arshavin show off;

notice blatant offside...

russia is out of europa league

Dynamo, Amkar, and Zenit have all been eliminated from the europa league. The only team whose departure is other than embarrassing is Amkar. At least they managed to win a game. Ugh.

awkward; in an awesome kind of way;

So a coupla dopey fans of FC Amkar dressed up like Death, and greeted Fulham at the aiport. So, like with the "welcome to your grave!" banner illustrated in a mildly inappropriate fashion. Fulham just kinda walked by all that and didn't acknowledge it. Then a Russian sport's publication calls Fulham's PR department and asks them to comment the apology. Riiiiiight. Wait! What apology? So Fulham PR says: "Oh. We hadn't heard the apology yet, but when we do we will certainly accept it."

NICE! This must be the greatest lame-o prank ever!

champion's league; new format; results

Debreceni VSC (Hungary) has made it into the group stages of Champion's League for the first time.
Andrelecht FC (Belgium) did not;
Macabi Haifa FC (Israel) did; for the second time;
Celtic FC (Scotland) did not;
APOEL (Cypris) did; for the first time;
Sporting (Portugal) did not;

from this round of Champion's League

Sweet.

russian teams in europa league; ugh.

Dynamo Moscow could not create anything even remotely interesting in their game against CSKA Sofia. The Bulgarian team wasn't anything special, and evidently neither is Dynamo. 0:0 is the final score, and while the game (and especially the second half) was disappointing, the result isn't exactly horrid.

Amkar had the hardest opponent. The team traveled to England to face Fulham. The Russian team was simply not physically ready to compete. By the time it was the middle of the second half, Amkar footballers were running out of gas. The result was predictable, a 1:3 loss, though to be fair Dimitar Dimitrov's men tried their hardest, and not all is lostwith this result. But with the current state of the team, Amkar is not likely to move into the group stage of Europa League. Might as well wave bye-bye now.

The biggest disappointment came from the 2007/2008 UEFA Cup winners, Zenit St. Petersburg. The team traveled to Portugal to face little known CD Nacional (Cristiano Ronaldo's home and first pro club). Zenit's performance was, once again, marred by wasted opportunities and absolutely horrific defense. With the St. Petersburg's team controlling the flow, the game ended with a 4:3 win for the home side. This certainly gives the Russian team ample opportunity to advance if they do win at home, but with the amount of positional mistakes from the defensive players, and Zenit's chronic inability to put the ball in the back of the net, I am skeptical that Zenit can accomplish anything reasonable this season.

UGH!

champion's league; 4th round; 1st games

Interesting parts...

In the most boring game of this qualification round so far, Arsenal beat Celtic 2:0. This happens to be only the third champion's league game that Celtic had lost at home. Ever. I dunno. The way the Scottish team had played against Dynamo Moscow and now Arsenal, I think the days of Celtic being a staunchly home team are over.

In more exciting games, Sporting couldn't hold on to a lead in the game against Fiorentina. In this game the former Saturn Ramenskoe striker Simon Vukčević gets The Idiot of the Game Day award. The Montenegro international got himself second yellow card for taking off his shirt celebrating his goal that tied the game for Sporting. He will now miss the important second game, where Sporting must win or have a more productive tie to advance. Fiorentina, on the other hand having been able to field the Alberto Giraldino and Adrian Mutu upfront is in good shape to make the group stage.

It seems like every year poor Andrelecht just cannot avoid an embarrassing beating. If last year it was the tiny Belorus team FC BATE that knocked them out of the competiton, this year FC Lyon delivered a 5:1 beating that the Belgians are not likely to recover from.

Maxi Rodríguez, Diego Forlán, Sergio Agüero, and company showed their teeth to FC Panathinaikos, and took a well-deserved 3:2 vicotry in Greece. This Spanish side is rapidly becoming one of my favorite teams in Europe.

Alexandr Hleb who last week admitted that leaving Arsenal for Barcelona was a mistake, has returned to his pre-Arsenal club, VfB Stuttgart. And it seems like he had never left. In Stuttgart's 2:0 win against the Romanian FC Timisoara, Hleb's goal was a bona fide piece of art:



The other parts were not so interesting.

Europa League Play Offs Draw

From uefa.com:
PAOK FC (GRE) v SC Heerenveen (NED)
NK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) v Heart of Midlothian FC (SCO)
Werder Bremen (GER) v FK Aktobe (KAZ)
Everton FC (ENG) v SK Sigma Olomouc (CZE)
FC BATE Borisov (BLR) v PFC Litex Lovech (BUL)
NAC Breda (NED) v Villarreal CF (ESP)
KKS Lech Poznan (POL) v Club Brugge KV (BEL)
Fulham FC (ENG) v FC Amkar Perm (RUS)
Galatasaray SK (TUR) v FC Levadia Tallinn (EST)
FK Teplice (CZE) v Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC (ISR)
FC Metallurh Donetsk (UKR) v FK Austria Wien (AUT)
FC Twente (NED) v FK Qarabag (AZE)
AS Roma (ITA) v MFK Košice (SVK)
FC Dinamo Moskva (RUS) v PFC CSKA Sofia (BUL)
KRC Genk (BEL) v LOSC Lille Métropole (FRA)
PSV Eindhoven (NED) v Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv FC (ISR)
S.S. Lazio (ITA) v IF Elfsborg (SWE)
Trabzonspor (TUR) v Toulouse FC (FRA)
FK Partizan (SRB) v MŠK Žilina (SVK)
FK Baki (AZE) v FC Basel 1893 (SUI)
AFC Ajax (NED) v ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK)
FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) v Sivasspor (TUR)
Brøndby IF (DEN) v Hertha BSC Berlin (GER)
Athletic Club Bilbao (ESP) v Tromsø IL (NOR)
FK Sarajevo (BIH) v CFR 1907 Cluj (ROU)
SK Rapid Wien (AUT) v Aston Villa FC (ENG)
FC Steaua Bucuresti (ROU) v Saint Patrick's Athletic FC (IRL)
AC Sparta Praha (CZE) v NK Maribor (SVN)
FC Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS) v CD Nacional (POR)
Genoa CFC (ITA) v Odense BK (DEN)
FC Dinamo 1948 Bucuresti (ROU) v FC Slovan Liberec (CZE)
EA Guingamp (FRA) v Hamburger SV (GER)
FC Sion (SUI) v Fenerbahçe SK (TUR)
SK Sturm Graz (AUT) v FC Metalist Kharkiv (UKR)
SK Slavia Praha (CZE) v FK Crvena Zvezda (SRB)
SL Benfica (POR) v FC Vorskla Poltava (UKR)
SC Vaslui (ROU) v AEK Athens FC (GRE)
Stabæk IF (NOR) v Valencia CF (ESP)

Predictions are in bold.

Champions League Play Offs Draw

From the uefa.com
Non-Champions Route
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA) v RSC Anderlecht (BEL)
Celtic FC (SCO) v Arsenal FC (ENG)
FC Timisoara (ROU) v VfB Stuttgart (GER)
Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR) v ACF Fiorentina (ITA)
Panathinaikos FC (GRE) v Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP)

Champions Route
FC Sheriff (MDA) v Olympiacos CFP (GRE)
FC Salzburg (AUT) v Maccabi Haifa FC (ISR)
FK Ventspils (LVA) v FC Zürich (SUI)
FC København (DEN) v APOEL FC (CYP)
PFC Levski Sofia (BUL) v Debreceni VSC (HUN)

The predicted winners are in bold. When I don't know -- I make no bold statements. Get it?

shameful!

Dynamo (Moscow) was knocked out of Champion's League by the Celtic. Dynamo gave false hopes to its fans by surprising everyone with 1:0 win in Glasgow, but, alas, at home they got intimidated, and a 90+3 minute goal by Samaras made it a 2:0 away win for the Scotsmen:



If this wasn't enough... Krylia Sovetov lost concentration and allowed two late goals by St. Patrick Athletic from Ireland. Who has ever heard of these folks!?

Russia is zero for two in the European club competitions this year. ugh... Four more clubs are going to enter in the later stages:

• Rubin Kazan' (CL/group)
• PFK CSKA (CL/group)
• Amkar (EL)
• Zenit St. Petersburgh (EL)

So there will be more shame for me to post about...

At least my Israelites are rocking it with the comeback game of the year (from being down 0:3 to a 4:3 win):