Scandinavia in the UEFA Cup Hammarby IF lost heavily in the Champions League qualifications against Partizan Belgrad (who in turn lost big time to Bayern Munich), IFK Goteborg lost to the very famous side Zimbru and we only have two teams left, AIK and Djurgardens IF both from Stockholm (AIK is also known as AIK Solna in the European Cups). Tonight they will play as follows : AIK - Fenerbahce SK FC Copenhagen - Djurgardens IF Think it will be tough for both teams, but I believe that Djurgarden has got good chances to advance to the 2nd round. Results tonight : AIK - FSK 1-1 FCC - DIF 2-1
Actual results : AIK - FSK 3-3 (1-3) FCC - DIF 0-0 The AIK game was truly amazing. In the first half, the turks completely dominated the match and could have scored half a dozen goals. AIK was miles behind and it looked like the Swedes were playing in a subdivision league. In the second half, the match changed completely and AIK was playing some amazing football. Apart from the 2 goals, they created 5-6 great chances and hit the post once and the crossbar twice! The Turkish goalie Rustu Recber made some fantastic saves and kept the score at 3 all.
Viking...Totally outplayed for 90 mins. Had two shots on goal. Scored with the second one..91st minute. Still, Chelsea have only themselves to blame as Hasselbaink missed two glorius sitters. IF Viking decide to venture out a bit more in the second leg i fully expect an away win.
Sucking? Brugge fans don't call them Anderschlecht for nothing, you know. Seriously, any year that Racing Genk wins the league, you have to wonder what the hell Anderlecht and Standard Liege were doing.
Forgot that Scandinavia is also represented in the CL. Tonight we have Rosenborg playing. They are close to repeat their lousy performance from a few years back when they lost to PSG at Parc des Princes by 7-2 (I was there, trying to cheer them on). 4-0 in halftime and by now (15 minutes into the 2nd) it could have been 2 more. RBK has missed a penalty, so we could have had/should have had 6-1 by now...
AIK - Fenerbahce SK 3-3 FC Copenhagen - Djurgardens IF 0-0 Midtjylland - Varteks 1-0 Chelsea - Viking 2-1 Anderlecht - Stabaek 0-1 Levski Sofia - Bröndby 4-1 7 Scandinavian teams 2 wins 3 draws 2 losses Which ones will qualify? Fenerbahce - AIK 2-1 (Fenerbahce through 5-4) Djurgården - Copenhagen 1-1 (Copenhagen 1-1) Varteks - Midtjylland 1-1 (Midtjylland 2-1) Viking - Chelsea 2-3 (Chelsea 5-3) Stabaek - Anderlecht 2-1 (Stabaek 3-1) Bröndy - Levski Sofia 2-0 (Sofia 4-3) According to my predictions above, we will have 3 scandinavian teams left after the first round.
The two Swedish teams that are currently playing in the UEFA cup are more or less qualified for next years European Cups. Djurgarden are fighting for the title with Malmo FF and both teams are sure to play in Europe next year. AIK have the chance to qualify via the Swedish cup. YEsterday they won their semifinal and will play Djurgarden in the final (November 9th). If Djurgarden wins the Allsvenskan, AIK is automatically qualified for UEFA, being the finalist in the cup. If DIF, would only be second in the league, AIK will have to win the cup or be third in the league to make it to Europe next year.