Would I be correct in saying that there are home & away matches in the group stages, back to 3 subs, no VAR, Dundalk to play in Tallagh if Aviva unavailable, 30% stadium capacity fans allowed if Dublin down to stage 2 Covid regulations?
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Would I be correct in saying that there are home & away matches in the group stages, back to 3 subs, no VAR, Dundalk to play in Tallagh if Aviva unavailable, 30% stadium capacity fans allowed if Dublin down to stage 2 Covid regulations?
Molde beat Celje 2-1 at home in the 2nd qualifying round. Beat Qarabag on penalties, then out on away goals after 2 draws with Ferencvaros. Decent side but maybe something in those 2 games for Dundalk. Rapid qualified directly from the CL League Path 3rd qualifying round after losing to Gent. So only had to win one tie to get to groups. You would be thinking that Dundalk would be targeting the home game for points in that one too. Arsenal should run away with the group so could be a dogfight for 2nd.
But its only boring, boring Arsenal...
...former home of the super-god Theirry Henrey.
The 30% attendance is the maximum UEFA are allowing but the local government regulations will take priority. I think at level 2 currently the max would be 500. I can’t see the government allowing thousands into the Aviva for a game when they are now telling people to only mix with one other household.
No away fans are behind allowed by UEFA either.
It’s a good draw really. No travel to far flung destinations and there is potential to pick up points along with some glamour of a big name club.
Brian Kerr always strikes me as a bitter old guy who thinks he is better than he is .
Having said that unless DFC up their peformance levels to somewhere like they should be it could be a long 6 games.
TBH at this stage does it really matter, those that hate the league hate the league..
It depends how seriously they take it I guess. Spurs didn't make it out of their group with Rovers (and PAOK/Kazan) back in 2011. The CL spot for the overall winners is some motivation, but they've still a tendency to put out young teams in this I think. They should still win the group though.
Molde/Rapid are much of a muchness I'd say, so they'll probably be very much targetting 6 points from Dundalk to try sneak second place. They'll know they can't afford to slip up in those two.
Interesting times though.
Agree with pretty much all that, but i think the draw is good for the reason that its not or should not now be 3-0 4-0 losses away from home. That would just give ammunition to those ready to fire.
What i find funny is there seems to be big media interest and general public interest and a sense of achievement, which just kind of shows how much the general public understands/knows about the whole qualifying process, because lets be honest its a very large slice of luck that got Dundalk here. They'll be the same people then saying oh the league is sh1te, dundalk are sh1te etc etc.
Geysir must be getting the schoolkids ready to perform the club anthem again so they can do it in person when the plane touches down.
It's a nice draw. Massive pity for Dundalk fans that they'll be lucky to be allowed very limited attendance at home games and can't go to what would be lovely away venues. As others have said, realistically Dundalk will do well to come away with a couple of points, but you'd hope they should be competitive at least in most games. Would be worried that Arsenal are one of those teams that occasionally can rip a team to shreds and on a bad night for Dundalk it could end up 6 or 7 nil, but hopefully that won't happen.
Amazing for Dundalk to get to test themselves against opposition of unquestioned quality and international prestige.
But enough about Sunday, nice Euro draw for them.
What is the highest LOI have been in UEFA coefficients? We are on course to be 37 next year. Is that the highest?
We were 29th in 2010 - there's a 10-year graph here.
We're actually still on course to drop to 46th in 2022, probably not helped by there being only half the number of games this year (the "second legs" were all scored as draws)
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2020...rmanent-basis/
Are the Americans great now again. Great wisdom and foresight :rolleyes: :D FFfos
Molde at home in the first game.
Great chance to start off with a win.
Couldnt ask for a whole lot more in the draw. Mix of the glamour with the chance of maybe picking up a few points. It certainly raises the hairs on the back of the neck seeing your team being drawn at this level. The committment of the owners was probably being tested and then out of nowhere group stages happen again. Not quite keeping the wolf from the door but certainly a huge relief for Dundalk fans as that game last night was a marker one way or another. They are all free hits from now on in Europe this season. Qualifying for Europe next season isnt in the bag so next big target!
If I take my congratulating dfc hat off for a moment one positive of dfc qualifying for group stages from a narrow rovers perspective is they might be forced to sign back all the current squad as the el go's up to december
I would imagine that as the Dundalk squad (like Rovers) are on full time 52 week contracts, that the contracts due to expire would run to the end of the year/season. The positive side is that a bit more stability and financial security with this Europa League qualification will lead to the players that we would like to keep deciding to stay.
Wishful thinking on sbgawa's part. Even if any contracts were not 52 weeks finishing end December, it would be bizarre to extend the contract of a player you did not want for him to sit on the bench or in the stand for a couple of Europa League matches.
It's really a moot issue anyway because of the 52 week contracts you mention.
What is much more interesting is the possibility of EL group participation raising the profile of the club and potentially boosting the attractiveness to some players.
The greater stability and financial security you mention is relevant not just to current players about to go out-of-contract, but also to domestic and overseas players who may be on the clubs radar
... And then they see the ground, hear about owner interference, see the age profile of the main players... And then say eh, no thanks.
And you end up getting a boez player or 2, some yank from MSL division 4(if it exists) no one's ever heard of and a young fellah from drogs..