Copa Del Rey Final

By xTaMx, on February 2nd, 2012

I have taken the unusual step of creating a mid-month post for this, the biggest game in Tenerife’s history, at least as far as the cup is concerned.

I will use this to give the build up to the cup and an extended account of the game.

PREVIOUS ROUNDS

Tenerife’s run to the final was anything but a straight forwards canter, with a few very narrow wins.

We eventually beat:

4th round – Espanyol 5-4 Agg

5th round – Granada 4-3 Agg

Quarters – Malaga 6-1 Agg

Semis – Sevilla 6-3 Agg

And now we face the might of Barcelona who had it a bit easier in the previous rounds.

4th round – Cadiz 6-1 agg

5th round – At. Madrid 6-2 agg

Quarters – R. Madrid 6-1 agg

Semis – Zaragoza 4-0 agg

Heading into this game, Tenerife are in very good form undefeated in 5 matches since a narrow 2-1 loss to Athletic, Barca on the other hand are coming into the match on the back of 4 defeats, 2 losses to Man City in the Champions League and 2 defeats by Betis and Espanyol in La Liga.

TACTICS

Tenerife will be Lining up in their formation that they have been using this year a 4-1-2-1-2, which is very narrow, but the full backs and CMs provide the width.

		GK

RB	CD		CD	LB
¦				¦
¦		DM		¦
¦				¦
¦	CM		CM	¦
V				V
		AM

	AF		DLF

Barcelona are likely to be lining up in a very similar style.

Injuries and Suspensions.

Tenerife will be without Stuart Govier who is suspended for the Final and Barcelona will be without Bojan who is likewise suspended and Fabregas who has a broken leg.

Prematch build up

Ancelotti has told the media that I am “One of the nicest people in football” and I responded with a similar comment.

The bookies have tipped Barcelona to win and made them 6-4 favourites and Tenerife as 13-8 outsiders.

Former manager of Tenerife Juan Luis Oltra has warned the team about Messi, which seems to me to be a bit obvious, but what can we do to stop him?? Many teams have tried, most have failed! Perhaps a couple of comments to the media might help… Oh Oh!! Messi responded to my comments with “Being singled out just makes me want to live up to the hype.” Which is ominous for us…

I have told the media in the press conference that we plan to go on the attack right from the 1st whistle, which is probably the wrong thing to do, but I don’t see us managing to keep Barcelona at bay for 90 minutes, and I have faith in the attackers to provide more than a few scares to the Barcelona goal.

Line Ups

TENERIFE

		Verdi

S. Pronk	J. Hendricks		Paulo	D. Jara
¦				¦
¦		N. Hernandez		¦
¦				¦
¦	D. Santo		R. Yao	¦
V				V
		J. Zambrano

	J. Cortes		J. Green

SUBS:

Ogbonna

Obiefule

Manu

Schoch

Alonso

Fusca

Straqualursi

BARCELONA

		V. Demirel

Eduardo	Kalas		A. Fontas	J. Martinez
¦				¦
¦		J. Mascherano		¦
¦				¦
¦	A. Iniesta		V. Almeida	¦
V				V
		Thiago

	S. Doumbia		F. Soto

SUBS:

Ivan

Pijoan

Adriano

Martinez

Villa

Moreno

Bartra

After all the hype and build up to this match regarding Messi, he soesnt even make the subs bench… bonus for us!!!

MATCH

The team talk consisted of a basic do it for the fans speech, which failed to stir the troops.

The 1st 30 mins flew past with neither goalkeeper tested, But Barca on top as far as shots on goal.

The game burst into life on 40 minutes when Fontas was sent packing for an elbow on Green.

Hendricks headed Tenerife into the lead on 45(+1) minutes, soaring above a crowded box to power in from a Green free kick. (0-1)

Barcelona may have been slightly the better team in the 1st half, but it is Tenerife that goes into the break in front and facing 10 men, I am hopeful that we can keep our noses in front.

HALFTIME 0-1

I praised the teams efforts in the halftime team talk and they responded well.

Excellent play down the left saw Jara and Yao link up passing and moving the ball between them, Yao played the ball into Zambrano’s feet on the edge of the box and Zambrano turned and fired the ball into the corner of the net, scoring his 1st of the season (0-2)

Juan Cortes chased a ball down into the corner long after anyone else would have given it up for dead and somehow managed to keep it in play. He swivelled and played the ball into Zambrano’s feet and Zambrano fired the ball into the net to send the fans into raptures. (0-3)

Manu came on for the tiring Yao on 73 minutes.

Zambrano picked up a slight knock and had to be replaced on 81 minutes, Straqualursi was his replacement and Jara was replaced by Fusca with Manu moving to left back.

Doumbia grabbed a consolation goal on 90(+2) but Tenerife went on to win the cup for the 1st time in their history.

Zambrano grabbed a deserved Man of The Match award.

The players will be remembered for all time in Tenerife and will never be required to buy a drink every again on the island.

Praise for the players and the management has come in from all sides, however the board is keen to keep a lid on the celebrations with some important fixtures still to be played. They are however delighted to have qualified for the EUROPA league next season, but perhaps we can sneak a Champions League place through the league, however we would need to win both our remaining fixtures and hope the teams above didnt.