CL Q3 draw: Hapoel Kiryat Shmona (Bryan Gerzicich) or Zilina vs Neftchi or Zestafoni Molde (Josh Gatt) or Ventspils vs Flora Tallinn or Basel Zeljeznicar (Daniel Brkcovic) or Maribor vs Dudelange or RB Salzburg (Eddie Gustaffsson) Anderlecht (Sacha Kljestan) vs Shamrock Rovers or Ekranas Kobenhavn (Thomas Delaney) vs Club Brugge Motherwell (Darren Randolph) vs Panathenaikos EL Q3 draw: Thor Akureyri (Joe Funicello) or Mlada Boleslav vs Twente or Inter Turku (Daniel Antunez) KuPS (Etchu Tabe) or Maccabi Netanya (Leo Krupnick) vs Bursaspor Bnei Yehuda (Tom Almadon) or Shirak vs PAOK Hannover 96 (Steve Cherundolo) vs Siroki Brijeg or St Patrick's Rapid Wien (Terrence Boyd) vs Vojvodina or Suduva
Games this week: Tuesday 7/24 CL Q2: Molde (Josh Gatt) at Ventspils 11:30 AM Eastern (first leg 3-0) RB Salzburg (Eddie Gustaffsson) vs Dudelange 12 PM Eastern (first leg 0-1) Hapoel Kiryat Shmona (Bryan Gerzicich) vs Zilina 12:30 PM Eastern (first leg 0-1) Zeleznicar (Danijal Brkcovic) vs Maribor 2:45 PM Eastern (first leg 0-3) Thursday 7/26 EL Q2: Bnei Yehuda (Tom Almadon) at Shirak 9:30 AM Eastern (first leg 2-0) Thor Akureyri (Joe Funicello, Josh Wicks) vs Mlada Boleslav 3:15 PM Eastern (first leg 0-3) Inter Turku (Daniel Antunez) vs Twente 12 PM Eastern (first leg 1-1!!!) Maccabi Netanya (Leo Krupnick) at KuPS (Etchu Tabe) 11:30 AM Eastern (first leg 1-2 KuPs win)
Salzburg won at home 4-3 providing a 4-4 aggregate but are eliminated on away goals. Gustafsson did not play in either match.
Eh, assuming Basel is through, they are still very beatable. Although they are undoubtedly still a good side, Shaqiri is now at Bayern Munich and Xhaka is at BMG. Also, that game is a great opportunity for Gatt to play against the kind of team that will give him exposure, and he may even be brought in as a Shaqiri replacement (now I'm just getting hopeful).
Zeljeznicar lost 1-2 at home, in part due to 3 players seeing red. The are out of the tournament on a 2-6 aggregate (the 1st leg score posted above seems to be inaccurate. According to UEFA and FlashScore the 1st match ended 4-1 in favor of Maribor).
CL Summary: Molde advance, Gatt didn't play. Molde will face Basel. RB Salzburg eliminated, Gustaffsson didn't play either game. Kiryat Shmona advance, Gerzicich went 90 both games. They will face Neftci. Zeljeznicar are elininated, Brkovic didn't even make the bench this time.
In the KuPS - Maccabi Netanya Yank versus Yank match-up Etchu Tabe and KuPS advance despite losing 0-1 at home today. They win due to away goals on a 2-2 aggregate.
Leo Krupnick didn't play. KuPS will face Bursaspor in the next round. Inter Turku lost 0-5 and are eliminated. Antunez went 90. Bnei Yehuda won 0-1 and advance to face PAOK. Tom Almadon didn't play. Thor Akureyri lost 0-1 and are eliminated. Wicks and Funicello went 90. Hannover 96 and Steve Cherundolo will face St. Patrick's. Rapid Wien and Terrence Boyd will face Vojvodina.
Games this week: Tuesday 7/31 CL Q3: Motherwell (Darren Randolph) vs Panathenaikos 2:45 PM Eastern Wednesday 8/1 CL Q3: Hapoel Kiryat Shmona (Bryan Gerzicich) vs Neftci 12:30 PM Eastern Molde FK (Josh Gatt) vs Basel 1 PM Eastern FC Kobenhavn (Thomas Delaney) vs Club Brugge 2 PM Eastern RSC Anderlecht (Sacha Kljestan) vs Ekranas 2 PM Eastern Thursday 8/2 EL Q3: KuPS (Etchu Tabe) vs Bursaspor 11:30 AM Eastern Bnei Yehuda (Tom Al-Madon) vs PAOK 1 PM Eastern Hannover 96 (Steve Cherundolo) at St Patrick's 2:45 PM Eastern Rapid Wien (Terrence Boyd) at Vojvodina 3 PM Eastern
Yup, he did well and Kiryat Shmona won 4-0. Anderlecht also won, 5-0, and Kljestan played the last 28 minutes. Meanwhile Molde lost 0-1, had a red card to Angan, and Gatt wasn't in the squad. FC Kobenhavn drew 0-0 against Brugge but Thomas Delaney wasn't in the squad.
Europa League Results: KuPS Kuopio beat Bursaspor 1-0 at home. Etchu Tabe played the full 90 and got a yellow card. A draw at Bursaspor will get them through to the playoff round (!!!) Bnei Yehuda lost 0-2 at home, Tom Al-Madon was on the bench. Hannover 96 won 0-3 away at St Patrick's. Steve Cherundolo went 90 as captain. They have a great chance to advance. Rapid Wien lost 2-1 away at Vojvodina. Terrence Boyd went 90 but didn't score.
Even though I am distracted by the Olympics, Games this week: Wednesday 8/8 CL Q3: Hapoel Kiryat Shmona (Bryan Gerzicich) at Neftci 12 noon Eastern RSC Anderlecht (Sacha Kljestan) at Ekranas 1 PM Eastern Molde FK (Josh Gatt) at Basel 2 PM Eastern FC Kobenhavn (Thomas Delaney) at Club Brugge 2:30 PM Eastern Motherwell (Darren Randolph) at Panathenaikos 2:45 PM Eastern Thursday 8/9 EL Q3: Bnei Yehuda (Tom Al-Madon) at PAOK 2 PM Eastern KuPS (Etchu Tabe) at Bursaspor 2:30 PM Eastern Hannover 96 (Steve Cherundolo) vs St Patrick's 2:30 PM Eastern Rapid Wien (Terrence Boyd) vs Vojvodina 3 PM Eastern
CL Results: Motherwell and Darren Randolph lost to Panathenaikos 0-5 on aggregate (0-2 at home, 0-3 away). Randolph played the full 90 in net for both games. Hapoel Kiryat Shmona and Bryan Gerzicich beat Neftci 6-2 on aggregate (4-0 at home, 2-2 away). Gerzicih played the full 90 and scored 2 goals in the first game, and 57 minutes in the second. Anderlecht and Sacha Kljestan beat Ekranas 11-0 on aggregate (!!!) (5-0 at home, 6-0 away). Kljestan played the last 30 minutes of the first game and the full 90 of the second game, getting a goal and an assist. Molde and Josh Gatt lost to Basel 1-2 on aggregate (0-1 at home, 1-1 away). Sadly, Gatt missed both games with a muscle pull. Kobenhavn and Thomas Delaney beat Club Brugge 3-2 on aggregate (0-0 at home, 3-2 away). Delaney is still recovering from injury and didn't make the squad for either game. Draw is on Friday. The pots: League route SC Braga (POR)* FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR) Panathinaikos FC (GRE) FC København (DEN) - YA FC Spartak Moskva (RUS)* Fenerbahçe SK (TUR) Udinese Calcio (ITA)* LOSC Lille Métropole (FRA)* Málaga CF (ESP)* VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach (GER)* *clubs who enter at the play-off stage Champions route FC Basel 1893 (SUI) RSC Anderlecht (BEL) - YA Celtic FC (SCO) FC BATE Borisov (BLR) GNK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) CFR 1907 Cluj (ROU) Helsingborgs IF (SWE) NK Maribor (SVN) AEL Limassol FC (CYP) Hapoel Kiryat Shmona FC (ISR) - YA
KuPS lose 6-0 (6-1 aggregate) at Bursaspor, Tabe went 90. Bnei Yehuda lose 4-1 (6-1 aggregate) at PAOK. Al-Madon DNP. Hannover won 2-0 (5-0 aggregate) against St. Patricks. Cherundolo went 90. Rapid Vienna won 2-0 (3-2 aggregate) against Vojvodin. Boyd went 90 and scored. So that leaves the following YAs for the playoff round draw: Seeded: Hannover (Cherundolo), AZ (Altidore), Sporting (Onyewu); Unseeded: Rapid Vienna (Boyd), Molde (Gatt) There's probably some others I missed.
Draw results for the play-off rounds are below. The losers of the Cl playoff round go into the EL group stage. CL Play-off Round: BATE Borisov (BLR) vs Hapoel Kiryat Shmona (Bryan Gerzicich) AEL (CYP) vs Anderlecht (Sacha Kljestan) Lille (FRA) vs FC Kobenhavn (Thomas Delaney) Helsingborgs (Alejandro Bedoya?) vs Celtic (SCO) EL Play-off Round: Anzhi Makhachkala (RUS) vs AZ (Jozy Altidore) Molde FK (Josh Gatt) vs Heerenveen (NED) Slask (POL) vs Hannover 96 (Steve Cherundolo) Horsens (DEN) vs Sporting CP (Oguchi Onyewu) Motherwell (Darren Randolph) vs Levante (ESP) Legia (POL) vs Rosenborg (Mikkel Diskerud) Stuttgart (Gotoku Sakai and Jerome Keisewetter) vs Dinamo Moskva (RUS) PAOK (GRE) vs Rapid Wien (Terrence Boyd)