Goodbye FC Copenhagen

In Denmark there has been a lot of talk today of the match between FC Copenhagen and Apoel Nicosia, where the team from Cyprus won 3-1 and qualified for the Champions League, while the (too) ambitious Danish champions were out. This seemed to be a big surprise for FC Copenhagen, who nevertheless have a strong tradition of underestimating opponents when these come from apparently smaller countries than Denmark.
While I do believe that FC Copenhagen totally overestimate themselves, the match showed that while we need to have at least one poor side in the CL this season, it should be the one side who wants it the most. And it was obvious that the team that really had the strongest desire to be in the Champions League, was Apoel Nicosia.

Champions League 2009-10 Qualifiers

Panathinaikos and Atlético Madrid played a marvelous 1st leg qualifying match for the Champions League, which was a great preview for the CL. In Athens, Atlético Madrid showed its attacking force and with goals by Maxi Rodriguez, Diego Forlán and Sergio "Kun"Agüero, won a very useful 3-2 against a Panathinaikos side that will surely be a qualitative asset in the Europa League (or of course, in the CL if the manage to get a highly improbable two-goal victory in Madrid!).

After watching such quality from these two teams, any football fan would have to wonder why in the world either Atlético Madrid or Panathinaikos have to be out, when either FC Copenhagen or Apoel Nicosia will be there... In their dead-boring 1st leg match FC Copenhagen won 1-0 at home, and I think anyone should only watch the 2nd leg match if they have sleeping problems.

Not many people have been noticing that after Real Madrid and Manchester City, Olympique Lyon have been the team most investing in new players this summer, after losing some of their former stars, Juninho and Benzema. And some of these new players showed that Olympique Lyon is again a team to count on this season: Lisandro Lopez, Miralem Pjanic and Bafe Gomis all scored in Lyon's 5-1 victory against Anderlecht. It will surely be interesting to watch the French team this season!

Arsenal won an important 0-2 away victory against Celtic in Glasgow, and the youngsters will again be facing a season in the CL, where they can surely defeat anyone on a good day.

Sporting Lissabon and Fiorentina tied 2-2 in Lissabon, in a match where the Portuguese were left with ten men after Simon Vukcevic was red carded because he took his shirt off when celebrating his equalizing goal to 1-1. Still, Sporting managed to go ahead, before Gilardino equalized to 2-2 for Fiorentina, giving them a good result before the 2nd leg in Italy.

Otherwise, a number of other teams seem well on their way to the Champions League after important away victories in their 1st leg qualifiers: VFB Stuttgart (defeated Poli AEK Timisoara 0-2), FC Zurich (defeated Ventspils 0-3), Debrecen (defeated Levski Sofia 1-2) and Maccabi Haifa (defeated Red Bull Salzburg 1-2).

The Champions League is underway, and after a summer without football and watching a great match tonight, I cannot wait for it to start!

Standard Liege-Liverpool

I rather enjoyed last night's spirited fight between Standard Liege and Liverpool in the Champions League qualifier. Although it ended 0-0, it was a good match - one where both teams knew that the promised land of the Champions League would not come by itself.
Standard Liege, in front of a great crowd in the Belgian city, has every reason to be disappointed: missed penalties and some huge chances were not used, and that will make it very difficult when they face the reds in Liverpool.

It is a pity that one of these teams has to be out of the Champions League already; they would both be great!

The funeral in Aalborg

Last night the Danish champions Aalborg Boldklub (AaB) took a big step towards qualifying to the Champions League by defeating FBK Kaunas 2-0 in Aalborg. AaB has played in the Champions League once before, but back then qualified because Dynamo Kiev was suspended because of a bribery scandal.
Now, they have the chance of qualifying for the first time, and become the first Danish team to have played in the Champions League twice. This is very important, to say the least, but could you see it on the spectators...?
They were playing at home, on such an important match, but the little stadium wasn't full. And as the match progressed, support was only available from some 20 fans. In fact, this looked much more like a funeral than then home-team winning a qualifier for the Champions League.
I guess AaB fans are poor supporters, and boring fans, but it will be a pity for Champions League to have big teams go play in Aalborg and there being barely any atmosphere at the stadium! If that would be the case, I'd prefer Kaunas.
Get yourselves together AaB fans!

Champions League qualification

We now know the first teams that will be playing the Champions League for the 2005-2006 season:

• Liverpool: Although a rather pathetic home loss to CSKA Sofia, the defending champs will be there to defend their title.
• Betis: 2-2 against Monaco, with two goals by Ricardo Oliveira, was enough to give the Andalucians their first stint ever in the Champions League.
• Rosenborg: A hard fought victory away against Steua Bucharest and the Norwegians are yet again in the Champions League.
• Artmedia: Another surprise from the Slovakians, who will be interesting to see in the Champions League.
• Thun: The Swiss surprise trashed Swedish Malmo 3-0, to get their spot in the Champions League. They will be interesting to watch!
• Panathinaikos: The Greek side did well to get back from 1-3 down against Wisla Krakow.
• Rapid Vienna defeated Lokomotiv Moscow 1-0, and after 1-1 in the first match, are surprisingly in the Champions League.
• Udinese will be playing their first Champions League ever, after defeating Sporting Lisbon 3-2.

Quite a few surprises! It is good for the champions League to see so many new exciting teams. I hope to see more surprises tonight…

Brøndby-Ajax Amsterdam 2-2

What a damned pity!!! Firstly, I could not watch the match (no where to in Accra).

Secondly, after reading about the match, I can see it a bit as a frustrating result. Although Brøndby equalized only in the dying minutes of the match, they were playing much better than Ajax Amsterdam. The Dutch team showed the difference between efficiency and beauty in football.

For the Dutch, the result must be great: they stand to take it all away at home. The game will surely be very difficult for Brøndby. I am trying to be optimistic, but have a hard time being it. I guess on the optimistic side, I can say that Brøndby is fully at the level of Ajax Amsterdam. That should give them a chance for an upset in the Dutch capital. And it has been done before!

Champions League qualifying fixtures

Next week, on August 9th and 10th, we will be witnessing many battles across Europe, to decide which teams will be joining this season's prestigious Champions League. The fixtures will be the following (with my predictions):

• Manchester United-Debrecen: Manchester United should prevail against the Hungarians
• Wisla Cracow-Panathinaikos: The Greek side certainly has the experience and players to win, but Wisla should not be underestimated.
• Vålerenga-Club Brugge: I have little knowledge of Våleranga, and I expect the seasoned Belgians to continue to the next round.
• Everton-Villarreal: This is one of the most interesting matches, with two ambitious and well-playing teams. It will be a pity to see Everton out, but I expect the well-playing Spaniards to win.
• Glasgow Rangers-Anorthosis: It is already somewhat a sensation to see the Cypriot side in this stage after they defeated Tranbzonspor. They will surely fight for their chance, but Rangers should prevail and qualify to the Champions League.
• Malmø-Thun: Two teams from minor leagues, makes it hard to predict. While the Swedes had trouble winning over Haifa Tel Aviv, the Swiss defeated the giants of Dinamo Kijev. Therefore, I would put my money on Thun.
• Betis-Monaco: Betis has a very strong and entertaining team. So has Monaco, so this will be a great clash. Monaco has experienced many changes in the team since their excellent performance in the 2003-04 season. I think Betis will fight well and get the spot.
• Brøndby-Ajax Amsterdam: I will put my bet with the heart; Brøndby will win, although it will be a hard match against the legendary Dutch side.
• Rosenborg-Steua Bucharest: Neither side is at its former strength, but they both have good traditions in European tournaments. At the moment, Rosenborg is looking the weaker though, and the Romanians will win.
• Sporting Lisbon-Udinese: A Southern European clash. Sporting Lisbon disappointingly lost last season's UEFA Cup final, and should be very motivated to go to the Champions League.
• Anderlecht-Slavia Prague: An interesting encounter. Anderlecht is my favourite.
• Basel-Werder Bremen: Basel has done well in the Champions League before, and will not make it easy for the Germans. However, I believe the Germans will pull out a victory, and they will surely be as hard to defeat for any team as last season.
• Partizan Belgrade-Artmedia: Artmedia is in this round after trashing Celtic 5-0. However, they showed weakness losing the second leg 4-0, and I believe the strong Yugoslav side must have studied them. I believe we will see Partizan in the Champions League.
• Rapid Vienna-Lokomotiv Moscow: We have been seeing good results from Russian teams the last couple of seasons, and I believe Lokomotiv will be making life hard for other teams in the Champions League.
• Shakhtar Donetsk-Inter: Sometimes Italian sides underestimate their opponent. Inter could surely do it, but I expect they will win a typical narrow victory.
• Liverpool-CSKA Sofia: Everybody will want to beat the defending champions. So will the Bulgarians, and the game will be a difficult one for Liverpool. However, with the tactical genius of Benitez, and the cunning of Stephen Gerrard, Liverpool will prevail to defend their title.

The great games are here! No more waiting! Let us have some beers and watch some football!

Brøndby in the CL 3rd qualifying round draw

It has been six years ago since I watched Brøndby play in their only Champions League ever in the 1998-99 season. How much I would like to see them there again!

After defeating Dynamo Tbilisi 0-2 in Georgia, Brøndby is only one step away from participating in the draw for the 3rd Qualifying round for the Champions League season 2005-06. However, it will not be easy. As an un-seeded team, the Danish Champions will be up against one of the following teams:

• Manchester United
• Panathinaikos
• Inter Milan
• Villarreal
• Rosenborg
• Sporting
• Monaco
• Glasgow Rangers
• Club Brugge
• Ajax Amsterdam
• Werder Bremen
• Celtic or FC Artmedia Bratislava
• Liverpool or FBK Kaunas
• Anderlecht or Netchi Baku
• Dynamo Kiev or FC Thun
• Lokomotiv Moscow or Rabotnicki

It certainly does not look easy at all, although I believe (as an optimistic fan...) that Brøndby could possibly defeat the following teams on a good day: Rosenborg, Glasgow Rangers, Anderlecht, Club Brugge. Also, although Artmedia Bratislava is unknown and has defeated Celtic 5-0, they would not seem as a scary opponent to the Danes.

However, most teams are very difficult indeed, and thus, for a team like Brøndby, a lucky draw can be a giant leap towards the Champions League.

Champions League 05-06: First qualifying round

First round of the qualification for the Champions League 2005-2006 has just ended. I must admit, that most teams at this stage are barely known to me, and so much less the leagues they come from. But a couple of things are worth observing:
- The defending champions of Liverpool have started the campaign to defend their title, with an unsurprising but sure victory against Llansantffraid from Wales (what a name for a club! What do you call their followers?).
- Dudelange, from Luxembourg, made Luxembourg football history: defeating Zrinjski from Bosnia, they are the first team ever from Luxembourg to go to the next round of a European tournament.

There are two more qualifying rounds to go, and the tournament will start for real!