UEFA Cup Group C Preview

By: Ian Rose | October 11th, 2007

This is the third in an eight part … blah blah blah, get to the predictions.

Group C is, in order of seeding:
Villareal (Spain), AEK Athens (Greece), Fiorentina (Italy), Mladá Boleslav (Czech Republic), and Elfsborg (Sweden).

The matches:
Elfsborg v. AEK Athens, 25 October
It’s going to be a long few months for Elfsborg in this group, and I think it will start here with an away win for AEK.

Villareal v. Fiorentina, 25 October
An interesting one. Fiorentina is holding all the marbles for Italy in this competition, and I see them starting strong with a draw in Spain.

Fiorentina v. Elfsborg, 8 November
Pretty comfortable home win for the Italians.

Mladá Boleslav v. Villareal, 8 November
This is a glamour game for the relatively unknown Czech side, and I see a dramatic draw for them.

AEK Athens v. Fiorentina, 29 November
The Olympic Stadium is not an easy place to come and play, and I like the Greeks for a home win.

Elfsborg v. Mladá Boleslav, 29 November
This is Elfsborg’s best chance for points. Home win for the Swedes.

Mladá Boleslav v. AEK Athens, 5 December
Boleslav might be able to get away with one home stand, but not two. Away win.

Villareal v. Elfsborg, 5 December
Not much of a contest on paper, especially in Spain. Home win.

AEK Athens v. Villareal, 20 December
Should be an interesting one, with both wanting to seal up qualification. Slim away win for Villareal.

Fiorentina v. Mladá Boleslav, 20 December
No Christmas presents from the Italians. Home win.

In the unlikely event that these matches all fall as predicted, here is the final table for the group, with advancing teams in bold:

AEK Athens (9 points)
Villareal (8 points)
Fiorentina (7 points)
Elfsborg (3 points)
Mladá Boleslav (1 point)

Fiorentina got a really rough draw on the fixtures, playing away at both of the other top teams, which is why I can see them finishing third. Remember, as long as you’re in the top three, the order really doesn’t matter much. Of course, everybody wants to win in Europe, but more important is to survive in Europe, and I can’t see either of the bottom two seeds in this group making that too difficult on the top three. So far, I’ve been tending to pick the one seeds to finish in second or third and the five seeds to beat the fours … just coincidence I think, although there are a few four seeds coming up later that will definitely shake things up a bit. Stay tuned.