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Here's Nilmar, interviewed after the game yesterday. He gave us a decent 60 minutes, had the ball in the net once but was offside and forced the keeper into a fine stop (just couldn't get up in time to slot away the rebound). He seemed fine afterward in spite of being hacked down a couple of times. Doesn't say much of interest, but at least it's nice to see him looking more committed and happy to be wearing yellow.
Obviously everyone is happy to have gotten by without Gonzalo, Musacchio and Bruno yesterday; they all return now.
Abrahán Guirao did a nice writeup of the game and press conferences afterward, and it is here:
http://www.elperiodic.com/vila-real/noticias/158396
I would agree with most of this, I would also say good teams find a way to win even when they're not playing their best, so well done! Two games in a row now where we've given up a tying goal and instead of losing confidence and dropping our heads we've taken the game to the opposition and gotten the winning goal.
Granada were so poor up front, though; I really wonder what we saw in Uche, if he can't get a look-in with that group!
Our next opponents, Mallorca, went down to Malaga yesterday and goalkeeping errors played a part; here is Caparros talking about the result:
Real Mallorca : Caparrós: ‘We cannot concede goals like this’
CD Castellón has been in trouble off the pitch for awhile now; the former owners (a group called Castellnou 2000 or somethng like that) were turfed out this summer but the new owner, Mirallés, has failed to come through with needed funds to meet payroll. The players have threatened to strike in two weeks (they haven't been paid in over three months) but have continued to do well on the pitch. Yesterday the owner didn't attend the game, but one of his associates did and got in a shouting match and fight with some fans in the 'palco' (the presidential box).
There's a youtube video of it, sort of. For me it was more interesting to see the Castellon stadium. Remember that before Sr. Roig took over Villarreal, CD Castellon was the bigger club in the area. In fact, they played in a Copa del Rey Final in the 1972-73 season, something we've never come close to doing! (Trivia: Vicente del Bosque was in that team, on loan from Real Madrid).
Castellon was relegated to the Tercera this season for financial reasons (they were 10th in their Segunda B group, but didn't pay their players by the required deadline). There must be very real concern that the club will be pitched out of the Tercera or even wound up. Yes, they have fans who hate us for being Johnny-come-latelies, but I can't wish that sort of sad end on any football club. Shows you the sort of problems the lower division clubs are having, though; they are far from alone.
Finally, Vila-real (the town) celebrates its 738th birthday this week. We've been going through a spate of 300th and 350th anniversaries of towns here in western Massachusetts, so 738--wow. Happy Birthday!!
Vila-real celebra els 738 anys de la fundació de la ciutat - Ajuntament de Vila-real
Enjoy the vibes from another nice win and let's look forward to next weekend. B team hosts Alcorcon on Saturday--a toughie, especially since they haven't lost in the league in two months; Villarreal C plays at Alicante (I assume on Saturday), Villarreal A plays at Mallorca on Sunday. Endavant, everyone!!