UEFA Cup Draw

[OwlsFan]

Ever so slightly more tame compared to the CL teams:


-------------------------------

Full draw for the last 32 of the Uefa Cup:

Liteks Lovetch v Strasbourg
VfB Stuttgart v Middlesbrough
Slavia Prague v Palermo
Lokomotiv Moscow v Sevilla
Heerenveen v Steaua Bucharest
Bolton v Marseille
Hertha Berlin v Rapid Bucharest
Basle v Monaco
Udinese v Lens
Rosenborg v Zenit St Petersburg
Club Brugge v AS Roma
Shalke 04 v Espanyol
Lille v Shakhtar Donetsk
FC Thun v Hamburg
Real Betis v AZ
Artmedia Bratislava v Levski Sofia

[gustavo]

why are middlesborough and bolton highlighted!

[Karlos]

I fancy Bolton to do quite well in this competition. They do the basics of football expertly. Fantastic team organisation. They'll be a handful for anyone providing Big Sam can keep them on the right track. Would love to see them win it. ;) :)

[gustavo]

ah i can see marseille turning them over

[Gerrit]

Rosenborg have a good draw. I see us proceed another round with this draw. Usually, shortly after new year, we have the disadvantage of only having started domestic season. This time the opponents have the same so we don't have any disadvantage. And with all respect to Zenit, but Rosenborg are better I think. I got good hopes of proceeding.

[pineapple stu]

Ever so slightly more tame compared to the CL teams:
True, though a couple of interesting ties nonetheless...

Stuttgart v. Middlesborough (although Boro's UEFA Cup games to date have been without exception dire beyond belief, from what I've seen)
Heerenveen (without the cup-tied Liam Kearney?) v. Steaua
Basel (why do people insist on typing Basle?!) v. Monaco
Udinese v. Lens
Betis v. Alkmaar
Schalke v. Espanyol

There were some superb games in the latter stages of the UEFA Cup last year - Porto v AZ, I think, and the final itself - so hopefully a few more for those of us prepared to think for ourselves!

[eirebhoy]

True, though a couple of interesting ties nonetheless...

Stuttgart v. Middlesborough (although Boro's UEFA Cup games to date have been without exception dire beyond belief, from what I've seen)
Heerenveen (without the cup-tied Liam Kearney?) v. Steaua
Basel (why do people insist on typing Basle?!) v. Monaco
Udinese v. Lens
Betis v. Alkmaar
Schalke v. Espanyol

There were some superb games in the latter stages of the UEFA Cup last year - Porto v AZ, I think, and the final itself - so hopefully a few more for those of us prepared to think for ourselves!
It was AZ v Sporting. One of the best games I ever saw. AZ are my favourite team to watch after Barca and Sporting were a cracking team too.

[OwlsFan]

Basel (why do people insist on typing Basle?!) v. Monaco

Because Basel is the German spelling and Basle is the French. Either should be acceptable and I assume that applies to the football team but possibly not.

[eirebhoy]

Anyway, Basel are a poor team and Monaco will beat them. :)

[onenilgameover]

Unlucky for Bolton really...there have been grinding out results and keeping clean sheets too...

[eirebhoy]

Unlucky for Bolton really...there have been grinding out results and keeping clean sheets too...
I think Bolton would beat Marseille with their full strength team. I doubt they'll play their full team though.

[Volltreffer]

Because Basel is the German spelling and Basle is the French.
The French spelling is Bâle. By the way, Basel is German-speaking.
The club is called "FC Basel 1893" and nothing else.

[sligoman]

Strasbourg
VfB Stuttgart
Slavia Prague
Sevilla
Heerenveen
Marseille
Hertha Berlin
Monaco
Lens
Rosenborg
AS Roma
Shalke 04
Lille
FC Thun
Real Betis
Artmedia Bratislava

[eirebhoy]

Strasbourg
VfB Stuttgart
Palermo
Sevilla
Steaua Bucharest
Bolton
Hertha Berlin
Monaco
Udinese
Zenit St Petersburg
AS Roma
Shalke 04
Shakhtar Donetsk
Hamburg
AZ
Levski Sofia

[pineapple stu]

Because Basel is the German spelling and Basle is the French. Either should be acceptable and I assume that applies to the football team but possibly not.
What Volltreffer said! Though it got me thinking that I don't know where Basle comes from.

[Gerrit]

Strasbourg
VfB Stuttgart
Palermo
Sevilla
Steaua Bucharest
Bolton
Hertha Berlin
Monaco
Udinese
Zenit St Petersburg
AS Roma
Shalke 04
Shakhtar Donetsk
Hamburg
AZ
Levski Sofia

Zenit ? :eek: :mad: Name me one Russian team that performed as constant as Rosenborg in the last 10 years, and then Zenit is not even top-of-the-league (they are below the Moscow sides)

I think it looks very good for us. I hope Bolton or M'boro qualify and then draw RBK in the next round. Would mean a short-to-home trip :cool:

[eirebhoy]

Zenit ? :eek :mad: Name me one Russian team that performed as constant as Rosenborg in the last 10 years, and then Zenit is not even top-of-the-league (they are below the Moscow sides)
Arguing league places won't get you anywhere with Rosenborg. :) Zenit lost 1 home match all season. They can hold out for a draw or 1-0 defeat in Norway and if they get that I think they'll have enough to beat them in Russia. You see Rosenborg more than me though so probably know more. Its only a predition. :)

[Volltreffer]

What Volltreffer said! Though it got me thinking that I don't know where Basle comes from.
"Basle" might actually be an older French form of "Bâle", since the ^ in French means that an s has been dropped.

[twoenz]

Haven't Rosenberg had a shocking season though?

[Gerrit]

We had a crap season indeed, but we're gonna make it all be forgotten this year when we're holding the UEFA Cup and celebrate the Norwegian champions title again! Valerenga had their moment of glory, the coming season the crown goes back home to Trondheim ;)

[crc]

The French spelling is Bâle. By the way, Basel is German-speaking. The club is called "FC Basel 1893" and nothing else
What Volltreffer said! Though it got me thinking that I don't know where Basle comes from.
"Basle" is possibly the English spelling. The French is indeed "Bâle", and as with most French words containing a circonflex (the "^") it normally stands for a silent "S" that used to be spelled with the "S". English has taken the French version of many towns in mainland Europe, even when the inhabitants mostly don't speak French (such as Bruge-Brugge, Cologne-Koln, Louvain-Leuven, Turin-Torino). In the case of "Bâle" there was probably an imperitive to maintain the ^ somehow which in fact meant using the "Basle" spelling.

In English the name of the city was traditionally pronounced as "Baal", but "Baz-el" is now also used alot, the choice depending on how franco- or germano-phile you are feeling that day.

[Gerrit]

Isn't Basle also the main hooligan club in the Swiss league, or did they sort out their support base? I do know that some years ago they had a bad reputation, while no one had troubles with fans of Grasshoppers (the other big team in terms of Swiss European entries)

The Swiss league IMO is quite underestimated. The results from the Swiss clubs in Europe has been quite well for a small country (during the last 10 years we often saw Grasshoppers and Basle doing well in the CL and UEFA Cup + we had stunts from Thun and Sankt-Gallen)

[pineapple stu]

FCB? Not as far as I know... They've been prominatly in Europe the last few seasons really (certainly since 2002, when they knocked Liverpool out) without any bother.

[eirebhoy]

Strasbourg - yes
VfB Stuttgart - no
Palermo - yes
Sevilla - yes
Steaua Bucharest - yes
Bolton - no
Hertha Berlin - no
Monaco - no
Udinese - yes
Zenit St Petersburg - yes
AS Roma - yes
Shalke 04 - yes
Shakhtar Donetsk - no
Hamburg - yes
AZ - no :(
Levski Sofia - yes
10 out of 16 right. Not great. :)

[feo123]

where are Zenit St. Petersburg from? never heard of them before this season!there doing well though

[crc]

where are Zenit St. Petersburg from? never heard of them before this season!there doing well though
Saint Petersburg, in Russia!:rolleyes: