Getafe's pre-season attempts to get punters through the stalls by urging fans to procreate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIi6BTzxWII) didn't seem to have had the desired effect by the look of the female home contingent tonight. There was a distinct lack of visibly pregnant women in attendance this evening in the Coliseum Alfonso Perez. Saying that, the campaign is only a few months old, so the up-coming generation of Getafe fans may be more apparent from their mother's bellies in the months to come.
Perhaps the marketing team at the south Madrid club should focus their attention on injecting more life onto the pitch rather than into the stands.
Tonight's unexciting, scoreless encounter against Villarreal exposed both teams clear lack of creativity and depth. Both sets of supports will feel more fearful now than they did before tonight's fixture, as their respective standings in the league table are way off what both clubs had set out to achieve back in August.
Villarreal's hopes of qualifying for Europe again don't appear to be so attainable now, while "El Geta's" ambitions to finish further up the league table doesn't seem as realistic either.
There were notable absences for both sides: Pedro Leon, Abdel Barrada and Moya all injured for Getafe and Miku rested due to jetlag (returning back to Spain from Venezula having heroically beaten Argentina); and Nilmar for Villarreal, who was out with an ankle problem.
Nonetheless, the players who were fit and able to play didn't do much in the way of proving their worth. Above all others, Dani Guiza had a particularly bad day at the office. The veteran striker, who no doubt started in order to give Miku a rest, will rue his missed chances in what is surely going to be a sleepless night. The 35 year old was given two clear-cut opportunities both of which he dutifully squandered. The first came when centre half Cata Diaz lofted the ball high into the away team's box finding the former La Liga top scorer with just Diego Lopez, in the Villarreal net, to beat. Instead of doing the simple thing (taking a touch and calmly finishing) the Spanish international went for the spectacular, but rather than lopping the keeper he instead side footed it into his grateful hands.
Minutes later the Getafe number 19 put a routine header, from six yards out, wide of the left hand post after a superb cross from Pedro Rios, which left Gonzalo stranded.
This was to be the last time the "Azulon" would test the Villarreal keeper and the defence in the game. And although the visitors should have been behind early on, they looked comfortable for the remainder of the game.
But there is comfort like that displayed by Barcelona every time they play due to their sure-fire ability to create danger at any moment, and there is comfort like that of a team able to pass the ball around but lacking the killer instinct to finish it's chances. Villarreal's level of comfort was that of the latter.
Villarreal did have some shots of note in the first half: a blistering effort from De Guzman in the first half, which had Jordi Codina at full stretch to finger tip the ball out for a corner, a Cristian Zapata header that went wide of the mark, and a Guisseppe Rossi fluffed chance on 18 minutes when Zapata picked him out free on the back post with a great launched ball from the right wing, which presumably caught the number 22 by surprise as he scuffed it wide from close range. But the wastefulness was to prevail and the first half ended nil all, leaving both teams with all to play for in the second 45 minutes, right?
Wrong. The final 45 minutes proved to be an even more lacklustre affair than the first, with only Rossi providing anything in the way of a highlight. The former Roma, Newcastle and Manchester United star cut in excellently from the right, leaving Ruben Perez and Alberto Lopo for dead, and with only the keeper to beat, and seemingly all the time in the world to do it, the Italian international drilled the ball wide using his laces.
To encapsulate how low on entertainment the game was, the most animated the stadium got was when Zapata, having cleared the ball with his head, landed on his back and remained on the ground while play continued. When Cani called for the home side to put the ball out of play the supposed sperm donors within the home stands became livid and rose to their feet in defiance of such sportsmanship. In fairness to them, when Zapata finally did make it off the pitch the Colombian made a miraculously fast recovery and was gestured emphatically for the ref to allow him back on within seconds.
The clash ended as it began, with neither team making their desired dent on the league table. If only the fruits of Getafe's baby boom could produce some inspiring players to help out with things in southern Madrid.
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