Tuesday 25 December 2007

Feliz Navidad

Merry Christmas, one and all.

Getafe spanked Almeria 2-0 on Saturday evening, and David Belenguer has been called up to the Catalan national side to face the Basque Country on Saturday in Bilbao. Other than that, there's really not much news.

Oh, Oscar Ustari wants to leave. Valencia calling?

Wednesday 19 December 2007

Getafe Top Group G After Anderlecht Win

Not even Bart Goor could rescue Anderlecht from the inevitable: Pablo Hernandez (man of the match) and Celestini netted the goals to put Getafe through thanks to a 2-1 win over the Belgians at the Coliseum.

Anderlecht still qualify, of course, along with Geta and Spurs, but that's a fine result and, more importantly, it puts Geta top of Group G with all matches having been played.

As such, the draw for the next round could prove more than favourable, although there are still some tough teams that could come out of the hat. We'll see.

Yuletide Redux

Time has been at a premium of late, but Getafe roll on:

Dec 6 - Getafe contrive to almost throw away an easily-gained 1-0 lead against AaB in Aalborg, eventually prevailing 2-1 in a game that was much harder than it had to be.

Dec 9 - Atletico Madrid squeeze through to the most undeserved win of the century at the Calderon with both Getafe and the hosts having two men sent off. Pato and Licht get reds for the good guys, while Reyes and Kun Aguero do so for Atleti.

Dec 10-13 - The Spanish disciplinary committee finish constructing their giant statue of Kun Aguero and, prostrating themselves below it, annul the Argentine's second yellow card, borne of a truly atrocious dive in front of Pato. As such, while the Geta goalie and Licht languish in the stands, Kun is free to face Recreativo on Sunday. The admittedly-gifted whippet then spends a fine afternoon in Huelva getting hacked left, right and centre as boos ring out around the Colombino. The hostile reception is due to the fact that the cheeky scamp scored via handball against Recre once in the past in an aincident that perhaps mirrored another deliberate* handball that took place against Getafe on December 9th.

Dec 12 - A heavily-weakened Getafe side scrapes past third-tier side Burgos 1-0 away from home in the Copa del Rey. Any visiting supporter may have been struck by the vast contrast between Burgos, a study in Spanish imperial opulence, and Getafe's own Calle de Madrid, a fine example of iron-shuttered suburban despair. But at least the latter has a good football team, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it, El Cid.

Dec 16 - Villarreal pap Getafe 3-1 at the Coliseum in a performance reminiscent of our early-season woes. Nihat ran rings around the Azulones, the midfield was off-colour, and it took Kepa Blanco of all people to pull one back for the hosts. Just when onlookers began to suspect that the former Sevilla man was a player - two goals in two games! - he promptly skied the penalty that could have given Getafe the path to an unlikely draw. Still, there's no point in blaming him for what was overall a very poor team performance.

Dec 18 - Marca claims that coach Laudrup wants a versatile defender who can play both left and centre in the January transfer window. Apparently the boss has no faith in Franck Signorino nor Manuel Tena, which would explain why the former only gets games in the cups and/or when everyone was injured and why the latter is on orange-slicing duty. No names have yet been mooted.

Heart-rendingly, Laudrup's dear old mum then emerges in the Danish press to relate a tale of how she, as an unmarried 16-year-old in conservative Denmark - almost had her firstborn aborted at her own mother's insistence, only to be saved by the kindly intervention of her dad, who claimed to be unable to find a back-alley abortion clinic. Cheerful stuff.

Later on Dec 18 - A very-much-unaborted Michael Laudrup names the following squad to meet Anderlecht:

Goalkeepers: 1. Ustari; 13. Pato.

Defenders: 2. Contra; 3. Cata Díaz; 4. Belenguer; 12. Licht; 19. Signorino.

Midfielders: 6. Celestini; 7. Mario Cotelo; 10. De la Red; 15. Nacho; 22. J. Casquero; 24. Pablo Hernández; 25. Granero; 42. Juanfran.

Attackers: 9. Braulio; 14. Manu; 17. Kepa.

Ikechukwu Uche was thought to be on the verge of recovery, but it seems as if he'll miss this game, while David Cortes and Francisco Sousa are also out.

It's more than likely that the side will be rotated, but with one point sealing passage to the next round, it may not be totally changed. Pato, for example, may take up position in goal after missing the weekend tie.

Anderlecht, meanwhile, have Bart Goor in their squad. He's a class act. The rest of them can go to hell.

Forza Geta!

*Aguero called it accidental as the world guffawed in disbelief.

Thursday 6 December 2007

Squad To Face AaB Aalborg

Here's the squad for tonight's game:

Goalkeepers: 1. Ustari; 13. Pato.

Defenders: 2. Contra; 3. Cata Díaz; 4. Belenguer; 5. Mario; 12. Licht; 19. Signorino; 21. D. Cortés.

Midfielders : 6. Celestini; 7. Mario Cotelo; 10. De la Red; 15. Nacho; 24. Pablo Hernández; 25. Granero.

Attackers: 9. Braulio; 14. Manu; 16. Albín; 17. Kepa.

Sousa and Casquero rested due to knocks, Uche still injured. Coach Laudrup will show up wearing a crown and sceptre - apparently he's still kind of a big deal in Denmark, on account of him being bloody brilliant as a player.

Geta, of course, won 2-1 against Levante at the weekend, Braulio scoring twice to effectively give the finger to his doubters (e.g. me.) Albin also did well, so those two may start again tonight, although as everyone keeps saying, the Liga's the priority.

Either way, that bloody stupid loss to Hapoel last week has made this a game that Geta really cannot afford to lose. A win could also see enough to see us through if Spurs lose to Anderlecht, but it looks like it'll really come down to next week, when the Belgians come to the Coliseum... assuming all goes well tonight, of course.

I don't even know, actually, the UEFA Cup's a bitch to figure out because of the staggered fixtures. The only certainty is that if we lose, the people of Aalborg will surely regard Laudrup as a child would Santa after being told that he isn't real.