and none available on the day of the game. Most people without tickets were simply turning away and trudging back to their cars, but I hung around, chatted to a girl with a clipboard and a pile of envelopes and eventually wore her down to the extent that she agreed to let me have a ticket if she still had some that were uncollected by kick-off time.

My persistence worked again and as the opening whistle sounded she handed me a ticket and I made my way into the ground. Only half of the stadium appeared to be open, with four rows of uncovered seats along one side already fairly fully occupied.

With the demand for tickets, it was disappointing that the remaining areas weren’t opened, or somewhere with a larger capacity selected. I found a seat towards one end and settled in just as the rain began.

Borussia Dortmund were in their usual yellow and black. I’ve no idea what colours Standard Liege normally wear, but they were in grey for this game. I’m not really up to speed with who normally plays for each team either, so I couldn’t tell if the sides were at full-strength of not.

The news reports had suggested that Jadon Sancho might be imminently rejoining Dortmund on loan, but I didn’t spot him either on the pitch or in the crowd.

As you might have expected, the game was played at an easy pace. Nobody really stood out apart from one player who might very well have won his spot in the side in a competition. Maybe he was working his way back to fitness. Dortmund went ahead early on, but the teams went in level at the break after Standard Liege equalised after a cross from the left was steered home.

I’d have got myself a coffee at half-time, but the queues were too long. Instead I sheltered from the rain under some tenting that more usually would be providing shade.

The Belgians went ahead on the hour and then with minimal celebrating all eleven of their players were subbed off. Dortmund limited themselves to just the five changes at that time. Thankfully the fourth official was excused numbers board duties or we’d have been there all day.

With the fresh legs providing some impetus, there were another three goals. The final one coming right at the end from Dortmund to allow them to nick a three-all draw. Although, I doubt very much anyone really cared about the result.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Football | Leave a Comment »

Fortuna Dusseldorf v FC Dordrecht, Monday 8th January 2024, 4pm

June 12, 2024

I realise at first glance that this game might suggest that I’ve nipped across to Germany, but it’s the winter break in a lot of the European leagues and instead of me traipsing around, the games are coming to me. Or at least they are now that I’d driven the two and half hours from Seville to Fuengirola.

I’d selected a spot on the Costa del Sol to take advantage of the various training camps that were accommodating friendly games and the wide choice of places to stay meant that I could pick up a cheap apartment for eight days and combine the fixtures with actually getting some work done.

The first game was at La Quinta in Marbella. It’s an area out of town that has a golf club and a few training facilities. I struggled at first to find the pitch but eventually stumbled across the cars parked roadside that would have no other reason to be there.

I made my way to the entrance gate only to be told that admission was by ticket only and that tickets weren’t on general sale. They were handed out as freebies to genuine supporters of each team who had contacted the clubs in advance. I put on my best downcast expression and then spent a few minutes chatting to the Dusseldorf guy in charge of distributing them. He eventually took pity on me and agreed that if there was a spare left over as kick-off approached, then I could have it.

In the end I didn’t have to wait too long as I think the fella just wanted rid of me and I took up a place on one of the two rows of bench seating behind a rope and along one side of the pitch. I was in with the Germans who had travelled to support Fortuna. There were also a few fans from the second-tier Dutch side, Dordrecht.

I was offered a beer on a few different occasions but had to decline as I was driving. I don’t think the Germans could grasp that someone might want to attend the game without a few beers. The Dutch side opened the scoring after five minutes, but nobody cared. It was all about the chat and the drink.

The natural order was soon restored with four first-half Fortuna goals and at the break the guy next to me, Christophe, headed into town for more supplies. We didn’t see him again until five minutes from full-time, when he returned with beer, wine, ice and chocolate.

Christophe didn’t miss any second-half goals, but by the time he returned there had been wholesale subs on the hour, with Dordrecht changing their entire team.

It was just as pleasant an atmosphere on the pitch, with good-humoured interaction with the ref and minimal simulation. Everyone, bar me, hung around at full-time and I later discovered that it had been pre-planned that the sides would come back on and play an additional thirty minutes regardless of the score. That meant every player got an hour on the pitch. Fortuna banged in a couple more goals in that extra period for a six-two victory.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Football | Leave a Comment »

Real Betis v Granada, Sunday 7th January 2024, 2pm

June 11, 2024

I’d had a couple of days in Seville without a game due to a misunderstanding as to where Huesca was. I’d thought it was an hour’s drive down the road, but that’s Huelva. Huesca is actually around a thousand kilometres north and attending the game there would have needed two lengthy train journeys either side of an overnight stay. That mistake added to my list of redundant match tickets impulsively purchased without properly checking the details.

Saturday was ok though in that I found a bar where I could watch the FA Cup third round games. I saw the early kick-off between Sunderland and Newcastle, where I don’t think there’s an outcome that I couldn’t have taken some pleasure from and then the Boro’s game against Villa. We did well against Premier League opposition, certainly better than Sunderland did, holding them until three minutes from time when a spawny deflection knocked us out of the competition.

I had hoped to see two games on the Sunday but the kick-off times didn’t quite work and so I settled for just the one, a women’s game between Real Betis and Granada in the top-tier Primera Femenino at the Ciudad Deportiva Luis Del Sol.

My route took me along the river and through a funfair. I remembered taking the same path twelve years earlier to see the Betis men’s team and on that occasion, I ignored my phone and took what I thought was a short cut. As ever, it wasn’t the wisest of decisions and I found myself stuck in some dockyard before having to retrace my steps. I did as directed this time and eventually found myself outside the Betis men’s stadium.

I was relieved to see people parking their cars at the main stadium on the basis that the ground that I actually wanted wouldn’t be too much further on. It wasn’t and I soon had a five-euro ticket. I bought a drink and a snack outside, just in case there was nothing available inside and then headed into the main stand.

It was free seating and most of the crowd that eventually swelled to a few hundred chose seats in the lower tier. We were in the shade so it was fairly chilly. It’s so difficult to gauge how warm it’s going to be in Spain in January and a choice of sun or shade would have made life easier.

Granada, in blue, were fighting relegation, with Betis, in their standard green and white, safely in the top half of the table. Despite the difference in status, it was the visitors that opened the scoring ten minutes in from a close-range header.

Betis increased the pressure and were level mid-way through the first half. The Granada keeper did well to turn away the first effort, then parried the rebound, but third time’s the charm as a Betis striker finally applied the finish.

At half-time I bought what I thought were peanuts and was half right. They’d been cut with some sort of maize snack. Who would ever think that’s a good idea?

I watched the second half from the upper tier where I was able to benefit from the winter sun on my back. Granada regained the lead with a shot from outside the box before Betis levelled again from a little closer to goal.

With time running out and both side pushing for a winner, Granada won a penalty. The Betis goalie got down well to save it, but the penalty taker was first to the rebound and tucked it away to clinch the points.

I gambled on a different route back to the city centre through a park and barely got lost at all, so a good day all around.

Tags:,
Posted in Football | Leave a Comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »