Great day in the UEFA Cup

Some excellent matches today, with everything you could want from a day of European football. Comebacks, underdog wins, a few dominating performances and a few gutsy draws. Let’s take a look at a few matches.

Zenit St. Petersburg 2-2 Nurnberg
The Germans gained the first point in the most unlikely of their four matches - away in Russia. The Russian sides haven’t made their homes nearly the fortresses I expected in this UEFA Cup. Still, this point should be enough to secure qualification for Zenit, who will likely join Everton and AZ in the next round.

Locomotiv Moscow 0-1 Copenhagen
Ditto. This is the shocker of the round, as far as I’m concerned. Copenhagen showed their mettle in a tight 1-0 loss to Panathinaikos last matchday, but I never thought they’d be able to up the ante and win by the same margin in Moscow. They still aren’t assured of qualifying, but they have to look like the favorites over struggling Aberdeen.

Elfsborg 1-3 Mlada Boleslav
First, Rosenborg gets slaughtered yesterday, and now little Elfsborg takes it on the chin at home as well. So much for the double home field advantage for cold-climate teams. The Swedes started out well with an opening goal, but when they missed a penalty just before the half, things started to turn, and three goals in 23 minutes for the Czechs turned a nice home stand into an away rout.

Tottenham 3-2 Aalborg
I have to admit my mistake - I really didn’t think Spurs had it in them. Down 2-0 to Aalborg at the half, it looked like my dire predictions for their UEFA Cup were right on, but the second half was all Hotspur. Goals from Berbatov, Bent and Malbranque were enough for a great comeback win at White Hart Lane, and should be enough to move them on to the Round of 32. Great work, Spurs.

Getafe 1-2 Hapoel Tel Aviv
A-Whaaa? The Israelis took three totally unexpected points, and did it at the best possible time. Their one remaining group match is against basement side Aalborg, though this might be the one group where 6 points isn’t enough to get you through. We’ll see.

Panionios 0-3 Galatasaray
Finally, the sort of performance I expect from the team at the top of the Turkish tables. That’s a lot of T’s … oh well. This kind of visit will do nothing to draw down Greek-Turkish rivalries. It’s good to see Galatasaray back on track, and a final win over Austria Vienna should be enough to take them through, though Panionios may still shock them. Austria Vienna looks like the whipping boy of this group, with their 3-0 loss to Helsingborg today, making Helsingborg the first team to win definite qualification. At least someone in Scandinavia can win at home.

So far, all we know for sure of the Round of 32 is that Henrik Larsson and Helsingborg will be there from Group H, that Sporting and Slavia Prague will be there from the Champions League, and that Larisa and Toulouse won’t be there at all. They are the only two teams statistically eliminated from the competition. Other than that, it’s still anybody’s cup. Mostly Bayern Munich’s, but technically anybody’s.

Category: UEFA Cup

Tags: Group Stage, Match reviews, Zenit St. Petersburg, Nurnberg, Locomotiv Moscow, Copenhagen, Elfsborg, Mlada Boleslav, Tottenham, Aalborg, Getafe, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Panionios, Galatasaray, Helsingborg, Henrik Larsson, Larisa, Toulouse, UEFA Cup, Tag Index

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