LOI In Europe 2025

[ger121]

Santa Clara lost again today in the Portuguese league. This time at home. They haven’t played any of the big boys yet either.

Nice pitch but not much of a crowd. Highlights here.

https://youtu.be/26Wd6jxvyR4?si=uKTMjoYUty8as6mv

[sbgawa]

Santa Clara lost again today in the Portuguese league. This time at home. They haven’t played any of the big boys yet either.

Nice pitch but not much of a crowd. Highlights here.

https://youtu.be/26Wd6jxvyR4?si=uKTMjoYUty8as6mv

I checked online 1695 was the official attendance so they must have been sitting on the camara side.
Last year average attendance was 3267 which is kind of incredible considering theyn finished 5th in the Portugeese league .
Population of the Azores is 250k approx with 140,000 on the main island...interesting stuff for nerds like me

The club is owned by a Brazilian businessman hence the 17!! Brazilians playing for them....soft route into the mega money European leagues maybe...

4008 turned up for the Larne match.

[dundalkfc10]

I checked online 1695 was the official attendance so they must have been sitting on the camara side.
Last year average attendance was 3267 which is kind of incredible considering theyn finished 5th in the Portugeese league .
Population of the Azores is 250k approx with 140,000 on the main island...interesting stuff for nerds like me

The club is owned by a Brazilian businessman hence the 17!! Brazilians playing for them....soft route into the mega money European leagues maybe...

4008 turned up for the Larne match.

I know they are not in the mainland alright but there's a team in Portmaio, not far from Albuefria who have been in prem division a few times over last decade.
They get 4-5,000 for matches apart from against the big 3 when sometimes they even play the home games in the big stadium in Faro to increase revenue.

I have been to a few games as go to a village nearby on holidays regularly, and the locals all support Sporting, Benfica or Porto

I wonder if it's similar to most of Scotland supporting Celtic or Rangers only on a bigger level as some Scottish teams get excellent crowds for size area

[EatYerGreens]

I wonder if it's similar to most of Scotland supporting Celtic or Rangers only on a bigger level as some Scottish teams get excellent crowds for size area

Most countries with a few very strong teams have high support for them in lots of places. Just look at all the ManUre and Liverpool fans in the English Home Counties. The Portuguese islands (Azores, Madeira) have traditionally not had much success clubs-wise, so not unexpectedly people there have tended to suport the large mainland clubs instead. I've a few Portugues friends from uni and even the ones brought up in Porto support Benfica or Sporting because they got the support from their families who moved to the city from elsewhere (including Mozambique)

[yurt]

Will be hoping that Crvena Zvezda can get over the line and qualify for the champions league and then with the harder fixtures struggle to pick up any points in the league phase. They are due to lose a huge co-efficient haul from 5 years ago and there's a decent chance we could be ranked ahead of Serbia at the end of next season if Rovers to the business in the champions route.

Such a strange fixture for Shels on Thursday. Having to do it all again. All the build up to first tie was all about how the first round is make or break because of the route and safety nets the winner would be afforded. Now a month later both clubs have both ended up right back in the same place so it's ended up meaning very little in the end.

Shels were miles better technically and physically than Linfield first time around. They only way they'll lose this tie is in their heads.

I'd say the gap for Shels to Rijeka is maybe just a tiny bit smaller than Linfield to Shels.

[pateen]

Linfield will be a lot closer this time around. If Shels take their eye off the ball then it could be a shock.

[EatYerGreens]

Linfield will be a lot closer this time around. If Shels take their eye off the ball then it could be a shock.

This would be my fear - that Shels think they've won it before a ball is kicked, just because of last time. Linfield will have much better match fitness this time round.

[2 Year Contract]

Linfield will be a lot closer this time around. If Shels take their eye off the ball then it could be a shock.

There’s only so far being fitter than last time will take you. Larne were in season when rovers played them last year and the 4-1 scoreline absolutely flattered Larne, it could and probably should’ve been 8 or 9 had rovers brought the shooting boots and or went for the jugular in that game. Granted this Shels team is nowhere near the level of that rovers team but still they should be beating Linfield regardless of the time of year. The fact that they only scraped it by a goal last month should’ve rang alarm bells for their players to pull the finger out this time around

[dundalkfc10]

There’s only so far being fitter than last time will take you. Larne were in season when rovers played them last year and the 4-1 scoreline absolutely flattered Larne, it could and probably should’ve been 8 or 9 had rovers brought the shooting boots and or went for the jugular in that game. Granted this Shels team is nowhere near the level of that rovers team but still they should be beating Linfield regardless of the time of year. The fact that they only scraped it by a goal last month should’ve rang alarm bells for their players to pull the finger out this time around

Id say this Linfield team are a better team than Larne of last year

They have some good players

Imo it's a 50/50 game

[EatYerGreens]

Id say this Linfield team are a better team than Larne of last year

They have some good players

Imo it's a 50/50 game

Plus Shels are a hell of a lot worse than Rovers of last year.

Shels only beat Linfield in the 1st round by one goal. And it;s common sense that Linfield will be much more match sharp now than they were then.

[Acornvilla]

Plus Shels are a hell of a lot worse than Rovers of last year.

Shels only beat Linfield in the 1st round by one goal. And it;s common sense that Linfield will be much more match sharp now than they were then.

I reckon Shels are also a better team now than they were a few weeks ago tbh, they gave Linfield a lot of opportunities, the tie shouldn't have been as tight as the scoreline suggested. I think they'll have learned a lot from it. Theere have of course also been some signings to bring depth and new options.

They've played a string of extremely difficult games in a challenging schedule. Maybe fatigue would get to them if they didn't have next weekend off, there's no gimmies, but this is about as confident I've been about a LOI club in a playoff since Dundalk v KI. I think the tough games Shels have faced will have sharpened them up, Linfield have not had much to conquer. Both sides will be nervy, and that is the biggest wildcard imo.

[total hoofball]

In their match last week Linfield looked alot sharper upfront than in any of the two games against Shels but they still looked susceptible in defence/defensive midfield which will be night & day between what we were up against facing Qarabag and Rijeka defences

Pretty much like the first tie Shels best opportunity to make life easy for ourselves is to wound Linfield at Tolka with 2 or 3 goal win which should have been done at Tolka 6 weeks ago, that 1-0 lead left a squeaky bum night at Windsor in the 2nd leg until their sending off. If we go up to Windsor without any lead or a goal down I won't panic about it

[pineapple stu]

I think Shels have been playing quite well in Europe this season, and no IL side has ever won a game against an LoI side (though they have won a match, as pointed out earlier)

You do fear a bit of regression to mean in that case and a Linfield win. Wouldn't be as confident as outspoken, but generally think his analysis is spot on

Not sure what to expect from Rovers. There's a definite drop-off in the Portuguese league beyond the big guns, but there's way more money there than here too.

[LTFC]

Bodo Glimt won 5 0 tonight against Strum Graz of Austria, almost certainly into Champions league. Some football club.

[sbgawa]

I reckon we will do well to get out with a 1 or 2 nil loss tommorw, looking at Santa Claras results against Benfica, Porto , Sporting lasat season its 1 goal in it stuff and they beat Sporting, IF we were playing any of those teams we would expect to lose comprehensivly. Thats not me trying to lower the bar its just facts and results. Hopefully we can keep it alive but i think we have reached the end of the road.

[nigel-harps1954]

I reckon we will do well to get out with a 1 or 2 nil loss tommorw, looking at Santa Claras results against Benfica, Porto , Sporting lasat season its 1 goal in it stuff and they beat Sporting, IF we were playing any of those teams we would expect to lose comprehensivly. Thats not me trying to lower the bar its just facts and results. Hopefully we can keep it alive but i think we have reached the end of the road.

Scraped through against Croatian opposition, drew 0-0 at home with Larne, and they've lost two out of two in the league without scoring a goal. There's probably never been better time to be facing Portguese opposition in Europe really.

[sbgawa]

Fair point but the Larne tie was over after they won 3 nil in Belfast, we drew nil nil with St Josephs after winning 4 nil away for comparison.
Im hopeful but not optimistic , i just hope we are still in it for the home leg

[Acornvilla]

I think Shels have been playing quite well in Europe this season, and no IL side has ever won a game against an LoI side (though they have won a match, as pointed out earlier)

You do fear a bit of regression to mean in that case and a Linfield win. Wouldn't be as confident as outspoken, but generally think his analysis is spot on

Not sure what to expect from Rovers. There's a definite drop-off in the Portuguese league beyond the big guns, but there's way more money there than here too.

You think all Longford fans look the same?

[pineapple stu]

Oops!

It's the avatar, sorry!

[pineapple stu]

Bodo Glimt won 5 0 tonight against Strum Graz of Austria, almost certainly into Champions league. Some football club.

It's amazing what they've done with only one non-Scandi player (a Russian) and a ground that looks straight out of the 70s in lower league England (albeit with seats added), and in a town of 40k people