El Entrego and La Unión are two towns separated by 909 kilometers. Until last week, the vast majority of the residents of La Unión did not know how to place El Entrego on a map. And vice versa. But the whims of football have wanted the two teams to face each other for the first time in search of a historic milestone for both towns: promotion to the Second Federation, a category that would be the best for both clubs. El Entrego (7,346 inhabitants) and La Unión (19,907 inhabitants) live these days pending what happens this Sunday in the Nuevo Nalón field, inaugurated in 1997 and with capacity for 1,200 spectators. It will fill up, of course. Yesterday the first 600 tickets were sold and there were even queues. They cost 10 euros in advance sale and 12 on Sunday at the box office of a field in which some will achieve glory and others will end up with honey on their lips.
In the first leg, played last Sunday in a crowded La Unión Municipal Sports Center, there was great fear of losing on the part of both teams and the score did not move. 0-0. “It was not our best game and we saw what kind of team they are. We know that in their field they get together well, they look for your back and they are very good on the counterattack. I am convinced that we are going to give our best version there and we are going to get promoted, ”says the attacker from San Javier, David Valdeolivas, 33 years old.
“Naturalness”
He has scored 16 goals and has been a key player in the team coached by Manolo Palomeque, a coach from Algar who in his fourth season on the bench for Union is about to make history. “We are trying to make this tie natural, which for our club is absolutely historic,” admits Palomeque, who previously led Mar Menor, Lorca Deportiva and FC Cartagena. As a footballer he was a true Efesé legend in the 90s. The project has been growing little by little, with the archenero lawyer Julián Luna as president, and the idea is to finish off the job in Asturias.
The Nuevo Nalón field, with capacity for 1,200 spectators, will be full on a big day for the town
“We have a modest structure, but enough to compete in the 2nd RFEF,” says Quinín from Cartagena, sports director and man for everything at the club. «The field is good and, in the event of promotion, we would not need too many things. We have been taking steps as a club in recent years, within our possibilities, and the work of Palomeque and the players has led us to this point. It is something to be proud of”, emphasizes Quinín, who defended the shirt of Cartagonova, Cartagena, Baza, Cultural Leonesa, Real Murcia B, Alicante, Sangonera, Melilla and Caravaca-La Unión.
Precisely, that last team is the only one that played for a season in Second B in the history of La Unión football. Although that was tricky. The Union did not rise, but the municipality simply welcomed the Caravaca Club de Fútbol project. It was in the 2011-12 academic year, when the Caravaca board of directors, fed up with not having support, decided to move the team to La Unión.
The project was a total fiasco, with the stands empty in all the matches. Before the end of the first round, the defaults to the players began, among whom by the way was a then young David Valdeolivas. The team ended up being relegated to the Third Division in the field and to Preferred due to non-payments, for which reason it disappeared that same summer of 2012. Then the current La Unión CF was founded. José Francisco Beltrán did it and in his first year he was promoted to Third. Ten years later, he fights to climb to the 2nd RFEF.
And it will do so this Sunday in a town with a great mining tradition, which clearly brings Entrego closer to La Unión. The El Entrego shaft was the first vertical coal extraction shaft deepened in the central Asturian coal basin, the works extending between 1905 and 1909. Until then, the mining technique was based on working the layers by means of slope floors or mining of mountain.
Thus, the El Entrego mine has gone down in history for its early vertical opening. It is one of the most emblematic of Asturias. In fact, the Asturias Mining Museum is located there, which has become one of the great tourist attractions in a region that is proud of its mining legacy, something similar to what happens with the Agrupa Vicenta mine in La Union. The latter has become a theme park and is the largest visitable mine in Europe, with more than 2,300 square meters open to the public, at a depth of 80 meters.
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