Thursday, July 24, 2003

Well, I went 7 and 3 for the Champions' Cup First qualifying Round. Here's the second round, with my picks in bold as usual.

MTK Budapest (Hungary) v HJK Helsinki (Finland)

Pyunik (Armenia) v CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria)

Kaunas (Lithuania) v Celtic (Scotland)

Leotar (Bosnia) v Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)

Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova) v Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)

Zilina (Slovakia) v Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)

Bohemians (Ireland) v Rosenborg Trondheim (Norway)

Maribor (Slovenia) v Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)

CSKA Moscow (Russia) v Vardar Skopje (Macedonia)

Rapid Bucharest (Romania) v Anderlecht (Belgium)

Partizan Belgrade (Serbia and Montenegro) v Djurgarden (Sweden)

Wisla Krakow (Poland) v Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus)

FC Copenhagen (Denmark) v Skonto Riga (Latvia)

SK Tirana (Albania) v Graz AK (Austria)

There are some interesting ties here. The toughest one may just be Rapid-Anderlecht, as both those teams can play. FC Copenhagen, Partizan, Graz, and Shakhtar, although I've picked them all to go through, really need to watch themselves or they're going to get a nasty shock. Although I've got Maccabi Tel Aviv favoured, I really have no idea who's going to win their tie with Zilina. And I'm still looking at HJK Helsinki as having the best chance of any of the first-rounders of advancing all the way to the group stage. These ties begin July 30th.


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