Now look-et, ‘the luck of the Irish’ will see Rovers through, to be sure
Breiðablik survive a couple of late scares to win 1-0 in Dublin.
It will be a tough trip to the frozen north for the Hoops. They better hope that UEFA are subsidising their hotel bills in Reykjavik, otherwise it’ll be cold soup at half time for the rest of the season.
Big match tonight for Rovers in Iceland. They’ll have to improve their finishing if they are to overturn the 0-1 deficit.
I’m not sure why I’m watching this welsh game in welsh.
Bt sports is no more.
Yep…its all TNT messages at the moment…
Breiðablik go 1-0 up.
Just got even tougher for the Hoops.
2-1 now. Rovers are fighting for their lives. They need two, with 15 mins to go.
Breiðablik march on.
Disciplined in defence and dangerous on the break. It will be intriguing to see how they do in the next round.
Just noticed that Servette is in CL qualifying (might face Rangers). That’s a remarkable ascent. I used to go watch them in the Challenge League (2nd div), and even saw them play in the Swiss 3rd division in 2006 - in front of a very small crowd at the Stade. I knew they got promoted up to the Super League a few years later, but got relegated again. I hadn’t even realized they were promoted again in 2019, so very surprised to see them in a CL spot.
They have enjoyed some stability these last years. Alain Geiger, their head coach for the last five-six years, did a steady job with young players, and built a good club culture again.
The period when you went watching them was dire to say the least, but before that, Servette was always one of the perennial big clubs in Switzerland, besides Grasshopper and Basel. They have a big number of league and cup titles to their name.
So, it was really time that they found a decent level again. Last season, they finished second behind YB, but in front of Basel, and that’s why they are in this year’s CL qualifying.
Unfortunately, Geiger has left now, so we’ll have to see how it goes with the new man in charge.
Stade de Geneve is a decent size stadium for Switzerland, I swear there weren’t 2k fans at one of those matches. Had your pick of seats. That was not long after the re-emergence from bankruptcy. I might try to watch the Genk matches. Allez les Grenats!
Geneva isn’t your typical football city indeed. There is no regular passion around the club. When Servette were in their pomp, during the eighties, they went often in the rounds of last sixteen or last eight of European cup matches. If there was a big club coming in town, or for big title deciders, their former stadium in the Servette area could easily have an attendance of 25-30 k. But for normal league games, there would never be more than 6-7 k, even when they were at their strongest. I know this well, because I went there quite regularly as a kid.
Since they have constructed their new stadium, I don’t think that it has been filled once for a Servette game. But if by any chance, they manage to reach the CL proper (highly unlikely), I wouldn’t be surprised to see really big attendances again, for the first time in thirty years or so.
Bad night for Breiðablik, going down 2-0 at home to Copenhagen.
Unfortunately for the Icelanders the gulf in class was reflected in the scoreline. The chances of overturning that score in the away leg are slim indeed.
Servette drawing at home, Genk with the inside track.
More than 18k attendance for that game. Not bad.
1-1 isn’t a great result, but as there is no away goal rule anymore, Servette keep a decent chance to qualify for the next round. And they came from behind, so they can go into the return match with a positive spirit.
This is very good, considering their usual attendance is 6-7k.
This Rakow v Qarabag game has been a bit crazy.
Ifti ‘attendance statto’ khar
Isn’t every Qarabag game crazy?