Spanish semipro soccer players visit Manning Field

LYNN – Spain has a well-deserved reputation for excellence in soccer. The national team, the “Red Fury,” won the World Cup in 2010, and the country boasts strong professional clubs, such as Barcelona and Real Madrid.On Thursday, a delegation of Spanish semipro players from a league in Madrid made their first-ever trip to Manning Field, to play a game with the Boston Braves, a Lynn-based senior soccer team.Click here for a photo gallery.”Lynn is fantastic,” visiting coach Borja Prieto, who hails from Madrid, told a reporter in Spanish. “It’s a stupendous place that likes sports.”Prieto, who continually encouraged his players from the sidelines, also said that Boston is a “marvelous” city that compares favorably with New York and San Francisco.The game featured two split-squad teams: half American players and half Spanish players on each side. The Boston “Galacticos” – a reference to the nickname of Real Madrid – faced off against the “Madrid Braves,” with the Galacticos winning 6-1.Sean Day had a hat trick for the Galacticos, who also got two goals from David Montero and one from Jeff Lavigne. Jose Bisbe was in net (and stopped a penalty shot). Boston Braves coach Ged White served as Galacticos coach.Paco Arjona found the net for the Madrid Braves; he actually gave them a 1-0 lead in the first half (drawing a “Well done, Paco!” from his coach, Prieto).While the attendance at Manning was small, it did include a group of about 10 Spanish fans – “family and friends who come with the team,” Borja said – who cheered on their team with a flag (and what sounded like World Cup-style vuvuzelas). Another flag hung from the fence by the field.There also appeared to be some local fans watching, including one man wearing a Boston Bruins jersey (the Bruins played the Montreal Canadiens in Game Four of their NHL playoff series last night).”Everything went very well,” said Boston Braves president Spiros Tourkakis, a Lynn businessman and Lynnfield resident.The teams posed for a pregame group photo, with the Spanish players – and their fans – singing “Ole!” The Boston Braves players were certainly singing the praise of Spain.”It should be fun,” Day said. “Hopefully we don’t lose too bad.””They were awesome in (the World Cup),” Peter Pantazelos of Danvers said. “I love watching these guys play.””Soccer in Spain is very good,” said Alex Belitsky, who grew up in Russia and was celebrating his 21st year in Boston yesterday. He added that in 1964, when he was a 17-year-old player on the Russian junior team, he received an invitation to play for the Spanish team of Malaga.The visitors from Spain got to tour Boston as well as Lynn. After arriving in Massachusetts on Monday, they went to TD Garden on Tuesday to see the Boston Celtics hold off the New York Knicks in Game Two of their NBA playoff series. On Wednesday, they visited the Champions Bar at the Boston Marriott Copley Place to watch the Copa del Rey soccer matchup, in which Real Madrid defeated Barcelona, 1-0, in overtime.”For them, it was very important,” said Braves player (and team marketing director) Dimitris Savalas of Salem.The Spanish players are in the area until Easter. On Saturday they will participate in a four-team tournament at Manning Field from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.”It’s nice to make new friends and play,” Savalas said.