In the Tenerife training ground, the whole team had gathered. There were two weeks before their first match against Racing Satandar.
When the whole squad was here, Gonzales began the addressing.
Gonzales: In the previous season, we finished second and got promoted. But in the new season, we have to make sure that we don't get relegated. So I am going to set a target for you. Our lowest place in the table at the end should not be lower than fifteen.
I know this team has the capabilities to fight for survival and suceed. Who knows, we can get the European spot if we are lucky. Is everyone with me?!
Everyone: Yes sir!
Gonzales: Nice! Now you may have noticed that there are three new faces. Treat the newbies well. Make sure that the language barrier doesn't seperate us. Now, off to the training after a quick introduction!
Bishnoi Laurence took the charge from there. Olay and Gonzales were standing on the sidelines watching them do rondos, set piece practices, sprints and other warm-ups.
Gonzales: It's going to be a tough season, Olay.
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It was time. The Heliodoro Rodriguez Lopez, CD Tenerife's stadium having a capacity of about 22,000,was packed. Apart from the 3000 away tickets, all the home fans were excited for the first game of the season.
When Gonzales entered the pitch, the cheering of fans went to another level. There were some people holding his name signs. Gonzales smiled while looking at some of those signs.
When Gonzales was busy waving at the fans, Racing's coach Juan Carlos Mandià was walking towards him looking for a pre-game handshake. But when he saw Gonzales not giving him any attention and walking towards his seat, Juan just stood there awkwardly. He thought that Gonzales was ignoring him on purpose.
This made Juan angry. He will show this newly promoted side's coach what it means to play in LaLiga.
Gonzales had played a 4213:
Goalkeeper- Sergio Argoneses
Defenders- Dante, Pablo Silica, Aitor Nunèz, Manolo Martinez
Midfield- Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Ricardo Leòn, Mikel Alonso, Omar Ramos
Winger- Alejandro Alfaro, Angel Rodriguez
Striker- Nino
Racing had played a 442:
When the game began, it was clear to everyone that Racing was dominating possession. For the first ten minutes, Racing kept passing the ball between themselves in the midfield.
They tried to get into the box but they couldn't. That was Gonzales's plan all along. Let the team have the ball, but don't let them have a shot. Don't let them threaten your goal.
That was Gonzales's footballing philosophy that he was slowly developing. Football through domination. Domination didn't mean possession, it meant choking the opposition and not giving them a single chance.
It seemed to be working. Even if Tenerife didn't have the ball most of the time, they didn't concede for the entire first half.
Granted there were five shots but only one was on target. Whereas from Tenerife's side, there was only two shots and none on target. To a simple bystander, it may look like Racing was the one who had the most chance of winning.
Juan Carlos was confused. Why wasn't Tenerife attacking? Were they going to park the bus? If that was the case, then Juan had to make sure that his team doesn't commit everyone forward for Tenerife to counterattack.
In the commentator's box, Phil Ross and Tobias Gomez were discussing about the first half.
Tobias: If you have seen Tenerife in the Segunda division, then you may know that in the first half of the season, they played more possesively and conceded less goals. But then in the second half of the season, their coach Gonzales Laurence changed the tactics and started to play a counterattack football.
Phil: It was surprising to see them suddenly change their entire style of play and it affected some of their matches but eventually they got hold of it and stabilized themselves.
Tobias: Now we have to see what Laurence does this time. In the first half, he let them have the ball and didn't counterattack like he usually does.
Phil: Even I don't know what he's doing. Let's see the second half.
In the Locker room:
Gonzales: You did well. It is all going according to the plan. Now in the second half, they will be more tired than us. So that's when we begin to get a little aggressive. You know what to do now, do you?
Pablo, the team's captain, answered-
Pablo: Yes coach, we do.
Gonzales: Then show them on the pitch!
The second half began. You could see that now, Tenerife was slowly coming to life. No changes were made by them.
When the second half started, Nino passed the ball to Pablo, who gave it to Dante. Dante carried it forward for some time before giving it back to Pablo.
Pablo seeing that Mkhitaryan was free, immediately passed the ball to him. When Mkhitaryan got the ball, he looked around for any free teammates and found the left winger Angel Rodriguez in a running position.
Seeing the run, Mkhitaryan played a long ball forward. Angel was short for a striker, but his speed and ball control was severely underrated. So when he was played as a winger in Gonzalez's new system, Angel got all the freedom he wanted.
Angel beat the right back guarding him and got the ball first. His first touch was towards the box and before the centre back, Jiminez could start to pressure him with the approaching left back, Angel crossed the ball in towards Ramos who was in a very good position near the edge of the box.
The ball went right above Jiminez's head and towards Ramos who first controlled the ball and then faked a shot towards the goal. The other centre back, Romani fell for it and that gave Ramos the time to get a quick look before passing the ball to the centre midfielder Mikel Alonso. When Mikel got the ball, he saw his path blocked by the left back which meant that the right winger Alejandro Alfaro was free.
Mikel chipped the ball over the left back's head and towards Alfaro who immediately went for a shot as soon as he got the ball. But it looked like the ball would go wide.
But then, Nino came in from the opposite end of the goal and tapped the ball in for a goal. Turns out, Alfaro's shot was actually a pass to either Nino or Angel. Anyway, Tenerife was in the lead.