UEFA Women's Cup Rivalry 2008/09 [R]

Welcome everyone to the new UEFA Cup season 2008/09 thread! This season will prove to be just as nail-biting as last season maybe more. Bundesliga runners-up FCR 2001 Duisburg, Russian champions Zvezda-2005, AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands, Ukrainian champions Naftokhimik, KVK Tienen, Swiss team FC Zürich Frauen, the Republic of Ireland's Galway LFC, Vamos Idaliou from Cyprus and Levadia Tallinn will all make their debuts in the UEFA Cup this season.

Defending European champions FC Frankfurt are in Group B1, 2007 champions Arsenal LFC and Olympique Lyonnais are in Group B3. Two times UEFA Cup winners Umeå IK and ASD CF Bardolino Verona are in Group B2 and Brøndby IF along with FCR 2001 Duisburg are in group B4. The UEFA Women's Cup first qualifying round will take place on the 4th to 9th of September.

Enjoy everyone

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/womencup/news/kind=1/newsid=726691.html

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/womencup/news/kind=1/newsid=729482.html

Oh, look, some kindly soul started a UEFA thread so that this sort of thing could go in it!

Yeah yeah yeah. Yawn. Only question is does Arsenal even get out of their group or not. I hear that Honka Espoo is pretty good, hope you don't get them first...

How nice, to have an excuse to put that clip near the top of this thread!

... and even better, a transcript of the relevant portion for those of us who are curious but too lazy to actually go and look at the thing...

Ah, see I would think that you people didn't count. For so many reasons.

And who the ******** needs an excuse to put that sad link anywhere? I'm not the one who thunk it.

And they're off!

Here are the lovely final contestants for next years "Frankfurt Showcase" (or the Women's Cup, as hopeful cases elsewhere call it): http://www.uefa.com/competitions/womencup/news/kind=1/newsid=747639.html. Will OL manage to emulate the successes of Umeå and Frankfurt by buying their way to victory? Or will Glasgow City surprise everybody by not just winning a match, but by actually winning the trophy?

(Just because I'm sober doesn't mean I'm serious.)

Seems like Glasgow City might surprise us in an unexpected way. Apparently the team risks having to pull out of the next round due to a lack of funds to get to Norway. They raised the 15000 GBP for the first round by holding fund-raisers like bake sales, but with only a few weeks to go...

Why can't they sell Auchentoshan to raise funds? CAn't get more glaswegian than that!

Actually, the most "Glaswegian" you can get is being alternately sweet-talked and berated by drunks in George Square while waiting for the night bus. Since most tourists won't otherwise have that authentic Glasgow experience, maybe the girlies should earn money by organising "package tours" where they take tourists on a pub crawl, then argue with them incoherently in the square while consuming a post-pub snack of either deep fried Mars bar or thick-cut greasy chips with pickled onions and vinegar.

Sounds just like anywhere in Sweden.

Ah, in the places I get to in Sweden I find that the drunks just skip the sweet talking. Or that there's no such things as night buses.

OK, time to get back up on the horse, so to speak.

In this round, I have to cheer for the girls from Glasgow City. And cheer them all the way to certain defeat, plus possibly a small-to-middling amount of humiliation. But anything less than total annihilation will be a small victory for Scottish women's football! So.... Gaun yirsels, hens!

And here's an interview (in German) with one of the Glasgow City players, Katharina Lindner. She used to play with Frankfurt, but now finds herself on the opposing side. Just ignore all that stuff she says about „Schottland ist ein eigenartiges Land".

http://fansoccer.de/uefacup/interviews/katharinalindner/katharinalindner08102008.htm

You mean hose, surely?

Ah, there's the obscure Jenson that we all know and love! You've been unrecognisably coherent and cohesive lately.

I'm taking it that you're an Arse as usual?

Awww, c,mon. It was in homage to Sund-fans' WPS thread title and you know it!

Of course I'm an Arse on this one.

I cannot deny that I shall be rooting for the teams representing the British Isles. If Glasgow City can get to the knock out stages then I will be more than a little happy for them too.

UP THE ARSE!

I'm indescribably glad I didn't read that at work.

Ha, that cheered me up no end (no pun intended).

And who do we, Duisburg, get as referee in our first two groupmatches:



Nicole Petignat... how lovely..

I think you'll find that on the whole she's not that bad. Especially when compared to the rest of 'em.

Today's UEFA cup matches in Ukraine have been postponed to tomorrow because the Danish team's equipment got left behind at Vienna* airport and the teams all agreed that they shouldn't have to play without (ahem). So the matches will be played Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, which sounds like quite a stressful schedule.

I guess I'll have to root for Duisburg here, but somehow I find myself having to do it with my fingers crossed behind my back. Is Bresonik playing? (I just checked the Duisburg homepage and found her profile. Her strengths are openness and honesty, and she can't think of any weaknesses. Quite.)


*(Vienna?? Were they taking the scenic route?)

In a telephone interview, Voss said that Bresonik was travelling with them, but it was uncertain if she'd be playing: "Sie ist gestern das erste Mal wieder gelaufen und wir wollen sie behutsam aufbauen. Eventuell ist sie gegen Koppenhagen einsetzbar, aber das müssen wir gucken."

All the groupies in the house , head here:

http://www.fansoccer.de/uefacup/interviews/martinavoss/martinavoss08102008.htm


(Koppenhagen? )

Probably even more like "Koppmhagn". I don't know where Voss is from originally but if she adopted the local Ruhrpottslang that would be what it sounds like...

Whoa- Frankfurt lost 1-0 against Zvezda-2005! First match, first upset!