Segunda division thread - Liga BBVA

So the Spanish second division kicks off this weekend along with La Liga and for sure will be just as cometative as last season, where the promotion places went down to the last few jornadas. The sides that missed out on promotion last season (Ciudad Murcia, Lorca, Almeria etc) have great competition from the relegated clubs (Alaves, Cadiz, and Malaga) for the three promotion spots and a place in La Liga for 2007/08. Also big clubs from further back will be looking to make an impact (Valladolid, Albacete, Sporting etc) and be in the promotion picture come June. The four clubs promoted from the segunda B will be looking to build on their success from last season and follow the example of other clubs such as Lorca, who nearly made it a double promotion last season.

The opening day fixtures are the following.....

1 Ciudad Murcia vs Poli Ejido
2 Las Palmas vs Xerez
3 Sporting vs Valladolid
4 Numancia vs Lorca
5 Albacete vs Ponferradina
6 Alaves vs Elche
7 Hercules vs Malaga
8 Castellon vs RM Castilla
9 Cadiz vs Vecindario
10 Almeria vs Tenerife
11 Salamanca vs Murica

The big fixtures IMO 3 and 4. Sporting will be looking to get back after several dissapointing seasons in the segunda whereas Valladolid are looking for a promotion after failing for the past two years.

Numancia (the yo-yo side of the past few seasons) who were the form side at the back end of last season will want to build on their recent form against Lorca, who did amazingly well to maintain a promotion challenge all season despite being formed as recently as 2002.

Some sites for live games on Saturday and Sunday:

www.telemadrid.com, which shows one game live on either day selected from the fixture list. Click on la otra for live streaming coverage.

www.canalcastello.com who show a game live at 7pm Spanish time, each Sunday, which is usually the weekends big game.

Hope the thread will be a success.....

Malaga may well struggle unless they purchase a couple of decent strikers, to follow all their news log on at

www.malagafootballenglish.com

I think Malaga will be mid table. I suppose there are many English supporters in la rosaleda?

Also to keep in touch with Cadiz, this is the English supporters site, although I will right a few reports of the matches I see either live or on the streams...

http://www.cadizfc.net/

plenty of british supporters in la rosaleda, both those living here and regular holiday/short break visitors

Yeh I am sure. 34,000 is the cpacity of la rosaleda now, right? Shame it will not be full this season. I think as I say that they will be mid table but if Lorenzo Sanz can get the right players in they should be right up there next season.

Murcia 10/3 Bet
CD Alaves 7/2 Bet
Almeria 5/1 Bet
Cadiz 13/2 Bet
Xerez 8/1 Bet
Malaga 8/1 Bet
Numancia 14/1 Bet
Lorca 20/1 Bet
Sporting Gijon 25/1 Bet
Real Madrid B 33/1 Bet
Valladolid 33/1 Bet
Castellon 33/1 Bet
Ciudad de Murcia 33/1 Bet
Hercules 33/1 Bet
Las Palmas 40/1 Bet
Albacete 40/1 Bet
Elche 50/1 Bet
Tenerife 66/1 Bet
Poli Ejido 66/1 Bet
Salamanca 100/1 Bet
Vecindario 250/1 Bet
Ponferradina 250/1 Bet

Not too sure about these odds. Murcia favourites? Not on last seasons performance. Not sure what signings they have made though.

Out of that lot Valladolid and Ciudad Murcia are worth some money at 33's. Cadiz also worth a bit at 13/2, not bad odds at all. Albacete at 40 also looks good.

The new season kicked off in el estadio cran canaria half an hour ago with Las Palmas returning to the segunda after a short spell in 2B. The away side, Xerez, currently lead, 1-0, ruining the return party...

Ended 1-0 to Xerez, important los amarillos better that tomorrow, to get an early advantage on them!

Almeria 0-0 Tenerife currently.

Tenerife won in the end 0-1 good away win.

Yeh thats a big suprise. Perhaps they will have a better season this year. They certainly have potential and a good fan base to build on.

Poor start for Almeria, I think they may be brought back to earth this season.

Any predictions for how the 22 will finish?

The final whilstle has gone at el molinon, 3-1 Valladolid final score, another seaosn of struggle for Sporting IMO.

GOL DE LOBOS, half time 1-0 to Cadiz against Vecindario. Earlier Castellon drew 1-1 with Castilla, 0-0 in all other games at half time.

Cadiz had 3 shots off the woodwork !

Cadiz scored, Lobos !

Cadiz score the 3rd, Lobos ... hatrick !!!

Crack !

Okay, so it was against newly a promoted side, with a poor defence, but you have to say that things look as if they will be easy for Lobos in the segunda. He is unstoppable! A great way to start the season. Ese Cadiz OE!

Other scores across the segunda:

Numancia 0-0 Lorca
Albacete 2-0 Ponferradina
Hercules 0-1 Malaga

Segunda weekend round up....

Ciudad Murcia 3-0 Poli Ejido, Att: 2,000

Good start for promotion hopefulls. Luque sounds like he had a good game yet again. His partnership with Piti in attack was class last season, but with Piti signing for Hercules, they may struggle to have quite as much flair. Gointom should do well alongside Luque however. For the away side, survival is the priority.

Alaves 1-1 Elche Att: 3,000

Poor start for the side from the Basque regions. A disgraceful crowd, clearly showing that the fans are fed up of a poor set up (president). A draw against Elche (mid table side) is hardly going to set the league on fire, needs improvment. Ruben Navarro got the Alaves goal.

Salamanca 3-2 Murcia Att: 5,548

A poor start for promotion favourites Murcia. They are another side who need to improve, after good starts from other promotions contendors. Great start for Salamanca, after their promotion last season.

Cadiz 3-0 Vecinadario Att: 20,000

Great start for los amarillos, and a great start to life in the segunda, for Lucas Lobos. When on form, he is simply unstoppable, as the hapless away side found. If Cadiz keep him, surely promotion beckons.

Other results:

Albacete 2-0 Ponferradina Att: 5,530
Castellon 1-1 Real Madrid Castilla Att: 8,000
Numancia 0-0 Lorca Att: 4,000
Sporting 1-3 Valladolid Att: 11,000
Las Palmas 0-1 Xerez Att: 9,000
Almeria 0-1 Tenerife Att: 6,000
Hercules 0-1 Malaga Att: 7,500

This weekend results so far....

Lorca 0-2 Sporting
RM Castilla 0-3 Hercules
Murcia 3-2 Almeria
Elche 1-2 Albacete
Vecindario 4-2 Castellon
Xerez 2-0 Ciudad Murcia
Valladolid 2-0 Las Palmas

Cadiz in action against Tenerife in a minute, on localia, if anyone fancies a watch!

Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaadiz.

A good away win at Tenerife. It was end to end stuff and Armando, prefered to Limia, had an excellant game in goal. The defence looked a bit shakey, as did the midfield, great goal from Sesma settled it though.

the idiot chairman at alaves has finally realised he can´t do the management thing and has appointed Julio Bañuejos

Twat! Worst chaiman in Spanish football?

Bad start, will be suprised if they cam maintain a promotion challenge tbh, with all the turmoil that the chairman seems to create.

Lucas Lobos out for six weeks!

Bad news indeed! But up to a point could be good in showing how we manage without him.

Weekend results...

Numancia 3-2 Elche
Sporting 1-0 Ponferradina
Hercules 1-0 Vecindario
Salamanca 2-0 Almeria
Cadiz 1-1 Murcia
Poli Ejido 0-2 Xerez
Alaves 3-1 RM Castilla
Albacete 2-1 Malaga
Castellon 2-1 Tenerife
Las Palmas 2-1 Lorca

Clasificación -

1 Xerez 9
2 Albacete 9
3 Cádiz 7
4 Valladolid 6
5 Hércules 6
6 Salamanca 6
7 Ciudad Murcia 6
8 Sporting 6
9 Málaga 6
10 Alavés 4
11 Murcia 4
12 Castellón 4
13 Numancia 4
14 Ponferradina 3
15 Tenerife 3
16 Vecindario 3
17 Las Palmas 3
18 Poli Ejido 3
19 Elche 1
20 Lorca 1
21 R. M. Castilla 1
22 Almería 0

i did say to the madridistas that castilla could be relegated they have sent loads of players out on loan or sold with buy back clauses, they´ll be back in segunda b imho

I agree Frank, i think Castilla is going down. The players bought up are too young and very little experience, we let to many crucial Castilla players leave on loan. Also i think Michel wont last long either, i doubt he will eat " el turron "

LSr - i know why some had to leave but i think too many you´d have done well to retain your league status so those less experienced players could have had a crack at it next season, now a losing streak will whack their confidence and cannot be good for them in the short term

I know alot of them wanted to leave and a chance to play regular football in primera is very tempting but we shoulda kept some of them cos having your b-team in segunda is great to really try out youth players. I see us in segunda b unless some of the young players start to gel.

Ah shit. First defeat of the season for Cadiz, against bottom of the table and 10 man Almeria. We really miss Lobos, you can see in jsust two games the difference that he makes. Paz on the scoresheet, we need De Paula to be scoring in Lobos' absence though. I'm all for starting Acuna, we need a bit more flair in the side. Some inspiration to blow teams like Almeria apart.

Xerez are again the fast starters. They took a three point lead to second and a five point lead to third today after a 5-0 thrashing of Salamanca.