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On Thursday, all the clubs that will play in the first stage of the UEFA Cup were revealed. Unexpectedly, the Tallinn-based "Levadia" club, which had several Lithuanians in its ranks, made its way into the tournament by sensationally defeating the Dutch "Twente" team 1-0, advancing with an overall score of 2-1. Meanwhile, Berlin's "Hertha" team had to struggle to earn the right to compete in the UEFA Cup matches. Berlin's "Hertha" had a difficult time making it to the next stage of the UEFA Cup competition. They drew their away match with Georgia's "Ameri" club 2-2, but securing a narrow victory 1-0 at home forced the Georgian footballers to withdraw from further competition. The Berlin team was trailing throughout the entire match. In the 19th minute of the game, Giorgis Davitnidze scored to put his team ahead. "Hertha" equalized in the 35th minute with a strike from Srdjan Lakic. Early in the second half, the Georgians surged ahead again, with Suliko Davitashvili finding the net. As the match was approaching its end, Marco Pantelic scored in the 83rd minute, shattering all hopes for the Tbilisi team to progress to the UEFA Cup matches. The English "Newcastle" club appeared unexpectedly, playing to a goalless draw against Latvia's "Ventspils" at their "St James Park" stadium. The English team advanced to the next stage as they had defeated the Latvians 1-0 in the first leg. The Swiss multiple champion "Basel" managed to enter the UEFA Cup tournament thanks to a goal scored during their away match. Unexpectedly, the Swiss team was defeated 2-1 by Liechtenstein's "Vaduz" team. In the first leg, the hosts from Liechtenstein scored first, with J. Sara opening the scoring. In the 49th minute, Z. Kuzmanovic equalized for the "Basel" club. M. Ritzberger's accurate strike in the 63rd minute sealed the victory for the "Vaduz" team. The French "Auxerre" club, led by their team leader Luigi Pieroni, crushed Belgrade's "OFK" team 5-1, advancing with an overall score of 5-2. The first goal flew into the Belgrade net in the 23rd minute, courtesy of J. Mignot. However, the French did not have much time to celebrate, as S. Pilipovic leveled the score in the 31st minute. At the end of the first half, Ireneusz Jelen restored the lead for his team. The second half belonged to one man - Luigi Pieroni. He managed to score three goals in the remaining 8 minutes of the match to complete a hat-trick, which helped "Auxerre" progress further. However, the Belgrade footballers had to finish the match with 10 men as N. Todorovic was sent off in the 85th minute for receiving a second yellow card. "Derry City" also advanced to the next round of the competition, and although the winner was not determined in the match against "Gretna," the overall result of 7-3 allowed the team to move on. D. Graham put the ball past the "Derry City" goalkeeper in the 18th minute of the match. However, they later conceded two unanswered goals to the "City" team. Mark Farren equalized in the 37th minute, and Ken Oman put his team ahead in the 69th minute. However, "Gretna" managed to avoid defeat when Ryan Baldacchino scored the equalizer in the 77th minute. The 5-1 victory away for the "Derry City" team allowed them to secure a ticket to the next stage of the competition. Unfortunately, Lithuanian clubs ended their performances in European tournaments. "FBK" Kaunas defeated the Danish "Randers" footballers 1-0, but it was not enough since they were defeated 3-1 away. Gvidas Juška scored from the penalty spot in the 72nd minute. Marijampolė's "Sūduva" also had to acknowledge the superiority of the opponents from Belgium's "Brugge." This time, the Lithuanians were simply crushed by the Belgians with a score of 5-2. The first leg in Marijampolė was also lost 0-2. The Belgians scored in the 10th, 58th, and 67th minutes through K. Roelandts, I. Gvozdenovic, and G. Dufer, respectively. Marijampolė managed to score through the Brazilian Ottavio Braga in the 53rd minute and the Georgian legionnaire Davit Cigladze, who converted a penalty in the 57th minute. Former UEFA Cup finalists, the Dutch "Twente" club unexpectedly lost 1-0 to Estonia's Tallinn-based "Levadia" team, thus being eliminated from further competition. K. Nahkas scored the only goal of the match in the 36th minute. "Marseille" was also saved by the number of away goals they scored. The club played to a 0-0 draw with "Young Boys" from Switzerland at their stadium. Since the French team had played out a 3-3 draw away, they progressed to the next round. The most interesting match took place in Drogheda, where the local "United" club managed to defeat Kristianstad's "Start" team 1-0, only to lose in an 11-meter penalty shootout with a score of 11-10. S. Barrett scored in the 84th minute of the match. The Bucharest-based "Dinamo" also advanced to the next stage of the UEFA Cup, as they managed a draw in the match against Israel's Jerusalem-based "Beitar" team. The match took place in Sofia, as the Israelis cannot play matches at their home stadium due to the unstable situation in the Middle East. "Beitar" took the lead when B. Yitzhakis scored in the 4th minute. C. I. Niculescu equalized in the 25th minute. The aggregate result of the two games was 2-1 in favor of the "Dinamo" team. Welsh "Llanelli" club's dream of reaching the next stage did not come true. The team was crushed by Denmark's "Odense" with a score of 5-1. Although the Welsh club was ahead in the 10th minute thanks to Antonio Corbisiero, "Llanelli" could not do anything against the rampaging "Odense". In the 15th minute, former "Man Utd" player Taddeus Timmas leveled the score, and in the 32nd minute, E. Hansen turned the game in favor of his team. Two more goals were scored against the Welsh club in the second half. A. M. Christensen and J. T. Ophaug scored in the 59th and 65th minutes respectively. B. Oliveiros scored the final goal in the 90th minute. Turkey's "Trabzonspor" club defeated APOEL "Nicosia" 1-0 when O. Rıza scored the only goal of the match in the 87th minute. Meanwhile, "Brondby" crushed Tallinn's "Flora" with a score of 4-0. The Danes started the rout in the 49th minute when M. Jensen scored. N. Agger doubled the lead in the 64th minute. K. Lorentzen scored the third goal in the 78th minute, and towards the end of the match, N. Agger added a fourth for his team. The Estonians' nerves gave in, and they finished the match with nine men as K. Palatu and E. Jaager were sent off with a second yellow card. Statistics Highlighted clubs progressed "Auxerre" 5 - 1 "OFK" (First leg 0-1, aggregate 2-5) "Litex" 2 - 1 "Omonia" (0-0, 2-1) "Newcastle" 0 - 0 "Ventspils" (1-0, 1-0) "Club Brugge" 5 - 2 "Sūduva" (2-0, 7-2) "Beitar" 1 - 1 "Dinamo Bucuresti" (1-0, 2-1) "Wisla" 1 - 0 "Mattersburg" (1-1, 2-1) "Domzale" 0 - 3 "Hapoel Tel-Aviv" (2-1, 4-2) "Sion" 1 - 0 "Ried" (0-0, 1-0) "Vaduz" 2 - 1 "Basel" (0-1, 2-2, "Basel" progressed due to the away goal) "Loko Sofia" 4 - 0 "Bnei Yehuda" (2-0, 6-0) "Brondby" 4 - 0 Tallinn's "Flora" (0-0, 4-0) Tallinn's "Levadia" 1 - 0 "Twente" (1-1, 2-1) "Trabzonspor" 1 - 0 "APOEL" (1-1, 2-1) "Zaporizhya" 3 - 0 "Zimbru" (0-0, 3-0) "Marseille" 0 - 0 "Young Boys" (3-3, 3-3, "Marseille" progressed due to the away goals) "Plock" 1 - 1 "Chernomorets" (0-0, 1-1, "Chernomorets" progressed due to the away goal) Minsk's "Dinamo" 2 - 3 "Artmedia" (2-1, 5-3) Riga's "Skonto" 1 - 2 "Molde" (0-0, 1-2) "Achnas" 5 - 0 "Roeselare" (1-2, 2-6) "Rapid Bucuresti" 2 - 0 "Sarajevo" (0-1, 2-1) "FBK Kaunas" 1 - 0 "Randers" (1-3, 2-3) "BATE" 0 - 2 "Rubin" (0-3, 0-5) "Slavia" 0 - 0 "Karvan" (2-0, 2-0) "Derry" 2 - 2 "Gretna" (5-1, 7-3) "Atvidaberg" 1 - 1 "Brann" (3-3, 4-4, "Atvidaberg" progressed due to the away goals) "Kayserispor" 3 - 1 "Tirana" (2-0, 5-1) "Llaneli" 1 - 5 "OB" (0-1, 1-6) "Maribor" 1 - 1 "Partizan" (1-2, 2-3) "Kula" 1 - 1 Sofia's "CSKA" (0-0, 1-1, "CSKA" progressed due to the away goal) "Ameri" 2 - 2 "Hertha" (0-1, 2-3) "Grasshoppers" 2 - 0 "Fehervar" (1-1, 3-1) "Drogheda" 1 - 0 Kristianstado "Start" (0-1, 1-1, "Start" won after an 11-meter penalty shootout)
