NUFC UEFA Cup 1st Round draw [R]

[cleazer]

-The draw is being held in a few hours.
-The matches will be September 14 and September 28.
-After this first leg home and home, we should advance into the group stages, good for 2 home games and 2 away games.

The 80 teams have been split into groups of 10, with 5 seeded teams, and unseeded teams. Newcastle, of course, is a seeded team.

We will face one of these 5 unseeded teams:

Standard Liège (Bel)
Sporting Braga (Por)
Molde (Nor)
Chornomorets Odesa (Ukr)
Levadia Tallinn (Est)

[cleazer]

Standard Liège (Bel)- Eliminated in the 3rd Round of Champions League Qualifying. They drew 2-2 at home to Steaua Bucuresti, but then lost 2-1 in Romania. They finished in a fairly strong second place in the Belgian League last year to get to the Champions League qualifying stage. So far this season, they have one tie and two losses in the Belgian league, including a 2-1 loss against our old opponents Lokeren.

Sporting Braga (Por)- Braga finished 4th in the Portuguese league last year, qualifying directly for the 1st round of the Uefa Cup. Portugal's league hasn't started up yet this season.

Molde (Nor)- In the UEFA Cup 2nd Qualifying round, Molde tied Skonto Riga 0-0 at home, but managed a 2-1 win on the road to advance. They won the Norwegian Cup last year to qualify for this competition. So far this season, after 17 games, Molde is dead last in the Norwegian league (they play from spring to fall up there). They've lost 3 straight games by a score of 2-0 in recent league play.

Chornomorets Odesa (Ukr)- Tied Wisla Plock 0-0 at home and 1-1 on the road to advance through the Uefa Cup 2nd Qualifying round. Finished 3rd in the Ukrainian league last year to qualify for the competition. After 4 games of the Ukrainian league this season, they have 3 ties and 1 loss.

Levadia Tallinn (Est)- Beat Haka Valkeakoski 2-0 at home and then lost 1-0 in Finland to advance past the Uefa Cup 1st Qualifying round. Tied Twente Enschede 1-1 in Netherlands and then won 1-0 at home to advance past the Uefa Cup 2nd Qualifying Round. Finished second in the Estonian league last year with a goal differential of plus 72. Suffice it to say, the Estonian league isn't strong from top to bottom. So far this season, after 24 games, they're in first place with a goal differential of plus 65. They have 22 wins, 2 ties, and 0 losses. Levadia Tallinn is the lowest seeded team still left in the UEFA Cup!



Honestly, we should be just fine playing any of those 5 teams. The top two are definitely stronger, and might try to put up a fight, though nothing we shouldn't easily handle. But the bottom three teams there all look fairly dreadful. If we had a striker, we'd beat any of those 3 teams by a good 4 or 5 goals.

[tigerdave]

Levadia Tallinn is the opponent, first leg away and second at home. Man am I glad we didn't get Braga or Standard. I think we can look toward the group standard now.

Is this ten-team pairing going to comprise our group at the group stage? If so that's a pretty strong group, potentially.

[colinh9]

Should be an easy progression but you can never be sure.

[Dirt McGirt]

I hope we play Standerd Liege so we can watch Gooch.

[Dirt McGirt]

I hope we play Standerd Liege so we can watch Gooch.
Oops I didn't see we've got the Estonians. I have a feeling we might find ourselves in the finals.

[cleazer]

Is this ten-team pairing going to comprise our group at the group stage? If so that's a pretty strong group, potentially.No, I'm pretty sure the teams will all be reseeded and re-ranked when the 40 contestants are known.

[tigerdave]

Venue Switched For UEFA Tie

THE away tie of the UEFA Cup first round game with FC Levadia Tallinn of Estonia will take place at the A.Le Coq Arena.

The game will take place at this 8,700-capacity all-seater venue rather than Levadia's usual home ground, the Kadrioru.

A date for the match, and ticket details, will appear on nufc.co.uk as soon as arrangements are made.

On an aside, fitting that the highest seeded team remaining should get the lowest.