Note: As this page gets pushed down by future posts, you can find it in the banner as “2010-11 Season Preview.”

Cross-posted on our new partner site Spanishfootball.info. There you will find information on La Liga teams other than Real Madrid and Barcelona. Welcome, new readers!

What happened last year?

In a sentence: Ernesto Valverde, Nilmar, the economic downturn, Juan Carlos Garrido, 7th place in La Liga.

Manuel Pellegrini’s replacement was Ernesto Valverde, who came off a Greek league and cup double with Olympiakos and reached the UEFA Cup final with Espanyol, in addition to a long playing career at Athletic Bilbao. But things went awry from the start: no wins and just 3 points in the opening 7 rounds, including a loss to cellar-dwellers Xerez. Management remained defiant, but the best squad in Villarreal history never gelled. Valverde was fired after a lifeless 0-2 home loss to Osasuna at the end of January.

Honorato da Silva Nilmar was the most expensive signing in Villarreal history, coming over from Brazil’s Internacional for a reported €11 million. It took him a few games to get going, but his class and smile always shone through. A club-leading 11 goals in 33 appearances was a solid debut campaign, but much more is expected of the canarinha.

The economic downturn hit small-town Villarreal CF hard. Sebastián Eguren, Fabricio Fuentes, and Jony Pereira left in the winter transfer window, presaging a further player exodus, and attendance at El Madrigal, sponsorship, and owner Fernando Roig’s ceramics business all suffered. As a goodwill gesture, Roig opened the gates for free to all recently laid-off season ticketholders (and has extended the offer for 2010-11). Most recently, the club has learned that it may need to replace longtime sponsor Aeroport Castelló.

Juan Carlos Garrido replaced Valverde as manager on the heels of Villarreal B’s flying start to life in the Segunda. Critics questioned if Garrido could shake a veteran squad out of its doldrums; despite a few bumps along the way, particularly the club’s away form, Villarreal finished with 56 points, good for 7th place in La Liga. Not a bad result, which earned Garrido the right to select his squad in 2010-11.

What changes have been made- management, players, etc.?

In addition to the search for a new sponsor, B team caretaker Paco Herrera left for Celta de Vigo, so former Cádiz boss Javi Gracia returns to his old playing grounds as manager.

Players In: Carlos Marchena (from Valencia), Borja Valero (West Bromwich Albion). Quality over quantity. Marchena provides steel and experience, and another world champion in the dressing room could not hurt. On loan for 2010-11, Borja Valero was last season’s revelation in La Liga with Mallorca. A €6 million fee is not a bad price, and stealing him from under Sevilla’s nose is sweet. Borja is a Real Madrid youth team product and wanted to stay in Spain after his loan spell. A long-term fill-in for Marcos Senna, expect Borja to play in central midfield with Bruno Soriano for years.

Players Out: Sebastián Eguren (to Sporting de Gijón), Damián Escudero (50% of rights to Boca Juniors), Diego Godín (50% of rights to Atlético Madrid), Ariel Ibagaza (Olympiakos), Joseba Llorente (Real Sociedad), Iván Marcano (on loan to Getafe), Robert Pirès, Javi Venta. The common thread, excluding misfits Escudero and Marcano and cash cow Godín? Older players with high wages who don’t fit into Garrido’s new system. Makes Sr. Roig’s pocketbook happy, but the squad’s youth may be exposed.

Who could break through and make a name for himself?

Safe bets: Jefferson Montero, Mateo Musacchio. A dynamic Ecuadorean striker/winger, Montero has debuted in the Europa League but not in La Liga due to the foreign player limit (a maximum of 3 per team who lack a European passport). With the Argentine Escudero’s departure, Montero is set to unleash his pace and technical ability on Spanish football. Expect some highlight-reel goals and many drawn yellow cards. And Argentine central defender Musacchio will spend his first full year with the A team, but his performances to close out last season made him known to supporters.

Wild card: Cristóbal. The oldest of the 9 promoted from the B team, Cristóbal provides cover at winger, perhaps the team’s shallowest position. A constant threat in the Segunda, Cristóbal could provide a spark with a few assists (in Escudero’s absence) and a stern challenge to Cani’s starting spot. A very important season in his career.

What are realistic expectations for the season?

A top-six finish in La Liga, a serious run at the Copa del Rey, and the Europa League quarterfinals. What do you think the club’s goals should be?

First off, VillarrealUSA is proud to join the NewsNow network. This partnership will give our readers access to Villarreal news in English from across the Web.

To our new readers: welcome! We hope to keep you entertained.

Lots of news from the Ciudad Deportiva:

• For the first time ever, Villarreal CF has 4 players in a Spanish national team squad. That’s tied with Real Madrid. Incredible.
• Marchena and Capdevila were locks, having won the World Cup, and Cazorla was due. But Bruno Soriano, really?
• El Periódico Mediterráneo had hoped for 5, including Senna and Diego López. Sadly, their time may be done, though Diego is more reliable than Pepe Reina.
• Speaking of Bruno, he has signed for an additional 4 years. His contract now runs out in 2016, or when Barcelona pays his rescission clause.
• The B team has made its “last signing” of the offseason: wingback Jaume Costa, on loan from Valencia.
• And from the “Where are they Now?” files: Ernesto Valverde is being considered for manager of the Japanese national team.

An update on our Europa League opponent to come on Friday.

Lots of stuff in the news today.

First, as has been noted, you can all put that smile back on your face -  Juan Carlos Garrido has been officially named the Villarreal head coach for the next six months.  I am sure he will be given an opportunity to stay around if he can move things in the right direction, but right now it is just a temporary gig.

Interestingly, Fernando Roig spoke to the players before officially giving Valverde the axe.  I doubt that the conversation was determinative, but it seems pretty clear that Valverde could not have had that much support in the locker room at this point.  A number of players had been more or less calling for a change, and it looks like the feeling was at least somewhat widely held.

On less happy news, we have poor, poor Sebastian Eguren.  Someone please correct me if I am reading this wrong, but it looks like Eguren is signed with Lazio, but they may have no plans to use him.  The Italian team just signed Thomas Hitzlsperger as their apparent efforts to avoid keeping Eguren were in play, and now it looks like Eguren might be hopeless for six months.  He will be given an opportunity to get his blood pressure down – if that really is an issue at all – but you have to feel terrible for the guy.  Hopefully all of this is rumors and things can work out.  I would be happy to see him back at Villarreal, but it looks like that ship might have sailed.

For those of you wondering why Valverde went without Rossi, perhaps that wasn’t all his fault.  Apparently Rossi came down with a case of the flu and couldn’t go the full 90.  Who knows how having Giuseppe start would have changed the game?  It looks like, from the opinion expressed at this site at least, that it might have been the best thing to happen for the club’s future.

Injury-wise, it looks like Javi Venta will be available for the Yellow Submarine when they travel to the island of Mallorca this weekend.  His hamstring is getting back to 100 percent, and he hopes to be ready to go.

And as a side note regarding the website, VillarrealUSA is now into its 25th month of existence (if you go into the archives, there are a few posts that I lost due to server problems in the beginning).  The site now consists of over 800 posts and over 4,700 comments.  Thanks for all of your contributions to the quality of the site!  ENDAVANT!

Happy 2010, everyone. VillarrealUSA is about to return to its regularly-scheduled, post-holiday posting, but until then, here are a couple of news items as Villarreal gets ready to travel to Barcelona and the Camp Nou.

Thanks to all the new members of the VillarrealUSA penya for signing up. The rosters are growing nicely. Those who haven’t yet signed up, get on it! And you want to know how official we are these days? Go to villarrealcf.es, the official website, click on the button for myvillarreal.com, the official online community, and look for the link to this site. Two clicks from the team’s official website…not bad!

Good news and bad news when it comes to preparation for the Barcelona match. The good news: no Messi. Lionel Messi was given permission to return late from Christmas break in order to let him get some extra rest, and Villarreal is the primary beneficiary.

The bad news: unfortunately, the other players given permission to take extended leave – Diego Milito, Dani Alves, and Maxwell – all decided to come back early and will be with the Catalans for the match. Likewise, the Mexican defender Marquez was not expected back but surprised the club and showed up early. Also, it appears Iniesta has recovered from injury and will be with the club.

Barcelona will be without a couple of other players. Seydou Keita and Jeffren are both out with injuries. Yaya Toure has already headed out for the African Cup of Nations.

Villarreal’s injury scene is not too bad. Ibagaza should be well-rested after missing the last few matches of 2009. Although he might not have played in the league matches, Gonzalo has not recovered from a hamstring injury, and is out for another two weeks. He will miss the league matches against Barcelona and Almeria, and the Copa match against Celta de Vigo.

And a worrying rumor: Manchester United is keeping its eye on Villarreal B mainstay, and Villarreal first team future star, Matilla. Apparently he has a fairly low buyout clause, since the rumor is that it would only take 2.7m pounds to pry him away, which is way too low of a price tag. Hopefully Villarreal can remedy this and get Matilla ready for next year – the way Eguren and Senna are looking this year, Matilla could be a starter next to Bruno next year.

Fabricio Fuentes will probably be on his way out shortly. It is a shame the way his tenure has ended, as he provided a couple of years of solid play and strong leadership. He is expected to head back to play in Mexico after understandably getting frustrated with the way Villarreal has handled him this year.

Villarreal’s match against Barcelona is available on ESPN360 on your computer, or ESPNDeportes for those of you who have Spanish-language programming.

Also, it isn’t confirmed yet, but Villarreal should be on GolTV next weekend against Almeria in the 4pm eastern Saturday timeslot. Sidarth and I are going to try and organize another gathering at Summer’s for the match, so stay tuned. If anyone else is planning on heading out to a bar for the match and is interested to see if any other local fans are interested in meeting up, drop me a line at maddi [at] villarrealusa.org and I will post it here.

Happy New Year, and ENDAVANT VILLARREAL!

A little late, I admit, but the new and improved squad page is up and running. Check it out with the link on the banner.

I am on the verge of my pilgrimage to Vila-real. Beginning tomorrow, I am heading from Baltimore to New York to Madrid to Valencia to Vila-real. My flight will actually take me from tomorrow night through to the following morning, but I will get there on Saturday, ready for an overdose of Villarreal CF and paella.

While I am gone I plan on collecting tons of pictures, videos, and friends for the website. Expect visual tours of El Madrigal and Vila-real, shots from training, and, if I am lucky, some video messages from some of the team.

On Sunday, we will hang the VillarrealUSA banner before the Valladolid match, and that night, I will meet with a number of members of Els Flamencs Grocs, the Belgian penya, with the support of the penyas in Slovakia and Finland who could not make the trip, and the penya currently in the formation stage in Holland, to discuss the future for Villarreal’s international penyas. And on that subject, check out the new official online community for Villarreal – MyVillarreal.com. There is a new link in the VillarrealWeb on the right-hand column of this site.

It will be a busy week….

This morning, I picked up the banner that will fly in El Madrigal, letting the club, the people of Vila-Real, the country of Spain, and the world know that Villarreal’s American supporters stand behind them.  It is 3 feet by 5 feet, and will hang in the stadium for all matches except for those played in UEFA competitions, where banners are not allowed.  The image below is a little blurred because I compressed it for easy viewing, but the real deal is crystal clear and top notch, in my opinion.

On a site maintenance note, the servers for this site will be undergoing maintenance tonight between 11pm and 3am eastern time.

You may have noticed a slight change to the header image at VillarrealUSA.org.  It isn’t a permanent change, but it is done to share in the efforts of the Spanish penyas who are working together this week to form a mosaic at El Madrigal for the match against Tenerife, which will say, “Ahora más que nunca estamos con vosotros.”  It is in difficult times like these where fans like us are more important than ever to the club.

Soon, VillarrealUSA will become one of the official international penyas for Villarreal CF.  I will have a lot more information here in the upcoming weeks following my trip to Vila-Real to watch the Valladolid match and meet with the team, members of the Villarreal CF management, and representatives from other Villarreal penyas.

One of the goals for the VillarrealUSA penya will be to provide some organization here in the United States.  Those of us here at VillarrealUSA.org will look to you, our fellow fans of Villarreal CF here in the United States (and abroad!), for ideas concerning the future of organized support for the club here in the United States.

For now, you can check out the progress being made at MyVillarreal.com, a new site that will provide a homebase for Villarreal penyas in Spain and across the globe.

So, tell us what you think, give us your ideas, and, when the opportunity comes up to officially join the VillarrealUSA penya, be one of the first!

ENDAVANT VILLARREAL!

This was to be up last night, but continuing server problems got me again. I expect to change hosts this weekend, so the problem should be corrected.

Villarreal could be set to send Jozy Altidore on his way, as Hull City are apparently thinking of an $11m (6.5m pounds) bid for his services on a permanent basis. The talk of the week has been that Villarreal have been considering a permanent move for the young American, and this may be it.

I also note that an $11m sale could also go a long way towards balancing the budget that Kqql is positive can only be done by the sale of Rossi or Santi….

A number of B players are being sent back to the B squad for the season (unless they are to be called up for individual matches), with the return of Villarreal’s internationals. Juan Carlos, Matilla, and Joan Oriol are with the Segunda side. Interestingly, El Periodico Mediterraneo suggests that the final decision has not been made on Montero, but that it looks like he will be going to the youth side as well.

In injury news, Marcos Senna is back training with the first team, but is still not at full fitness. It could still take him right up until the beginning of the season to be in match form, which, in the long run, might be a great thing considering his age and his history of tiring midseason.

And speaking of Senna, he and Nilmar are already best buds off the pitch. He is “delighted” with the Brazilian’s arrival, declaring him the best striker in Brazil. Nilmar has begun to practice with the team. He has also started to settle into his new life – it is big news, I know, but he went out on his first Spanish shopping trip the other day, and is looking for a place to live!

And in Villarreal B news, they played a friendly against Qatar Sport Club yesterday. Marco Ruben recovered quickly enough from the Bordeaux friendly to score a double in the 4-0 win.

For anyone trying to visit the site earlier today, I’m sorry. I have not yet figured out the apparently-ongoing problem that my wordpress database has been having. I may need to switch hosting companies, but hopefully none of this will affect the site anymore, and we can go back to not worrying about it!

I’ll be back this evening with updates from Vila-Real. As always, thanks for reading.

maddi.

Sorry about the site going down for a bit yesterday, for anyone who experienced it. Not sure in the end exactly what happened, but I have to say that the response by my web hosts at 3ix.com deserves compliment.

For those waiting on pins and needles to join the fans at the unveiling of Nilmar at El Madrigal, you are going to have to wait to tomorrow – his flight was delayed leaving Brazil, and he won’t make it in time for today’s show.

Santi Cazorla is limping at the moment.  He injured his right ankle when tackled by Matilla during practice, and had to miss the end of Tuesday’s practice.  It is nothing serious, though, and in all likelihood he is already back to full strength, as this is going up two days late!

Celta de Viga is looking at Ruben as a possible loan for the season.  Such a move makes little sense for Villarreal, though, as Ruben has been playing in the Primera for a couple of seasons now, and the club has not shown a lot of interest in the move.

In sad news, Villarreal have sold Jordi Pablo to Malaga.  Jordi, one of the up and coming stars on the Spanish international scene, has signed a four year deal with the club.  Villarreal did retain, though, an option to repurchase him during the first three years of his deal.  Hopefully we will see him return to El Madrigal – I was really looking forward to seeing him in the starting eleven before long.

And lastly, Juan Pablo Sorin, former Villarreal rightback, has announced his retirement after a string of injuries over the last few years.  He was definitely one of my favorite players when I began to follow the club, and I was sad to see his move to the Bundesliga a couple of years ago.