UEFA Cup Opponents 2006-2007

Bericht door **Kowalczyk** » di okt 03, 2006 7:45 pm

Flights to Prague are booked! Yay!

:eusa_dance: :eusa_dance:

K.

AsgAarD_xxx · Bericht door **AsgAarD_xxx** » di okt 03, 2006 10:45 pm

I think it is very good group for Ajax. We shouldn't have any problem with advance to the next round. Austria Vienna is in big crisis - they've lost almost whole first team in last transfer window and now they are on the bottom of the table. Sparta Prague is worse than 2-3 years ago, so it won't be a problem to beat them.
The hardest rival will be Espanyol. They are not the team from the european top, but they have solid team from very good league... Anyway - I beliebe that we will advance in the worst case from the 2nd place.

Bericht door **Kowalczyk** » di okt 03, 2006 10:54 pm

I'm also quite pleased with the way the away games worked out. I they'd offered me the chance to choose, I think I would have said: let's have Austria Vienna and Espanyol at home - and Sparta Prague and Zulte Waregem away.

K.

carcajou · Bericht door **carcajou** » wo okt 04, 2006 10:19 am

Kowalczyk schreef:I'm also quite pleased with the way the away games worked out. I they'd offered me the chance to choose, I think I would have said: let's have Austria Vienna and Espanyol at home - and Sparta Prague and Zulte Waregem away.

K.

So Mr "Hardcore" will get to see Prague after all..... ;)

Bericht door **Kowalczyk** » za okt 21, 2006 1:58 pm

Matchday 1 results...

Austria Vienna - Zulte Waregem 1-4
Sparta Prague - Espanyol 0-2

Table, for what it's worth...

1. Zulte Waregem: 1-3 (4-1)
2. Espanyol: 1-3 (2-0)
3. Ajax: 0-0 (0-0)
4. Sparta Prague: 1-0 (0-2)
5. Austria Vienna: 1-0 (1-4)

We didn't even play a game yet, and we're already third, which would be good enough to advance! :D ;)

K.

Dubbel · Bericht door **Dubbel** » di okt 24, 2006 6:38 am

New coach for Austria Wien

Zellhofer takes on Austria 'challenge'
Georg Zellhofer said he was "looking forward to the challenge" after being named coach of Austrian double winners FK Austria Wien. "Austria is one of the leading names in Austrian football and so it is an honour for me to become coach," Zellhofer said.

Bottom side
Zellhofer replaced Frenkie Schinkels on Monday with Austria having slipped to the bottom of the table after 13 matches. "Georg Zellhofer is an expert who has proved during his time at SV Pasching that he can develop teams and make them successful," general manager Thomas Parits said. "He is good at integrating young players and it was important for us to find an Austrian coach who knows the league and is familiar with its players."

Amsterdam mission
Zellhofer was at Pasching from the summer of 2004 until November 2005 before spending a nine-month spell at SK Rapid Wien this year. One of the 46-year-old's first tasks will be to mastermind the defeat of AFC Ajax in the UEFA Cup on 2 November to win back back the points lost in the 4-1 home defeat by SV Zulte Waregem in Group F last week.

www.uefa.com

Bericht door **Kowalczyk** » di okt 24, 2006 8:12 am

It becomes clearer and clearer how fortunate we've been in the draw. Almost all of our opponents are having a crap season so far.

Austria Vienna are bottom in Austria, Zulte Waregem are 16th (of 18 teams) in Belgium and Espanyol are 16th (of 20 teams) in Spain.

Only Sparta Prague have improved after a pretty poor start: they are third in the Czech Republic now, four points after leaders Slovan Liberec. For Sparta, however, a third spot is nothing to be satisfied with. You could compare it to Ajax being third in Holland: it's not where they're supposed to be.

We're not only the top seed in this group, but also the only team to do really well in the domestic league.

K.

Bericht door **Kowalczyk** » di nov 07, 2006 12:30 am

Re-posting...

philippe schreef:Nothing from the Austria game on tv here, but the entire game with Sparta Praha beat up in Belgium (Waregem). It has to be said that both sides looked terrible. Sparta seem even worse than last season. :D

K.

Bericht door **Kowalczyk** » wo dec 06, 2006 2:21 am

If we beat Zulte Waregem we finish second in our UEFA Cup group. In that case we will play a Champions League cast-off in the next round...

For your information: four out of eight Champions League groups are now done and the four numbers three are...

Werder Bremen
Spartak Moscow
Shakhtar Donetsk
Girondins Bordeaux

K.

FlaFlu · Bericht door **FlaFlu** » wo dec 06, 2006 2:51 am

I wouldn't mind playing Spartak Moscow or Bordeaux, really. There are tougher teams already in the UEFA Cup.

Venezuelan Ajacied · Bericht door **Venezuelan Ajacied** » wo dec 06, 2006 5:39 am

Kowalczyk schreef:If we beat Zulte Waregem we finish second in our UEFA Cup group. In that case we will play a Champions League cast-off in the next round...

For your information: four out of eight Champions League groups are now done and the four numbers three are...

Werder Bremen
Spartak Moscow
Shakhtar Donetsk
Girondins Bordeaux

K.

Wait a second so if we finish third we will face a first seed from the uefa cup ??.

Their are still some big teams like Arsenal and Man U who could crash out tomorrow....in that case i would rather end up in third place.

FlaFlu · Bericht door **FlaFlu** » wo dec 06, 2006 12:11 pm

We can't. Ajax can not lose against bloody Zulte Waregem. It would be one of the most shameful performances ever.

Bericht door **Kowalczyk** » wo dec 06, 2006 12:17 pm

Yeah, that's a bit of a dilemma. Purely 'technically' I would rather finish third. I'd rather play a UEFA Cup group winner than a CL drop-out.

But Thomas is right: that means we'd have to lose in Belgium and that would be a complete and utter disgrace. They're Belgium's equivalent of RKC Waalwijk (tiny town, almost bottom on the table), which means they're probably even weaker than RKC Waalwijk.

We have to win. The damage to our reputation would be too big if we don't.

K.

FlaFlu · Bericht door **FlaFlu** » wo dec 06, 2006 12:23 pm

Besides, Ko, Ajax could draw sides like Lille, AEK, Spartak Moscow and Bordeaux. I wouldn't call those teams easy opponents, but if you want to get far in the UEFA Cup you'll have to at least beat thems with those capacities.

My guess is that these will be the CL-teams in the UEFA Cup draw:

Shakhtar Donetsk
Girondins Bordeaux
AEK Athens
Spartak Moscow
CSKA Moscow
Werder Bremen
Benfica
Steaua Bucaresti

GangstaRiB · Bericht door **GangstaRiB** » wo dec 06, 2006 12:32 pm

Well. at the beginning of the season we wanted to play CL, now we get the chance to play on the same level as CL. A good learning lesson.

If we have to play Werder, we will be crushed.

Against the other team we have a fair chance....

Dubbel · Bericht door **Dubbel** » wo dec 06, 2006 6:35 pm

Difference in quality between a CL loser and a UC group winner is not that big so lets beat Waregem and add points to our UEFA total to avoid going into 'jar 3' for next year's tournament.

Venezuelan Ajacied · Bericht door **Venezuelan Ajacied** » do dec 07, 2006 12:26 am

If we win in Belgium we will have too face one of these teams:

Werder Bremen
CSKA Moscow
Benfica
Bordeaux
Shaktar Donestk
Spartak Moscow
AEK Athens
Steaua Bucharest

I would go with AEK Athens or Steaua :yes:

Bericht door **Kowalczyk** » do dec 07, 2006 1:12 am

Bordeaux or Bremen would be the easiest ones 'travel-wise'.

Benfica would be pretty cool (Lisbon's great).

But my good mate Pizza 5 and I would quite fancy a trip to Moscow and guess what: if we beat Zulu Warehouse and finish second, there is actually a 25% chance!

Would be awesome, getting pissed up on vodka in the Red Square. :yes:

K.

666 · Bericht door **666** » do dec 07, 2006 3:57 am

Next round is in february. Not a good time for a trip east. Frozen pitch, horrible football, high risk of injuries.

Second place means a 3:8 risk of a game on the icy fields of Spartak, CSKA, or Shaktar Donetsk. And I wouldn't mind avoiding Bremen, Steaua and Bordeaux in the first knockout round.
There's only a modest (2:8) chance of a game in Athens or Lisbon.

Third place could give us Parma or Sevilla (except if AZ...), or Dinamo Bucharest instead of Steaua. But we could also draw Rangers, Spurs, Nancy (if they still allow dutch people into their city), Blackburn Rovers, or Panathinaikos.

The odds of a cold february game in eastern europe:
- 2nd: 4:8 (romania, ukrain, 2x russia),
- 3rd: 1:7.

The odds of drawing an attractive opponent:
- 2nd: 2:8,
- 3rd: 4:7.

Wouldn't surprise me if the boys from Waregem aim for third as well to avoid a winter trip to the frozen east, so maybe we should send our defenders forward to stop the belgians from kicking the ball into their own goal...

I'll settle for a draw in belgium and a game against Nancy or Blackburn Rovers.

AsgAarD_xxx · Bericht door **AsgAarD_xxx** » do dec 07, 2006 10:40 am

Kowalczyk schreef: But my good mate Pizza 5 and I would quite fancy a trip to Moscow and guess what: if we beat Zulu Warehouse and finish second, there is actually a 25% chance!

Would be awesome, getting pissed up on vodka in the Red Square. :yes:

K.

Hehe and I'll have a chance to meet a few of Ajax-USA members, if you would go to Moscow through Warsaw ;) .

But it will be better for Ajax to draw Steaua, the easiest rival from this pool.

GangstaRiB · Bericht door **GangstaRiB** » do dec 07, 2006 10:54 am

CSKA Moscow has artificial turf nowadays.

I watched a few CL games the last two days and I have to say that it exceeds, by far, the Uefa Cup level. And even in the Uefa Cup, Ajax is having enough troubles already...

666 · Bericht door **666** » do dec 07, 2006 7:54 pm

Another reason to stay away from there!

GangstaRiB schreef:CSKA Moscow has artificial turf nowadays

Bericht door **raymon** » do dec 07, 2006 7:59 pm

One advantage is that those Russian players are like glow-in-the-dark figures these days.

Bericht door **Kowalczyk** » do dec 14, 2006 4:50 pm

Right, so a Champions League cast-off it is. The draw is tomorrow at 13:00 CET and the eight teams in the bowl for us will be:

CSKA Moscow
Spartak Moscow
Girondins Bordeaux
Shakhtar Donetsk
AEK Athens
Werder Bremen
Steaua Bucharest
SL Benfica

Which means: a chance of only 25% that the away game will be a 'driveable' one (Bordeaux or Bremen) and a 50% chance of an opponent from the former 'Eastern Bloc' (which means long trips and bloody cold in February).

I wouldn't mind Steaua Bucharest or one of the Moscow sides, to be honest. I'll definitely look into the options if we get one of those. If we get Benfica I have free accomodation in Lisbon...

Don't really fancy Bordeaux and Athens, for some reason. I reckon we can do AEK, but Bordeaux will probably f*ck us up quite seriously.

K.

Bericht door **Kowalczyk** » vr dec 15, 2006 1:16 pm

Right then.

It's Werder Bremen. First game in Germany!

Very 'driveable'.

K.