© EuroFootball.com
After the draw of the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup, it became clear that the Lithuanian vice-champion FBK "Kaunas" will meet with the club "Randers" from Denmark, while Marijampolė's "Sūduvai" will have to host one of the strongest Belgian teams of recent years, "Brugge".
The Kaunas residents, who confidently passed the first stage, were in danger of facing the English "Newcastle", but the latter will play against the neighboring "Ventspils" team, and the draw was quite favorable for "Kaunas" - the team coached by Eugenijus Riabovas will play against "Randers", who earned their place in the tournament by winning the Danish cup, but only this season they reached the country's top league. In the first stage, the Danes only got past the Icelandic team "Akranes" thanks to away goals, and in the recent national championship, they currently have one win and one loss.
"I am satisfied with the draw, as we got one of the easier opponents. I know that last year our future opponents played in the second division of Denmark. We know that in the second stage, all the teams are stronger, but we can fight. Marijampolė's "Sūduvai" will have to play against a much stronger team," said E. Riabovas to "Kauno diena".
Marijampolė's "Sūduvai" was not so lucky with the draw, as they, just like the team's coach Algimantas Gabrys wanted, had to face one of the most threatening opponents from the Northern region's 2nd group - the "Brugge" club, which has been the Belgian champion thirteen times in its history. They participated in the Champions League group stage last season and managed to play evenly with Munich's "Bayern". However, in the Belgium championship, they fell behind Liege's "Standard" and the country's most titled team, Brussels' "Anderlecht", and remained in third place.
Tomas Sirevicius' Tallinn "Flora" also received a strong opponent, as they will meet with the Danish champion "Brondby", Tallinn's "Levadia", which has four Lithuanians in its ranks, will play against the Dutch team "Twente", and the Latvian championship leader "Ventspils" with Deimantas Bička and Igor Stukalin, as mentioned earlier, will have to play against "Newcastle".
One of the most interesting matches will be the meeting between "Marseille" and Bern's "Young Boys", and a difficult task also awaits the other French club "Auxerre", which will have to travel to Belgrade and play against the local team. Most likely, without much effort, Tbilisi's "Ameri" will play against Berlin's "Hertha", while in an intriguing neighborly match, Kazan's "Rubin" will meet with Borisov's "BATE".
The first matches of the second stage will be played on August 10th, and the return matches on the 24th day. The 32 winners will advance to the first tournament stage in September, where they will be joined by 48 more clubs and 16 teams that lost in the third qualifying round of the Champions League. The teams that overcome the barrier of the first stage will play in the group stages and will aim to reach the UEFA Cup final on May 27th next year in Glasgow.
UEFA Cup second qualifying round matchups:
Nicosia's "APOEL" (Cyprus) - Trabzon's "Trabzonspor" (Turkey) Tel Aviv's "Hapoel" (Israel) - "Domžale" (Slovenia) Sofia's "CSKA" (Bulgaria) - Kula's "Hajduk" (Serbia) "Roeselare" (Belgium) - Akhnos "Ethnikos" (Cyprus) "Belgrade" (Serbia) - "Auxerre" (France) Bucharest's "Dinamo" (Romania) - Jerusalem's "Beitar" (Israel) Belgrade's "Partizan" (Serbia) - "Maribor" (Slovenia) "Sarajevo" (Bosnia and Herzegovina) - Bucharest's "Rapid" (Romania) Tel Aviv's "Bnei Yehuda" (Israel) - Sofia's "Lokomotiv" (Bulgaria) Nicosia's "Omonia" (Cyprus) - Lovech's "Litex" (Bulgaria) "Tirana" (Albania) - Kayseri's "Kayserispor" (Turkey) Bratislava's "Artmedia" (Slovakia) - Minsk's "Dynamo" (Belarus) "Ried" (Austria) - "Sion" (Switzerland) Székesfehérvár "Fehérvár" (Hungary) - Zurich's "Grasshopper" (Switzerland) Yevlakh's "Karvan" (Azerbaijan) - Prague's "Slavia" (Czech Republic) Odessa's "Chornomorets" (Ukraine) - Plock's "Wisla" (Poland) "Basel" (Switzerland) - "Vaduz" (Liechtenstein) Chisinau's "Zimbru" (Moldova) - Zaporizhia's "Metalurg" (Ukraine) "Mattersburg" (Austria) - Krakow's "Wisla" (Poland) Berlin's "Hertha" (Germany) - Tbilisi's "Ameri" (Georgia) Kazan's "Rubin" (Russia) - Borisov's "BATE" (Belarus) "Marseille" (France) - Bern's "Young Boys" (Switzerland) Kristiansand's "Start" (Norway) - "Drogheda" (Ireland) "Odense" (Denmark) - "Llanelli" (Wales) "Kaunas" (Lithuania) - "Randers" (Denmark) "Twente" (Netherlands) - Tallinn's "Levadia" (Estonia) "Ventspils" (Latvia) - "Newcastle" (England) Bergen's "Brann" (Norway) - "Åtvidabergs" (Sweden) "Molde" (Norway) - Riga's "Skonto" (Latvia) Tallinn's "Flora" (Estonia) - "Brøndby" (Denmark) Marijampolė's "Sūduva" (Lithuania) - "Brugge" (Belgium) "Gretna" (Scotland) - "Derry" (Ireland)
