And so the last groupstage match in UC -old style has finished, we have seen some surprises, of which the main is Sevilla's elimination. I would say. Looking at Holland I am pleasently surprised that 3 teams made it, I wouldn't have thought that 2 months ago...
Looking at the changes that happened due to this last round in the expected countryranking '09 we see a little setback for England and Spain (despite Sevilla's elimination), Germany rising and FRance falling. More important we see them falling to just above Russia now - the battle for 5th spot seems to be back! Also Ukraine with Metalist ending on 1st spot has climbed closer to Portugal, Is also this 9th spot still under pressure? with a good draw, it can change, but for Shakthar and Dinamo Kiew it probably is a hard draw, as nr2 from the UC group are mostly big names: Milan, Valencia, Tottenham...
Sorry all for not updating last week. Too much to do and on my spare night I had not internet.
Well I updated all domestic leagues, as far as they are still running in the winter. Also the CL-GS has finished. Not much surprises has happened anymore there. I wonder if this weeks UC last MD will bring more (I hope NEC will qualify). Ukraine did very well and has a risen expectation. Fortunately for Portugal also they have risen, so they stay ahead of Ukraine avoiding the battle for the 6th European spot.
Matchday 4 of the Uefacup has been entered. In the predicted-countryranking'09 graph you can see that this was a good week for France! And a bit less for Russia. 5ht place run seems decided. Becasue of Braga's qualification also Portugal seems to hold on to the 9th spot.
It is starting to get clear who will still play in spring.
Besides the updates of the domestic leagues, I also changed the Uefa-qualifcation page: I remved the regional groupings, as now a second source has confirmed that there won't be any regional groupings anymore. I have to say it simplifies my work :) It doesn't change much, but the overview is better.
And now I'm ready for this weeks UefaCup spectacle - still a lot is possible, and though some things seem clear, UefaCup is known for their surprises (e.g. imagine NEC would win in Moscow...., or Twente eliminates Schalke....(with their former coach Rutten!))
All results are in of this weeks UCL matches. Portugal and Scotland didn't had a good week, while England had a good one. Looking at the graph we see still some possible fights: for the 5th spot is France ahead of Russia, 7/8: Romania stays ahead of Holland, 9 Portgual goes down strong, 10/11 Ukraine and Turkey moving closer, 12/13 Scotland and Greece seem to end at the same level, 14/15 Switzerland and Belgium too. When it is so close, every match count, every point counts, a draw or a win, etc.
THis was the 1st of 4 midweek European weeks. IN the end we will have lost 24 teams. Some are known already, some not. I hope Anorthosis will be able to hold on! Next week only UC.
All summerleagues are ended now. On the last matchday Zenit made sure they will return next season in the European League- or at least the qualifiers for it that is.
This seasons CL is making up for MD5, more decisions will fall: who will qualify and who will be out. Also MD3 of the UC is this week. The last combined week. There the first teams will be qualified or eliminated. It is the first week of 4 european weeks: next week again UC, then CL MD6 and then the final UC MD. 24 teams will be out after that, the shape of the countryranking will get more shape. It's time for decisions!
Summer elagues are getting to the end. On the forum I put a list of the current particiapnt standing. It's almost complete. We have BATE, Kalmar, Levadia as champions.
In CL we are getting in the endfase of the Groupstages, Barca, Sporting and Juve are sure already of spring-CL, but further there are still some intersting fights going on. In general France did very well this week, resulting in a big going upwards in the predicted yearranking'09. Holland in the same time loses ground (part of this is of course the OM-PSV match, but ther is more) and now is not destined to catch up with Romania anymore. Further we also see that Italy is doing well and Turkey seems to be overtaking Ukraine - who was possibly going to get closer to Portugal, but that seems out of reach now. Though it looks now like Sporting and Porto continue in CL, while Kiev and Shakthar continue in UC, where the points lie.......
This mid-week is for domestic cup matches, but
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Hello all, after even some midweek matchdays we are now getting close to the winterbreak. We have Rubin as the Russian champion and so all summerleague champions are almost known. Kalmar and BATE are as good as champion and so we start filling in some names for the new CL-system.
As suggested very good I added a date on all sheets so you can see if you got the latest version. All should have now 3-nov-2008.
Most important this week is the next round in CL& UC. Will already some teams qualify for the CL-KO round, or be eliminated? Normally that already happens in MD4 and I see it happening again this year group DEFGH could aal already be decided who goes to CL-KO or not....Ay that doesn't sounds interesting. We'll see....
Stabaek and Inter Turku are the champions of this weekend, Kalmar got close and Rubin will play CL next year. There is a small chance they will have to play the non-champions play-off.
In CLGS we are now half way Cluj and Anorthosis couldn't surprise this week, but BATE kept Zenit on a draw. In UCGS not much can be said yet after the first MD. After the next, the first teams could already be qualified, but not now yet.
In the predicted countryranking'09 we see now Russia has dropped below France again due to the draw of Zenit, as CSKA won greatly. Greece has a downwards tendency, but still hold the possible important 13th spot. Belgium is getting closer and is s close as Switzerland now. Can Standard and Brugge beat Olympiakos and Panathinaikos?