UEFA Europa Conference League - Alkmaar, Legia and Zrinjski

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Is it just me , or does the permutations of seeding , fixtures , cup draws and all the other gubbins that go with Europa Conference League seem more complex than Quantum Physics.

We'll probably get drawn against Hajduk Split.

[Exeter 77]

Is it just me , or does the permutations of seeding , fixtures , cup draws and all the other gubbins that go with Europa Conference League seem more complex than Quantum Physics.

We'll probably get drawn against Hajduk Split.

I wouldn't mind a trip to their Poljud ground.

[RamboandBruno]

Is it just me , or does the permutations of seeding , fixtures , cup draws and all the other gubbins that go with Europa Conference League seem more complex than Quantum Physics.

Yes agree. Im just waiting for someone to tell me exactly what is happening, given up trying to work it out.

[Brazilian Villain]

Derry, Dundalk, Linfield, Crusaders and Haverfordwest are through in tonight's qualifiers.
St. Pat's, Glentoran and Connah's Quay Nomads are out.
Shamrock Rovers and Larne lost in last night's CL qualifiers and have dropped into the UECL.

[coreyfeldman]

Is it just me , or does the permutations of seeding , fixtures , cup draws and all the other gubbins that go with Europa Conference League seem more complex than Quantum Physics.

We'll probably get drawn against Hajduk Split.

I wouldn't mind a trip to their Poljud ground.

It's fucking well rowdy over there, would make me nervous that one. Most of the balkans tbh, and Greece would be scary and all

[Brazilian Villain]

Comedy own goal for St. Pat's tonight but it still wasn't enough. https://twitter.com/brfootball/status/1682127679410012160

[eamonn]

Derry, Dundalk, Linfield, Crusaders and Haverfordwest are through in tonight's qualifiers.
St. Pat's, Glentoran and Connah's Quay Nomads are out.
Shamrock Rovers and Larne lost in last night's CL qualifiers and have dropped into the UECL.

The Irish/UK teams that got knocked out - would they have expected to beat the clubs they came up against? ie which countries were they from?
I only heard that Derry City had squeaked through in their Conference League tie and I thought they might have taken a scalp. Then I saw it was a bunch of amateurs from the Faroe Islands! FFS!

I don't see how things have noticeably improved since the switch to summer soccer in Ireland. Ostensibly done to improve European chances and improve attendances but apart from Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers making a Europa group stage before being also-rans, has anything actually got better as a whole for the League of Ireland?

[algy]

Derry, Dundalk, Linfield, Crusaders and Haverfordwest are through in tonight's qualifiers.
St. Pat's, Glentoran and Connah's Quay Nomads are out.
Shamrock Rovers and Larne lost in last night's CL qualifiers and have dropped into the UECL.

The Irish/UK teams that got knocked out - would they have expected to beat the clubs they came up against? ie which countries were they from?
I only heard that Derry City had squeaked through in their Conference League tie and I thought they might have taken a scalp. Then I saw it was a bunch of amateurs from the Faroe Islands! FFS!

I don't see how things have noticeably improved since the switch to summer soccer in Ireland. Ostensibly done to improve European chances and improve attendances but apart from Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers making a Europa group stage before being also-rans, has anything actually got better as a whole for the League of Ireland?

Dunno about the others, but ..

Welsh clubs in Europe:

Haverfordwest did brilliantly to win against Shkėndija. They finished 7th in the Welsh league, only qualified through the playoffs, and on paper had the hardest draw of the Conference League clubs. Lost 1-0 in the away leg, won 1-0 in the home leg. Sure home advantage helps for them - it's a git of a place to get to.

Connah's Quay Nomads - lost to KA (Iceland) 4-0 on agg. Slightly disappointing, thought it was a winnable game for CQN and the next round would've seen them play Dundalk, another potentially beatable team.

Penybont - lost to Santa Colomba (Andorra). Disappointing. There's not many national leagues that you'd expect Welsh teams to generally go in favourites against. I mentioned CQN's games as winnable - that was glass half full territory, realistically the Icelandic league is much stronger than the Welsh league currently. Penybont I thought were nailed on to go through.

The New Saints - lost to Hacken BK (Sweden). As expected really. Kept the scores respectable, which is a good start. They've got some club from Luxembourg next round. Beat them and I think maybe TNS have a chance of making the group stages, if they get a kind draw. There's 3 or 4 decent sides in the Champions Path for the Conference League, but they're mostly ones that are ... well, they're winnable games in the sense that it might be a bit of an unexpected result, but not beyond the realms of possibility.

[algy]

Overall, it's been a reasonably decent year for the Welsh clubs. You don't expect much, you know that the best Welsh players - the ones who are good enough to be professional footballers & identified as such will play in the English league, so you're hoping for Mark Delaney undiscovered gems and getting the most out of semi-pro footballers.

Haverfordwest did well, and I'm still hopeful that at some point TNS will do something. I know they're not particularly popular with most Welsh football fans, but the way I see it is that they represent the best chance of raising the profile of the Welsh game, maybe making it slightly more attractive for Welsh players to stay in Wales. And bring Merthyr Town in to the Welsh league system maybe - they're an outlier in being a side playing in England but would maybe be better off in the Welsh league (and the Welsh league would be better with them in it). Especially now that Colwyn Bay have moved over.

[teamvillage]

What do you mean stay in Wales, Algy? TNS is in England!

Gutted about Penybont, had already pencilled in a trip across from Cardiff for the next round...

[Dazvillain]

Derry, Dundalk, Linfield, Crusaders and Haverfordwest are through in tonight's qualifiers.
St. Pat's, Glentoran and Connah's Quay Nomads are out.
Shamrock Rovers and Larne lost in last night's CL qualifiers and have dropped into the UECL.

The Irish/UK teams that got knocked out - would they have expected to beat the clubs they came up against? ie which countries were they from?
I only heard that Derry City had squeaked through in their Conference League tie and I thought they might have taken a scalp. Then I saw it was a bunch of amateurs from the Faroe Islands! FFS!

I don't see how things have noticeably improved since the switch to summer soccer in Ireland. Ostensibly done to improve European chances and improve attendances but apart from Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers making a Europa group stage before being also-rans, has anything actually got better as a whole for the League of Ireland?

Dunno about the others, but ..

Welsh clubs in Europe:

Haverfordwest did brilliantly to win against Shkėndija. They finished 7th in the Welsh league, only qualified through the playoffs, and on paper had the hardest draw of the Conference League clubs. Lost 1-0 in the away leg, won 1-0 in the home leg. Sure home advantage helps for them - it's a git of a place to get to.

Connah's Quay Nomads - lost to KA (Iceland) 4-0 on agg. Slightly disappointing, thought it was a winnable game for CQN and the next round would've seen them play Dundalk, another potentially beatable team.

Penybont - lost to Santa Colomba (Andorra). Disappointing. There's not many national leagues that you'd expect Welsh teams to generally go in favourites against. I mentioned CQN's games as winnable - that was glass half full territory, realistically the Icelandic league is much stronger than the Welsh league currently. Penybont I thought were nailed on to go through.

The New Saints - lost to Hacken BK (Sweden). As expected really. Kept the scores respectable, which is a good start. They've got some club from Luxembourg next round. Beat them and I think maybe TNS have a chance of making the group stages, if they get a kind draw. There's 3 or 4 decent sides in the Champions Path for the Conference League, but they're mostly ones that are ... well, they're winnable games in the sense that it might be a bit of an unexpected result, but not beyond the realms of possibility.

Gutted Pen-y-Bont went out, but brilliant news for Welsh league that Haverfordwest got through as it currently means that 4 teams from Welsh premier will qualify for Europe again this season.

[AV84]

Haverfordwest sounds like a town that would buy a monorail

[algy]

What do you mean stay in Wales, Algy? TNS is in England!

Gutted about Penybont, had already pencilled in a trip across from Cardiff for the next round...

Nah, people bring this up but I'm not having it. Croesoswallt* is Welsh. It's blatantly obvious that it's Welsh to anyone who's been there. It may be the 'wrong' side of the border, but I'm not having it that it's anything other than a predominantly Welsh town. In fact, I'm going down Wrexham barracks tonight to round up the TAs and we're gonna take the fucker back.



* I know technically they don't play in Oswestry either ...

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

What do you mean stay in Wales, Algy? TNS is in England!

Gutted about Penybont, had already pencilled in a trip across from Cardiff for the next round...

Nah, people bring this up but I'm not having it. Croesoswallt* is Welsh. It's blatantly obvious that it's Welsh to anyone who's been there. It may be the 'wrong' side of the border, but I'm not having it that it's anything other than a predominantly Welsh town. In fact, I'm going down Wrexham barracks tonight to round up the TAs and we're gonna take the fucker back.



* I know technically they don't play in Oswestry either ...

I thought TNS were Total Network Solutions, are they the same team as The New Saints?

[john e]

What date is the draw ?

7th August

Thanks