Castilla Update

By: Corey | March 26th, 2009

Real Madrid Castilla are back in the playoff picture with an epic 3-2 victory over group leader Leganes. Alberto Bueno scored a brace in the waning minutes of the first half and Castilla held on in the second to move within three points of Leganes and Cartagena at the top of the table. If you dont remember, the way the Segunda B is formatted, the top four teams from all four groups go in to a 16 team playoff system that will eventually move 4 teams up to the Liga Adelante (2nd division). More detail on that here:

The the four group winners will have the opportunity to be promoted directly and be name the overall Segunda División B champion. The four group winners will be drawn into a two-legged series where the two winners will be promoted to the Liga Adelante and enter into the final for the Segunda División B champion. The two losing semifinalists enter the playoff round for the last two promotion spots.

The four group runners-up will be drawn against one of the three fourth-placed teams outside their group while the four third-placed teams are drawn against one another in a two-legged series. The six winners advance with the two losing semifinalists to determine the four teams that will enter the last two-legged series for the last two promotion spots. In all the playoff series, the lower-ranked club plays at home first. Whenever the is a tie in position (e.g. like the group winners in the Semifinal Round and Final or the third-placed teams in the first round), a draw will determine the club to play at home first.

So it is not as easy to figure out as one may think. But if Castilla stays in the top four, they have a chance of getting promoted, and of course if they are 1st or 2nd in the division they get better draws in the knockout playoffs. If they were to finish in first, and then win the two rounds of playoffs between the top four teams they would get promoted automatically. If they were to lose the tie against another #1 team or finish 2nd-4th will go into the playoff system.

Here was the lineup from last night:

FICHA TÉCNICA

Real Madrid Castilla: Adán; Villafañe, Agus, Gary (D. Mateos) Marcos Alonso; Acuña (Palanca), Marcos Tébar, Mosquera, Vázquez; Bueno (Javi H.)

Leganés: Raúl Moreno; Gustavo (Landaburu), Mario, Javi, Bermudez; Valleros, Gastón (Juli), Casquero (Negral), Javi Vicente; Nacho Aznar, Anibal.

And here is what the league table looks like:

As you can see, its very possible that if Real maintains decent form for the remainder of the season they will be in the playoffs, especially since Murcia B cannot get promoted since Murcia’s A team is in the second division, and looks unlikely to make it back to top flight. Castilla can also finish top of the table if they can continue to play well, but will need to be more consistent if they hope to finish as champs of the 2nd group. I wish the lads the best of luck for the rest of the season.

Also check out this interesting article from RealMadrid.com about some of the bright prospects in the cantera.