Bye, Bye, Bayamon

Puerto Rico, my heart’s devotion. Let it NOT sink back in the ocean. Ok I’ll be up front about this, I was hoping Puerto Rico would score at least one goal – I ain’t looking to be accused of being a bad Puerto Rican – and they did! See? You can love your team and their opponent once in a while. La Roja still came away with the win, big surprise, and all is good. Santi Cazorla & Cescy scored with a one-two punch of goals late in the 1st half and Marc Cintron came away looking like a hero!

Pepe Reina got a rare start, it was a friendly after all, so why not give the bald hunk a go? And the remaining starters were Juanfran, Pique, Albiol, Monreal, Xabi, Cazorla, Cesc, Iniesta, Navas, & HELLOOOO Nando!

Sure, use your shirt for shade…because it’s not like you NEED the tan!

The combination of La Roja’s lack of finish & Gaudette’s saves led to a pretty quiet first half, I won’t say boring because it was obvious the home crowd was having a great time. As expected, anytime PR got the ball, the crowd went crazy….PR didn’t keep possession for too long but the crowd support was touching. A couple of Spain misses later and the most entertaining thing about the match was the drums you could hear playing in the background!

Poor Juanfran had to be substituted in the 19th minute as he limped off the pitch, Arbeloa came on for him.

Albiol got shovey with Alexis Rivera early on in the match….he no likey Alexis touchy his man?

Close shots were coming in from Pique, who hit the post, Xabi whose shot was sent just wide of the goal post, & Nando! who just about scored a header off of that beautiful blonde head of his. Mmmhmmm…things were picking up & we were getting closer to actually scoring! In the 31st minute, Nando was taken down in the box & a penalty should have been given to La Roja but play went on.

After nearly an entire half of holding the World Champions at 0-0, PR’s party came to an end with the opening goal from Santi in the 42nd minute.

Santi always stuns me with the power behind his shots. Gooooooo Santi!

Not to be outdone by the newbie Gunner, Cesc put the 2nd goal away 3 minutes later. With the assist from Navas, La Roja tok the lead within minutes of  halftime.

The changes going into the 2nd half were Sergio for Pique, Busquets for Xabi, & Llorente for Iniesta. The Lion King lives!

The boys continued to dominate in the 2nd half and poor Pepe got close to no face time, BOO! A lineup change for PR came up in the 62nd minute, when Marc Cintron got into the game & after 3 minutes he did what no one was expecting and scored for his side! I absolutely loved the way the whole bench & team jumped up to celebrate with him like they had just won a major tournament. Their reaction was super cute & good for them! People even started to wonder if PR could do it again but…nuh uh. Iker was about to come on and there was no way he’d let anything go past even if PR got their game together and tried to attack once more.

How cute was Nando handing over the captain’s armband?

The match chilled out again after that and 1-2 was the final score, not a bad one! Thank God for the heat because the mens got nekkie for us!

Woof! Now onward to La Liga!

Pics via GFSports, Ikerrr, & alinnyderis.

-Maisougio