Indeed. Two games, two one-goal losses. I did not expect Braga to beat ManU, but when they were up two goals, I started to hope. After that start, the 3-2 loss felt pretty rough. And I certainly expected Benfica to do better in Moscow than losing 2-1, especially after Celtic beat Spartak out there. Now we're in real trouble, and need to get full points against Celtic and Spartak in our home games against them, and maybe hope that Barca will stumble and give Benfica an opening at the Nou Camp. Still hope but one point after three games is not a good place to be in. The saving grace is that Barca came back to beat Celtic. We need them to win against Celtic again and to beat Spartak so we have a shot at qualification. Based on yesterday's feeble outcomes, Portugal is now 7th overall in Europe. Still plenty of time though.
It looks possible given wins against Celtic and Spartak are doable, however, like you say, a wrong result between Celtic-Spartak or in their games at Barcelona would possibly ruin everything. Europa League wouldn't be too bad, given that at this point nothing is guaranteed (although I'm sure many Benfica fans wouldn't settle for that just yet).
Solid result from Porto today, 3-2 win at home to Dynamo Kyiv. 9 points makes qualification from the group look pretty likely, though PSG is looking great too so the key will be to make sure Porto tops the group.
I get why the call it the theatre of dreams now. I wasn't expecting a win even 1-0 up, however at 2-0 I thought we had an amazing chance to make some history. Oh well, the over all performance at Old Trafford showed we have the quality to advance. Its going to come down to us beating Gala at home and Cluj away and hopefully United doesn't mail it in their last 2 games because they are coming to Braga to advance and rest players for the final 2.
I can't believe how bad Sporting is right now. Maritimo shows they can compete but they need to start winning. Academica will be lucky to finish the group with 4 points.
So, weak Europa League day (two losses and one draw) last week caps an unimpressive week overall, with only one win against a draw and four losses. Ouch. The upshot is that we're tied with Russia for 7th overall, but still well within striking distance of other teams. But we'll only close that distance if we actually start performing in Europe, because with the exception of Porto, it's been a pretty unimpressive season so far. Here's a mid-group stage update: Champions League Porto: The only impressive team so far, having won all three of their group stage games, including a solid home victory against a much improved PSG. They're very likely to qualify, needing only to draw Dynamo Kyiv away (not a done deal) to seal a place in the next round. But I'd like to see them top the group and get max points, for obvious reasons. No easy tasks with the next two games being away at Dynamo and PSG. Benfica: Bringing up the rear of the group with only 1 point from three games. Qualification is in real jeopardy, with Celtic having beaten Spartak Moscow away (who Benfica just lost to). Basically, Benfica needs to get max points from Spartak at home to remain in the conversation for qualification, and to assure that they will also have at least a shot at the Europa League. Braga: After a putrid start, losing 0-2 at home to Cluj, they've crawled back into 3d with three points, and really should have done better to protect a shocking 2-0 lead away to Man United. Second in the group is still a realistic opportunity, though Cluj has shown they're no joke, and Braga still has to play them in Romania. Europa League Sporting: Easily the most surprising and embarrassing results so far. Sporting's last in the group, behind Genk, Videoton of Hungary, and Basel. They've earned a grand total of one point so far, from a home draw, 0-0, to Basel. Only good news: They have two of three games at the Alvalade in the back half of the group. But they have five points to make up if they want to qualify for the next round, and at this stage they basically have to win out to get that far. Maritimo: Last in a challenging group, though they've toughed out two hard-earned points with home draws in Madeira. They could still qualify, though with two of three games being away, it's not clear where the points will come from. They'll have to beat Bruges at home for sure and hope for away points at Bordeaux and Newcastle. That's a tall order. Academica: Congrats to the only Portuguese team not in last place in their Europa League group! Thanks to goal difference, Academica is third, though only on one point. Their home draw against Hapoel does not exactly inspire confidence, but they might be able to qualify if they can get full points from Plzen at home and maybe pull off a surprise in Israel. And to their credit, they played Atletico pretty tough, losing only 2-1 in Madrid. Summary In sum, here's what we have: one team in first place, two in third, and three in last. No team is yet eliminated, but some are close to the line. Day 4 will be key, and if we can get some results then, there will be hope. But some of these teams--Sporting and Benfica especially--are going to have to start playing to their potential for that to happen.
Not bad in the Champions League this week. Porto's away draw to Dynamo Kyiv all but secures qualification, though the real action is who will end up first in the group. If FCP beats Dinamo Zagreb at home (which they should) and can just draw PSG away, they'll win the group guaranteed. Benfica finally got a freaking win, authoritatively 2-0 over Spartak but with Celtic's shock win in Scotland over Barca, the scenarios for Benfica advancing are very remote. Basically they need to win out, beating Celtic in Portugal and Barca in Spain. Possible but a tall order. But the good news is they're in third now so at least let's hope they secure a Europa League spot. Braga. Ouch. What's worse, losing an early two-goal lead to ManU away or a very late 1-0 lead to ManU at home? Either way, you get zero points. But while Braga is in last for now, on three points, they can still qualify with good results against Cluj and Galatasaray. Basically it's a race for second. And let's hope ManU does us a damn favor by shutting those two sides out of points in their remaining games. What really surprised me though was that after this week's CL games Portugal has jumped to 4th in Europe on 6.416 points. Imagine how well they'd be doing with even better results. Well at this stage results in the Europa League count the same, so let's hope Portugal racks up some more points with their three games later on today.
Europa League Matchday 4, best to worst: Academica Coimbra 2-0 Atletico Madrid. Not a typo folks, Academica pulled off easily the biggest upset of the Euro season so far and in so doing created a plausible story of qualification: If they win out against Plzen and Tel Aviv, and Atletico beats Plzen (again), they qualify. Longshot but if today could happen, so could that. Bordeaux 1-0 Maritimo. Another em-effing "moral victory" for Maritimo, whose two points on four games don't really reflect the quality of their play and how close these results have been. If they get six points in their next two games, they could qualify, but playing at Newcastle and hosting Bruges, chances are looking slim. Sporting 1-1 Genk. Just when you thought Sporting was going to break out and get all three points, putting their chance of qualification back on track, they surrender an injury time goal to give Genk a draw and retain their stranglehold on last damn place in their group. Again, with two wins qualification remains possible but I'm starting to get the feeling that this just ain't Sporting's year. Would love to be wrong about that one. What does this mean in the UEFA standings? We gained some points but slipped overall, now fifth tied with France on 6.916 points. This was a better week than the previous one--2 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses--but nothing to write home about. It also made me think realistically that success in Europe at the end of the group stage (reasonably defined) may also be a matter of thinking in twos. If we end up with two teams advancing in the CL, two in the Europa League, and two being eliminated at the group stage, I think that will be a good outcome.
what a game by Maritimo away in a 1-1 draw at Newcastle, and were the better team and if they had any luck they would of gone to the next round should of won it at the end of the match what a miss
Dead even on the week: 2 wins (Porto 3-0 Dinamo Zagreb, Benfica 2-1 Celtic), 2 draws (Newcastle 1-1 Maritimo, Academica 1-1 Plzen), 2 losses (CFR Cluj 3-1 Braga, Basel 3-0 Sporting). What does this mean? In the CL, Porto keeps lead in Group A, can secure first with win or draw against PSG in matchday 6. Benfica edges into 2d with win over Celtic, but faces tough task on matchday 6: Needs win at Barca to confirm advancement, or draw and for Celtic to draw or worse at home to Spartak. Good news is that they can do no worse than 3d in their group. Worst news is for Braga: Their second loss to Cluj, plus Gala's win against ManU mean they're locked into last spot in the group and won't advance in Europe. I'd really like to see them go out with full points in Matchday 6 at least. UEFA Cup: Academica out despite creditable draw to Plzen. Maritimo out despite impressive draw at Newcastle. Sporting out, and confirmed last in the group, after embarrassing loss against FC Basel. The verdict is not good. Four teams will be out of Europe when the second phase starts. Two guaranteed to advance, though unclear which tournament Benfica will be in. I'd like to see some face-saving wins on matchday six to accumulate some points to salvage some status in Europe. At this stage we're 7th with 7.9 points, but without that many teams moving on it'll be hard to keep pace.
Very rough campaign this year. It's hard to keep pace with France when only 2 teams show up every year.
Well...Porto has made a lot of points so it's not that bad a year. My feeling is that our 6th spot can be held with an average of 10 points per year (although recent years have seen a tightening of the competition). We already have 8, so with the last group matchday, plus Porto and Benfica's remaining matches, it's not inconceivable we end up the year around the 9 point mark. Especially if Spartak Moscow beats Celtic (not THAT unlikely) or if somehow Benfica get something from Barcelona (a bit more unlikely). Progressing would add 5 bonus team points, which is almost a whole total point. Not fantastic, but not a total disaster either. Actually encouraging when we think that many teams severely underperformed. I don't see gloom and doom yet.
True, we can't complain given what we have to offer but this season was a missed opportunity to cement 5th and even 4th stop for the long run.
Now the elimination rounds are on, with two of six teams still in play (Porto/CL and Benfica/EL). Good first-leg results: Leverkusen 0-1 Benfica Porto 1-0 Malaga Benfica looks great to advance, needing only a home win or draw. Porto also got a good result against Malaga, and advances with an away win or draw, or a high-scoring loss (even 2-1 loss would do it). Neither team is a joke, though, so I'm not counting any UEFA point chickens before the next round is hatched (to mix metaphors horribly). But two wins in the first two games of the elim stage ain't bad. And it means that at present, Portugal sits sixth overall with 9.416 points. Interestingly, our next closest rival, both in 12/13 and overall is Ukraine, at 9.333. They're having a kickass year with four of six teams qualified into the elim rounds, meaning that they have twice the opportunities we do to accrue points. So good luck to Porto and Benfica. If they have a strong run into the later stages of their respective tournaments, this could end up being a solid year for Portugal (though nothing like the blockbuster year it had the potential to be when it started).
Benfica follows up their away win v Leverkusen with a 2-1 win at home to grab full UEFA points and move on the Europa League round of 16. Nice result. Grabs us .333 points, keeping Portugal in sixth and taking our total to 9.749, just off the ten-point threshold for respectability (also, I'm assuming there are not bonus points for advancement to the EL round of 16 but someone tell me if that's wrong). In good news, all three Ukrainian teams are out of the Europa League, so their challenge to our sixth spot is more or less over (unless Shakhtar Donetsk wins the CL or something). But all three Russian teams did advance, so they might be the next likeliest challenger. Oh, and I think the next opponent will be Bordeaux in March, if I'm reading this correctly: http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2013/matches/index.html
Anyone else notice that, barring some huge disaster, BOTH Benfica and Porto will be top seeds for the Champions League next year? Pretty amazing stuff for our league.
Maybe he's assuming that no more than 7 of the top 13 will qualify for the CL group-stage. But that's probably unlikely. 7 are absolute locks. And that still leaves both Inter and AC Milan, Chelsea, Arsenal, Lyon needing to all fail. Pretty hard to see a scenario where both Chelsea and Arsenal fail.