CL & UEFA Cup Draw Official Thread

Steau won their league only about a fortnight ago and sacked their coach only a few weeks before that. Here is the report on soccernet from June 11.

Steaua clinch Romanian title


BUCHAREST, June 11 (Reuters) - Steaua Bucharest beat Politehnica Timisoara 2-1 on Saturday to clinch their 22nd Romanian first division title.
Steaua, who last lifted the trophy in 2001, finished the season with 63 points to seal a place in the second preliminary round of the Champions League.


Dinamo Bucharest, who finished second, and third-placed Rapid Bucharest qualified for the UEFA Cup.

Senegal striker Gueye Mansour put Politehnica ahead from 20 metres in the 26th minute before forward Andrei Cristea volleyed Steaua level.

Nicolae Dica headed the winning goal four minutes after halftime.

The Steaua fans saluted former coach Walter Zenga, the Italian who was fired three rounds before the end of the competition.

'Thanks Walter, this title is yours too,' read a banner.

Dinamo Bucharest beat Arges Pitesti 1-0 to finish one point behind arch-rivals Steaua while Rapid Bucharest drew 0-0 with Sportul Studentesc Bucharest.

Eh,lads,i think youse are jumping the gun a little,We'll worry about getting past Glentoran first.

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Originally Posted by pete

No idea how good Steau are but Romania is crap draw for any hope of tv money

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Recent pedigree is quite impressive. Last season, they defeated FK Zeleznik (S&M), CSKA Sofia, Standard Liége, Besiktas and Valencia (home and away) in the UEFA Cup, before suffering elimination by Villareal in the 1/8 finals (having previously lost to Bilbao and Parma in the group stages.)

Steaua look a decent team based on last year's UEFA run, difficult to see Shels getting through that if they beat Glentoran. The timing of the first round (in the middle of Glens' off season) should make Shels favourites to get through though the Setanta Cup showed that there isn't a big gap between the leagues.

Shels are in Belfast on 12th July. :eek:

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

Shels are in Belfast on 12th July. :eek:

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Ive heard the 14th being mentioned.

I'd much rather we were away that week. :(

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Originally Posted by Schumi

The timing of the first round (in the middle of Glens' off season) should make Shels favourites to get through though the Setanta Cup showed that there isn't a big gap between the leagues.

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Sure we, at a pretty low form ebb, would've gone through on away goals. Shels have to be big favourites imo. It would be Vaduz ( :rolleyes: ) style humiliation if they don't...

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Originally Posted by Macy

It would be Vaduz ( :rolleyes: ) style humiliation if they don't...

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But wasn't that not a humiliation at all. :D

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Originally Posted by Schumi

But wasn't that not a humiliation at all. :D

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No hence the :rolleyes: ... :D

Shels have by far the biggest squad and budget on the island. If they can't beat a part team in pre-season who would've lost to us over 2 legs in the prime of their season then they may never utter the words "Champions League Group Stages" again for the rest of their lives...

I agree with Macy, but we'd want to start playing something approaching football soon.

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Originally Posted by Slash/ED

I agree with Macy, but we'd want to start playing something approaching football soon.

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Get your act together and ye's'll beat them no bother. They're not great really.

The hard part is getting our act together, we lost to the bottom of the table team at home under a week ago. At our best we will beat them though, I'd say, but will we be at our best? We need to turn it around in the league and fast.

I think this is where a certain undeserved arrogance creeps into Irish domestic soccer.
With the notable exception of last season, Irish clubs in Europe are rightly in the doldrums of the European competitions due to a lack of success. As others have pointed out it wasn't so long ago that Shels were knocked out by Hibernians (the bad Hibernians for that matter).

I think eL fans would be wise to look no further than the 1st round game and then see where things go from there (if they go anywhere at all).

Remember this is a derby between two well supported teams. We (as in the Southeners) mightn't regard the northies as despised rivals but have no doubt over how much delight they would take in knocking Shels out.
In the height of summer and the height of the marching season. Tensions will be high and it would be a massive turn up if the tie wasn't in the melting pot right up to the last quarter.

The main eL fans on this MB were saying they would take a derby match against the Glens over a match against one of the continental teams to try and keep expenses down. To me that equates looking fto be against Liverpool in the 2nd round just to be guarenteed some cash.
Jaysus H Christ. I would take a match against any of these teams

FC Haka (FIN), HB Tórshavn (FAR), FC Levadia Tallinn (EST), NK Gorica (SLO) or FH Hafnarfjördur (ISL), Anorthosis Famagusta FC (CYP), Sliema Wanderers FC (MLT) or F91 Dudelange (LUX)

instead of a derby match against Glentoran. They are all very beatable , and are not the hardest in the world to get to.

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Originally Posted by Slash/ED

but will we be at our best?

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You won't need to be. They can play alright when they need to, but over the two legs it'll be very difficult for them.

UEFA cup draw on now, it'll be a while before we get to Cork and Longford though

agreed. We really have to put the likes of Glen. away with such a squad like ours. The main problem is that were playing like crap at the moment. We really want to be flying when we make it to the 2nd round.

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Originally Posted by Slash/ED

UEFA cup draw on now, it'll be a while before we get to Cork and Longford though

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Is it live on uefa.com? Can't find it if it is.

Never mind, found it.

Longford get Carmarthen (Wales)

Longford have been drawn at home to Carmenthan of Wales

Longford v Carmethen

home leg 1st

nice one!