The End

By: Cesar | June 18th, 2007

There’s lots of time to deliberate and pontificate over the events of this past season.
First off, a sad farewell to Real Sociedad, who gave it their all in a 3-3 tie with Los Che. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for the Basque side, who’ll be playing 2nd Division football for the first time in 40 years.

Also, congratulations to the new champions of Spain, Real Madrid.
What a thrilling end to the season, a back-and-forth drama that couldn’t have been scripted any better. For my money, La Liga is the best league in the world. Great action and high drama at the Bernabeu last night.

But as for our boys, what can I say?
It wasn’t a boring game yesterday, but what does it matter?
It was a dissapointing season, a season that will go down as a success on some pages (the tie against Inter Milan, the victory over Barcelona) and a failure on others (not able to get over the rash of injuries, not able to take advantage of Madrid and Barca’s slip-ups).

In the end, we finished fourth. We’re in the Champions League (qualifying round, at least). We’re probably going to keep David Villa (Chelsea look like they’re tightening the purse strings).

But there’s a bad taste in my mouth and I am sure yours also. This team was good enough to be celebrating last night or even a few weeks ago.

Valencia could easily have won the Spanish Championship this season.
Instead, we’re left with bitter tastes in our mouths, moaning over injuries and lost opportunities.

Now, the team goes on vacation for a month. What will we see when they gather July 16th for pre-season training?

A new coach? A new general manager? Some old faces gone? Some new faces coming in?

There’s so much to deliberate and think about. Check back in the next few days as we sort this mess out.

I dunno about you, but I think this team was good enough to be champions. And it’s a shame that it ended this way, with a bad taste in our mouths.

As Quique said yesterday after the 3-3 tie, courtesy of an own goal in 2nd-half extra time, ‘The game mirrored the season.’

How right he is.