football rambles

We didn't go to the second day of the tournament, but for the record West Ham won the trophy after beating Espanyol 4-2 and Shakhtar came second after beating Cambridge 3-2,

The second game of the tournament was certainly action packed when a resilient Cambridge United took on a silky Espanyol side who liked to pass the ball around with some style. The early chances in the game all fell to Espanyol who hit the woodwork 3 times. Not surprisingly with so much pressure the Spanish side took the lead on 27 minutes when Marc Gual slotted home. The lead was short lived though, as on 35 minutes Tom Elliot headed home to bring the home team back into the game. Espanyol came close to taking the lead again when Ivan Sales beat half of the Cambridge team just before hitting the woodwork yet again, however despite all the chances it was still 1-1 when the teams went in at the break. If the first half was all about Espanyol then the second half was all Cambridge. Just after half time Elliot doubled his and the U's tally by setting off down the wing and slotting the ball past Ruiz. Dunk was also causing Espanyol problems down the wing and Elliot was looking fo...

A few more photos from Cambridge's 2-2 draw with Espanyol  Cambridge come close with a free kick. The weather at times was hotter than the World Cup in Brazil, so you can't blame them for having a drinks break. Cambridge come close again!

The 2-2 draw between Cambridge and Espanyol was more entertaining. Here are a few photos from that game ahead of the reports. Photos are in two parts. Teams shake hands ahead of the kick off. Espanyol control the midfield early on. Espanyol press forward.

Yesterday we went to the first day of the Absolute Sports Travel Cup sat the Abbey Stadium in Cambridge. We saw Shakhtar draw 0-0 with West Ham and Cambridge draw 2-2 with Espanyol on what was and probably will be the hottest day of the year. Match reports will follow, but firstly I am going to upload a few photos. 

On Saturday the preseason gets underway with a little tournament in Cambridge where we will be watching West Ham take on Shakhtar Donetsk and Cambridge United v Espanyol. Both Shakhtar and Espanyol have featured heavily on the blog, so I thought that we would have a look at the Spanish club involved in the tournament. Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona to give them their full name have always been in the shadows of their more illustrious neighbours and have been more of a draw for immigrants to Catalunya rather than the homogenous population. They currently play in the Estardi Cornelia El Prat, which holds 40,500 fans after moving there from the Olympic Stadium , which was built for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. The club was originally formed in 1900 and was the first Spanish club to be formed solely by Spanish people. The club originally played in orange, as one of the founders owned a textile mill and had an abundance of orange material. They later changed to blue a...