Amistoso

(October 2020)

2019 was a great year for my family, my parents were able to live and work in the Costa Del Sol and effectively have a year-long extended holiday. I visited them a total of five times for holidays, which were great chances to catch up, relax, explore and watch football in the region. Once they returned to the UK last December, we were all looking forward to spending the year together at home. 2020 has not been a great year, the less said about it the better, so when the opportunity came up for them to return to Spain, they just couldn’t turn it down! The difference this time being that I was joining them…

When I arrived into Spain, the start of pre-season was just around the corner for football clubs in the third tier and below. A Spanish club’s pre-season is a little different to what you’d normally expect in England, particularly with everything that’s gone on this year. I’d also like to point out that the club’s and regional FA’s approach has been altered for this year in particular, which has meant that they’ve been very sensible and considerate for the situation, something that is perhaps more than can be said for the English FA.

Spain’s top two divisions were able to begin their season as “normal”, the only exception is that there were no fans allowed, which has been the same for all the top leagues in the current environment, but in the tiers below them, the season was delayed slightly and started on the 18th of October, with the lowest level of football not starting until November. The approximate month-long delay to the start of the league season meant that all of the impacted clubs were able to have fans watch their pre-season games and it also gave clubs longer to deal with any potential issues that may occur, such as player testing and their venue’s safety protocols, in the aim of minimalising risk and maximising safety. Before the leagues started, another change was implemented for this season, with each league (in the Costa Del Sol at least) geographically dividing their clubs into two sub-groups. This minimalised travelling for teams and supporters in the first stage of the season, with the two sub-groups joining up into “promotion” and “relegation” mini-leagues, similar to the Welsh Premier League system, when restrictions are eased.

Going into pre-season I had no idea what matches I’d be able to watch, simply because most of the clubs here don’t usually advertise their friendlies until a day or two before they’re played! It really is a case of just waiting to see what comes up. Another oddity is the number of midweek games they play during pre-season, with the vast majority of games being played on weekdays, but during the actual league season it’s rare you’d get a midweek game…

The first friendly on my radar was CD Estepona vs Algeciras CF, a 4th vs 3rd tier match-up that I thought would be entertaining. Getting into the ground was surprisingly easy, since my Spanish is non-existent I thought it’d be tricky to understand and follow the safety protocols, but I just wrote down my name and contact number and that was it really. It was also surprising how competitive and intense the game itself was, feeling much more like a cup match than a friendly, being played in a skilful and satisfying way.

Underdogs Estepona took an early lead when a long through-ball caused a miss communication between the away side’s defence and on-rushing goalkeeper, resulting in an own goal as a back-pass rolled into the empty net. Algeciras had chances of their own to equalise soon after, with the home goalkeeper making numerous smart saves to keep them in the lead. This included saving a penalty, by palming the ball away from the right hand side of the goal, after Estepona were left badly exposed following a quick counter-attack. Both teams were able to keep possession well and played with quick, attacking play, but largely cancelled each other out for the majority of the game. Algeciras’ superior fitness showed during the second-half, as did the numerous substitutions that both sides were making. Eventually, the visitors did get a deserved leveller with fifteen minutes to play, from a near-post header off a corner, which proved to be the last of the action as both teams settled for a hard-fought draw.

The following midweek saw Marbella FC play their first home pre-season game against Sevilla Atlético (B team), which had a capacity of 800 fans due to the restrictions. I bought my ticket in advance through the club, where you also had to fill out a standard contact form as part of their safety protocols and have your temperature checked when you arrived at the game. The only part of the protocols that I don’t like is wearing a mask during the game itself, if I’m sat socially-distant to others outside in an open space, wearing a mask at all times as well seems a bit overkill. In truth though you quickly get used to always wearing a mask whenever you’re out in public here, with large fines possible if you don’t. This match featured two third tier clubs, who are in the same league but different sub-groups to each other. It’s usually a close encounter between the two so I hoped it’d be interesting.

Marbella started much stronger than their opponents and after only 3 minutes a through-ball from Granero found Nacho Sanchez on the right hand-side of the box, who finished low into the far-post to give the home side an early lead. Sevilla’s best chances came from Marbella’s defensive mistakes, when a clumsy pass to a centre-back was pounced on, but they couldn’t finish it. The young side pressed well but began to leave themselves exposed at the back and in the 23rd minute, a surging run down the left wing lead to the ball being cut-back for Nacho Sanchez to grab his and Marbella’s second goal of the game. The score line could’ve been 3-0 by half-time, but somehow an overhead kick managed to beat the goalkeeper and hit the crossbar then, just like in a game of FIFA, the resulting rebound was also hammered against the bar, before the defence we finally able to clear the ball. Unfortunately, this game really faded away in the second-half, with both teams changing the majority of their players which somewhat killed the energy and intensity. The away side’s continued hard work was rewarded with a goal from Luismi late-on, but Marbella held out for a deserved 2-1 win.

My third and final friendly to report on was actually located about half-way between Estepona and Marbella, in the small town of San Pedro (de Alcántara). I had previously visited all three of the clubs featured in this article, but since 5th Tier UD San Pedro is now my ‘local team’, I was looking forward to seeing them most of all. Continuing the trend of evening matches, they had a Saturday 6pm kick-off against 6th Tier CD Ronda, who I’ve also visited before, a club that I knew would be challenging for promotion this season, so it had the makings of a close and enticing game.

It was a very pleasant evening for the game to take place as we walked out of town to the ‘Estadio Municipal San Pedro’, where there were numerous safety protocols to follow including filling in a contact form, wearing a mask at all times and of course, having our temperature taken. Everything seemed fine, I handed over my form completed in basic Spanish and they noted my temperature (measured by a gun device), 33 degrees Celsius, which I knew was wrong but the official seemed happy so off we went round to the main stand, knowing full well that if that temperature was correct then I should be suffering from hypothermia, yet I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts in over 20 degrees sunshine…

This match didn’t live up to the previous two and proved to be a close contest with both teams largely cancelling each other out. The style of play was also different, much more a classic English match than typical Spain football, but it was still an enjoyable watch on a pleasant evening. Both teams defended well but struggled to create many chances, though the away side did come closest on a couple of occasions in the first-half without taking the lead. Thankfully there was one goal in the game, with San Pedro getting the breakthrough with thanks to a far-post header by defender Shoma in the 75th minute. There were a whole host of substitutions and Ronda battled well to try and get an equaliser, but the hosts were able to see out a 1-0 victory in their final game of Pre-season. Since then, both of these teams have started the season well, with Ronda being early contenders for promotion (as predicted). Their ground is well worthy of a visit, so I wouldn’t mind revisiting there and the town at some point in the future.

Overall it proved to be a very enjoyable pre-season in what were the first friendly matches that ever I’ve watched abroad. I was looking forward to the league fixtures that started the following weekend and had made plans to visit some new and interesting grounds in the region. All of that to come at a later date…

Thank you for checking this piece out and keep your eyes peeled for my follow-up articles coming from Southern Spain.

Chris Sharp

(All photos are taken by me, please can you give credit if you wish to use my photos)