A much more cheerful story than the last post

I'm still in Spain, being lazy and not planning the rest of my trip, mainly. We did however manage to see a soccer game live, which is quite an achievement considering the logistics, timing, locations and language barriers involved in doing such things. We made our way up into Basque country (yes, impeccable timing, I know, given the recent ETA arrests) to the city of Vitoria to watch Deportivo Alaves take on the unpronounceable Xerez.

The bus ride up there was kind of absurd in that we stopped in every podunk pueblo in the 80km between the Logrono and Vitoria. The bus - a full sized coach carrying about ten people at a time - would actually drive up a mountain on a road about four feet wide and lined with stone cathedrals and apartments. Oncoming traffic had to pull onto the sidewalk, if there was one, or backup until they reached a pulloff. Two and a half hours later we finally pulled into Vitoria and embarked on an hour long and futile effort to find something to eat that was more substantial that a slab of ham on a half of baguette. Sundays area big deal here, I guess. No restaurant, bar or cafe has their kitchen running and not a single store - department, convenience or otherwise - is open either.

Getting to the game from there was easier than we anticipated because everyone else in town seemed to be walking that direction, too. By squinting at the rendering of the stadium seating layout, we guessed at the cheapest seats and were sent behind the goal. Sadly, we were on the opposite end from the supporters' group. Oh well. We had a marching band on our side, does that make up for it? The stadium holds just under 19,000 and I'd say it was a little over half full.

Deportivo aren't great this year and currently sit one place out of the drop zone, and Xerez are nearly a lock to get promoted. So it was therefore rather surprising when Deportivo dominated possession early on and even had a few chances. Here's a pic of one of them that forced the goalkeeper into making a save.

But that early dominance was mostly a result of Xerez not playing well, coupled with a lot of long balls and fast guys to chase them down. Once fast guys start to tire and opposition's central midfield remembers to possess the ball and run the game a little, things start to get difficult for the underdogs. Xerez had started to come back into the game and I was certain they were about to score when, really against the run of play, Deportivo scored. It looked offsides from our angle and there was a moment of quiet while everyone looked at the linesman and the ref to see what the signal was. Xerez surrounded the linesman, but the goal stood and the crowd came to life.

However, it was extremely short-lived as Xerez equalized less than two minutes from play restarting. Deportivo's defense then seemed to crumple and they were lucky not to give up several more goals in the next short span of time. Inevitably, Xerez took the lead and then spent the remaining twenty minutes or so of the game feigning injuries, kicking the ball high into the stands, and substituting in slow-motion. At the announcement of four minutes extra time the majority of fans in my section began to file out. There was almost karmic justice dispensed to them, as in the final seconds of the match, Deportivo forced the goalkeeper into a save and also hit the crossbar. At least the half dozen traveling fans were going nuts.