UEFA Cup 3rd Rd. draw [Newcastle board]

[cleazer]

We got drawn with Vålerengen of Norway. A much weaker team than Basel. Valerengen got this far by beating Wisla Krakow in a penalty shootout, after both matches finished 0-0. That must have been a real stinker of a 2-game series. If we can't get past Valerengen, we have no business advancing any further in the tournament.

Here's the full field:

Matches to be played on February 26 and March 3
Brondby v Barcelona
Parma v Gençlerbirligi
Benfica v Rosenborg
Marseille v Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
Celtic v Teplice
Perugia v PSV Eindhoven
Groclin Grodzisk v Bordeaux
Valencia v Besiktas
Galatasaray v Villarreal
Club Brugge v Debreceni
Sochaux v Inter Milan
Liverpool v Levski Sofia
Spartak Moscow v Real Mallorca
Gaziantepspor v AS Roma
Auxerre v Panathinaikos
Valerengen v Newcastle United

There aren't many first-class matches on that list. The best is probably Sochaux-Inter or Galatasaray-Villareal.

I hope I don't get in trouble for looking too far ahead, but to be one of the seeded teams for the 4th round draw, we need 5 of the following teams to lose:
Barcelona, Valencia, Liverpool, Inter, Roma, Parma, Galatasaray, Mallorca, Panathinaikos, Bordeaux, PSV Eindhoven, and Celtic.
Those are the teams currently ranked ahead of us, and if 5 of them lose, we will be one of the 8 seeded teams, assuming we beat Valerengen.

[crabeater]

On paper, looks like the best draw we could've hoped for. Though nobody should be overlooked at this point....if Partizan and WBA can take us out....

Vålerengen finished 12th (of 14) in their league this year and 8th the year before (guess they won their Cup to get in). Judging from the scoreless draws in the last round and only 33 goals allowed in 26 league games, they survive on defense.

Hope the lads will be healthy and in form come Feb.

Anybody know anything more about this side or seen them in action?

[cleazer]

Originally posted by crabeater
Vålerengen finished 12th (of 14) in their league this year and 8th the year before (guess they won their Cup to get in).

You guessed correctly!
Vålerengen won their Cup in 2002.

In this year's (2003) version of the Norway Cup, Vålerengen advanced past the fourth round on penalties (11-10 no less!!), but lost to a Division 2 team in the quarters.

Like you mentioned, they finished 12th in their league this year. Their last 5 league games this year:
9-27 drew 2-2 (against 3rd place team)
10-5 won 4-3 (against 14th place team)
10-20 won 3-0 (against 11th place team)
10-26 lost 1-0 (against 10th place team)
11-1 lost 3-1 (against 6th place team)

Because of their 12th place finish, they had to play-off with a Division 2 team:
11-10 drew 0-0 away
11-22 won 5-3 at home

So it looks like Vålerengen can find their offense when they need to. Though its a safe bet that they won't decide to try to beat Newcastle 5-4. Surely they'll play for a 0-0 draw. It probably won't do them much good, though.

Nufc.com have a nice write-up on Vålerengen. They seem to be one of the best supported clubs in Norway, though that isn't saying much. Most home matches seem to draw six or seven thousand.