One Sided "Derby" In Round Eight

A confident and assured Alianza saw off San Salvador in a local derby full of goals, and full of incident.

In the opening 5 minutes Alianza’s first four attacks resulted in: - goal, bar, post and a missed golden opportunity. Retana scored in the second minute, following a nice move on their first attack. And imagine my joy when San Salvador got an early free kick, and the ball was casually tossed to Dennis Alas. He spun the ball looking for the valve, searched out a good spot, and took a good run up. He aimed high and towards the post, and forced a good save. That’s the first free kick in the video, and he takes them all.He San Salvador were never really in this game, but you never really felt they were completely out of it either, and the equaliser by Gochez may have been out of nowhere, but they had been working well down the flanks.

It was a few moments after this goal, just after the half hour mark, we were treated to the best move of the day. A fast flowing move, showing individual skill and great team passing, movement and understanding, San Salvador ended up winning no more than a corner.

Early in the second half Retana scored his second, the goal of the jornada and Alianza took control of the game. Alianza had the ball in the net again, but it was adjudged off-side, and watch the keeper on the third goal for Alianza. Within 5 minutes of each other they got a penalty, and Alianza’s goalkeeper also takes theirs, and took it well, and Alas made no mistake for San Salvador, leaving the score line 4-2. So San Salvador looked good in flashes, but need to get more mobility at the back to stop being opened up so easily if they want to get off the foot of the table.

I was once again at the game alone, and went in the away end, which actually were mostly Alianza fans. I think it is the cheapest covered area, and the rain was threatening. In fact it was a very disappointing crowd overall, but not as disappointing as the “Mister Burger” I choked down from the top of the stand, just next to the open urinals.

The big game of the jornada ended level, but full of controversy, as Firpo got off the mark with a penalty, only see Shawn Martin equalise for Aguila with a goal which was awarded even though the ball appeared to not cross the line. We have talked of little else here: Jose who?

In Santa Ana FAS entertained Nejapa, and some FAS fans had some unpleasant placards about Nejapa. The police came to kick them out, and it seemed a fairly run of the mill minor incident. You will be delighted to learn, however, that the FAS manager, that man Nelson Ancheta, decided to get involved, trying to defend “his” fans, and it all got a bit nasty again – maybe this could be the man Peter n Roman are looking for? In the end the visitors had the last laugh, winning one nil.

On the Saturday I enjoyed, by TV, a convincing Vista Hermosa victory in a game of low quality on a waterlogged pitch. The “Roadrunners” were winning and in control, but dropped their concentration late on to allow Metapan to score an undeserved brace. Final score 4-2.

The final fixture saw Once Municipal continue a new run. Having just ended their 31 game home unbeaten run, they have now not scored for five consecutive games – 482 minutes to be exact. Chalatenango had a bread and butter home two nil victory against them to stay second.

The Table:-

1st Aguila 16pts
2nd Chalatenango 14pts
3rd Vista Hermosa 11pts
= Nejapa 11pts
= Firpo 11pts
= Metapan 11pts
7th Alianza 10pts
8th FAS 8pts
9th Once Municipal 7pts
= San Salvador 7pts

NB all teams have played 8, except Vista Hermosa and FAS, who have played 7

Top scorer in the league at the moment is that man Eduardo Retana, with 5, a few behind him on 4, including Dennis Alas.

Next week San Salvador are entertaining Firpo

Intrigue and Insults in Jornada 7

Video Alianza v Vista Hermosa

A few runs to talk about this week. In Mexico Pumas finally got a home win, the last being on St Valentines Day. It’s good to win, but Tecos were appallingly bad. Back here in Salvador the amazing home record of Once Municipal finally came to an end, losing 1-0 to FAS, after not losing en casa for 31 games, the last time being the semi final of the Apertura 2005. Exciting scenes as the man who won them a title, Nelson Ancheta, made his first visit as manager of FAS. He was not warmly received, and the abuse increased when he was sent off, and refused to go. His captain, Alfredo Pacheco had to lead him away, whereupon he was heard to shout at the Canary faithful: - “I gave you a f**cking title, you ***s”. Lovely stuff.

Aguila had an efficient and rather too straightforward 3-0 victory over San Salvador on Saturday, the difference between the teams was clear, and to be honest it should have been many more. Even a couple of Dennis Alas thunderbolt free-kicks somehow failed to find the target. San Salvador in deep trouble, rooted to the bottom of the table.

I made it to an intriguing fixture at the Cuscatlan, Alianza taking on Vista Hermosa. This is the sixth visit of the lads of Gotera since their promotion, and they have not been beaten (sorry, Blackcomyn – you know all this I am sure, just skip ahead), winning once, the other 4 games ending in draws. The area behind the goal was closed so I went into one of the two away sections. The main one had about 70 people, there were 16 other Vista Hermosa faithful with me.

I found this to be a fascinating and very odd game, very difficult to read. Vista Hermosa came out 3-5-2, and Alianza had a (fluid) 3-5-2 as well. To put it concisely Alianza are clearly a better team, but did not seem to be able to hold their shape, whereas Vista Hermosa had more mobility up front, and were much more disciplined, keeping their shape much better.

I think it was this discipline that ultimately won them a draw, which I think was probably just about fair. A scrappy opening had the home side slightly on top, so the early goal for the visitors seemed a little against the play. Romero and Coreas were lively up front, and Osael Romero got between the defenders out on the right, and finished nicely for the 0-1.

Despite their clear superiority Retana and Albarron (mex) could not really overwhelm the midfield for Alianza, and we saw some entertaining back-and.forth football, without anyone really controlling. The visitors really should have gone two up towards the end of the half Salvador Coreas missing a great chance from a nice Manifred Portillo cross.
Worse was to come for the blues, as a minute later as the elephants equalised. Retana slipped a lovely ball into the path of Francisco Alvarez who collected and finished coolly.

So one each at half time seemed about fair, but really only felt the home team would go on to win.

Indeed Alianza went ahead not long after kick off, with a remarkable goal, from that man Eduardo Retana again. I am sure he will tell you it was a wonderfully crafted chip, but I have an alternative view. Nice work between him and Lopez led the ball to the box, where Leonel Gustavo, who was not impressive all day, got a foot in to clear the ball. Unfortunately for him, Retana was rushing in, and the ball ricocheted off him, and over the despairing Memo Gonzalez. Maybe fortunate, but not unsurprising, and a home win seemed most likely now.

Following a free kick Vista Hermosa were gifted what seemed an extremely dodgy penalty. To my delight it seems the keeper, Gonzalez, takes the penalties for Vista Hermosa. He had made a few good saves, and obviously had little faith in his strikers. He made no mistake from the spot, and ran off to the empty stands to celebrate alone. 2 all.

He was at the other end of a penalty not long after, as a supposed hand ball saw another penalty, it seemed Alianza first ever home victory against Vista Hermosa was finally going to arrive. Fransisco “Caballito” Alvarez stepped up, confident of adding to his account. Sadly, not to be, and the game finished as yet another draw between these two.

In the other games Metapan beat Chalatengo 1-0, and Nejapa also got a home win 3-1 against FIRPO.
This all leaves Aguila 4 points clear at the top and San Salvador at the bottom. The top scorer is Nicolás Muñóz of Aguila.

The games for Jornada 8 are:-

Vista Hermosa v Metapan
Alianza v San Salvador – ooo mouthwatering derby
FIRPO v Aguila
FAS v Nejapa
Chalatenago v Once Municipal

In the second division, Santa Tecla are lying 3rd in Group “A”. If I can get more information on second and third divisions I will let you know.

Confusojornadas

With the mid-week Jornada 5 being cancelled for Hurricane Felix we entered a very confusing time of rearranged matches, with very little notice, so I failed to get to any, we are now in a situation where most, but not all, of Jornada 5 and Jornada 6 is complete, and this weekend starts jornada 7.

So that’s the lame excuse for the lack of posts, and here are the results so far:-

Jornada 5
Once Municipal 0 – San Salvador 0
Vista Hermos v FAS 4th October
Nejapa 0 – Aguila 4
Alianza 2 – Chalatenango 2
Metapan 1 – FIRPO 1

Jornada 6
Aguila 2 – Alianza 1
Chalatenango 1 – Vista Hermosa 1
FAS 4 – Metapan 2
San Salvador v Nejapa TBA
FIRPO – Once Municipal TBA

And the current table is:-

1st Aguila pld 6, 12pts
2nd Chalatenango pld 6, 11pts
3rd Metapan pld 6, 8pts
4th= FIRPO pld 5, 7pts
4th= Vista Hermosa pld 5,7pts
4th= Once Municipal pld 5, 7pts
7th= San Salvador pld 5, 6pts
8th= Alianza pld 6, 6pts
9th= FAS pld 5, 5pts
10th= Nejapa pld 5, 4pts

This weekend the choice game is Once Municipal at home to FAS, should be fascinating, but I will not see it, as I will be in the Cuscatlan for Alianza Vista Hermosa, I may go in with the away fans. The Canaries, incidentally, now 31 home games without defeat.

Jornada 7
Aguila v San Salvador
Once Municipal v FAS
Alianza v Vista Hermosa
Nejapa v FirpoMetapan v Chalatenango

I promise a better write up after the weekend, sorry.

Severe Hosts

I did not get to the game this weekend, I will not bore you with the reasons, suffice to say:- John, you would recognise the situation. So this week I will treat you to a brief overview of each of the five games in the Apertura 2007, Primera Vuelta, Jornada 4.

Eagle Eats Canary
Aguila 2 – Once Municipal 0
Saturday night in the Estadio Juan Francisco Barrera in San Miguel a competent Aguila saw off an 11 Municipal without any attacking gumption whatsoever.

They failed to trouble Rivera in goal, and showed little ambition until the second half, when the occasional attack fumbled with very wayward finishing. By this stage Nicolàs Muñoz had scored from the spot after the half hour, following a handball just inside the box (“The 16.50” as it is here). Muñoz bagged again early in the second half, and came close to a hat trick late on.

The San Miguel team will be happy with a solid home win, but the lads from Ahuachapán will need to show more ambition if they want to extend their 30 game unbeaten run at home, next week against San Salvador.

Another escape in the Custatlan
San Salvador 2 – Metapan 2
In contrary to Alianza who last week scored late last week to salvage a point, San Salvador threw 3 points out the window in a disastrous last five minutes, in what we used to call “a grandstand finish”.

San Salvador, “los panteras”, played the best football on the day, and were justly ahead after 20 minutes from a blistering Dennis Alas free kick. The same player scored a carbon copy on 33 minutes to make it 2-0. This Dennis Alas (pictured) is a talisman for the team from the capital, and the newspaper has just been recording his free kicks from outside the area: - an average of 95 km/h; the fastest was 155 km/h. “It’s just a natural gift” says the player. Not sure if that is arrogant or modest. Also I am not 100% convinced that the journalist knew how to use the speed gun.

Following changes at half time the current champions were slowly coming back into the game, but San Salvador were still looking comfortable. However on 86 minutes Paolo Suarez (Uruguay) scored to give a glimmer of hope. When Alex Escobar scored from a free kick deep into injury time, Metapán were in ecstasy. Once the dust settles, however, they will realise it was just a draw, and leaves them second, and Los Panteras will rue “doing a Pumas”.

Top to Bottom
CD FAS 0 – Chalatenango 1
FAS’s bad run continues, this time losing at home, to leave them clear bottom with 2 points with 6 goals received from the four games so far.

Whilst things in Santa Ana maybe getting too hot for Nelson Ancheta, over in Chalatenango they are in dream land – top of the table. The only goal of the game came from the winger who delights in the name of Gilberto Murgas, on the stroke of full time.

Alianza Forget How To Win
Nejapa 2 - Alianza 2 Video
Alianza draw again, this time losing the advantage. In the Polideportivo Vitoria Gasteiz Nejapa a large turnout saw an interesting and even game. In fact Nejapa made all the early running, and Dago Portillo, the Alianza keeper, was the first-half hero, pulling off a string of fine saves.

But it was the visitors who went two up, with goals either side of half time, That man Retana again, finding space in the box on 41 minutes, and Arturo Albarran scoring a fine free kick a minute into the second half.

However Nejapa were never out of this game, and controlled much of it especially in midfield. In a five minutes period Portillo went from hero to zero, he seemed rooted for the first goal (51 minutes, Wilber Martinez), and for the second he mishandled a fairly easy long shot, only to see Helman Monterrosa following up strongly to get the equaliser on 56 minutes.

Alianza regained their composure, and neither team could break through, and a draw was a fair result. To make me think of home, two Alianza players were sent off after the final whistle for complaining to the ref. Muy Mexicano.

Usulutecos Stop The Rot
Luis Angel FIRPO 2 – Vista Hermosa 0
An excellent display of football saw FIRPO end their bad run, as Vista Hermosa did not look at all comfortable in the Sergio Torres Rivera, this week living up to its nickname of “The Devil’s Cauldron”.

The goals came from Guillermo Moran on 11 minutes and a well taken Leonardo Pekarnic penalty following a foul by Patrico Barroche on 36 minutes.

HOME FORTRESSES
As is well known the Canaries of Once Municipal have not lost at home for 30 games, and so far this season there has only been one away victory (Chalate away at FAS), making all the teams here “Severe Hosts”. I think we will see that change tonight.

TABLE (4 played)
Chalatenango 9pts +3
Metapan 7pts 0
FIRPO 6pts +1
Aguila 6pts 0
11 Municipal 6pts 0
Vista Hermosa 6pts 0
Nejapa 5pts 0
San Salvador 5pts 0
Alianza 5pts -1
FAS 2pts -3

This week it is a double round, and they are playing again Wednesday night (Felix willing): here are the games, with my predictions:-

Alianza v Chalate draw
Once Municipal v San Salvador home win
Nejapa v Aguila away win
Vista Hermosa V FAS draw
Metapan v Firpo draw

We shall see how I do. There seems to be a strong second division here in El Salvador, and a team from my barrio “Santa Tecla”, so I will try and get there, and maybe do a report on the second division soon.

The last words today are from joint league top scorer, Dennis Alas. His 5 point plan for taking great free kicks:-

1) Always aim to kick the ball where the valve is. I seem to remember Gary McAllister learning that from Gordon Strachan. Do balls still have valves?
2) Get a good run up, to hit the ball hard. A strong shot is much more effective.
3) Always aim to hit the ball above the bar. In the majority of cases a goal will result. I want you all to think about that statement very carefully.
4) Find a good spot on the pitch to put the ball, preferably a slightly raised area.
5) Aim for one of the posts. It’s the hardest area for the keeper to reach.

Wise words. Remember to check back soon for the reports on the midweek games.
DT