Champions League opponents

[AsgAarD_xxx]

I pray to God to view Ajax playing with Wisła. The reason (as you may guess): I will be on that game. It will be great to see my favourite team playing in Poland :D . And (the second thing) it will be easier for Ajax to play with Wisła than, for example, with Betis or Broendby.

[Blind3]

Right about Michael Laudrup as coach. His knowledge of Ajax tactics is definitely a plus for Brondby. I think Ajax can win the tie by a 3:1 or 4:1 aggregate, but it will be a hard fought scoreline for sure. I hesitate to get too excited because I too remember the recent piss-poor results, especially away from home.

[ZoefdeHaas]

I think Ajax learned a lot from their friendlies, especially against Fortuna S. @ least theyre not against Villareal, imo, theyre the best club in spain right now.

[petelars]

Hyp boyos

A Brøndby fan here. Like you guys, I don't think this was the best draw possible. Rosenborg (horrible this season) or Man U (huge game, lots of $) would have been better. Still, Ajax is a decent draw. We HAVE to beat AJAX (should we beat Dinamo on aggregate), otherwise we'll never hear the end of it, from the FC Copenhagen supporters...

Still, it'll be quite interesting. I know most Brøndby supporters would've preferred to have the away game first, but... such is life.

When does the Dutch season begin? We've already played two rounds in the Danish superliga (3-0, 2-0 wins), I think (hope) we'll have an advantage in being in better playing form.

Anywho, just wanted to drop a line. May the best team win.

[Kowalczyk]

News report is up on Ajax USA and I have just updated it with some Danny Blind quotes...

http://www.ajax-usa.com/news/2005-2006/ ... ifier.html

K.

[Kowalczyk]

A Brøndby fan here.

Hey man. Welcome here. :xyxthumbs:

We HAVE to beat AJAX (should we beat Dinamo on aggregate), otherwise we'll never hear the end of it, from the FC Copenhagen supporters...

My God... I was there at the time, both home and away... F*cking traumatic. Terrible. We were so poor at the time and in such a deep crisis...

Still, it'll be quite interesting.

I think so, too. At least these are two teams that play offensive football. No negative Italian stuff. These games will be open and (if one of the two scores early) possibly spectacular.

When does the Dutch season begin? We've already played two rounds in the Danish superliga (3-0, 2-0 wins), I think (hope) we'll have an advantage in being in better playing form.

In the weekend of 14/15 August. But I don't think that will really matter. We play the Amsterdam Tournament (Arsenal and Boca Juniors) and the Dutch Super Cup against PSV next weekend. Which means: three really competitive games before we travel to Copenhagen. Should be enough although they're not league games.

I'm looking forward to it, for sure!

K.

[Kowalczyk]

Much, much, much to my surprise Ajax will not be in pot 4 just yet if we make it to the group stage. We're in the top of pot 3 at the moment and, as Ajax Netwerk points out today, based on the first leg results in the 3rd qualifying round there is actually a reasonable chance that we might jump to pot 2!!

Check this out...

If all the seeded teams make it through the qualification round, the four pots will look like this (in brackets is the non-seeded opponent of the teams who are in the third qualification round):

Pot 1
Liverpool FC: 115,864 (CSKA Sofia: 15,118)
Real Madrid: 131,326
AC Milan: 121,191
FC Barcelona: 117,326
Manchester United: 110,864 (Debreceni VSC: 14,390)
Internazionale: 101,191 (Shakhtar Donetsk: 28,199)
Bayern München: 97,166
Arsenal FC: 93,864

Pot 2
FC Porto: 93,739
Juventus: 93,191
PSV: 84,145
Olympique Lyon: 81,324
Panathinaikos: 70,714 (Wisla Kraków: 32,929)
Chelsea FC: 68,864
Villarreal: 58,326 (Everton FC: 20,864)
Sporting Lisbon: 55,739 (Udinese: 30,191)

Pot 3
AS Monaco: 53,324 (Real Betis: 34,326)
Ajax: 52,145 (Brøndby IF: 19,676)
Club Brugge: 50,476 (Vålerengen IF: 11,665)
Anderlecht: 47,476 (Slavia Praag: 35,223)
Olympiakos Piraeus: 46,714
Schalke '04: 44,166
Sparta Prague: 43,223
Lille: 41,324

Pot 4
Rangers FC: 40,476 (Anorthosis Famagusta: 12,872)
Werder Bremen: 40,166 (FC Basel: 33,887)
Lokomotiv Moscow: 38,469 (Rapid Vienna: 15,208)
Benfica: 36,739
Rosenborg BK: 36,665 (Steaua Bucharest: 20,101)
Partizan Belgrado: 30,012 (FC Petrzalka: 4,850)
Fenerbahçe: 23,872
Malmö FF: 21,218 (FC Thun: 6,887)

So, the good news is: if we make it, we will be in pot 3 for sure. No danger of dropping to pot 4. Even more good news: if two of the seeded teams with a higher ranking than Ajax get knocked out by their non-seeded opponents, Ajax will jump to pot 2! And this is not unthinkable: Sporting Lisbon suffered a 0-1 home defeat to Udinese (0-1), Panathinaikos lost 3-1 at Wisla Krakow and Monaco lost the first game at Real Betis (1-0). If two of them actually crash out and Ajax manage to beat Brøndby we'll be in pot 2, can you believe it...?

I know, I know: we haven't beaten them yet and we have no reason to be optimistic... etc. Just found it interesting. Thought we were going to be in pot 4.

K.

[carcajou]

Monaco and Sporting will screw it. I know it. I just got my Den Haag tickets paid back this morning. F*** Job Cohen.

[Kowalczyk]

Games are almost over and it seems like Panathinaikos, AS Monaco and Sporting Lisbon will indeed crash out: to Wisla Krakow, Betis Seville and Udinese, respectively. Which means we'll be in pot 2 if we make it to the group stage!

Draw for the group stage is on Thursday, 16:00 CET.

K.

[Jinne]

The games are now over, or at least two of them. PAO scored a late third one, so they're playing extratime now, but both Monaco and Sporting are out. Which will mean a place in pot 2 for us if we just do the job tomorrow.

[Kowalczyk]

The games are now over, or at least two of them. PAO scored a late third one, so they're playing extratime now, but both Monaco and Sporting are out. Which will mean a place in pot 2 for us if we just do the job tomorrow.

That's right - and it's great. I never expected it.

Very good news and an extra reason to give everything tonight and qualify for this nice little tourney...

Edit: Just checked UEFA.com and Panathinaikos made it in extra time, 5-4 on agg.

K.

[Kowalczyk]

Okay, I updated the schedule from one of the previous posts. This is what it looks like now...

Pot 1
Liverpool FC: 115,864
Real Madrid: 131,326
AC Milan: 121,191
FC Barcelona: 117,326
Manchester United: 110,864 (or Debreceni VSC: 14,390)
Internazionale: 101,191 (or Shakhtar Donetsk: 28,199)
Bayern München: 97,166
Arsenal FC: 93,864

Pot 2
FC Porto: 93,739
Juventus: 93,191
PSV: 84,145
Olympique Lyon: 81,324
Panathinaikos: 70,714
Chelsea FC: 68,864
Villarreal: 58,326 (or Everton FC: 20,864)
Ajax: 52,145 (or Brøndby IF: 19,676)

Pot 3
Club Brugge: 50,476 (or Vålerengen IF: 11,665)
Anderlecht: 47,476 (or Slavia Prague: 35,223)
Olympiakos Piraeus: 46,714
Schalke '04: 44,166
Sparta Prague: 43,223
Lille: 41,324
Rangers FC: 40,476 (Anorthosis Famagusta: 12,872)
Werder Bremen: 40,166 (FC Basel: 33,887)

Pot 4
Real Betis: 34,326
Lokomotiv Moscow: 38,469
Benfica: 36,739
Rosenborg BK: 36,665
Udinese: 30,191
Fenerbahçe: 23,872
FC Thun: 6,887
FC Petrzalka: 4,850

So, we're not just playing for a slot in the group phase, but also for a starting position that is much more promising than in recent year. No opponent from pot 2. Last year we had Bayern München and Juventus. That won't happen now. No Chelsea, Juventus, Porto or Lyon, because we're in the same pot. That's great.

PLEEEEASE, Ajax, don't fuck it up! :eusa_pray:

K.

[Philippe]

are you sure we would be in pot 2 this season ? that would be much better of course, and even rather promising
my favorite draw would be
1-MU (for at least a nice game)
3-Lille
4-Petrzalka

but it is not time yet, I know, let's wait a few more hours

[Jinne]

Yeah, we will be for sure in pot 2. It's mainly thnx to the fact that teams like Depor, Valencia, Roma and Leverkusen are not around this year in the CL. The first three don't even play any European football this year.

[Ayman]

This would be the best scenario for me, should we qualify..
1 Arsenal (So I can watch the game)
2 Ajax (We can top this group)
3 C.Brugge (We have unfinished business with these suckers)
4 Rangers (This is when we are guaranteed 6 points)

[bryan]

I'd like Chelsea to be in the group. I have a feeling Ajax can beat them.

Or even better: Liverpool. Nothing like knocking out the reigning Champions.

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

Damn guys it looks promising, very promising, but every time i think of it it gets my nerves going. If we dont meke it trough its going to hurt its a huge oportunity we cant aford to miss. Come on Ajax!!!!!!!!

[cdnajaxfan]

The Ideal Draw for me would be any one of Chelsea, Arsenal, Inter, Milan, Man U, Juve, or Liverpool. Only reason being then I can watch a few games here. Failing that, maybe TSN would show it if they played Bayern, Real, Barca, Rangers, or Udinese. However, if we want to go far then I like our chances against Udinese, Anderlecht, Thun, Panathinaikos, Artmedia, Olympiacos, Fenerbache, or Sparta.

[Kowalczyk]

I'd like Chelsea to be in the group.

The Ideal Draw for me would be any one of Chelsea...

Check my post above folks. We can't get Chelsea. They're in pot 2 and so are we.

No Chelsea, no Juve, no Porto, no Lyon.

K.

[Philippe]

I hope we will avoid the Spanish sides and Benfica in pot 4, and Schalke 04 in pot 3.
About pot 1, I find AC Milan and Inter very boring, so I hope we will not play those.

[Hoeladans]

I hope for this poule

1.Barcelona(they play very nice football)
2.Ajax
3.Club Brugge(for a revanche)
4.Benfica(Because of Koeman

[Kowalczyk]

Okay - all the seeded teams made it last night. All the unseeded ones are out. The pots for today's draw (16:00 CET) are as follows...

Pot 1
Liverpool FC: 115,864
Real Madrid: 131,326
AC Milan: 121,191
FC Barcelona: 117,326
Manchester United: 110,864
Internazionale: 101,191
Bayern München: 97,166
Arsenal FC: 93,864

Pot 2
FC Porto: 93,739
Juventus: 93,191
PSV: 84,145
Olympique Lyon: 81,324
Panathinaikos: 70,714
Chelsea FC: 68,864
Villarreal: 58,326
Ajax: 52,145

Pot 3
Club Brugge: 50,476
Anderlecht: 47,476
Olympiakos Piraeus: 46,714
Schalke '04: 44,166
Sparta Prague: 43,223
Lille: 41,324
Rangers FC: 40,476
Werder Bremen: 40,116

Pot 4
Benfica: 36,739
Rosenborg BK: 36,665
Real Betis: 34,326
Udinese: 30,191
Fenerbahçe: 23,872
SK Rapid Wien: 15,208
FC Thun: 6,887
FC Petrzalka: 4,850

My personal group of preference: Liverpool, Anderlecht and Benfica.

K.

[Duke]

Lokomotive Moscow didn't make it, Rapid Wien did instead.

[Kowalczyk]

Oops. Corrected.

You can also view the seedings list here:
http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UCL/ne ... 29449.html

Remarkable, by the way: "No side can draw opponents from their own nation, other than holders Liverpool FC, who are without country protection after UEFA granted them special dispensation to defend the trophy."

K.

[Philippe]

Blind was happy with the victory that was so important for his club. ,,It's great for the club, also financially. But for the guys too, who now have six matches on the highest level. We have no illusion that we are going to win the Champions League. it is a learning process.''

the football school complex again and again ... :nooo: