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Spanish hat trick wins the day

Wednesday, 28 July 2010

Giuseppe Rossi is pursued by Athlone Town's Brian McCarthy.

ATHLONE TOWN 0 VILLARREAL 3.

IN spite of a battling performance Athlone Town failed to sink the "Yellow Submarine" and were unable to prevent Spanish giants Villarreal from opening their short Irish tour with a comfortable victory on Saturday evening. The team in yellow have arranged a pre season training camp in County Kildare and will also play Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds before returning home at the end of the month. Regulars in European football for the past number of seasons the La Liga outfit are formidable opposition and finished a highly creditable seventh in their domestic league last season with entry to the Europa League in 2010. Such is the strength in depth among their ranks that Coach Juan Carlos Garrido was able to play each half with an entirely different team as their international mix of players looked to blend together on the well presented pitch.
In the first half Spanish internationals Diego Lopez and Santiago Cazorla both lined out together with Argentinean international defender Gonzalo. The experienced veteran Marcos Senna was the captain and the main man in midfield while Giuseppe Rossi will be familiar to Manchester United fans having spent a brief period at Old Trafford early in his career. Another midfielder on show was the highly rated Bruno who has been linked with a move to Barcelona. Athlone boss Brendan Place again gave trialist Wayne Colbert a chance to impress in defence with another former Limerick player Davy Ryan starting up front alongside new signing Declan "Fabio" O'Brien who has yet to make a competitive appearance due to international clearance problems.
The game itself was as expected dominated by Villarreal with Athlone confined to their own half for long periods of defensive duty. They had an early chance when the impressive Hernan Perez headed wide while forcing the first of several corner kicks on 7 minutes. Santiago Cazorla capped fourteen times by Spain saw a shot saved at the second attempt by Michael Schlingermann after 10 minutes with Giuseppe Rossi off target with a strike from outside the penalty area soon after. Brian McCarthy had to be sharp in the tackle to put the ball behind as Perez prepared to strike but Denis Moran was not so clever earlier with his timing and was booked for a foul on Jose Catala on the half way line before being replaced by Richie O'Hanlon. Rossi was again off target as he fired just wide from a left wing cross by Joan Oriel with the Spanish side always looking likely to break the deadlock.
The visitors finally opened the scoring midway through the first half with a penalty as Italian international and former Manchester United ace Giuseppe Rossi sent Michael Schlingermann the wrong way with the spot kick after Paddy Collins had fouled Hernan Perez inside the penalty area near the end line. Schlingermann kept the Spanish visitors at bay with a number of good saves in the opening half while Kevin Williamson had the best chance for Athlone after 35 minutes. O'Brien created the opening and released Shane Fitzgerald down the right flank. The low cross into the box was missed by Ryan on the penalty spot as Kevin Williamson was arriving at the far post but he failed to connect properly with the inviting cross and shot harmlessly over.
This let off for Villarreal had the home crowd cheering but normal reception was resumed for the remainder of the half as the yellow clad team looked to build on their lead. Santiago Cazorla had a shot saved with Schlingermann following up with a string of fine blocks to further deny Bruno, Rossi and Perez as half time approached. Athlone however ended the half on the attack and forced their first corner kick of the contest in stoppage time but McCarthy headed effort from McEvoys corner flag delivery was too close to the keeper who made a comfortable save.
The La Liga outfit had a completely new team out for the second half but again found it hard to break down a resolute home defence in the early stages. However their passing game was a joy to watch and was much appreciated by all in attendance. For the final 45 minutes Spanish international Angel lined out in defence with his fellow country man Cani taking over the captain's armband.
David Fuster and Jeff Montero had early strikes on target blocked with Schlingermann continuing to be busy as he also blocked a shot from Marco Ruben. Marcos Gullon was also denied by the Town keeper as the frustration for the Spaniards grew. However just after the hour mark Villarreal made it two when David Fuster was fouled on the left edge of the penalty area and stepped up to send the direct free kick to the net off the post. Midway through the half Ruben had a header cleared off the line by full back Eoghan O'Shea while Cani then hit the upright with 20 minutes left.
The Spaniards finally made it three with the goal of the game and their first from open play as Fuster fired to the roof of the net from outside the box with 10 minutes left. Earlier second half substitute Austin Skelly having scored the equaliser against Middlesbrough earlier in the week had a good chance to get Athlone back into contention with another goal but after drawing the goalkeeper to the right edge of the penalty area saw his goal ward chip just clear the intended target.
The game petered out as a contest in the closing stages as Athlone unloaded their substitute's bench to give a number of fringe players a run out. With 8 minutes left the home side forced their second corner kick of the game but were unable to grab a consolation score before the full time whistle blew as Villarreal got their Irish tour off to a flying start with a clean sheet. Athlone will be reasonably happy with their performance against such formidable opposition to end a hectic week of games which has seen the part timers play five times in both domestic and friendly fare.

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