Villarreal news,December 3

Good news first—Villarreal have a World Cup winner! The World Cup in question is the Under-17 ladies’ World Cup, which Spain won by defeating Mexico 2-1 in the final, played in Uruguay.

Castellón native and current Villarreal Ladies’ player Aixa Salvador was in the team; she and her teammates are heading home to Madrid with the trophy. The Spanish men’s side built the foundation for its 2010 World Cup triumph by winning youth competitions in the years beforehand, and the Spanish ladies are hoping to do the same. Congratulations, Aixa, and all your teammates!!

The Villarreal ladies had to do without Aixa the last couple of weeks, but they rebounded from a tough loss against Levante to defeat Alhama. The ladies are now 3rd in their group on 28 points after 11 matches, just behind Valencia’s and Levante’s B sides on 29. Only two go through to the promotion playoffs though.

Miguelón Llambrich wasn’t named in the squad for the Barcelona match, but he went along to support his teammates. Unfortunately, the taxi he was riding in was in an accident (sounds like it was rear-ended) and he got a left shoulder bruise and a case of whiplash. He’s recovering back in Vila-real.

Villarreal B had a good win, 3-0 over Teruel, and are second in the table on 29 points from 15 matches. Lleida are on top with 30; Atletico Baleares and Herculés are next on 27. Speaking of Herculés, they lost 2-1 at Sabadell yesterday, and ex-Villarreal player Pablo Iñiguez, now playing for Herculés, was involved in a scary collision and taken to hospital. He’s apparently fine but was kept for concussion observation, I believe.

Villarreal C lost at Alzira, 1-0 but are still comfortably mid-table.

Oh, a last bit of injury news—Javi Fuego is now officially ready to return to action, but now Manuel Iturra has a muscle injury. So it goes.