More than a game
How one game changed two teams fortunes
On the 2nd of June 2024 Mirandes and Amorebieta faced off in a winner takes all game for survival in Segunda.
The third tier is known as the well in Spanish football because once you fall in it’s near impossible to get out. Amorebieta though were a side who bucked that trend having been relegated in 21/22 they came roaring back in 22/23 to have a second Segunda season in three years.
Heading into the clash Mirandes held the final safety spot but all the momentum sat with the Basque side who had won seven of their last thirteen matches to give themselves a fighting chance of safety under Jandro.
Mirandes meanwhile had won just three of thirteen in that period that saw them slide from midtable safety to looking over their shoulders and on the verge of slipping out of the top two tiers.
Both sides were minnows in Segunda, Mirandes budget was 5.2 million and Amorebieta 4.1 million in comparison sides such as Elche could spend 23 million on their squad. Not only were they minnows but Amorebieta usual home ground of Urrixte is not up to Segunda standard so every promotion means a move away from home to Lezama and the training ground of Athletic Club.
(Urritxe from the brilliant Estadios De Espana website)
It wasn’t a fair fight but they had both competed and now just one side could prevail, Mirandes did hold an extra card in that a draw would see them safe.
The match was as you would expect a tense affair, with Amorebieta a side who typically were physical and more direct being given all the ball and Mirandes sitting back in the knowledge a point was good enough.
Mirandes struck the decisive blow on the 62nd minute when loanee Gabri Martinez hit the winning goal. Despite the Basque sides best efforts their fate was sealed and a second Segunda season in three years had ended with relegation.
With relegation confirmed for Amorebieta a familiar tale of talent heading for the exit door happened. First Head Coach Jandro announced he wouldn’t be staying, then top scorer Eneko Jauregi left for Racing Ferro, talented midfielder Kwasi Sibo also leaving his destination would be promotion chasing Real Oviedo, right back Alvaro Nunez went to Elche with their first choice keeper also departing for Segunda side Eibar.
Amorebieta had lost players the last time they were relegated most notably Gorka Guruzeta but they had kept the core this time that core had been ripped apart. While the club had been pretty stable over the years they also had to get a new sporting director.
It was a massive summer of change but nobody could have foreseen how bad things would go for the Basque side. They made a bold decision to hire Julen Guerrero as Head Coach, an Athletic Club legend and boy prodigy he had no senior experience of being a number one.
His reign was nothing short of disastrous, ten games in charge he oversaw just one victory against fellow strugglers Ourense to see the Basque side sitting in the relegation places.
As so often happens a firefighter was brought in with Natxo Gonzalez the new man in charge but results haven’t shifted much. He had won two of his six games before Sundays return to action against Osasuna B. Both sides were in big trouble heading into the weekend with Osasuna losing their last four. The match was a catastrophe for Amorebieta going down 3-0 to an out of form and relegation threatened B team.
At the halfway point in Primera RFEF they find themselves eight points off safety and on the brink of heading down to the regionalised fourth tier. They though aren’t the only ones who are struggling, Andorra are the highest placed of the four sides who came down from Segunda and they sit in 8th. Villarreal B are 10th having drawn 10 of their 19 matches. Alcorcon who many thought would be the strongest of the sides coming down from Segunda are also in the drop zone.
While Malaga climbed out of the well at the first attempt the sides they came down with are also in the main struggling. Ponferradina are doing well and sit in fifth but Lugo are in the relegation battle while Ibiza have lost three of their last five to sit outside the play-offs.
Primera RFEF is already showing itself to be an ultra competitive division where the unpredictability is a key selling point. Antequera and Cultural Leonesa find themselves as runaway leaders so far but last season both had to settle for top half finishes without ever looking like gaining promotion. Barakaldo and Hercules are both in the play-offs having come up from the fourth tier.
Further evidence of the strength of the third tier can be found in Segunda where none of the four promoted sides find themselves in the relegation spots. Malaga and Castellon have both had good starts and sit in the top half while Cordoba and Depor are lower mid-table and have a healthy gap to the relegation spots.
Amorebieta’s relegation opponents on that hot Summers day in June meanwhile find themselves in fourth a point off the top two after their best ever start to a Segunda season. This was despite an even more chaotic off-season than Amorebieta where they had to cancel friendlies due to a lack of players and had 13 players registered on the opening week of Segunda.
One side thrived off the chaos whereas Amorebieta were sucked into the mire and have yet to recover, how different things can be based purely on one game.