"Omonia AC have secured a UEFA Champions League second qualifying round tie against Polish champions Wisla Krakow after a hard-fought victory against FC Irtysh Pavlodar." Any predictions?
Wisla 4-0 aggregate. But they might lose Uche. If this is true, doesn't bode well for the following round... Kalu Uche drags club to Fifa Want-away Nigerian international Kalu Uche is set to drag Polish side Wisla Krakow to Fifa court as they now appear to stand between him and a big transfer to Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam. The 21-year-old midfielder, will be asking Fifa to activate an ouster clause in his contract which empowers him to quit the Polish club once a buying club can meet a specified amount for his transfer. Ajax director Arie van Eijden has complained that Wisla Krakow have not been co-operative in discussing with them Uche's move to the Amsterdam Arena. "Kalu has an ouster clause which allows him to leave Poland once the club that wants to buy him come up with the amount stated in the contract. He has held back from making use of this clause believing Krakow will let him go even though they would very much want him to stay back and help them in the Uefa Champions League," a source close to the player exclusively told kickoffnigeria.com on Tuesday. "Krakow stand to lose millions of euros if they now allow the player to activate the clause because Ajax are ready to break the bank to get Kalu but will now get him for far less going by the clause." Ajax officials were in Paris last week to meet up with officials of the Polish champions who are on pre-season tour of France. Kalu, who made his long-awaited debut for the Super Eagles last month, had exclusively told Kick off magazine in April he was ready to leave Poland for greener pastures in the summer. Kickoffnigeria.com has first broken the world-wide exclusive that Kalu was on his way to Ajax to follow in a tradition set by six other top Nigerian stars before him - Findi George, Nw*nkwo Kanu, Tijjani Babangida, Sunday Oliseh, Ogbonna Kanu and Pius Ikedia. Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2003 - 17:01 (source: kickoffnigeria.com)
Sad Oh, what is the use? You think we have progressed a little. But no, same old think. We get little better, we sell good players, the “dzialacze” get rich, and the team disappears. And the players that we sell mostly don’t amount to anything in the new club, after they move.
True what you say, but if the report about Uche is also true it seems like it's the player who really wants out. Nevertheless, the club could be criticized for allowing such a clause in the contract. At this point, the only way I see Wisla advancing to the Champions League is if they land a relatively easy team in the draw, like Austria Vienna or something. And I almost don't blame Uche for wanting to go. Kuzba and Kosa are gone and nothing has really been done about reinforcements. Brasilia is probably a good replacement for Kosowski, but nobody has been brought in for defense, Glowacki is injured, and no striker has been brought in.
that's what I read too (Gazeta Wyborcza, Onet, Planetfootball), but I got the kickoffnigeria article from the Big Soccer Holland message board today, which has a whole thread on Uche.
I know they just put a new field down, not sure if it's heated. But apart from that, they just need a new stadium. there's been talk of building one in Nowa Huta, but who knows w/ these things. I know part of Era'a sponsorship deal has to do w/ the success of the club. The better they play, the more money they get, so let's hope they qualify for CL. I wish Legia would do well this year, but w/ the squad they have now, they look to finish mid-table.
I think they are. It's a good thing. Polonia's stadium is crap. It would be good if they could pool their resources to build a proper new stadium in Warsaw.
Wisla Krakow, those lucky ********, drew either Anderlecht or Rapid Bucharest for the 3rd round CL elimination. They might actually get in!
http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UCL/news/Kind=1/newsId=84742.html Link to article above. Seriously though, this is about as good as Wisla could have hoped for. They managed to avoid all of the giants in the draw and will face a decent but not great team early. You have far more hope of the Polish team in the group stages than last year when you saw Legia drawn with Barca.
And the year before that I think Wisla drew Barca as well. If Wisla had the same squad as last season, I would have fancied their chances against any of those teams, but their best players seem to all be jumping ship or injured. Kalu Uche might be the next to go soon. They really need to pick up some reinforcements.
I think you are correct. They will get to the group stage (I hope). But they will need couple more players to get out of the group.
Absolute disgrace. Fine him, send him to the reserves and report him to UEFA. If he tried that **** with any Western European team, they'd tell him where to go.