Juvenil A defeated in Copa Final on penalties; Villarreal-Eibar is sold out

It’s sort of the calm before the storm in Vila-real. The San Pasqual celebrations have just started, the big civic celebration in Vila-real—everything from a paella contest to bulls to art shows, concerts, etc.

Apart from that, the big news yesterday was about a new restaurant coming to town—KFC. Not exactly a staple of the Mediterranean diet, is it?

Our Juvenil A side were in action this morning, taking on Zaragoza in the final of the Copa del Campeones for Juvenil A sides in Vigo. After neither side could score on the other in regular time and an extra period, the match went two penalties and Zaragoza prevailed, 6-5. It’s the second defeat on penalties for our Juvenil A side in a cup final after the Dallas Cup earlier this spring. Disappointment, but congratulations on a fine performance!!

Meanwhile, the match against Eibar is officially a sellout. The team has done all it can to encourage attendance, asking season ticket holders who know they can’t make it to make their tickets available for others. Apparently that has worked. “Sellout”, of course, doesn’t include the visitors “birdcage” which I assume will not be in use except for any Eibar supporters who make the trip down.

Incidentally, while it hasn’t happened much in recent seasons, Villarreal have been in relegation danger late in the season before. Our first relegation (first year in the Primera, 1998-99) we were already relegated by this point; in 2001/2002 we entered Jornada 37 one point ahead of Las Palmas in 18th, and defeated Zaragoza 2-1 (while Las Palmas lost to Tenerife) and achieved safety with a game to go. Hopefully we’ll get that same home win tomorrow!