36 matches today - first qualifying round is over
By: Ian Rose | August 2nd, 2007Ahhh … the marathon days of the early rounds. There were 36 matches today, as the first qualifying round of the UEFA Cup wrapped up. Rather than report on all 36, which I don’t want to do, and I imagine you don’t want to read, here are some of the top stories from the tournament’s first real test.
Zlaté Moravce: undefeated in Europe
In their first-ever European tie, Slovakia’s Zlaté Moravce have managed a win, 4-2 on aggregate over Kazakhstan’s FC Alma-Ata. Only founded in 1995, the team has never qualified for Europe before, and now takes their undefeated record to the second qualifying round.
That’s a paddlin’
The whooping of the week award goes to SK Brann of Norway, who beat up on Wales’ Carmarthan Town for an aggregate of 14-3. The result could have been significantly worse though - the first leg, in Wales was 8-0 to Brann.
First leagues eliminated
Now that we’ve completed a round of both the Champions League and the UEFA Cup, the first leagues and national associations have been eliminated from Europe for the season. It was a rough round for the North Sea sides, as Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Faroe Islands are headed home without a single advancing side in either tournament. Andorra, Azerbaijan, Lichtenstein, Malta and San Marino also have no teams left in European competition.
Surprising survivors
While the above leagues have missed their chance at rising in the UEFA coefficients this season, some super-minnows are doing quite well. Luxembourg, Montenegro and Kazakhstan, all in the bottom 10 of the UEFA rankings, still have teams alive after the first knock-out rounds.
Two with Four
Not one but two leagues have maximized their chances of surviving into the later stages of the Cup, as both Austria and Sweden will have four sides each in the second qualifying round.
As I get more information on a lot of these matches, including video footage that I’m sure the First Cypriot Division will eventually sue YouTube over, I’ll pass it along.
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Comments
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Disappointing to see Alma-Ata go down but you have to feel good for the kids from Luxembourg unless you hate Luxembourg. Does anyone hate Luxembourg?
Posted from
United States
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I’m no expert on the Norwegian or Welsh leagues, but it seems odd that it would be those two that produced the most lopsided tie.
Posted from
Canada -
Yeah the Brann-Carmarthen scoreline surprised me a little too, but Brann is a pretty experienced side and one of the best in Norway, which is a significantly stronger league than Wales, so I’d expect them to win, but not like that. It might be that Brann has something to show us this season deeper into the tournament — they DO turn 100 years old as a club in 2008 …
Posted from
United States -
Hey Ian!! Great blog….I liked the minnows posts a lot!!
Posted from
India
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