The Big Qualifying Round-Up #HOLKYTAKY (Steffen Prößdorf, cc-by-sa-4.0) August saw the biggest week of the year in European women's club football, as forty clubs competed for the right to be beaten by Lyon. Ten group winners qualified, and even The Excellent Tim Grainey hasn't finished reviewing it yet: The Week in Women's Football: A comprehensive review of Champions League qualifying rounds - Groups 1- 5 - https://www.tribalfootball.com/arti...s-league-qualifying-rounds-groups-1-5-4293368 (Archived) And some video highlights – about half the games were also livestreamed, mainly the hosts' matches: Group 1 In Bosnia, it came down to SFK 2000 versus the Icelanders Breiðablik on the last day. Starting level on 6pts, Breidablik took it out with a 3-1 victory, with 2 goals by Berglind Björg – see highlights (RÚV) / full match Group 2 In Montenegro, the home side Breznica needed to beat Mitrovica in the last game. But the Kosovans took a 1-0 win with a late penalty (Kaltrina Biqkaj 89'). Group 3 The Slovenian champions Pomurje hosted, but lost 1-0 to Wales' Cardiff Met and 2-1 to Scotland's Hibernian, who did enough to qualify with 3 wins. Group 4 In Ukraine, the decider was Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv against Belarus's FC Minsk. The away team won 2-0, with a goal from Nigerian striker Emueje Ogbiagbevha (44'), who set up another by Anastasia Linnik (52'). Later, Apanaschenko hit the post with a penalty – see highlights (Youtube) / full match It was a very serious occasion for almost all the participants. Group 5 Spartak Subotica (SRB) overran the Slovak hosts Slovan Bratislava 7-0, then in the dramatic final game, Spartak twice equalized to deny Ferencváros (HUN), and the Serbs qualified on goal difference. Group 6 In Estonia, the Kazakh champions BIIK-Kazygurt beat the hosts FC Flora, 2-0 (Alina Litvinenko 13', 19') and BIIK beat 2nd-place Finns Vantaa 4-1. Look out, Barcelona. Group 7 Portugal's SC Braga, in their first Champions League, earned a cup tie with PSG, by beating Apollon Limassol of Cyprus into 2nd place in Latvia. Braga won with a goal by US player Folashade Pratt (10'). SC Braga 1 - 0 Apollon - youtu.be/UCyJkxhi0tA Group 8 Of Death A great day for the Belgian champions, but disaster for Norway's Lillestrøm SK. In the last match, RSC Anderlecht qualified with their third win, 3-1 v Linfield. (There's a full stream of Anderlecht v LSK and Linfield.) Nice to see games played with the orange ball, in a week with absolutely no snow! Now RSCA will want to use that 'lucky' ball every time, and get into a rule dispute with Uefa... UWCL: LSK Kvinner FK 2-3 RSCA Women - Highlights - youtu.be/w9ss4ABNiWM Group 9 In the last match in the Netherlands, FC Twente qualified by beating Górnik Łęczna 2-0 (Fenna Kalma 52'p, Renate Jansen 70'), after Beşiktaş could only draw with both teams. Group 10 Vllaznia (ALB) made their historic qualification with a 1-1 draw against the hosts Gintra in Lithuania. Lyubov Gudchenko's home goal (49') put the teams into a 3-way tie with the Irish champions Wexford, but a penalty by Megi Doci (78') meant the Albanians won the group outright, with 7pts – see highlights / full match Vllaznia's Loro Boriçi stadium will welcome Fortuna Hjørring on 11 Sep (photo: SergejPassau, cc-by-sa-4.0)
Looking at the end of the full match video, I noticed that there was an Albanian player who felt it was important to shake hands with all opponents before celebrating with her team-mates. This is a very Japanese things to do (it was the typical habit of players like Aya Miyama to show respect for the losing opponent before celebrating the win, including a World Cup final).
LSK's 3-2 defeat to Anderlecht in Brussels is Norway's first truly bad result in the Champions League for years. It was a result that easily could have been turned around in a home leg, but the low budget all-in-one-city qualifers prevented that. Norwegian clubs have over these last five years beaten the clubs we should beat; like the Danish, Russian, Swiss clubs and all the minnows in the qualifiers, but lost to European giants early on in a string of nightmare draws. Especially Avaldsnes terrible R32 draws have hurt our ranking. Because of this, Toppserien is now ranked behind the Kazakhstan league by UEFA. Utter madness. 2018-19: CL-qualifiers: While struggling just above the relegation zone in Toppserien, Avaldsnes ousted Sporting Lisboa, Osijek and Dragon 2014 in the group. R32: Avaldsnes lost to Lyon || LSK beat Zvezda Perm R16: LSK beat Brøndby QF: LSK lost to Barcelona 2017-18: CL-qualifiers: Avaldsnes beat Spartak Subotica, Breznica Pljevlja and Kiryat Gat. R32: Avaldsnes lost to Barcelona || LSK beat Brøndby R16: LSK lost to Manchester City 2016-17: CL-qualifiers: Avaldsnes beat Benfica, PK35 Vantaa and Newry City. R32: Avaldsnes lost to Lyon || LSK lost to PSG 2015-16: R32: LSK beat Zürich R16: LSK lost to Frankfurt (on pens) 2014-15: R32: Stabæk lost to Wolfsburg
The coefficients do have some issues, eh... How can Uefa get them to be more accurate, without greatly increasing the number of games? With apologies to LSK fans The Week in Women's Football: A comprehensive review of Champions League qualifying rounds - Groups 6 - 10 - https://www.tribalfootball.com/arti...-league-qualifying-rounds-groups-6-10-4294666 (Archived) For the groups won by BIIK-Kazygurt, Braga, Anderlecht, Twente, and Vllaznia. ... Grainey was particularly surprised by Wexford's 2-1 win at Gintra in Lithuania, but those of us half-following the Irish WNL probably saw it coming, err Gintra has an international squad which is underachieving at present.
For clubs? it is easy, use a higher % from the country coefficient. Currently IIRC they have just 25% from it, which means UEFA assume that for example Piteå and Göteborg is much much worse team than Malmö even when they both beat them out in the national league. Assuming that the team that qualifies from a national league are not much worse than the team they beat out for the qualification would be a good start. Currently the club coefficients are so screwed that it is a lie to call it a ranking system, it is just a reward system for clubs that come from non-competitive leagues.
I'm curious what the BigSoccer Brain Trust here thinks about that fact that second "Swiss" team FF Lugano is actually about 2/3rds American: https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...ayers-find-home-switzerland-champions-league/
Their full squad is here https://www.uefa.com/womenschampionsleague/season=2020/clubs/club=2604608/squad/ it is quite funny that the Swiss League regulations allow for so many foreigners. Most countries have limited number of non EU/EEA players
Not looking good for the Swedish teams going in to the Champions League. Reigning champions Piteå have only only won 1 of their last 9 league games (6 draws, 2 losses) and dropped to 8th place in the league. The games they won last year they are drawing this season and they also scored nearly twice as many goals in 2018. Should be close battles with Danish Brøndby. Göteborg only doing slightly better with 3 wins in the last 8 and have dropped from 1st to 3rd in league after the WC break. Doesn't help much that their top players Berglund, Hammarlund and Bøe Risa are injured. They would surely need everyone fit to have a chance to upset Bayern München.
Hmm, I'll put my thinking cap on I say, this development proves the greatness of America, just like everything else
I wonder what Juventus and Fiorentina think about having to play Barcelona and Arsenal in the CL before Serie A has started.
In short: nothing good. In a few nmore words: after seing the abysmal state of fitness of some of Juventus and Fiorentina key-players in the Italian NT's qualifier matches vs Israel and Georgia last week, I am afraid it could be a carnage. (Glimmer of hope for Fiorentina: il looks like Arsenal will have Miedema out injured).
No big brain trust, just little Italian brain here: I am happy that all of the players will take courses of Italian. Canton Ticino, where Lugano is, is one of the few places in the world beyond Italy where Italian is the official language (also, it's quite close to Milan, where I live: so I'll know where to go If I want to see some American girls play football ).
I wonder what level these players are at and their background. Are they college graduates with nowhere to go in America? You bump into Americans here and there when browsing around team squads in various European leagues.
"Nowhere to go" is a bit of an overstatement I think, but otherwise that's the gist I got from the WaPo article. So I'd guess the team overall is mid- to upper-tier WPSL/UWS quality. I fully expect ManCity to cakewalk all over them. True! It's just very odd to see a team that's majority American in Europe (although there was that one Cypriot team that was a bit under half-American usually - basically where Americans went to play in their offseason before the Aussie W-League became a thing).
Wolfsburg vs ???? in about half hour from now on live stream LIVE KFF Mitrovica - VfL Wolfsburg Frauen | UEFA Women's Champions League - YouTube
Slavia have more or less booked their ticket to the next round on the away leg, currently ahead 1 - 4 against Hibernians in Scotland with a little over 10 minutes left. Hat-trick for Tereza Kozarova, the first to were made easy for her by Svitkova. Kozarova has the hat-trick, but the best goal was actually Andrea Jarchovska coming forward from the right-back position: ⚽️💥ABAIR TADHAL!! Jarchovska ga lasadh seachad air Fyfe!💥WHAT A GOAL!! Great strike from Jarchovska - Fyfe had no chance!@HibsLadies 1⃣@SlaviaZeny 3⃣#BBCALBA @UWCL pic.twitter.com/je1JAPPZsM— BBC ALBA (@bbcalba) September 11, 2019 Rivals Sparta also in good position ahead 1 -2 early in the 2nd half in Iceland.
Tonight's action. Round of 32 - First leg: Ryazan-VDV 0 - 9 Lyon Marozsan 12(p), Hegerberg 27, 39, 70(p), Renard 31, 77, 90, Henry 37, Majri 78(p) Minsk 1 - 0 Zürich Ogbiagbevha 21 (Khimich missed penalty after 63 min for Minsk) Mitrovica 0 - 10 Wolfsburg Rauch 14, Maritz 28, 63, Huth 33, Harder 46, 48(p), 67, Jakabfi 79, Neto 85, Minde 87 Chertanovo 0 - 1 Glasgow City Lauder 11 Vllaznia 0 - 1 Fortuna Hjørring Møller 67 Kopparbergs Göteborg 1 - 2 Bayern Munich Rubensson 86(p) - Islacker 75(p), 90+3 Piteå 0 - 1 Brøndby N.Sørensen 38 St. Pölten 2 - 4 Twente Scharnböck 82, Zagor 84 - Kalma 10, 29(p), 75, Weerden 22 Juventus 0 - 2 Barcelona Alexia 39, Torrejon 72 RC: Maria Leon 86 (FCB) Hibernian 1 - 4 Slavia Prague Hunter 3 - Kozarova 36, 40, 75, Jarchovska 42 Breidablik 3 - 2 Sparta Prague Thorvaldsdottir 15, 78, Vilhjalmsdottir 80 - Burkenroad 3, 36 The remaining five matches in this round are played tomorrow: Fiorentina – Arsenal Spartak Subotica – Atletico Madrid Anderlecht – BIIK Kazygurt Braga – Paris Saint-Germain Lugano – Manchester City
Sparta eased up too soon and got caught twice in rapid succession to go behind 3-2. Still like their chances in the return leg with 2 away goals. I don't know what the attendance was at Breidablik, but the fans there made a great atmosphere. .
Only two home wins by the unseeded sides... I know we expect the seeded sides to advance, but it's still really sad that HFA can't be worth a few more first-leg results. I'm not surprised to see Lyon beat RVDV. I am surprised they did it so emphatically... Usually Russian sides aren't pushovers.
As expected Swedish teams struggling. Piteå dominated their game completely but like all season they can't score and 19-2 in shots turned into a 0-1 result. Beautiful long range shot from Sørensen to get the win. Still feels wide open for the return game. Göteborg defended well for most of the match but didn't have much attacking play at all so a fair Bayern win for sure. A very painful goal in the last seconds of the game.
I think the Lyon players got a BIG kick up the arse and were told to raise their game after conceding 3 goals in the League this week-end. Also the seeded team is at home in the Fiorentina - Arsenal tie as the game was reversed.
Ah yeah, makes sense that domestic result was a wake-up call And I know the FIO-ARS tie was revered, but its first leg hadn't been played at the time of my post. ;-)
The US has a much bigger talent pool and overall still better coaching and training than most countries. The Czech league allows 5 non-EU players and this season Sparta is using all 5 on Americans (while Slavia have none this season, they do have a Jamaican and Canadian that both played at American colleges). I would says its similar to how you can find random Brazilians throughout all levels of men's football around the world. The only surprise is that Switzerland doesn't seem to have a limit on internationals. For Sparta based on an interview I saw, they actually seem to have built their pipeline because it provides a fairly good living situation. While the women's game certainly isn't lucrative in Czech Republic, the wage to cost-of-living ratio is better than many other clubs in Europe and our big clubs pay 12 months a year instead of just during season. There are also a decent number of part-time side jobs that a native English speaker can pick up.
So, in the end Miedema started (she was questionable for an hamstring injury) and it's making a heck of a difference! Currently 0-4 at 68', with a Miedema's brace. I would have sworn that the most steep wall to climb for Italian teams was Barcelona, but Juventus managed to resist quite well instead (although reversing the 0-2 home loss will be anyway an impossible task). Fiorentina... not so much!