UEFA Europa League 2009/10

The inaugral UEFA Europa League kicked off at the beginning of July. I was lucky enough to see a second-leg game Renova v. Dinamo Minsk in Skopje. The Gradski Stadium is coming along nicely, they were still working on it the day of the game. Macedonia Skopje play there ion the next round, I hope it gets alot of use.

Minsk went through with a fortunate penalty equaliser, their defence was very square for Renova's 8th minute goal.

I was thinking of going to either Rapid Wien and Vllaznia or Strum of Graz and Siroki Brijeg next week. Kinda all those clubs are a little bit romantic for me.
http://www.uefa.com/competitions/uef...034/index.html

Well Holy God...

St.Pat's through on away goals

That's a massive, massive result, Krylya Sovetov are a strong side with the likes of Koller, Jarosik, Adamov and Shishkin. Mid-table in the Russian League.

Crvena Zvezda score an 88th min goal to win 5-2 on the night and go through 5-4 on the night, FK Sarajevo beat (van) Helsingborg of Sweden 5-4 on penalties after both legs end 2-1 to home teams.

Draw hasn't been finalised yet but St. Pat's will meet one of the following:

FC Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS)
FC Steaua Bucuresti (ROU)
AC Sparta Praha (CZE)
Aston Villa FC (ENG)
Odense BK (DEN)

Hopefully Villa. They might fancy Zenit after their Russian exploits. Odense would be the most disappointing draw but possibly the one where they might have the best chance of progress.

Steau Bucharest vs St Pats

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Originally Posted by back of the net

Steau Bucharest vs St Pats

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Glamorous enough I suppose.

terrible pot to get. all the teams are boring.

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Originally Posted by irishultra

terrible pot to get. all the teams are boring.

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Villa would have been a huge attraction to be fair. Zenit for their achievements two yrs ago but Steaua are a bigger name.

Europa League Playoff Draw In Full

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Originally Posted by irishultra

terrible pot to get. all the teams are boring.

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Am I missing something here? Would it not be best that St. Pats draw a team that they are capable of beating?

Cause if they did manage to go through they would be in the group stages, an unprecedented achievement for an Irish side.

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Originally Posted by lionelhutz

Am I missing something here? Would it not be best that St. Pats draw a team that they are capable of beating?

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Yeah but to be honest with the exception of Odense they wouldn't look to have had much hope against any of the teams, so a glamour fixture would have been nice.

Odense beat them 5-0 only two years ago.

There are no easy ties for them at this stage but I'm sure Kryla Sovetov may have seem daunting as well.

Steaua are a good enough side, but I wouldnt say they are stronger than Krylya Sovetov. Banel Nicolita, a pacey wing back who is sometimes pushed into midfield is by far and away their best player now*. Ovidu Petre, defensive midfielder with a great ranger of passing, is a handy player too if he's given time on the ball he could hurt Pats.

* - Nicolae Dorin Goian, the classy center back has just left Steaua for Palermo in Italy yesterday, which is great news for St. Pats as he led the line and marshalled the defence he was a huge threat from set pieces too. Mirel Radoi, another quality center back left for the middle east in January, which messed up Steaua in the second half of the liga. There could be all sorts of potential for mix-ups in the short term now. Nicolae Dica, an attacking gem of a player also left this time last year for Italy and they are not the team they were a few years ago. Indeed the balance of power has seemingly shifted away from Bucharest to the regions now (like Cluj, Timshoara and Satu Mare).

Bremen and Aktobe of Kazakhstan played out a 6-3 thriller just there.

Saw the 3rd & 4th goal in the Everton game, good strikes by Rodwell & Saha. Good win for them.

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Originally Posted by Infadel

Bremen and Aktobe of Kazakhstan played out a 6-3 thriller just there.

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Watched that game.

The defending from both sides was atrocious. I think six of the goals were from set pieces, including a cracking free each.

It was funny to watch cos the German media were calling Aktobe nobodies and saying it'd be 10-0 to Werder.

I've a sneaking feeling Aktobe could actually win this tie. They only need three goals and they already did that in the first leg. Also, the long trip, heat and atmosphere could be a big challenge for Werder.

I also caught the last half hour of Guingamp Hamburg. Hamburg strolled it but they were pretty shaky at the back. At 5-0 up they conceded an own goal from a harmless cross and their keeper Hesl (think he's not first choice, I would've thought Rost is) looked a bit edgy for the whole thirty minutes I saw.

Can anyone shed some light on what happened in the other match tonight in Bucarest? Dinamo were loosing 2-0 to Liberec in the 85th minute then game abandoned?!

Here is what goal.com says

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Originally Posted by www.goal.com

Dinamo Bucharest fell two goals down at home to Slovan Liberec, the second goal coming from Jan Blazek six minutes from time. Infuriated home fans invaded the running track around the pitch, leading Austrian referee Thomas Einwaller to abandon the match with two minutes left. Expulsion from European competition for up to three years could follow; even if this penalty is not applied, the Red Dogs' Europa League season is almost certainly over.

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Saw much of the Celtic vs Rapid Vienna game. Celtic perhaps should have won on the basis of chances created but were lucky not to give away a peno in the second half. I suspect the ref didn't give it because he originally had broken down a Celtic move by getting in the way of the ball. McGeady was pretty much marked out of the game. 1 point out of 4. Not looking good.

Nice win for Lazio in Sofia and another win for Everton. If they concentrate on this tournament, they could go far.