Avoiding the Drop

The UEFA Cup, Europe’s “secondary” club tournament, will get back underway with it’s first of two quarterfinal legs on 9 April 2009.  Here are the matchups along with a bit about each club, and the Ladbrokes odds on all the clubs to win the competition.

Shaktar Donetsk (Ukraine) v. Marseille (France)

Shaktar is currently 2nd in the Ukrainian Premier League, 9 points behind leaders and rivals, Dynamo Kyiv (whom they could face should they go through in this leg).  They have eliminated Tottenham Hotspur and CSKA Moscow to get to the final 8.  They face a decidedly uphill climb from here on out, but oddly enough two Ukrainian teams were drawn against two French teams in this half of the quarterfinals.  Quite frankly, they will need to keep Marseille off the board in their home stadium to have a true hope of going through to the next round.  Their current odds to advance at Ladbrokes:  8-1

Marseille currently stand 2nd in Ligue 1, just one point behind 7-time champion Lyon.  They have defeated the Dutch sides Twente Enschede and Ajax Amsterdam in the last two rounds of the UEFA Cup to make this quarterfinal field.  They are certainly fighting on two fronts at this point, given their league positions and a long trip to the Ukraine is probably not what they are looking forward to, especially following an away game to St. Etienne, but this club has perservered all season long and cannot be overlooked in this competition.  Ladbrokes current odds show Marseille at 7-1 to win the competition.

Paris St. Germain (France) v. Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine)

PSG currently stand 6th in a crowded table in Ligue 1, but are only 4 points behind previously-mentioned league leaders Lyon.  They defeated the German side Wolfsburg and Portuegese side Braga to advance to the quarterfinals.  Much like Marseille, they are still in the hunt in Ligue 1, and will be concerned about their fixture congestion in April and May.  Nevertheless, they are powerful up front and will feel that a real advantage coming out of their home leg should be enough to get them through to the semi-finals.  Ladbrokes has their current odds at 7-1 to win the competition.

Dynamo Kyiv inspired the movie “Victory”, and that’s my attempt to win you a drink in the pub tonight.  8 players from Kyiv’s side played in a series of matches during WW II against German occupying forces, and their string of victories caused the Germans to end up killing most of them in camps.  Lovely chaps, those Nazi’s.  At any rate, on a much happier note, Kyiv, as mentioned before, hold a 9 point lead at this point in the Ukrainian Premier League, over fellow UEFA Cup competitors and bitter rivals, Shaktar Donestsk.  Kyiv defeated Spanish side Valencia and fellow Ukrainian side Metalist Kharkiv to advance to this round.  Ladbrokes has their current odds to win the competition at 9-1.

Hamburg SV (Germany) v. Manchester City (England)

Hamburg find themselves in 4th place in the Bundesliga, but are only 1 point behind league leaders Hertha Berlin, in a ridiculously tough league this season.  Hamburg defeated Dutch side NEC Nijmegen and Turkish side Galatasaray to reach this stage of the competition.   Hamburg are quite a good side, led by experienced gaffer Martin Jol, and don’t often fold under pressure.  However, defensively, they tend to ship goals, and thus, find themselves with likely the worst possible draw for them to consider moving on, because City have been on a goal-scoring tear in this competition.  Ladbrokes likes their chances to win the competition if they can get past City, however, as their current odds are 9-2 to win the entire tournament.

Manchester City are Ladbrokes current odds-on favorites to win this entire competition, standing at 7-2, despite being in 10th place in the English Premier League.  The Citizens are in a position domestically to concentrate fully on this competition.  They will not be in a Champions League battle, nor will they face a relegation fight.  They defeated Danish sides FC Copenhagen and AaB to reach the round of 8.  The current odds may be reflective of Ladbrokes being an English bookmaking house, but nevertheless, this side is on form in this competition, particularly offensively.  They are a mercurial bunch, so it remains to be seen whether or not Mark Hughes can get something done in his debut season as this club’s manager.

Werder Bremen (Germany) v. Udinese (Italy)

Werder Bremen currently sit 10th in the Bundesliga table on 32 points, 17 behind league-leading Hertha Berlin.   They have played well against Italian sides this year in Euro competition, holding a win over Internazionale in the Champions League, while eliminating AC Milan from this competition.  They also eliminated St. Etienne in the last round to advance to the round of 8.  Bremen’s domestic form, much like Manchester City’s, has left much to be desired.  They will be pushing hard in this competition, and they will be expected to produce a result in the home leg.  They came from 2-nil down to eliminate Milan so they definitely have the bottle to compete, it’s a matter of will they?  Ladbrokes current odds show them as 2nd favorites to win it all at 4-1.

Udinese find themselves in the odd position of being the only Italian side left in Euro competitions with a chance for silverware, having seen all their compatriots eliminated in both the Champions League and the UEFA Cup.  They currently stand in 13th position in Serie A, 33 points behind league leading Internazionale.  Udinese defeated Polish side Lech Posznan and last year’s UEFA Cup winners/Russian side Zenit St. Petersburg to advance to the quarterfinals.  Domestically, they have been below average, but have played well overall in the Cup.  It remains to be seen whether or not they can hold up Serie A as a league overall, with the overwhelming disappointment coming from the other eliminated clubs.  Ladbrokes has their current odds pegged at 7-1.