RO Int'l / April, 2014 9
FIFA 2000, Sol Campbell was on the cover and the game could only be played on the 1st gen Playstation or Game Boy Color. Yet this was the last time our beloved Real Oviedo appeared on the world's favorite sports console game. The 2000-2001 season would mark the last time Oviedo would play in the top division in Spain, and at the time FIFA didn't cover Spain's second division. Despite a solid squad that would see the likes of Stan Collymore pull on the Oviedo shirt for three games, the Carbayones would finish in 18th, tallying up 41 points. Fellow Segunda B side Racing Santander would also face the drop, finishing in 19th. This Oviedo side would have a plethora of homegrown talent, with the likes of Iván Ania, Oli and Sergio Boris González (among others) coming up from the Real Oviedo Academy to the first team. While Real Oviedo fought for survival, Juan Mata, Michu and Santi Carzola were being groomed in to be Oviedo's next big stars. Due to the club's relegation, all of them would later move to larger clubs to play senior football. A few members of this squad still play in professional footbal, most notably being Esteban Andrés Suárez (Almeria), and Sergio Boris González who plays for Marino and played against Oviedo in our 2-2 draw. Others have mostly fallen into management and other leadership roles. Viktor Onopko is the assistant manager of CSKA Moscow, Roberto Losada is the assistant manager of Kitchee (Hong Kong) and Iván Ania is the head coach of Real Oviedo's B team. On a slightly different path is midfielder Dorde Tomic, who has been the president of Serbian club FK Srem Jakovo since 2011. The club plays in the Serbian third divison, sitting in 7th place through 16 matches. Proably taking the most interesting path since leaving Oviedo is manager Radomir Antić. Antić left Oviedo after the 00-01 season before joing Barcelona in the 02-03 season on an interm basis. He would guide the team from 15th to 6th before leaving the club in the summer. He would make another stop at Celta Vigo in 2004 before leaving coaching until 2008. Antić took over the Serbia head coach role in 2008, leading them to the 2010 World Cup. He would be sacked later that year due to poor performances in EURO qualifying. Finally, in 2012 he had his last run as a coach, taking over chinese side Shandong Luneng Taishan FC. The team finished in second, and Antić was sacked in 2013. It's been 14 versions of the game since we've appeared, but don't be suprised to see us pop up next season, hopefull with better results.