It’s Ukraine vs. Ukraine and Germany vs. Germany today in European action. None of the teams facing off today has ever played their opponent in European competition, and yet they should still be intimately familiar with the challenges each presents. The winners of these two-legged ties will go on to the UEFA Cup final; that might be the ugly stepchild of the Champions League to some, but not to the players on the field today. Your UEFA Cup Preview is after the jump.
FC Dynamo Kyiv vs. FC Shakhtar Donetsk
We’ll start with the Ukrainian ties. This is only the second time a Ukrainian team has met another Ukrainian team in European competition; the first time it happened was the round of sixteen in this year’s tournament, when Dynamo Kyiv beat out FC Metalist Kharkiv to advance to the quarterfinals. Both teams earned their UEFA Cup spot by placing third in their Champions League group.
While they’re Ukrainian now, these sides formerly played together in the now-defunct Soviet league. In combined league play, Dynamo Kyiv has absolutely dominated Shakhtar, with a 56-37-23 overall record in the 116 league play matches. They’ve also met five times in the Ukrainian Cup final, with Dynamo winning three of those encounters. And once they’re done with these two matches, they’ll still play each other twice more (once in a Ukrainian Cup semifinal, and again on the last day of the season).
It should be no surprise, based on the records, that Dynamo Kyiv is the favorite here. They’re not resting on history, either; they’re currently top of the table with a twelve point lead over (who else?) Shakhtar.
The surprising thing, though, is the way these matches are being treated in the Ukraine. Unlike in England, where the UEFA Cup is almost a nuisance, the Ukrainian soccer community is stoked for this. When tickets went on sale two weeks ago, they sold out in two hours. And both teams have talked about this being a coming out party for Ukrainian soccer, a chance to show that they mean business to the rest of the world. Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu put it best: “The match will be extraordinary for Ukraine and the whole of Europe will be watching so it’s vital for both clubs. We will try to demonstrate the kind of football the UEFA Cup semi-finals deserve.”
Werder Bremen vs. Hamburger SV
This time last week Werder Bremen were prepping for a German Cup semifinal against Hamburger SV. When everything’s finished, these two will have faced each other four times in nineteen days. While Hamburg is sitting only three points off the title race, Werder is in tenth and not looking like likely qualifiers for Europe next year. That being said, Werder beat Hamburg in that cup semifinal last week.
That’s really what this game will boil down to. Hamburg, in the middle of a title race, can still have a successful season without a win here. Werder can’t be relegated and they can’t win; this is the only competition they can still enter. When looking at the psychology of it, Werder has a fantastic edge.
In overall history, these two have met 89 times in the Bundesliga. Werder’s won 29, Hamburg’s won 28, and 32 of the matches were draws. This is about as even as you can get. Unlike the Ukrainian teams, this is the 27th time two German teams have met in a UEFA Cup tie. Statistics show that, in all 27 of those ties, the German team has advan- oh, wait.
I think I’m going with Shaktar and Bremen in the final. Gut feeling.