Monday, June 16, 2008

Vamos preparando las cheves....aqui tienen el....


Jornada 1 domingo 27 de Julio
América vs.Santos 16:00 hrs.

Jornada 2 domingo 3 de agosto
Santos vs UNAM 16:00 hrs

Jornada 3 domingo 10 agosto
Puebla vs Santos 12:00 hrs

Jornada 4 domingo 17 de agosto
Santos vs Indios 16:00 hrs

Jornada 5 sabado 23 de agosto
Chivas vs Santos 19:00 hrs

Jornada 6 (doble) Miercoles 28 de agosto
Santos vs UA de G

Jornada 7 sabado 30 de agosto
Monterrey vs Santos 17:00 hrs

Jornada 8 domingo 14 de septiembre
Santos vs Necaxa 16:00 hrs

Jornada 9 sabado 20 de septiembre
Cruz Azul vs Santos 17:00 hrs

Jornada 10 domingo 28 de septiembre
Toluca vs Santos 12:00 hrs

Jornada 11 domingo 5 de Octubre
Santos vs Monarcas 16:00 hrs

Jornada 12 sabado 11 de Octubre
Pachuca vs Santos 19:00 hrs

Jornada 13 domingo 19 de Octubre
Santos vs Jaguares 16:00 hrs

Jornada 14 sabado 25 de Octubre
Atlas vs Santos 21:00 hrs

Jornada 15 domingo 2 de Noviembre
Santos vs Tigres 16:00 hrs

Jornada 16 sabado 8 de Noviembre
San Luis vs Santos 17:00 hrs

Jornada 17 domingo 16 de Noviembre
Santos vs Atlante 16:00 hrs

Teniendo más información acerca del DRAFT, movimientos, contrataciones, prestamos etc., los iremos dando a conocer siempre y cuando sea INFORMACION OFICIAL, porque la neta, los rumores a mi en lo personal me dan weba, prefiero esperarme a que todo ya esté firmado para entonces sí, dar una opinión propia.

Friday, June 13, 2008

My Back Pages - 64 San Mames

Athletic Bilbao 1v0 Newcastle United
UEFA Cup 2nd Round(2nd leg)
1st November 1994
Bilbao is the largest city in Biscay in the Basque country of Spain, football in Bilbao originates back to the late 19th century, when British migrant workers arrived to ply their trade in the city’s port, working in the shipyards and the iron mines, the workers formed their own team called Bilbao Football Club. Meanwhile Basque students made the opposite journey, completing their studies in commerce and civil engineering. While residing in the UK, they became interest in the game of association football and on their return home formed Athletic Club, playing matches against the British workers. In 1902 a combined team known as Club Vizcaya won the first ever Copa del Rey, beating Barcelona in the final, this lead to the eventual merger of both clubs, thus becoming Athletic Club de Bilbao, keeping the English version of their name.
The club are known as “The lions of San Mames’ in reference to their home; Estadio San Mames, Spain’s oldest stadium built in 1913. The ground is known as La Catedral (The Cathedral) as it was built near the San Mames church. Saint Mammes was a Christian thrown to the lions by the Romans, however the lions refused to eat Mammes and he was later made a saint.
The stadium generates a great atmosphere, the club’s nicknamed is appropriate, it’s like entering the lions den with the roar of the Bilbao support. The stadium was redeveloped for the 1982 World Cup with 700m pesetas spend on upgrading the ground and taking the capacity the almost 47,000 for the English invasion on Bilbao. The four separate stands are compact, sitting close to the pitch, the two tiers of seats are red with white seating in the front sections, with the corners sections filled in with extra seating, making the ground enclosed. The major stadium feature is the large arch, adorning across the main grandstand, this was added during the 1950’s when the first major work on the stadium took place throughout the decade and into the early sixties.
I travelled to Bilbao with long lost mate and work colleague ‘Boo‘, so named because of his similarity in size and stature to Yogi Bear’s cartoon companion. These were the days before cheap flights into Europe, long before Ryanair and EasyJet, so the cheapest option of transport available was a coach journey from Newcastle to the Basque country via the Dover to Calais ferry, courtesy of a Euro Football Travel company based in Manchester.
We departed early Monday morning, greeted onto the coach by our steward, a canny lad from Stoke-on-Trent who’s name I cannot recollect, I think it was maybe Dave, however for the purpose of this article I’ll call him Colin. As we boarded, Colin presented everyone with a commemorative t-shirt and announced that our match tickets would cost £30, a bit steep even nowadays, therefore meaning we lost out on valuable beer tokens to pay for our tickets. Our travelling time was spent mostly drinking, sleeping and watching videos, the usual stuff; football, Only Fools & Horses and the odd dodgy copy of the latest newly released films, there was a good atmosphere on the bus, the rest of the crew on board were a good bunch of lads, which past the time away and made the long trip more enjoyable.
We arrived at Dover early evening, using our ferry crossing to stock up on suppliers and travelled overnight through France, arriving in Bilbao next morning at around 10.30am, staying at the Hotel Conde Duque, situated on the bank of the Nervion River, I know the hotel name because I still have the towel that I swiped off the housemaids trolley. After booking in and locating our room, me and Boo went down to reception, where Colin informed us that the lad was here with our match tickets, pointing us in the direction of a shifty looking character standing in the hotel lobby, we purchased our tickets and then headed off into town.


The Author trys the local beverage and the party gets into full swing.

We eventually arriving at a long narrow street, where you can see the stadium prominent at the top, we took a look around the perimeter of the stadium before heading back into the street for a drink, planning to have couple of swift ones before heading off somewhere else, we didn’t venture very far, as 6 hours later we were still there. It was a public holiday in Bilbao that day, so it became a mass street party, with a fantastic friendly atmosphere between both sets of fans, including a good drink and a sing-song, my favourite being the Bilbao fans version of ‘Keegan Wonderland’ which they took a particular liking to, it was comical hearing there own version chanted out in Pidgin English.
We arrived in the ground just prior to kick off, the great atmosphere carried on inside the stadium, I remember thinking that if we were to lose this tie, I wouldn’t really mind, to get knocked out of the UEFA Cup to such great hosts wouldn’t be so bad. There was no seats left in our part of the ground (I knew that ticket seller was dodgy) so we had no choice but to stand in between two sections of seats, I felt uncomfortable as we were blocking the view of the spectators behind, which were mostly Bilbao fans, eventually stadium security came and moved us to the opposite side of the ground, still no seat, but not restricting anyone’s view.
The match wasn’t a classic, United were 3-2 ahead from the first leg and at one stage were three goals up before taking their foot off the gas, allowing Athletic back into the tie. The Toon were without the injured Andy Cole for the 2nd leg, giving Steve Watson an unlikely role as a makeshift striker, apart from a good chance from Robert Lee we didn’t look like scoring, but on the other hand neither did they. The game seemed to be heading towards the required goalless draw, until a shot from Jose Ciganda on 67 minutes deflected off Howey and under Pavel’s body to draw the tie level, giving Bilbao the advantage, courtesy of those two away goals. Bilbao had a golden chance to killed the tie off, missing what could have been a crucial penalty, however United lacked firepower and never looked like saving themselves, just as the Toon Army were enjoying being back in Europe, it was all over, United were out, but the tie should have been all over at St. James Park two weeks earlier.
During the 2nd half we were moved again, we finally got a seat in the upper corner section, meaning I watched the game from three separate corners of the ground, on the final whistle some Bilbao supporters invaded the pitch, celebrating which looked at one stage an unlikely victory. We came out of the stadium, walking down a long staircase where at the bottom the Bilbao fans stood waiting for us, they clapped and cheered us as we walked down the stairs, it was reminiscent of when The Beatles first got off the plane when they arrived in the USA, I was mobbed by their fans, they all wanted to embrace me and shake my hand, making me feel like some sort of celebrity, this carried as I walked back down the same street where we had all partied earlier in the day.

We finally arrived back at our hotel after losing our bearings, eventually seeking the aid of a taxi to find the hotel, after such a long day a bed was most welcome, especially after the previous night’s kip on the bus. The next morning was spent reflecting on the previous 24 hours and what a great day it was, the fact that we were out of Europe was overlooked, we had a good team now, and future trips on the continent now looked a more probable regular event.
I arrived back home early Thursday afternoon and went straight to bed, totally ‘cattle trucked ‘after four days away just to see 90 minutes of football, but there’s more to a Euro excursion than just attending the match. Everything about this trip was great, the long but entertaining journey, the atmosphere pre match, the drink, the crack, the stadium, in fact the only thing that went wrong was the result, but overall the one thing that sticks out the most was the reception from our Basque hosts after the match, it’s something I’ll never forget and will live long in the memory of those fortunate enough to be there


Matchday Facts
AthB 1(Ciganda 67) NUFC 0
Att.47,000
Admission £30 (ticket price; 3000 pesetas)
Programme; none (but someone had a copy of the official team sheet, which was photocopied on the ferry home for 50p)
Travel (inc. hotel/b&b) £120

Friday, June 6, 2008

El Día Después De Un Campeón

Otra excelente Investigación Especial, realizada por
Héctor Huerta, de ESPN.

Un buen video para disfrutar.

Sale!

PD. Teniendo noticias, notas o algo oficial, lo daremos a conocer,
muchas gracias por todos sus comentarios, mail, sugerencias
mentadas y demás que me han hecho llegar.
Son más de 100 mil visitas las que ya tiene este blog, y la verdad
nunca pense que fuera a ser visto por tantas personas, no queda
mas que agradecer su preferencia, por hacer de esta pagina una
visita obligada para cuando quieran saber algo del Santos Laguna.

Gracias, TOTALES.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Ecos Del Campeonato

El Color de Faitelson

Santos Laguna Campeón.

Y para cerrar...
Los Moneros

Juan Terrazas


Gabriel de Medio Tiempo.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Y La Laguna...EXPLOTÓ!

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/9107/desplegado1ow5.jpg
* Después de 7 años...Santos Campeón Batman!
* La Santosmanía...revive
* En Donde están, en donde están...
los amargosos comentaristas de un canal?
* Hachita Ludueña, Mete el GOLAZO del título.
* Santos, el equipo que siempre estrena
Torneo nuevo? Santos lo gana...trofeo nuevo..también.

Domingo 5 pm
El Corona literalmente ERA UN INFIERNO, una temperatura de mas de 45 grados en la cancha le decía al Cruz Azul que tendría que hacer una batalla poco menos que épica para poder ganarle a estos Guerreros que se trajeron una ventaja desde la fría y helada capital, tan ausente de calor eufórico, algo que a nosotros nos sobra, cuando quieran, pídanos las sobras.
Era la final del futbol mexicano, el último juego, ese, que muchos equipos -y sus seguidores- quisieran vivir.

Santos Laguna salía con su cuadro titular, con Ludueña, Ortiz, Lorito, y Guty infiltrados o con molestias, la factura del torneo empezaba a ser cobrada, pero que por ninguna circunstancia se perderían la batalla final.
De arbitro, teníamos a Armando Archundia, tristemente recordado por habernos pitado esa emocionante final en Zapopan, pero que sin embargo perdimos dejando todo en el terreno de juego, no había mañana, todo estaba puesto sobre la cancha, incluso, el nuevo trofeo de Plata que se diseñó durante este torneo para el nuevo campeon, trofeo que brillaba, trofeo que le quemó las manos al que tontamente lo agarro después de haber estado bajo el sol de Torreón durante poco mas de 1 hr. a lo mejor no era de aqui el señor pues todos los laguneros sabemos que si dejamos algo al sol, o una de dos, se achicharra o te quemara al agarrarlo jajajaja...

El primer tiempo comenzó con un Santos demasiado metido atrás, Guzmán gritó desde el primer minuto y es que veía que sus jugadores se sentían temerosos al tocar, perdieron balones, entregaban pases y Cruz Azul se dejaba venir con llegadas para igualar pronto los cartones,muchos veíamos temerosos las jugadas, y solo nos mordíamos las uñas, o implorábamos al cielo que no sucediera nada, pero no, si había llegadas, ahí estuvo el que mas fría mantuvo la cabeza durante el juego... SAN OSWALDO SÁNCHEZ, mis respetos, todo un líder en la cancha, ese que muchos reventaban por "que desquitara lo que cobra" manejados cuales viles marionetas por un loquito, ahora le aplaudían y gritaban eufóricos, si, los típicos VILLAMELONES que nunca faltan cuando el equipo esta en finales, pero yo me pregunto, ¿y dónde estaban durante el descenso?... -silencio- ( no mames, es tiempo de festejar, cómo te atreves a decirles eso ahorita, que se sienten santistas de hueso verde, pero que a las primeras de nuevo se esconderán y empezarán a llamarnos "llantos"...pinches villamelones. )
Jugada tras jugada, Cruz azul se topo con la muralla de Sánchez, y cuando mejor jugaban, Hommie Castillo se agarró en descolgada, agárrenlo que es ratero gritaba Markarian, le taponean el balón, y el rebote, llega a los pies del jugador con más toque del equipo guerrero...Benjamín Galindo, -ahora vestido de azul- tragó saliva, pues sabe ver, que si lo dejan va a ser letal al igual que él lo era...

Daniel Hachita Ludueña, sin estar tan afilado como en los primeros juegos antes de su lesión toma el balón y como si lo pusiera con la mano, mete tiro con una comba impresionante, el balón esquiva a Yosgart que se tiró cuan largo es, esperanzado que sus brazos se estiraran como de hule, para mala fortuna de él, eso solo pasa en las historietas...

¡GOLAZO!¡GOLAAAAAZO!
que hace que el Corona, huela a Campeón
que hace que el Corona grite y retumbe ese grito


en toda La Comarca Lagunera que estaba MUERTA a esa hora pues sus calles, estaban desiertas, desde Lerdo a Torreón, pasando por Gomez Palacio.

Fue un golpe mas que letal para los azules, aún así empezaron a tocar nuevamente, a mantener más el balón, pero Santos, ya solo los esperaba, la maquina tuvo sus llegadas, pero todas se topaban con Oswaldo Sánchez que nos mostró el por qué es el arquero de la Selección Nacional, aún llevándose y poniendo en riesgo su integridad física al contener un golpe en los hue...los hueee...- ¿perdón? -
en los huesos del coxis caon, ah que chingazo le metieron, pero awantó como los meros machos.
Aún así, con el balon en los pies azules, Santos le hizo una jugada a balón parado a Yosgart, nuevamente el Hachita quería sorprender, sin embargo, el portero reaccionó muy bien para sacar el balon y en el contrarremate, Chucho Benítez la volaba de forma escandalosa.

Así terminaría la primera mitad, nos restaban solo 45 minutos para celebrar, sin embargo la televisora repetía una y otra vez hasta el cansancio que -Cruz Azul no esta muerto- como queriendo revivir el equipo Chilango ( chilangos ellos, imagínense ) y haciendo la transmisión poco menos que una sucursal chafa, e infumable de la sección amarilla, tan barata como su propia empresa la cual, dentro de su sección deportiva, es poco menos que un triste recuerdo de lo que fué.

Para la segunda mitad, vendrían los cambios, y como no, si el calor era propio del infierno, salen Ludueña, Lorito y Vuoso fundidos por el esfuerzo, ( y nos quedamos con las ganas de ver festejar a Vuoso con su baile, aunque la verdad, yo no se que traen contra él los arbitros NUNCA le marcaron una jugada a favor, como que querían que el Toro, perdiera la cabeza para sentenciarlo con una roja, no sé, igual y mi percepción esta mal, pero la neta, si se la jalaron con marcarle tantas faltas nomás a él ) entran Torres, Peralta y Mares, Cruz azul atacaría con lo que le quedara, mientras Markarian se hundía en su banca resignado desde la ciudad de México a perder este campeonato.
Llegada tras llegada, se acercaba el campeonato, Santos descolgaba, Chucho Benítez al 77 tuvo para matar a la maquina -aún más- pero su disparo cruzado, pegó en el poste, mientras ya todos gritábamos en casa, en el corona o donde fuera el gol, pero no, la pelota quizo que el azul sufriera más su derrota.
Fué hasta el 82, y después de todos los cambios, que Cruz azul, abrió el marcador cuando ya sus aficionados lloraban la derrota ( ah! como me cagan esas tomas de gente llorando pffft ) lloraban como Magdalenas cuando Lozano toco un balón centrado de tiro libre que pudo vencer a Oswaldo Sánchez, y ahora si, de aquí...a rezarle a TODOS LOS SANTOS LITERALMENTE.

Benítez aun tuvo otra, cuando en descolgada, recortó de la derecha al centro del area grande, se quitó a dos defensas y con todo lo que le restaba de fuerzas tiró pero...
¡¡ le tumbo la torta al niño de la fila 23!! volando el balón, mientras que Arce se la pedía como loco pues venía llegando de atrás...

En el complemento, Archundia dió 5 minutos ( para que el anciano que vive sus ultimos días de Hernandez Junior no diga que nomas Morales los dá, pero bueno comprendamos que quiere ver a sus pinches equipos campeonar antes de ir a rendir cuentas al infierno jajajaja )
En una ultima jugada, se hace la melé dentro del área guerrera, Zeballos tuvo el empate, pero sus dos tiros fueron ya como pataditas de colegiala que la zaga guerrera reventó para hacer volver el alma a todos...y no hubo mas...


Archundia pitó...
LA LAGUNA FESTEJO

SANTOS LAGUNA, TRICAMPEON,
después de 7 años, Santos vuelve a poner otra estrella en su escudo, se escucha el himno "3 ciudades, dos estados...en un solo corazon...que se escuchen nuestras voces...Santos, Santos...Campeón" y el Corona lo canta a una sola voz.

Vemos como Guzman ( el enemigo numero uno del Santos según un loquito ) EL TECNICO CAMPEON se abraza con todos sus guerreros, con un Guty Estrada que merece, TODO EL RECONOCIMIENTO porque es un chavo que dió su alma, entrega, y profesionalismo como pocas veces se ve, con un Vuoso, que la vida le da esta revancha, y por fin, lo hace Campeon, que cada vez que puede, besa su playera, el escudo y festeja como todo un Lagunero, Rafa Figueroa, toda una entrega en la parte de atras que nos hace recordar a un Pedro Muñoz, un Hachita, que es el crack que este equipo esperaba, que nos da un campeonato con su gol y jugando a un 50% de su capacidad, con un Ortiz, que dijo "yo no me pierdo estos juegos" y jugó con dolor, inyectado, y poniendo en riesgo aún mas su lesión, los Benítez, Loritos, Mares, Torres, Castillos, Chatos, los Arce, Peralta, Santiago, García, Barrera...todos, todos sin excepción son para mí...y para mucha gente, verdaderos Guerreros que nos devolvieron la sonrisa que habíamos perdido durante mucho tiempo, que nos cambiaron la cara, que volvieron a demostrar, que este es un equipo de epoca, es un equipo que no esta creciendo
QUE NACIO GRANDE
para dolor, para ardor, para envidia de muchos


FELICIDADES SANTOS LAGUNA
CAMPEON DEL CLAUSURA 2008.
¡Sale!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

¡¡¡QUE SE ESCUCHEN NUESTRAS VOCES SANTOS...SANTOS!!!


...Ahora si señores...
¡¡YO SOY CAMPEON
Y TU...TAMBIEN!!




¡¡SANTOS LAGUNA CAMPEON!!
:::: Clausura 2008 ::::

2007-08 Season Compendious

An eventful but overall enjoyable 2007-08 season, so it’s that time of the year to reflect on my own personal football journey over the past 10 months.
I managed to attend just over 80 games this season, but a more important stat was bagging 35 new grounds, which isn’t bad considering I’m not what you would call a professional ground hopper. What I mean by this term is; I’m not your stereotypical ground hopper ( I don’t own an anorak for starters) who would probably snigger at such a small total over a full season. I do support 2 football clubs, which are generally my football priority, so I don’t have every Saturday free to go somewhere new every week. I also have my fantastic wife and family to consider, as I actually do have a life apart from football (well, just about) so all things considered I think I’ve done well this season the push my total closer to the 200 mark.
The obvious highlight was Gateshead’s promotion to the Conference North after finishing 3rd over the regular season and winning the play-offs. The Tynesiders played a brand of entertaining football, played in the right manner and were by far the best team in the league, it’s baffling how we weren’t league champions anyway. A big thanks and well done to manager Ian Bogie and his assistant Jeff Wrightson on such a fantastic job in their first full season in charge, the club have a bright future ahead and the Heed Army are looking ahead to next season already, in the Conference North with Bogie and Jeff.

The soap opera which is Newcastle United continues, with no sign of the show being axed, much to the delight of the southern based press. Sam Alladyce’s appointment was greeted with optimism amongst the majority of the Toon Army, a new manager with different ideas and a new approach, little did we know that this new approach would have such a negative effect. Looking back at my first game of the pre-season at Hartlepool, reading the post again there seemed so much to look forward to, but the dreadful Alladyce brand of football resulted in the natives getting restless, which usually ends with the same sorry conclusion. Personally I would have gave Big Sam a full season, then judge his performance and review the situation over the summer, as I’m not too keen on managerial changes and upheaval in the middle of the season. As much as I love Keegan, I was a bit embarrassed about the over the top euphoria which greeted his second managerial coming, but after a poor start he did eventually turn things round, so we’ll have to see what .progress is made in the transfer window and see how next season develops. Of course a soap opera has to have a series finale cliff hanger, cue our star midfielder ending up in the nick for 6 months, you can see how that story and the rest of the show develops when the series restarts in August.
King Kev celebrates becoming Facebook friends with Shaun
Smith

The 100 Football Grounds Club squad went over the 100 mark recently, which I’m delighted with, my only real disappointment this season was the ‘Groundhoppers Union Meeting’couldn’t go ahead as originally planned, as their was plenty of interest, maybe we could have another try next season, so watch this space. I did however meet up with a few of the squad, namely the Matlock Pieman, Graham Crofts,Jamie from Fitba Daft, el Queso Grande,The Groundhog and the annual pre-match Toon v Spurs pint with Simple Pieman.
My main aim this season grounds wise, was to finish off the Northern League. I went into the season with 14 of the 42 still to visit, I managed to rattle through 11 of them by the turn of the new year, however I just managed to squeeze in those last 3 before the season ended, next season there'll be two new ANL grounds; Ashington’s Woodhorn Lane and the long trip over to Cumbria for league newcomers Whitehaven.
The highlights were my favoured trips north of the border, the Scottish Cup Final was such a great occasion with Queen of the South making their first final appearance and I also enjoyed my trip to St. Mirren’s Love Street. Following Gateshead away is always a great day out and a good laugh, I wish I could have gone to a few more games on the road with the ‘Heed Army’ but I’ll be trying my best next season, as there’s some cracking away venues in the Conf..sorry!..Blue Square North to look forward to.
Finally I’d like to thank everyone who logs on to the site, cheers for the nice comments and the good feedback I’ve received. This season the blog won an award, and also made the final list of nominees for the Football Fanzine Awards, so I’m naturally thrilled to get the recognition for the wee bit of graft I put in. This website seems to have now turned into my raison d’etre, so I’ll be looking forward to next season, discovering pastures new, armed with my camera, notebook and pen, but definitely, categorically and without a shadow of a doubt, no bliddy anorak! ;-)