Cádiz 3-1 Winners at Almería: Three First-Half Goals Settle La Liga 2 Clash

Final score: Almería 1-3 Cádiz. Write it down. Look at it. Then ask yourself how a team with 62 per cent possession and 15 shots walks away with nothing. The answer is simple. Cádiz were clinical. Almería were not. That is the difference between winning and losing a football match. End of.

A First Half That Decided Everything

The thing is, this game was over before the break. Three goals, all in the first 44 minutes, and Almería's night was done. Cádiz went ahead through Javi Muñoz on 13 minutes, a left-foot finish assisted by Brian Cipenga. Almería pulled one back when Javi Castro headed in a cross from Antoñito Cordero on 25 minutes. For about ten minutes you thought the home side might actually compete. They did not.

Miguel de la Fuente restored Cádiz's lead with a right-foot shot on 36 minutes, again assisted by Cipenga. Then Léo Baptistão buried a third on 44 minutes. Same assist. Same man. Brian Cipenga was involved in all three Cádiz goals. That is called being where you need to be, making the right runs, doing the basics properly. Almería had no answer for it.

Listen, you can talk about Almería's yellow card in the fifth minute for Dilan Zárate all you want. A booking that early disrupts your rhythm, yes. But conceding three before half-time is not about one booking. That is about attitude and accountability at the back. Two of those goals came from the same combination. If you cannot stop the same move twice in one half, that is unacceptable.

The Numbers Tell the Story

Cádiz had seven shots on target. Almería had one. One. Cádiz had 12 shots inside the box. Almería had three. The home side were simply not getting into the areas that matter. When Almería did create something, they missed two big chances that the data labels as big chances missed. Cádiz had zero big chances missed. They took what was there. Almería did not.

The possession stat will confuse people who do not watch football properly. Cádiz had 62 per cent of the ball. They had more passes, more attacks, more dangerous attacks. But they also scored three goals from those attacks. Almería had 38 per cent possession, three shots total, and one goal. You tell me which side competed harder in the moments that mattered.

Cádiz had 11 key passes. Almería had three. That gap tells you everything about the quality of ball coming into dangerous areas. Almería were working hard defensively in the second half. They made 11 tackles, won 30 duels. But when you are 3-1 down at half-time and chasing the game, those numbers count for very little.

Almería's Half-Time Gamble

Credit where it is due, the Almería manager reacted at half-time. Three substitutions in one go. V. Kopotun came on for Zárate, who had already been booked and was a liability. Javi Ontiveros replaced Antoñito Cordero. Borja Vázquez came on for Damián Rodríguez. Then on 54 minutes, Juan Díaz replaced Giorgi Gocholeishvili. Four changes before the hour. That is a manager throwing everything at it.

Did it work? Almería got no further goals. So no, it did not work in the only way that counts. The Almería goalkeeper made four saves in the match. Without him, the scoreline could have been more embarrassing. That is not a side that competed for 90 minutes. That is a side that showed some desire in the second half after the damage was already done.

Cádiz's Discipline Was Tested But Held

It was not a clean night for Cádiz either. Stefan Dzodic was booked in the eighth minute for a foul. Brian Cipenga picked up a yellow on 32 minutes. Then the Cádiz manager Garcia Pimienta was sent to the stands at 35 minutes for arguing. He got a card for it. That is what happens when you lose your composure on the touchline. A manager getting booked for arguing while his team is winning tells you something about the atmosphere in that stadium. Almería were rattled. So were parts of the Cádiz dugout, apparently.

Marc-Olivier Doué of Almería was booked on 67 minutes for a foul as frustration set in. That is what a 3-1 deficit does to a team. Standards slip. Fouls creep in. Cádiz committed 11 fouls in the match. Almería committed eight. Neither side was particularly dirty, but the cards came at moments that shaped the contest.

Almería's Form Offered Warning Signs

Listen, nobody should be shocked by this result. In their last five La Liga 2 matches before this one, Almería won two, drew one, and lost two. They scored seven and conceded five across that sample. They kept a clean sheet in only one of those five matches. A back line that leaks goals at that rate was always vulnerable against a side with Cádiz's attacking output on the night.

Cádiz came into this with one win, three draws, and one loss from their last five La Liga 2 matches. That looks modest on paper. But three of those draws came in their most recent three outings before tonight. A team that keeps finding ways not to lose eventually finds a way to win. Tonight was that night.

The Verdict

The thing is, Cádiz were simply better at the basics. They took their chances. They kept their shape. They had players arriving in the right areas at the right time, as Cipenga's three assists demonstrate. When Almería tried to fight back at half-time with four substitutions, the damage was already irreversible.

Almería's home record in La Liga 2 needs looking at. Back-to-back defeats to Sabadell and Tenerife before this one, both by a single goal, both ending 0-1. Now a 1-3 home loss. That is three defeats in their last five. The standards at this club are not where they need to be. Accountability starts with not conceding three goals before half-time at home. Sort the basics out, or this will not be the last difficult Sunday evening in Almería.