Agree with all of that. You got the lucky draw vs FH, and probably vs Rosenborg too. There just aren't that many week seeded teams in the CL, even with the new format.
Its mental that you got the same teams we got even though we were unseeded. I'm genuinely shocked Larnaca aren't seeded in this round given that they were last year.
For anyone traveling, Larnaca is a nice little beach resort but its crazy hot there. Its ok on the beach front with the wind blowing in, but the stadium is a couple of km inland. Our game was at 6pm or 7pm I think so only just starting to get dark around kick off time. That was a big factor for us. Theres no cover in the away end either so no protection from the sun.
Aside from the football it was a good trip. I don't usually do resort holidays so it was a nice break for a change.
I'm taking one round at a time, Dundalk will be favourites to advance to round 2, but need to get there first. On the 2016 campaign, drawing FH was definitely the key, good luck for us, but bad for them drawing probably the strongest of the non seeded teams (Dundalk), amazing really when you consider we didn't even beat FH yet played another 10 games in Europe after and into early December.
Could say the same for Ireland re luck of the draw for the Euro 2012 play off, everyone wanted Ireland and we got Estonia. I don't think we would have qualified had we got anyone else.
Last edited by oriel; 20/06/2018 at 9:03 PM.
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), first Irish club to win points in a group stage in Europe (2016).
Pretty disappointed with our draw now.
I really can't see anything other than a very handy win for Dinamo. If we were able to defend, we might give ourselves a chance. But we can't, so we won't.
Not even fun from a travel perspective. Minsk is new, well designed and pleasant. But that's all it is. There's nothing to do, and it's not even that cheap by eastern standards. Added to that the match will basically be over as a contest by the time we get there, makes for a fairly rubbish away trip.
Last edited by brendy_éire; 21/06/2018 at 3:42 PM.
That's the spirit.
That will make the unlikely win all the more satisfying.
On paper it looks like a fairly benign draw for Dundalk, but that's only cos we're seeded. Levadia are the joint highest ranked of all the non-seeds, so theoretically the worst possible draw of all 47 possible opponents. Then in round two we get AEK, the joint third highest ranked non-seeds of 37 possible opponents. So that's opponents ranked #1 of 47 and #3 of 37!
Think Larnaca have basically kept the same team from last year.
But as Oriel said above,not getting ahead of ourselves,get past Levadia first then concentrate on Larnaca.
Last edited by ToberonaTornado; 21/06/2018 at 9:53 PM.
Dundalk Larnaca will be very interesting. Was torture watching them stifle us over 2 legs, I hope ye give them a right go.
€28 to watch Derry in Europe
https://www.derrycityfc.net/2018/06/...keting-update/
Thats ridiculous pricing.
Dundalk charge €20 into the stand for domestic games, granted some tickets are available for concession at reduced prices, and most who go to the stand are ST holders, but it’s still the most expensive in the league for anyone wanting to pay on the night.
Also, I`m almost sure it was €25 into the stand for the Rosenborg game last year, and €20 into the ground.
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), first Irish club to win points in a group stage in Europe (2016).
Plenty of complaints about the pricing from Derry fans. It's a big increase.
Even over last year, it's a 25% increase, and that's when we played in Sligo, with whatever extra cost that brought.
It'll be a small home crowd now, difficult to attract neutrals at that price.
KO is set for 18:00 as well. Presumably it's for Belarusian TV.
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