MATCH WITH THE TWO MOST INTERESTING CLUBS
VILLARREAL VS NUMANCIA
wonderful stories.
VILLARREAL
Villarreal, only played in Segunda two seasons 70-72 before the 90's...
Villarreal played always before the regional championship for decades....
then came the promotion to Segunda in 1992...and well all Spain: made the same question:
what is Villarreal? where is Villarreal? what a great surprise was coming....
Villarreal is a small town near Valencia with no historic, cultural or whatsoever background. It's not a town known by Spanish people, only known by local people in Valencia region...then came the football....
Villarreal, in the province of Castelló, in the Land of Valencia. Located 7 km to the south of the province's capital (Castelló de la Plana).
Villarreal has 50,000 inhabitants. Ranked by population, it is the second city in the province (following the capital), and tenth in the Valencian region, then came football.
Villarreal Club de Fútbol
Nickname: El Submarino Amarillo, ("The Yellow Submarine")
Founded March 10, 1923
Ground Estadio El Madrigal, (Capacity: 25,000) -town has 50,000 inhabitants.
Early years
The club was founded in 1923 and played in regional leagues until the Spanish Civil War, during which Spanish football went into a hiatus. After the war, the club played in various regional leagues as well as the Third Division until the 1970/71 season, when Villarreal first played in the Segunda División for two consecutive seasons, at the end of which the club was relegated to the Third Division once again.
After playing in the Segunda División B for a few seasons in the late 80s, Villarreal managed to solidify themselves as a Segunda División club starting with the 1992/93 season. Promoted to Segunda in 1992, came the question where is Villarreal?
La Liga de las Estrellas
On May 24, 1998, a date which the club's supporters still remember fondly, Villarreal sealed promotion to the Primera División for the 1998/99 season, which started with an intimidating match against giants Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabéu. After a difficult season, Villarreal were again relegated to the Segunda División for the 1999/2000 season, in which they finished third, again earning promotion to La Liga de las Estrellas, the Primera División, this time to stay for good. 2006-2007 season started very badly but Villarreal were able to qualify for the UEFA Cup after 8 consecutive wins. The Yellow Submarines were 13th after Round 30 of La Liga, but they climbed to finish 5th at the end of the season.
then Europe with the same question...what/where is Villarreal?
After finishing 7th a year later, Villarreal stayed near the bottom of the table for two seasons before defeating Dutch team SC Heerenveen in the final to win their first European title, the UEFA Intertoto Cup in the summer of 2003, thereby qualifying for the UEFA Cup tournament. In the 2003/04 season, Villarreal reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, losing to neighbours and eventual champions Valencia CF. (Valencia won UEFA final vs Marseille). That summer, however, they won the Intertoto Cup again, qualifying for that coming season's UEFA Cup tournament, in which they would reach the quarter-finals. They bowed out in the quarter-finals to Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, losing 3-2 on aggregate. During the same 2004/05 season Villarreal finished in 3rd place in La Liga, earning the club their first direct qualification to a European tournament; the UEFA Champions League.
The 2005/06 season brought the club considerable European success and recognition, due to their consistent performances in the Champions League. In the qualifying round stage, Villarreal sensationally defeated English side Everton F.C. with a 4-2 aggregate score with two 2-1 victories. In the group stage, Villarreal were to be in the same group as Portuguese champions SL Benfica, French club Lille OSC, and English giants Manchester United F.C.. Remaining undefeated throughout the group stage, Villarreal were twice victorious (1-0 each against Benfica away and Lille at home) and earned four draws, including two scoreless draws with Manchester United. They topped their group and progressed to the knock-out stages along with SL Benfica. The club progressed to the quarter-finals in their Champions League debut by defeating the Scottish club Rangers F.C. 3-3 on the away goals rule (a 2-2 draw in Glasgow and a 1-1 draw at home gave the Spanish side one more away goal than their opponents).
El Submarino Amarillo drew Italian heavyweights Inter Milan in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The first leg was played at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on March 29, 2006. Playing at San Siro, Diego Forlán scored inside the first minute of the match, but Villarreal lost 2-1 as Inter took a lead to the return leg at Estadio El Madrigal on April 4. Villarreal, however, continued their unbeaten home record in the Champions League as they beat the Italian giants 1-0 in the second leg to qualify for the semi-finals on the away goals rule (the tie ended 2-2 on aggregate, but because of Diego Forlán's goal in Milan, Villarreal advanced). During that game, left-back Rodolfo 'El Vasco' Arruabarrena turned a back header from Riquelme's free kick past Inter's goalkeeper Francesco Toldo to score the decisive goal of the tie. In the semi-finals, Villarreal narrowly lost out to Arsenal F.C. on a 1-0 aggregate scoreline following Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann's save of Juan Román Riquelme's last-minute penalty, the penalty was won by Jose Mari. Villarreal signed Robert Pires from Arsenal in the summer following their Champions League semi-final defeat. He is playing for the team now after a long injury lay-off.
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If you want to find a good example of a small, unknown town with wonderful history in Europe Villarreal is a wonderful choice.
The key of Villarreal success: signing very young unknown players that turn out to be excellent players later. there are too many examples. Villarreal are masters in signing players.
I will be following Altidore since Day 1.
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NUMANCIA.
another great story....
Numancia are from Soria, capital of province of Soria in Castilla-Leon.
Soria is not like Villarreal, it is a capital of province and has one of the historic stories that a lot of Spanish people know.
Soria is a city in north-central Spain. The municipality had a population of 40,000- nearly 40% of the population of the province.
Situated on the Rio Duero in the east of the autonomous community, the city is noted for its walls and a number of architecturally distinctive churches.
The 20th century Spanish poet, Antonio Machado, (one of the best in Spanish history) spent five years in Soria teaching French in a secondary school in the early part of the century. These years were to prove essential to his further literary development. He married and lost his wife there and discovered much about the nature of the Castilian people – a subject about which the Generation of '98 authors were very interested.
A few kilometres north of the town are the ruins of Numantia, a Celtiberian town whose inhabitants destroyed it rather than let it fall to Scipio. Numantia (Numancia in Spanish) was a town in Hispania (modern-day Spain), which for a long time resisted conquest by Romans in what was known as the "Numantine War." The city was finally taken and destroyed by consul Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus after a long and brutal siege. This victory put most of the Iberia under Roman control.
Before their defeat, the Numantines gained a number of victories. For example, in 137 BC, 20,000 Romans surrendered to the Celtiberians of Numantia (population between 4,000-8,000).
The final siege of Numantia began in the year 134 BC. Scipio Aemilianus, who was a Roman consul at that time, was in command of an army of 30,000 soldiers. His troops constructed a number of fortifications surrounding the city as they prepared for a long siege. Resistance was hopeless but the Numantians refused to surrender and famine quickly spread through the city. After eight months most of the inhabitants decided to commit suicide rather than become slaves. Only a few hundred of exhausted and famished inhabitants surrendered to the victorious Roman legions.
The ruins of Numantia is near modern-day Garray in Soria. Many objects and rest of the city can be visited in the Museo Numantino of Soria.
The siege of Numantia has been recorded by several Roman historians that admire the sense of freedom of the ancient Iberians and acknowledged their fighting skills against the Roman legions. Miguel de Cervantes (author of Don Quixote) wrote a play about the event, El cerco de Numancia, which stands today as his most well-known dramatic work. In the Spanish culture, it has a meaning similar to that of Masada for Israelis.
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Soria is the least populous of all of Spain's provinces, with a density of around 9 inhabitants/km² - one of the lowest in the European Union. Of the province's population of 91,487 (2002), nearly 40% live in the capital, Soria. There are 183 municipalities in Soria, of which nearly half are hamlets of under 100 people and of which only 12 have more than 1000 people. The cathedral town of the province is El Burgo de Osma.
Soria has also the worst weather in Spain. if you want to find snow go to Soria.
Soria is considered the Siberia of Spain,
The Sorian football team is called CD Numancia. perhaps something like a NFL or MLB franchise in Wyoming.
Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria
Nickname(s) Rojillos
Founded 1945
Ground Los Pajaritos, (Capacity: 10,200)
The club is named after the ancient Celtiberian town of Numantia near present-day Soria. Founded on April 9, 1945, the club competes in Spanish football's La Liga, after having been promoted from the Segunda División at the end of the 2007-08 season. They play in red shirts and blue shorts. Home stadium is the Nuevo Estadio Los Pajaritos that seats 10,200 spectators.
Besides football the club has other departments in sports such as volleyball, women's handball, and rhythmic gymnastics.
Having spent a long time in the Tercera División, the club made consistent progress, reaching as high as the first division division for three seasons, the last one in 2008.
Some history....Numancia only played in Segunda 2 seasons 1949-1951 before the 90's...they always played regional leagues until the 90's...
then came one of the best stories of the 90's:
While playing in the third level, Segunda B, Numancia made a legendary run in the Spanish Cup, eliminating three top flight Primera clubs in 1995-96. Beating Real Sociedad, Racing de Santander, and Sporting de Gijón, they were finally knocked out in the quarter finals by FC Barcelona after taking the lead. Tie in Soria 2-2, the face of the great Johan Cruyff, coach of Barcelona that night was unforgettable, also when they scored first at Camp Nou in Barcelona.
They finally were promoted to Segunda in 1997 and they astonished the country winning promotion to Primera in 1999.
It's another wonderful example of a club that came from nowhere but they have being writing one of the best pages in Liga history since mid 90's...because this humble club from the least populated region of Spain has won promotion to Primera 4 times since 1999!! GREAT!!!
League history
Tercera División: thirty-three seasons.
Segunda División B: eight seasons (1989-90 to 1996-97).
Segunda División: eight seasons (1949-50, 1950-51, 1997-98, 1999-99, 2001-02 and 2005-08).
La Liga: four seasons (1999-00, 2000-01, 2004-05 and 2008-09).
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Here you find two great examples of very small towns and small clubs writting unforgettable chapters in liga history.
Villarreal, 50,000 inhabitans, stadium 25,000 spectators...you will not find a seat...in all matches 25,000, half the town is watching the match.
Numancia, 40,000 inhabitants, stadium 10,000...."all the town is in the stadium."
WONDERFUL CLUBS
Forget el clasico, Real Madrid vs Barcelona
THE MATCH THAT WIN THE HEARTS IS: VILLARREAL VS NUMANCIA
Villarreal in english,
http://www.villarrealcf.es/Numancia
http://www.cdnumancia.com/ 
