It seemed a long way from last seasons euphoric home games as a paltry 3,800 turned up for the only friendly in the Heliodoro , Santa Cruz, against Nijmegen of the Dutch Premier League. CD Tenerife did their best to raise some cheer with a 2-0 win that barely reflected their dominance, but the wide open spaces and chants against the club president told their own story – the fans are not happy.
The decision to charge 10 euros towards the La Palma fire appeal went against all tradition across Spain for the official presentation game, normally they are Free for season ticket holders. We took our places in the Grada Popular Baja, seats still in place, they should have been removed to allow standing by now, and the expanded press area up in the tribuna, a La Liga requirement, was just a bare concrete base, cleared in recent days, although the work should be completed by now. The team that took to the pitch included our 3 new signings but was still down on firepower compared to last season. Only a week to go to La Liga, and the club is ill prepared.
The game was much better fare, Nijmegen were very physical but skillful, CDT had to be at their best, and after 14 minutes Richi set up Nino who showed he is as sharp as ever, making it 1-0. The referee was pretty weak and missed some strong arm tactics from the Dutch, Nino got knocked to the ground and no penalty was given, but Tenerife were good value for a half time lead. The new boys combined early in the second half with Bellvis putting the ball into the goal area, Roman Martinez had an easy tap in and that was game over for Nijmegen.
That’s 3 strong wins to close the pre season programme, lots of plus points from the players we have but against opponents below La liga strength. The new kits have been unveiled (above) and next Saturday the big test begins with an away trip to Real Zaragoza, kick off 9pm and live on La Sexta, hopefully we will have at least one more forward by then. It seems like the club directors will have us banging our heads against a brick wall all season – so we thought we would take some tips from some real headbangers. On the way back from Santa Cruz we stopped off at El Puertito, Guimar for the Goymar Fest, a rock and metal outdoor feast of bands like Zen, Hollow Core, Hybris and In Blood, good fun but black marks to the bar for running out of beer.