CL Group H Thread - Arsenal - Sevilla - Steaua - Slavia

UEFA Champions League Group H

Arsenal . . . Sevilla . . . Steaua . . . Slavia Prague

Matchday 1
Arsenal vs. Sevilla - 19/09
Slavia vs. Steaua - 19/09

Matchday 2
Steaua vs. Arsenal - 02/10
Sevilla vs. Slavia - 02/10

Matchday 3
Sevilla vs. Steaua - 23/10
Arsenal vs. Slavia - 23/10

Matchday 4
Steaua vs. Sevilla - 07/11
Slavia vs. Arsenal - 07/11

Matchday 5
Sevilla vs. Arsenal - 27/11
Steaua vs. Slavia - 27/11

Matchday 6
Arsenal vs. Steaua - 12/12
Slavia vs. Sevilla - 12/12

Table .................... Pts
1. Arsenal
2. Sevilla
3. Steaua
4. Slavia

Just put Sevilla in there

Sevilla at home on the 19th will be a great game (if they get through). Coming straight after the North London derby it could either be a very good week for us or an awful one!

I am very confident we'll finish top of the group.

sevilla are the strongest of the lot, they are a very good side, but i don't think they'll defeat us. Most of their creative play comes from the wings and i can't see them getting much joy from our full backs( who are one of the strongest on 1 V 1 in europe).

kas wrote:Just put Sevilla in there

You have to remain impartial.

I am reasonably happy with this group, Valencia would have been a bad draw for us. Like 2005/2006 CL season, getting the momentum going early will be important this season.

I hate playing valencia, glad we didn't draw them.

Valencia is a very very very tricky team.. They were definetly the top tier 2 team!

Got a message on Slavia Prague / their players, very unbiassed assessment by a Sparta-fan, crabcz:

Congratulations !!!
My Sparta really sucked this time (this time? oh...).

Let me have a few words about our rival - Slavia:

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GK - Martin Vaniak - 36y - the second best czech goalkeeper right now, unlucky career, unofficial world champion in saving free kicks (beat Canizares in final, tournament included Zidane), national team player

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DF- Marek Suchy - 19y - U20-national team player, probably his last (half) season in Slavia (Real Madrid/Chelsea are interested), has a bright future

DF - Martin Latka - 22y - Former U19,U20,U21-national team player

DF - Matej Krajcik - 29y - Slovakian national team player

DF - Frantisek Drizdal - 29y - Don't know him

DF - Brabec Erich - 30y - Good headerer, not impressive

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MF - Tijani Belaid - 19y - French U19-national team player, on loan from Internazionale, not prepared for a full game

MF - Michal Svec - 20y - U21-national team player

MF - Dusan Svento - 22y - seriously injured during trial in Derby, their best player (last season, before injury), Slovakian national team player

MF - Ladislav Volesak - 23y - Former U19,U20,U21 national team player, came from Sparta Prague (basta...d)

MF - Mickael Tavares - 24y - French player, self-confident

MF - David Kalivoda - 25y - not impressive

MF - Vladimir 'The Luck' Smicer - 34y - Everywhere he came he spreaded luck, the guy won UC, CHL, second&third in EURO 96/2004, scored some (and only) important goals (Netherlanders might remember his last goal against Netherlands in EURO 2004 ), unluckily he always gets injured. Clubs - 57 goals, national team - 27 goals

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FW - Tomas Necid - 18y - U20-national team player (injured during U20 World Cup)

FW - Petr Janda - 20y - U20-national team player

FW - Milan Ivana - 23y - former Slovakian U21 national team player, signed 3 contracts with 3 different teams at the same time and thus almost missed this season (He probably wanted to work his ass off)

FW - Stanislav Vlcek - 31y - it's like the worst and the best Slavia player at the same time. Captain

------------

Overview:
A lot of unexperienced Uxx-national team players. They have more national team players, but they're on loan or too young. The only player who ever played CHL is Vladimir Smicer who probably injure himself during first 10 minutes...
Slavia's first appearence in CHL (thanks to the Smicer's luck), they failed 5 times in third qualifying round during the last 10 years.
They're, unfortunately, better than Sparta at this time. They didn't win last season league title just because of their inexperience.
They get maximally 1 point out of 2 matches against Arsenal. You could humilliate them at least once (do it for Sparta fans )

Shouldn't be any problem for Arsenal, quite easy group, when you look else at other groups. Good to see old Smicer again. Mickael Tavares, lol, used to play in second division in France last year, with Tours, a club that had a pathetic season and which was relegated.

Fc Sevilla are very very strong, certainly the second best team in Spain.

Some say this an easy group (for Arsenal and Sevilla) and it is. We could have done better (Liverpools group and Milans) but also worse. A 3rd place is posible and with a bit of luck we could get the 2rd place.

99% I'll go to London in December to see the game.

I don't think you will have any problem finishing third. Steaua is much better than Slavia.

Sorry, it was a mistake in my post. I meant

"A 3rd place is posible and with a bit of luck we could get the 2rd place."

A bit of luck meaning we have to get 6 points with Slavia and beat Sevilla in Bucharest. It will be hard but we have to belive we can do it. Last year no one though we could beat Real and Lyon and it showed on the pitch where our players where beaten before the game even started.

Steaua are gaining helpful experience in the champions league qfter fruitful years playing in the U.E.F.A cup. The more you play at this level the better you become and the better you approach games.

2004/2005 Steaua Bucureşti win Romanian 1. Liga title and qualify for CL qualfiers

Romanian 1. Liga 2004/2005 final table:
1.FC Steaua Bucureşti 30 19 6 5 47-18 63
2.FC Dinamo Bucureşti 30 20 2 8 60-30 62

27/07/05 CL qualification 2nd round Shelbourne (Ire) - Steaua Bucureşti 0-0

03/08/05 CL qualification 2nd round Steaua Bucureşti - Shelbourne 4-1
18' Nicoliţă 1-0 27' Iacob 2-0 38' J Byrne 21- 61' Dinita 3-1 90+4' Oprita (pen) 4-1

10/08/05 CL qualification 3rd round Steaua Bucureşti - Rosenborg 1-1
30' Iacob 1-0 85' Helstad 1-1

17/08/05 CL qualification 3rd round Rosenborg - Steaua Bucureşti 3-2
38' Solli 1-0 57' Ødegaard 2-0 60' Radoi (og) 3-0 74' Radoi 3-1 76' Iacob 3-2

15/09/05 UEFA Cup 1st round Vålerenga (Nor) - Steaua Bucureşti 0-3
24' Radoi 0-1 35' Iacob 0-2 74' Goian 0-3

29/09/05 UEFA Cup 1st round Steaua Bucureşti - Vålerenga 3-1
30' Dică 1-0 41' Bostina 2-0 48' Iacob 3-0 55' Hulsker 3-1

20/10/05 UEFA Cup Group stage match 1 Steaua Bucureşti - RC Lens (Fra) 4-0
13' Iacob 1-0 16' Goian 2-0 43' Dică 3-0 63' Dică 4-0

03/11/05 UEFA Cup Group stage match 2 Sampdoria (Ita) - Steaua Bucureşti 0-0

30/11/05 UEFA Cup Group stage match 3 Steaua Bucureşti - Halmstad (Swe) 3-0
9' Radoi 1-0 63' Goian 2-0 73' Iacob 3-0

15/12/05 UEFA Cup Group stage match 4 Hertha BSC - Steaua Bucureşti 0-0

Steaua Bucureşti finish 1st in Group C and qualify for last 32

15/02/06 UEFA Cup last 32 SC Heerenveen (Hol) - Steaua Bucureşti 1-3
24' Bruggink 1-0 29' Dică 1-1 76' Goian 1-2 78' Paraschiv 1-3

23/02/06 UEFA Cup last 32 Steaua Bucureşti - SC Heerenveen 0-1
85' Bruggink 0-1

09/03/06 UEFA Cup last 16 Steaua Bucureşti - Betis Sevilla (Spa) 0-0

16/03/06 UEFA Cup last 16 Betis Sevilla - Steaua Bucureşti 0-3
54' Nicoliţă 0-1 78' Iacob 0-2 82' Nicoliţă 0-3

30/03/06 UEFA Cup QF Rapid Bucureşti - Steaua Bucureşti 1-1
5' Nicoliţă 0-1 50' V Moldovan 1-1

06/04/06 UEFA Cup QF Steaua Bucureşti - Rapid Bucureşti 0-0

20/04/06 UEFA Cup SF Steaua Bucureşti - Middlesbrough 1-0
30' Dică 1-0

20/04/06 UEFA Cup SF Middlesbrough - Steaua Bucureşti 4-2
16' Dică 0-1 24' Goian 0-2 33' Maccarone 1-2 64' Viduka 2-2 73' Riggott 3-2 89' Middlesbrough 4-2

Topscorers 2005/2006 European campaign: Iacob 8 Dică 6 Goian 5 Nicoliţă & Radoi 4

In the 2005/2006 season Steaua retained their Romanian 1. Liga title and qualify for CL qualfiers

Romanian 1. Liga 2005/2006 final table:
1.FC Steaua Bucureşti 30 19 7 4 49-16 64
2.AFC Rapid Bucureşti 30 17 8 5 47-23 59

26/07/06 CL qualification 2nd round Gorica (Slo) - Steaua Bucureşti 0-2
54' Dică 0-1 65' Iacob 0-2

02/08/06 CL qualification 2nd round Steaua Bucureşti - Gorica 3-0
43' Bostina 1-0 70' Iacob 2-0 87' Ochiroşii (pen) 3-0

09/08/06 CL qualification 3rd round Standard Liege (Bel) - Steaua Bucureşti 2-2
8' Paraschiv 0-1 17' Rapaić 1-1 51' Rapaić 2-1 70' Marin 2-2

23/08/06 CL qualification 3rd round Steaua Bucureşti Standard Liege 2-1
2' Jovanović 0-1 35' Badea 1-1 51' Badea 2-1

13/09/06 CL Group stage match 1 Dynamo Kyiv (Ukr) - Steaua Bucureşti 1-4
3' Ghionea 0-1 16' Rebrov 1-1 24' Badea 1-2 43' Dică 1-3 79' Dică 1-4

26/09/06 CL Group stage match 2 Steaua Bucureşti - Olympique Lyon (Fra) 0-3
43' Fred 0-1 55' Tiago 0-2 89' Benzema 0-3

17/10/06 CL Group stage match 3 Steaua Bucureşti - Real Madrid (Spa) 1-4
9' Ramos 0-1 34' Raúl 0-2 56' Robinho 0-3 64' Badea 1-3 76' Van Nistelrooy 1-4

01/11/06 CL Group stage match 4 Real Madrid - Steaua Bucureşti 1-0
70' Nicoliţă (og) 1-0

21/11/06 CL Group stage match 5 Steaua Bucureşti - Dynamo Kyiv 1-1
29' Cernat 0-1 69' Dică 1-1

06/12/06 CL Group stage match 6 Olympique Lyon - Steaua Bucureşti 1-1
2' Dică 0-1 12' Diarra 1-1

Steaua Bucureşti finsh 3rd in their group and qualify for last 32 UEFA Cup

15/02/07 UEFA Cup last 32 Steaua Bucureşti - Sevilla 0-2
41' Poulsen 0-1 77' Kanouté (pen) 0-2

22/12/07 UEFA Cup last 32 Sevilla - Steaua Bucureşti 1-0
45+3' Kerzhakov 1-0

Dică missed both matches v Sevilla.

Topscorers 2006/2007 European campaign: Dică 5 Badea 4 Iacob 2

In the 2006/2007 season Steaua finished 2nd in the Romanian 1. Liga and qualify for CL qualfiers

Romanian 1. Liga 2006/2007 final table:
1.FC Dinamo Bucureşti 34 23 8 3 63-24 77
2.FC Steaua Bucureşti 34 21 8 5 61-22 71

Second qualifying round - 31 July 2007 20:45 (local time) - Zaglebia - Lubin

31/07/07 CL qualification 2nd round Zagłębie Lubin (Pol) - Steaua Bucureşti 0-1
55' Goian 0-1

08/08/07 CL qualification 2nd round Steaua Bucureşti - Zagłębie Lubin 2-1
29' Stasiak 0-1 37' Nicoliţă 1-1 83' Zaharia 2-1

15/08/07 CL qualification 3rd round FC BATE Borisov (Blr) - Steaua Bucureşti 2-2
39' Radkov 1-0 60' Goian 1-1 85' Dică 1-2 90+2' Bliznyuk 2-2

29/08/07 CL qualification 3rd round Steaua Bucureşti - FC BATE Borisov 2-0
12' Zaharia 1-0 54' Neaga 2-0

Current 1. Liga 2007/2008 results:
FC Steaua Bucureşti 4 3 1 0 4-1 10

Gone on Steaua:

gone wrote:About the team. So far we did lose any games. 6 wins and 2 draws in the league and the QR. We have a new coach this season, Hagi, and 14 new players. The team has started slow and we didn't play very well but we still good some good results.

The main players for us are Goian, Radoi and Dica. Radoi is injured and we don't know when he will return (it could be 1 month).

The team:

GK - Zapata. A very good Columbian goalkeeper.

Defence. Most likely will be Golanski - Goian - Radoi - Emeghara. If Radoi will not be fit then Ghionea or Rada will take he place. Our defenders are big but slow so RVP could take advantage of that. Goian and Radoi are starters for our NT and Golanski for the Poland NT.

Midfield. Nicolita - Petre - Lovin. Nicolita plays for our NT. Very fast but has problems crossing the ball. Petre and Lovin are 2 tall and strong midfielder but not very technical and they lose a lot of ball. In front of them is Dica as a playmaker. He's our main player and scorer. Last year he got 4 goals in the group stage of the CL. Very technical, a good shot but he's slow and can have problems against agressive DMs.

Foward. Here I can't say who will start. Zaharia and Iacob are the strong box type strikers and one of them will surely start in the team. Neaga, Surdu and Badea play the second striker role. All of them are fast and technical players. I can't say who will start as the coach will rotate them.

I hope Sevilla is not as strong as last year and we will get the second place. But a more realistic objective will be the 3rd place. For me it's hard to decide if I'll go to London or Praga (I've been to Sevilla so I won't go there). Maybe I'll go to both games.

Thanks De Guzman, great bits of info on the opposition.

Maybe we can e-mail it to Wenger later today!

Plenty of stuff on youtube on all clubs:

like 'Dica's 10 best goals':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AscyacSMT5c

Some of Steauas goals in 2007

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8fjbQhuaSk

Thanx for that gone.

Slavia Praha in recent years in Europe:

2004/2005 Slavia finish 2nd in Czech 1. Liga and qualify for CL qualifiers

Czech 1. Liga Final Table 2004/2005:

1.AC Sparta Praha 30 20 4 6 53-28 64
2.SK Slavia Praha 30 15 8 7 39-25 53* [2 1 0 1 2-1 3]
3.FK Teplice 30 14 11 5 36-27 53 [2 1 0 1 1-2 3]

* better result in matches against other team with same amount of points

10/08/05 CL qualification 3rd round RSC Anderlecht (Bel) - Slavia Praha 2-1
7' Goor 1-0 21' Jarolím 1-1 38' Mbo Mpenza 2-1

24/08/05 CL qualification 3rd round Slavia Praha - RSC Anderlecht 0-2
72' Serhat 0-1 85' Mbo Mpenza 0-2

15/09/05 UEFA Cup 1st round Slavia Praha - Cork (Ire) 2-0
62' Hrdlička 1-0 79' Piták 2-0

29/09/05 UEFA Cup 1st round Cork - Slavia Praha 1-2
28' Piták 0-1 59' Vlček 0-2 73' O'Callaghan (pen) 1-2

03/11/05 UEFA Cup Group stage match 1 Slavia Praha - CSKA Sofia (Bul) 4-2
5' Fořt 1-0 10' Gargonov 1-1 36' Vlček 2-1 56' Piták 3-1 58' Sakaliev 3-2 75' Fořt 4-2

24/11/05 UEFA Cup Group stage match 2 Viking Stavanger (Nor) - Slavia Praha 2-2
26' Nhleko 1-0 51' Vlček 1-1 55' Gaarde 2-1 83' Piták 2-2

30/11/05 UEFA Cup Group stage match 3 Slavia Praha - AS Monaco (Fra) 0-2
12' Maoulida 0-1 72' Maoulida 0-2

15/12/05 UEFA Cup Group stage match 4 Hamburger SV (Ger) - Slavia Praha 2-0
9' Barbarez 1-0 56' Emile Mpenza 2-0

Slavia Praha finish 3rd in Group A and qualify for last 32

16/02/06 UEFA Cup last 32 Slavia Praha - Palermo (Ita) 2-1
28' Jarolím 1-0 40' Conteh 1-1 48' Piták 2-1

23/02/06 UEFA Cup last 32 Palermo - Slavia Praha 1-0
51' Godeas 1-0

Topscorers 2005/2006 European campaign: Piták 5 Vlček 3 Jarolím & Fořt 2


2005/2006 Slavia finish 3rd in Czech 1. Liga and qualify for UEFA Cup qualifiers

Czech 1. Liga Final Table 2005/2006:

1.FC Slovan Liberec 30 16 11 3 43-22 59
2.FK Mladá Boleslav 30 16 6 8 50-36 54* [2 1 0 1 5-3 3]
3.SK Slavia Praha 30 15 9 6 56-34 54 [2 1 0 1 3-5 3]

10/08/06 UEFA Cup qualification 2nd round Karvan (Aze) - Slavia Praha 0-2
15' Hrdlička 0-1 90+3' Fořt 0-2

24/08/06 UEFA Cup qualification 2nd round Slavia Praha - Karvan 0-0

14/09/06 UEFA Cup 1st round Slavia Praha - Spuds (Eng) 0-1
37' Jenas 0-1

28/09/06 UEFA Cup 1st round Spuds - Slavia Praha 1-0
79' Keane 1-0


2006/2007 Slavia finish 2nd in Czech 1. Liga and qualify for CL qualifiers

Czech 1. Liga Final Table 2006/2007:

1.AC Sparta Praha 30 18 8 4 44-20 62
2.SK Slavia Praha 30 17 7 6 44-23 58* [4 2 1 1 5-4 7]
3.FK Mladá Boleslav 30 17 7 6 48-27 58 [4 1 2 1 7-5 5]
4.FC Slovan Liberec 30 16 10 4 44-22 58 [4 1 1 2 3-6 4]

01/08/07 CL qualification 2nd round Žilina (Slv) - Slavia Praha 0-0

08/08/07 CL qualification 2nd round Slavia Praha - Žilina (Slv) 0-0
Slavia win 4-3 on penalties.

15/08/07 CL qualification 3rd round Ajax (Hol) - Slavia Praha 0-1
75' Kalivoda (pen) 1-0

29/08/07 CL qualification 3rd round Slavia Praha - Ajax 2-1
23' Vlček 1-0 34' Suárez 1-1 87' Vlček 2-1

This weekend's league results:

Unirea Urziceni - Steaua Bucuresti 1-0 (injury time goal)
Steaua are now ranked 8th with 10 points from 5 matches

Most - Slavia Praha 2-3
14' Toleski 1-0 22' Vlček 1-1 39' Vlček 1-2 82' Gaucho 1-3 90' Webster 2-3
Slavia top the league after 5 wins.

Welcome to Group H Sevilla!

FT Slavia Praha - Banik Ostrava 0-0

League table:
1. Slavia 6-16
2. Banik 6-14
3. Spartak 5-13

@gone: who do you think will play in goal for Staeua? Zapata or Cernea?

jonathan de guzman wrote:@gone: who do you think will play in goal for Staeua? Zapata or Cernea?

Unless he get an injury, Zapata is the no. 1 keeper. And for good reasons. We have the best defense in the league so far (only 2 goals scored against). Our attack is the problem.

gone wrote:

jonathan de guzman wrote:@gone: who do you think will play in goal for Staeua? Zapata or Cernea?

Unless he get an injury, Zapata is the no. 1 keeper. And for good reasons. We have the best defense in the league so far (only 2 goals scored against). Our attack is the problem.

Thanx mate for the fast answer; means I could sub Cernea in time for Zapata. Decided to go for him as my starting Fantasy football keeper, Goian is in my team too.

jonathan de guzman wrote:

gone wrote:

jonathan de guzman wrote:@gone: who do you think will play in goal for Staeua? Zapata or Cernea?

Unless he get an injury, Zapata is the no. 1 keeper. And for good reasons. We have the best defense in the league so far (only 2 goals scored against). Our attack is the problem.

Thanx mate for the fast answer; means I could sub Cernea in time for Zapata. Decided to go for him as my starting Fantasy football keeper, Goian is in my team too.

On UEFA.com? I have RVP in mine.

These are Marca.com predicted line-ups (they're good at it):


Arsenal FC: Almunia; Sagna, Toure, Silva, Cliché; Hleb, Cesc Fabregas, Rosicky, Flamini; Adebayor & Van Persie.

Sevilla FC: Palop; Daniel Alves, Boulahrouz, Escudé, Dragutinovic; Jesús Navas, Poulsen, Keita, Duda; Luis Fabiano & Kanouté.

source: http://www.marca.com/edicion/marca/futbol/champions/previaxcronica/es/desarrollo/1037074.html

based on Sevilla's previous season's striker rotations in CL & La Liga, I also think they'll gor fo Fabiano & Kanouté.

gone wrote:

jonathan de guzman wrote:

gone wrote:

jonathan de guzman wrote:@gone: who do you think will play in goal for Staeua? Zapata or Cernea?

Unless he get an injury, Zapata is the no. 1 keeper. And for good reasons. We have the best defense in the league so far (only 2 goals scored against). Our attack is the problem.

Thanx mate for the fast answer; means I could sub Cernea in time for Zapata. Decided to go for him as my starting Fantasy football keeper, Goian is in my team too.

On UEFA.com? I have RVP in mine.

Yep. I like playing Steaua players, they won me plenty of points in the UEFA Cup 2 seasons ago, Dica did the same in the CL last year.

Great performance by Arsenal but didn't like 80-90 mins. looked like one of Sven's England teams desperately hanging on to a 1-0.