Feyenoord: 2 Newcastle: 3 This was one of the most amazing games and European events I've ever seen, even more than Liverpool yesterday. Newcastle were winning 2-0, doing their bit, needing a Juventus draw, and Dynamo kiev take the lead! Juventus thankfully do their bit and equalise, but Feyenord get a goal back! Heroric Juventus take the lead in Kiev 2-1, but Feyenoord keep pressuring and equalise! This time it's Newcastle not doing their bit. Relentless pressure from Feyenoord, who would qualify with a win if Juventus won. Amazingly, in the 89th minute, Craig Belamy squeezes in a goal from an impossible angle and wins it for Newcastle, they qualify! Kiev needed 2 goals in 4 minutes, impossible. I said a few weeks ago that they can still qualify if they win their last three games, and they did! They are the first team in History to do this.
Feyenoord Rotterdam 2, Newcastle United 3 Feynoord goals: Mariano Bombarda (65) Anthony Lurling (71) Newcastle goals Craig Bellamy (45), Hugo Viana (49) Craig Bellamy (90) Final score Olimpiyskyi Dynamo Kiev 1, Juventus 2
talk about advancing the back way. When it comes down to goal difference and the results of other games, they surely did advance the back way. But yeah, it doesn't matter HOW they advance, it just matters that they got the job done.
It's not the back way. Newcastle had MORE points than Kiev and Feyenoord, end of story. Kiev and Feyenoord are out bcause they LOST their games to Newcaslte and Juventus.
blah blah blah blah blah blah it is the back way. The back way is not demeaning at all its just a statement of what it is. Having to win a game and having to have another team not win for your team to advance. No disrespect is intended in this way as most of the time it has more to do with the order the games are played then anything else. Good showing by Newcastle.
CONGRATS TO NEWCASTLE. They have definitely made up for Liverpool's disappointing exit on Tuseday with this magnificent comeback. Good luck to them for the second group stage.
I have to admit that after matchday 3 I didn't think they had any chance in hell of qualifying for the next group phase. I didn't even think they could grab the UEFA cup spot but they did and I have to give them credit for that. Saying that, I believe with absolute certainty that they will finish 4th in the second group phase. They will be in a group with three world class clubs: Dortmund/Leverkusen, Milan/Inter, and Barca/Real/Valencia. I can't see them repeating the feat they just did in the first group phase, especially if they lose their first three matches.
What I can't believe is Bellamy. When he was with Norwich he looked a prospect (at one point, we were rumoured to have come close to signing him) but with Coventry, he looked absolutely awful. I saw him play at Highfield Road a few times (not too far from me) and he just looked absolutely out of his depth, peripheral, lighweight, unable to make any impact on games, and with neither the skill nor the presence to get to grips with football at the top level. Over the years (30 watching live football on a weekly basis), I've developed a pretty shrewd amateurs eye for judging talent and whilst I'm no professional, I think I am right about players more often than I am wrong. I can't think of a single player I've mis-judged more than Bellamy. When Robson bought him, I thought he was off his rocker which, I suppose, just goes to show that football managers are actually paid because they know something that the rest of us don't, at least some of the time. As for Newcastle tonight, magnificent. Any time a team that plays the game with a smile on its face progresses (and the same can be said for its supporters) we're all better off for its continued presence in a competition. That the vulgar, malevolent little Turkeys from Istan************************ got knocked out is the icing on the cake.
I remember when Newcastle signed Bellamy (£6 million wasn't it?) I had a quiet chuckle to myself. Sir Bobby proved us all wrong on that one though, that has to be one of the shrewdest bit of business in the last few years.
Congrats to Newcastle. I don't think winning 3 straight games when any slip-up meant curtains is "backing in" by any stretch of the imagination. However, I believe strong kudos are also in order for Juventus who had essentially no motivation to win in Dynamo except their professionalism - and perhaps a little win bonus money. Milan lost at home in the same situation. Juve won in cold, cold Ukraine.
I have to agree with this sentiment. There were several teams playing for nothing but if they choose not to play, then they affect the results of other team's hopes... Rosenborg was playing for nothing, but if they mail it in against Lyon, they hand Lyon a CL spot. Instead they play tough drawing Lyon and Ajax takes the CL spot despite the loss to Inter. Bayern Munich could have folded against Lens which would have given Lens a shot at knocking Deportivo out of the 2nd CL spot, but didn't. Milan lost at home costing Lens a shot at a spot, but Deportivo has been tough all competition, so it's hard to say that Milan didn't try. Barcelona also could have mailed it in against Galatasaray but didn't. That kept the results more TRUE and Lok Moscow's win over Brugge gave them the CL spot. So mainly the biggest impact was Rosenborg playing even though they were out and Barcelona playing even though they were already a #1 seed. Cheers to them.
The only team that "mailed it in" was ManUre when they went to Cyprus and started the fourth-string against Maccabi Haifa....and Arselex actually has you believing the club would have won with that lineup. But I thank them for enabling Maccabi to get to the UEFA Cup.