yes, Petkovic earns more credit and without Dudar's injury, YB would be in a better position. Hope Dudar will be back at the beginning of the year. Anyway, he is back in training, but not allowed to do any headers for now. Hope he gets back to 100 percent. now, in winter, YB intend to get a striker and a central midfielder and they should try to keep Jemal. They should not forget central defense as it's not sure when Dudar will be in full shape and whether Jemal is staying.
YB is also automatically in pot 2 as runner ups Sporting, Leverkusen, VfB and Zenith are definitely in pot 1. CSKA, PSV and Braga as good as. pot1 ------------------------ Man City (Lech) Leverkusen Sporting Villareal (PAOK, Dinamo) Dynamo Kiev (Bate) CSKA Moskva Zenit VfB Stuttgart PSV Eindhoven Sevilla (PSG, Dortmund) Liverpool (Steaua, Utrecht, Napoli) Porto (Besiktas) Benfica 6p (last match vs Schalke at home), (Hapoel) Rangers 5p (last macht at Bursaspor) Spartak Moskva 6p (last match at Zilina) Braga 9p (last macht at Shaktar) pot 2 ------------------------ Lech (Man City) Aris S. (Atlético) Gent (Lille) PAOK (Dinamo, Villareal) Bate Borisov (Dynamo K, Alkmaar, Sheriff) Sparta Praha (Palermo) AEK (Anderlecht) YB Metalist Kharkiv PSG (Dortmund, Sevilla) Napoli (Steaua, Liverpool, Utrecht) Besiktas (Porto, Rapid, Sofia) Twente 5p (last match vs Tottenham home) Rubin 6p (last match at Barcelona) (Kobenhavn) Ajax 4p (last match at Milan) (Auxerre) Basel 6p (last match at Bayern) (Roma)
today's results are good for Basel as none of the 3rd placed teams won Rubin, Twente, Benfica and Rangers are now all at 6 points Braga is already at 9 points, Spartak at 6 with the match vs Zilina left, Ajax with 4 points and a match at Milan with a draw at Bayern, Basel would be in pot 1 in the Europa league if Basel loses, then the goal difference would decide the goal difference of the teams which are at 6 points is: Twente -2 (9:11) Rubin -2 (2:4) Rangers -3 Benfica -5 with a one goal loss at Bayern, Basel would still be in pot 1 as Basels goal difference is currently neutral. If they lose with two goals, then it depends whether Ajax wins at Milan. If Ajax doesn't win, then normally Basel is also qualified with a two goals loss at Bayern. If Basel looses with 3 goals, then they only can hope Spartak loses to Zilina
a quick look to next year tells me that if we take the 16 teams who look to qualify for the round of 16 in the CL, only 7 of them are currently on a spot which qualifies them directly to next years CL. If a directly qualified team wins the CL, then the Swiss champions are directly qualified, otherwise not. England 3 (currently Arsenal, Man Utd, Chelsea), currently not in top 3 (Tottenham) Spain 3 (currently Barca, Real, Villareal), currently not in top 3 (Valencia) Italy 3 (currently Milan, Lazio, Juve), currently not in top 3 (Inter, Roma) Germany 2 (currently Dortmund, Mainz), currently not in top 2 (Bayern, Schalke) France 2 (currently Lille, PSG), currently not in top 2 (Lyon, Marseille) Ukraine 1 (currently Shaktar) Portugal 1 (currently Porto), not in Braga we would get a direct CL spot if one of these teams wins the CL: Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Barça, Real, Milan, Shaktar ((Basel)) but not if one of the following would win it with the current league tables: Bayern, Schalke, Tottenham, Valencia, Inter, Roma, Lyon, Marseille, Kobenhavn ((Braga))
Basel gets Zenit and YB gets Spartak. Wow, this is the year for Swiss and Russian clubs to meet in European competition. If I read the schedule correctly, both Swiss teams play at home on the same evening. If Basel advances, they play either Ajax or Anderlecht and YB would play either Rubin Kazan (another Russian team) or Twente (N'Kofo old club). LS played well in there last match. It was cold, but after the match I made it to the train station in 10 min running to catch a train. Nice run down hill!
Games are this thursday, both at the same time, both in CH. Too bad, I would have preferred one in Russia and one in CH this week. Both YB and FCB have started the spring well. Let's hope they carry it over into the Europa League. FC Basel match to be shown here - http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=105138&part=sports YB Match here - http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=105140&part=sports
YB win an exciting match 2-1. They head back to St. Petersburg with a chance. FC Basel led 2-0 then everyting went wrong. They lost 2-3 in stoppage time to a 19 year old Georgian and a great free kick.
4 hours of Swiss soccer today. YB first, than FC Basel. I hope for two good matches, and two Swiss victories.
Zenit with a good chance in the 26th. A free kick from about 25m is played to the right and the cross is dealt well by Wolfli.
The field is obviously frozen. Players are sliding all over the place and passes are not hitting the mark. They just showed a crazy fan without a shirt on. Brrr.
Zenit scores in the 41st off a counter. YB lost the ball in the center of the field. They played a great through ball and Wolfli did what he could. Score now 1-1 and overall 2-3 for YB.
Since the goal, YB has pushed forward and is moving the ball well. The longer the score stays 2-3, the more pressure Afolter and Dudar will be under. On the flip side there will be more space for Lulich and Bienvenue.
Lazovich gets a YC for a foul on Gemal. I think that he got the ankle and with the cold that makes every injury hurt more.
The second half has begun and Afolter makes a clearance near the line that saved a goal. The field is really starting to get ratty. It looks like this will not be a stellar example of the beautiful game. Just one of who will make the fewest mistakes. Or who gets the lucky bounce.
Mental breakdown by the YB defense, back of the net for Zenit. 3-3. Semek with the goal. 52nd min. Look for lots of pressure for Zenit now, YB needs to really settle down and defend well. As I typed that, Zenit almost puts another goal in.