The Pride of Vallekas

Chris Ramos, a young striker from San Fernando, was linked with Rayo but has signed for Valladolid. Today's article is about the exact opposite - an old goalkeeper from San Fernando moving to distant shores... This winter, Toni Doblas, a 37-year-old goalkeeper has moved from Spain to the Philippines, playing for Ceres–Negros. It is not the first time that he has moved abroad - but it might be the last time, in a career that has seen luck very rarely on his side. Born in Seville, Doblas graduated from local Real Betis, and was part of the famous 1999 team that won the juvenil Copa del Rey - a team that also contained future Betis legends like Joaquín, Arzu and Dani. He would spend four seasons with local Real Betis's B-team, where he was the undisputed starter, before moving on loan to Andalusian neighbors Xerez for the 2003-04 season. He made only four appearances in the second division and returned to Betis' first side the year after, being called into immediate main-...

Allen Dodson runs the VillarrealUSA.com blog, a SBNation blog dedicated to all things Villarreal and the official penya of Villarreal in USA. You can follow it on Facebook here and on Twitter here . A bit about yourself and your background... I live in central California, have been a football (soccer) fan since the early 1970’s. We didn’t have youth soccer anywhere when I was growing up so I’ve had to satisfy my craving for the game by writing about it rather than playing it. How long have you been a fan of Villarreal and what made you support them in the first place? I started following Villarreal when they had that incredible Champions League run in 2005-06. Ironically, what started me following their results was that I had grown up a Liverpool supporter and Villarreal defeated Everton, Liverpool’s rival, in the qualifying round, so I liked them immediately! But what really got me following the team in earnest was that Marcos Senna, who was just incredible in the 2008 Eu...