UCL 3rd Qualifying Round

[Gunnerman]

Right let's try this again FFS!

The draw for the third qualifying round of this season's UEFA Champions League (UCL) is complete.

1st Leg
FK Ekranas or NK Dinamo Zagreb v Arsenal
Either Tuesday 8th/Wednesday 9th August 2006
2nd Leg
Arsenal v FK Ekranas or NK Dinamo Zagreb
Wednesday, August 23, 2006 at Emirates Stadium. Kick-off: 7.45 p.m.

The complete Third Qualifying Round draw:
Sheriff (Moldova) or Spartak Moscow (Russia) v FC Slovan Liberec (Czech Republic)
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) v Fimleikafelag Hafnarfjardar (Iceland) or Legia Warsaw (Poland)
FC Zürich (Switzerland) or Salzburg (Austria) v Valencia (Spain)
Levski Sofia (Bulgaria) or FC Sioni Bolnisi (Georgia) v Chievo Verona(Italy)
Hearts (Scotland) or Široki Brijeg (Bosnia and Herzegovina) v AEK Athens (Greece)
CSKA Moscow (Russia) v Djurgården (Sweden) or Ružomberok (Slovakia)
AC Milan (Italy) v Cork City (Republic of Ireland) or Crvena Zvezda (Serbia and Montenegro)
Galatasaray (Turkey) v Mladá Boleslav (Czech Republic) or Vålerenga (Norway)
Standard de Liège (Belgium) v NK Gorica (Slovenia) or Steaua Bucharest (Romania)
Austria Vienna (Austria) v Benfica (Portugal)
Ekranas (Lithuania) or Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) v Arsenal (England)
FC Copenhagen (Denmark) or MyPa (Finland) v Ajax (Holland)
Hamburg SV (Germany) v Osasuna (Spain)
Metalurgs (Latvia) or Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine) v Fenerbahçe (Turkey) or B36 Tòrshavn (Faroe Islands)
Liverpool (England) v Maccabi Haifa (Israel)
Lille OSC (France) v Debrecen (Hungary) or Rabotnicki (Macedonia)

So Arsenal will more than likely face Dynamo Zagreb as they pounded the Lithuanian champs Ekranas 4-1 in Lithuania. Not the best draw for the Gunners IMO, as playing in Croatia can be difficult. Right now the team is training in Austria so I say keep the squad there cos it is only a short hop from Austria to Croatia. Save a bit on the travel.

Other notables;
My favorite Italian team made it in! Yep those Flying Donkeys of Chievo Verona have made the UCL. Of course it is all due to the fact that those match fixing cnuts at Juventus have been relegated to Serie B because of the match fixing scandal.

AC Milan also implicated in the Italian Job where in the draw but only provisionally. Milan will still have to send their bigwigs to suck up to UEFA bigwigs and plead their case as to why they should be allowed to participate, I look for a great deal of sucking and eventually Milan will be allowed to play.

Liverpool have drawn Israeli side Maccabi Haifa. Now Haifa right now ain't the most safest of places be. So UEFA have asked the Israeli Federation for assurances of safety or else the match will be moved. More than likely moved to Cyprus.

So it is off to Zagreb, I have full confidence that the boss will have the squad fit and ready, C'MON YOU GUNNERS let's make another final!

[BtownJay]

Pardon my ignorance... but what is the tourney? I don't think i've heard anything about it before.

[Gunnerman]

This is the Champions League. Come on Jay you remember from last season we followed it during the day. Right now the tournament is still it's qualification rounds. Today they just held the draw for the 3rd round of qualifying. After the 3rd round comes the group stage.

[BtownJay]

Sorry Gunny, this all gets so damn confusing. So they play the Champions league (best teams from European leagues right?) and the EPL/la liga, etc all at the same time. So the better teams are in two leagues at the same time and then have to play two different set of playoffs at the same time?

[Gunnerman]

Lemme see if I can simplify.....

Each country has it's own league. Typically most Euro leagues start in August and play through May. Most leagues take a break in January, England does not. Remeber as well the domestic leagues only play a regular season no playoffs at the end, whomever is first at the end is declared the champion of that league.

Next each country has a separate domestic Cup competition. This is a knockout competition, in England there are two, the FA Cup and the Carling Cup. In Italy there is the Coppa D'Italia and so on. These Cup competions have no bearing on the regular season.

Thirdly their is European Competition which has two tournaments. The higher level one and more pretigious is the Champions League (UCL). The UCL is for the best teams or "Champions" of all of the Euro Leagues from the previous season. Some countries get more than one team in this like England who can enter 4. The other competition is the UEFA Cup and it is for the teams just below the ones that qualify for the UCL. The UEFA Cup also takes in any team that won a domestic cup competition.

So for Arsenal this season the will be playing in the Premier League. They will also be competing in the Carling Cup and the FA Cup. Plus their continued participation in the Champions League hinges on winning their 3rd round qualifying matches on aggregrate, more than likely against Dynamo Zagreb.

[BtownJay]

Thanks Gunny... my head is spinning less.... but it will take me time to get all of this down. They make everything so confusing over there with the mixing of leagues and shit. Too many leagues, tourneys, and cups.

[Gunnerman]

LOL, no worries Jay, I think the overlapping of all these competitions is one reason I enjoy it so much.

I mean take MLB, they play all effing summer and the Suckos have zip squat zero chance in hell of playing any meaningful games. If they shortened the season and made a Cup competition maybe the Suckos could make a cup run and play some meaningful baseball for the first time in 14 effing years.

[ssigman]

the best way to think about it is...a main league...2 short tourney's in a country....and 2 tourney's for all of europe...it gets confusing but you'll catch on....buy fifa and you'll learn quicker

like i said in the earlier ucl thread....liverpool and haifa will probably play their game in cyprus for safety issues...

[BtownJay]

I did get Fifa actually. However i'm only using the Revs right now in a MLS season. I have not ventured over to the Euorpean leagues yet. That will be next.

[Gunnerman]

I got FIFA once, I think it was last season, all it did was reinforce how much I suck at video games, ROFL!

[ssigman]

it definitely will help...they have alot of leagues...you'll learn alot quick