UEFA Cup 2005/06

[Thomp]

Here's the first round draw:

Slavia Prague v Cork City
Dinamo Bucharest v EVERTON
HIBERNIAN v FC Dnipro
MIDDLESBROUGH v Xanthi
BOLTON v Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Auxerre v Levski Sofia
Aris Salonika v AS Roma
Monaco v Willem II Tilburg
Banik Ostrava v Heerenveen
Bayer Leverkusen v CSKA Sofia
Besiktas v Malmo
Brondby v FC Zurich
Red Star Belgrade v Braga
CSKA Moscow v Midtjylland
Basel v Siroki Brijeg
Litex Lovech v Racing Genk
Feyenoord v Rapid Bucharest
Teplice v Espanyol
Germinal Beerschot v Olympique Marseille
Graz AK v Racing Strasbourg
Halmstad v Sporting Lisbon
Hamburg SV v FC Copenhagen
Hertha Berlin v APOEL Nicosia
Krylya Sovietov Samara v AZ Alkmaar
Lokomotiv Moscow v Brann Bergen
Maccabi Petah Tikva v Partizan Belgrade
Metalurg Donetsk v PAOK Salonika
MyPa Myllykoski v Grasshoppers
Palermo v Anorthosis Famagusta
Racing Lens v Groclin Grodzisk
Stade Rennes v Osasuna
Sevilla v Mainz
Shakhtar Donetsk v Debrecen
Tromso v Galatasaray
Valerenga Oslo v Steaua Bucharest
VfB Stuttgart v Domzale
Viking Stavanger v Austria Vienna
Vitoria Guimaraes v Wisla Krakow
Vitoria Setubal v Sampdoria
Zenit St Petersburg v AEK Athens

Tought draw for us Evertonians with Bucharest, but we should win both ties, and progress to the group stages :)

[jonffm]

Oh yeah..UEFA cup does that silly group stage nonsence now...I personally don't like it, the knockout was alot more exciting because any team can fall at any time. With groups, generally the best teams advance, due to the amount of games played.

UEFA cup should be more about the smaller teams winning than the best that are in there. The best team in the UEFA winning it means nothing. Everyone says it's worthless, and it ultimatly gets compleatly overshadowed by the CL. The knockouts from start to finish gave the medium teams, like everton, a much better chance.

Still, if you don't end up witht oo difficult of a group, you should be fine. Your main worry has to be meeting teams like Roma or Feyenoord, or being draw up against one of the CL fallen giants.

[Thomp]

We shall be fine, yes. It is stupid how UEFA changed the rules, as it meant anything could happen, but I suppose other teams are given an extra chance with the group stages

[jonffm]

I tell ya though, if you do manage to avoid the big boys, you could go quite far. Even if you do come up against one of the giants, a preformance like the one against Villarreal will at least cause them troubles. Twill be interesting to see how far you can go.

Tell ya what, you lot win the UEFA cup, and we MIGHT let you ride our victory bus with the CL next year :p