The world cup is over with Argentina the new world champions, so now it's time for club football again. La Liga starts at the 29th of December with Valencia's next match on the 31st of December against Villarreal at the Estadio de la Cerámica. Their stadium was going through a renovation and the grand opening will be on the 31st of Devember against Valencia CF.
After the match with Villarreal CF, Valencia CF will host Cadiz CF at the Mestalla and the next matches after that yet to be scheduled at precise dates.
Valencia CF played 4 friendly matches during the world cup, the first one against Leeds United which the team won eight to zero, the second against Clermont Foot which the team won 4 to 2 and then two losses against Nottingham Forest and Az Alkmaar. Losing 1-2 to Nottingham Forest and then losing 1-3 against Az Alkmaar with severe defensive mistakes in both our losses.
Take what you will from these friendly matches, but it's clear that the team is still not functioning at a high level, and it would be hard to achieve good results in La Liga. It looks like we are likely going to be fighting for the middle table position once again.
Gattuso has been calling for reinforcements to improve the team but considering Valencia's irrational sales and purchases in the past 5 years it's hard to expect success in that field. The best we can hope for is few reinforcements that do not worsen the team and actually keep the status quo.
I'm hardly excited about the restart of the league and have low hopes of Valencia CF improving and playing for European football, but I'd love to be wrong about it.