Villarreal Club de Fútbol SAD

This yellow sub is still alive..

Javier — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:03:42 +0000

The Copa Del Rey, La Liga, and the Champions League. Quite a busy schedule for Villarreal. I have been attempting to keep up with them, but sadly have had no time to write about the results. However, I am ready to nail this post with everything that’s been going on with this club.
Copa Del Ray Match. Villarreal 0-5 Poli Ejido.
The Copa Del Ray isn’t exactly what we are focusing on winning. Actually, not many main teams are taking the first rounds seriously. Since most of the teams we are facing are 2nd league squads, but in all seriousness. What the hell? 0-5? I know this match doesn’t mean that much to us but getting the crap beaten out of us is embarrassing.
Much bashing and disappointment was done there. Go figure. I don’t blame any of them, I too wonder what the hell Pellegrini was thinking. What done is done, I can care less about the Copa and want to focus on better/brighter things in life..
La Liga Week 9 Athletic Bilbao 1 - 4 Villarreal

I’ll start out by saying this. Etxeberría’s header should of not been possible. From that angle and approach, but it went in anyways. Goals and highlights are above. Pretty straightforward game. Much better result the the previous game too. *shrugs*
The American international scored at the last minute, and finished quite well :D. Altidore is the first American to score in La Liga, so props off to the yank.
The win at Bilbao took us back to 2nd place, but with Barcelona now leading (what!?). I seem to have made a nice home at 2nd for Villarreal. Hopefully we’ll hit 1st soon.
Champions League: Villarreal vs AaB Preview
AaB. Well. I can say the first game was rather…interesting to say at the least. We know what were up against, and while we may not have the home field advantage, I still see a win for the Yellow Submerines. It’ll be on tomorrow, and for all of us that doesn’t get this via TV, you can stream it on http:www.justin.tv
3-2 final score or at least I hope so. Another goal fest would be odd..but cool.
Vamos Villarreal!

Atletico Madrid 4- Villarreal 4 0_0

Javier — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:31:21 +0000

I can’t even begin to write what I felt towards the result of this match. Its a combination of..pissedexcitedawesomebadassconfusedupsetsuprised. That sounds about right. 4-4? Who would of thought. I figured there would be some goals in here, but nothing like this. Let alone making the whole 2 goal control thing they had going on. First half, A.Madrid 2-0 Villarreal. Then out of no where. 2nd half 20 minutes in. Villarreal 4-2 A.Madrid. Finally, a whomping 4-4.
1st Half
The only thing that left me upset and pissed about the first half was the PK foul that the ref completely ignored. Now I know this wasn’t a hardcore tackle, but the guy nicked him over and had intent of doing so. That’s enough for me to give a PK. Throughout the whole game I gave Villarreal that imaginary goal to see what the “real” score would be, and HEY, we would of won if that was given. Blah whatever. Senna’s cross in the middle of the box was delivered in a excellent matter, however no one could finish the cross.
Both Simão (1) and Diego Forlan (22) scored in the first half giving them the 2-0 lead. Simao’s goal was excellent and well played. Right from the start, they attacked. We got caught off guard and payed the price. The kick from 20m~ out that deflected off the top of the woodwork into the net. I can’t bash a good goal, no matter who scored it. The second goal however, was a bit of a easy shot. A goal is a goal, so meh. Nothing to special with that one Forlan. You had a better chance/goal opportunity in the second half anyways :-/.
Madrid had COMPLETE control throughout~~most~~ all of the first half. 2 goals up, and not a worry in the world. They had their best playing resting in the bench, they were confident, and ready to win this game. Sure they lost Banega due to a stupid tackle, but Villarreal had yet to take advantage of it.
2nd Half
Just like Madrid, we went to work and started to go towards the goal. This is why Senna (48) is my favorite player. Usually getting a foul around the 32m~ will give you the idea to shoot it into the box for a header. Nope. Not this guy. He goes up and smacks the hell out of the ball and (due to a horrible “save) goes in. Talk about power in a shot. Were not done yet though, not by a long shot. We now are taking the advantage of being a man up, and Llorente (51) scores. What skill by this guy, not only does he pass two defenders but he also beats the keeper. A nice shot on the right corner of the goal, no problem. At this point the Atleti fans have their jaws drop, and the stadium is alive once more. The next goal gave my sad sad Atleti friend the idea of it being offside. Gonzalo’s (58) goal was by all means not even close to being offside. I’m sure its just a reaction due to their matchup with Liverpool, and the crappy linesman. It really wasn’t Franco’s day when Rossi (68) out played him as well. Great goal, with such ball control skill. Nothing really was looking down on us right there and then. For then until the 82nd minute, we were in control and had no problems. That is until we got lazy..
Simão (83) Raúl García (85). Simao I hate you, why did you have to outplay our defense and just score like that, but hey thats what we get. We moved everyone up slowly and wanted more goals. Simao took off and blew past ONE guy in a yellow shirt to get to the goalie. Poor defending on our part right there, BUT NO, HE WASN’T DONE YET. He had a long range shot he crossed into the box and Garcia’s nose scored it. Yep, his nose. A failed header turned into the goal that tied and clinched the match for the night.
This has certainly been a exciting and yet, odd match. I’m still in shock that we didn’t win against this Madrid side. They did put on a good game though, no matter whos side you were on.
Wednesday we take on Club Polideportivo Ejido for the first round of the Copa Del Ray. Exciting. I think? Meh, I always viewed this as the Spanish version of the FA Cup. I see nothing but a win in that game. On Sunday we’ll be taking on Athletic Bilbao. A busy week for the Yellow Submarines, but we need the points to get out of 4th (eekk) place.
Vamos Villarreal!!

Champions League Win/Atletico Preview

Javier — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 20:11:29 +0000

6-3
Villarreal: Rossi 28 Capdevila Mendez 33 Llorente 67,70,84 Pires 79
AaB: Saganowski 20 Enevoldsen 36 Johansson 77
There are only two words that can describe what I was thinking that Tuesday evening. Holy. Shit. Now I’m glad that I ditched my psychology class in order to watch this game, even if it was in a computer lab.
The first half was mostly a 50/50 controlled game. Villarreal really wasn’t playing there best, and aside from me yelling at the computer screen for them to get their asses in gear, it was a meh game at best. Once Saganowski scored we realized that these guys really aren’t messing around like we are. Playing it slow and simple, no chances, and flat out boring. That first goal ended up giving us a nice kick in the ass to respond with a goal only 8 minutes later.
Skip to the 60th minute. Out of NO WHERE. We started getting aggressive, ahead, and dominating. The game heated up and we were playing like the Villarreal everyone knows and loves. From the 67th to the 79th minute, 4 goals were scored. It was goal after goal after goal coming to both sides. Shortly after Mr. Llorente completed his hat trick. Even at the last seconds of the game, AaB attempted to get back up from the beating we gave them, but failed obviously.
So much for my 2-0 prediction hah. I didn’t expect anything like this to happen, but nothing is more exciting then a game full of goals.
Great game for all of Villarreal.
On Sunday we’ll take on Atletico Madrid. If you didn’t see it on Wednesday, they tied with Liverpool FC. The game was ridiculous. Not in the same way our game was, but in the shitty linesman’s calls. As much as I liked Keane, his goal was offsides. That’s not the call that pissed me off. The call where Kun passed it upward to (I forget >_>) and then a shot in the back of the net. Perfect, ONLY THAT THE LINESMAN CALLED IT OFFSIDE. Clearly the poor lad forgot his specs. Oh well :-/.
This will be a great game for both clubs, and hopefully we can take 3 points away at home.
Prediction: 2-1
Vamos Villarreal!

Villarreal vs AaB Preview

Javier — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:51:13 +0000

Yay. Champions League day! Nothing like it, sitting down in the middle of the day and watching some excellent football. (If your in the states that is) We face AaB tomorrow (today for some of us), and from my last post till now, I still am remaining somewhat clueless on this Danish club.
Lazy? Hard to find? What the hell? I don’t know, heh, I really wish they had a Offside blogger that’d help me out here (hint hint). I’ll tell you guys what I know so far against these guys.

Aalborg Boldspilklub (AaB)
League: Danish SAS-Ligaen
Record in League: Played, 10. Won, 2. Tied, 2. Lost, 6. Rank on table 11th.
In Champions League:
Vs Celtic: 0-0
Vs ManUre: 0-3

Nothing really standing out there. Obviously not doing to well in the home league. Seeing how we’ve been playing the CL and in La Liga I can say we really shouldn’t be worried. I haven’t found much of us playing a Danish team in the CL, or in general. So this will probably be a unknown team and style of football being played.

Injuries/updates:
Eguren and Nihat Kahveci are out injured, and Edmilson is back to the roster to start playing :D.
Predictions: I have no idea! This team is so foreign to me. I have no idea what type of football they’ll be playing. This will be a new experience for both me and Villarreal. I’m pretty sure we’ll get the win though, since we’ve been playing at top notch.
2-0. That sounds realistic..

Someone up there likes us..

Javier — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:31:40 +0000

0-0, a draw. Not to shabby, not a win, but not a lose. We take a point away from a well played Espanyol team. We really should be grateful. Its not everyday the captain of your opposing team gets a penalty kick blocked =D. Great keeping by the Spanish keeper. I honestly think it shouldn’t of been a PK due to him just losing his footing, but obviously the ref had other things in mind.
I couldn’t catch the number or player that was crouching down and praying to the heavens for that to go in. Sadly, it didn’t work out for the best :(, well at least for his side =D. Overall, it was a good game. We played well, they played well, we had chances, they had chances. If only we were able to finish…or get the handball called on the 52′ minute V_V (00:39). In the end I applaud Espanyols defense.
Yes, we are now in 3rd place on the table. Really not too bad. I do on the otherhand, have good news!
Mr. Capdevilla will be staying with us for another season, and has even shown interest in playing with the club until 2011.
“When they offered it to me I didn’t even have to think about it,” said Capdevila of his new contract. “Because I feel at home here”
Damn straight we want you here. IMO he has to be one of our better defensive players.
This week we’ll be quite busy. Taking on Aalborg Boldspilklub on Tuesday, and Atlético Madrid on Sunday. I’ll be honest. I have absolutely NO idea about this Danish side were facing on Tuesday. Seeing some minor history and reports, I don’t really get a fear or cringe from them. However, I don’t think we should get ahead of ourselves and proclaim the win right now. We’ll see what I can find until the actual game comes up.
Atlético Madrid. Oh boy. Odd, it’s the guy who got me to write on the Offside club. We finally meet. I don’t know if were making a big post or anything due to the teams playing, but it shouldn’t be a problem for us taking the three points at home =D.
AaB prediction: I have no idea?! 3-0? 5-0!? 0-1? I’ll get back to you on that.
Atlético prediction: 2-1. Mr “Kun” will have a ready Villarreal defense to get by.

Here we come periquitos..

Javier — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:42:57 +0000

Finally! International weekend is over. Thank God *kisses the ground*.
Alright, it wasn’t really that bad. I did miss my club football though, hopefully everyone is as excited as I am for the game tomorrow against Barcelona’s Espanyol.
Injuries: ALOT, from both sides :-/.
From the good guys: Sebastian Eguren, Ariel Ibagaza, Nihat Kahveci and Mati Fernandez
Espanyol: Steve Finnan, David Garcia, Marc Torrejon, Oscar Sielva and Valdo
In all seriousness, it could be worse, but we will manage. If any of you didn’t manage to see the match last season, Espanyol rocked us 0-3 when we faced them. However, we did win against them the 2nd time we played them with a 2-0 win.
I’m a bit intimidated by Espanyol, I’m not going to lie. They’ve always shown to be a good club in La Liga in my view of watching them play. They may be in the middle of the table, however, we shouldn’t really take this likely. We will come in with confidence, and damnit to all, we will get the three points. We need them, we had a great start to the season and being tied in first shows it (If it wasn’t for goal differentials..).
The way I’m seeing the games now are what Valencia has to do to lose that awesome 1st place spot. They’re playing Numancia on Sunday, which really isn’t doing much for us. Who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll get a sudden loss :D.
Prediction: 1-0. To be realistic, I do see this ending in a 1-1 draw, both of these clubs are excellent and will give us a great match to watch.

sigh I hate international weekend.

Javier — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:02:10 +0000

Not only can’t I see Villarreal play, but I’m stuck in the middle of Wisconsin and no one here is playing anything that I can hear from ;_;. I did hear some dude blast the England game, but sadly it wasn’t very “inviting” to just walk in and ask if I could watch lol. Oh college. Anyways back to football.

Capdevila is going over to play with Spain later on today against Estonia. (Wheres Senna on the starting XI!?!) After looking up the actual country on wikipedia (I’ve never heard of the county, which stuck me as a bit odd), doesn’t seem to have that great of a national football team. Being of Spanish decent (somewhere down there) I will be rooting for Mr. Capdevilla and Spain today.

Next week were taking on Barcelona juggernauts Espanyol. Thats going to be quite a game. I’m just glad were at home. These 3 points arn’t going to be as easy as our other games, however, we have a strong squad on our side that will be ready for them.

Until next week, enjoy your international football.

Villarreal 2- Real Betis 1

Javier — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 03:44:21 +0000

Wow. I’m not even going to lie. The first half of the game I was actually bored, not because of the football being played, but by the lack of chances we had to score. Yes, we had good possession of the ball but not once did we get a nail biter that troubled the keeper. If anything Betis had us for the open chances. I’m not too surprised, considering our defenders were sleeping half the time when they rushed their forwards.
Damia’s goal wasn’t exactly class, but it was a good goal. He beat our last line of defenders sleeping on the job and went in for the one touch goal. Not even a bullet, and Lopez still doesn’t mange to keep it out. Whatever, as you can tell. I’m pretty pissed off at this goal. It could of been stopped in so many different ways. I know we underestimated Real Betis, but seriously just letting your guard off the striker? I don’t give a shit if its Villarreal vs some shitty American MLS team, it just takes being careless to allow such a goal.
We had enough, 2nd half, and Javier Gonzalo puts a header from Dios (God) into the top 90. Not only does this guy have a badass name (hah), he heads a brilliant header to tie the game 1-1. Not to shabby, only to get another goal not even 2 minutes after the one Javier Gonzalo scores. Llorente is in the box after the two crosses going in and just smacks it straight into the goal. No chance from ither the keeper or defenders of Real Betis.
The game ends with a final score of 2-1 Villa. Not to bad of a turnout, aside from the lack of defending on that first half/goal. IMO if Capdevila was in, it would of been 2-0 no problem. Oh well, at least he’ll be ready for the next matchup against Espanyol.

Villarreal vs Los Verdiblancos Preivew

Javier — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 14:29:34 +0000

Today we face the Sevilla based club Real Betis. Which is currently residing in the regulation spot of the table. They have yet to win a game at home, or in general in La Liga. They’ve only scored three times in the past five games and conceded a mere 6 goals. In all seriousness, isn’t that bad. Especially since they’ve already faced La Liga’s juggernauts Barcelona and Real Madrid, and now, us :D. Talk about not a easy line up for the start of the season.
Capdevila, Edmilson and Fuentes will be hitting the bench resting while Nihat sits out in injury. Asides from Nihat, we have a healthy squad facing Real Betis.
My predicted starting XI:
Lopez
Javi Venta, Angel, Gonzalo, Godin
Eguren, Marcos Senna, Cazorla, Pires
Llorente, Rossi

Prediction? 2-0. Goals from Rossi and maybe freekick magic from Senna again?
If you don’t have the game on the tele, you can steam it from http://www.justin.tv

Captain saves us from the Celts!

Javier — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:17:32 +0000

Marcos Senna. The man of the match easily, well, tied, along side with Celtics keeper. Saving 7 of our 8 shots at goal. Not exactly the goal fest I expected after this game ended, especially with all those damn shots we had =/. Still, we won the match. The captain’s ~25m freekick bullet provided us with the goal to keep our winning streak going.

I honestly did expect a little more from Celtic with their chances they had on goal. I personally was surprised on how we handled them in the first half. We controlled, we defended, and we succeeded.

After a days worth of football I only wish the best for the Scots and hope they do well in the SPL. This Saturday were taking on Real Betis, who resides in 18th place. The real scare is the week after, where we will be facing Espanol *shudders*. Until that day comes though, we will stay comfy in the first/second place spot in La Liga!