Twente - Racing Santander
Twente will enter their opening group game against modest Spanish outfit, Racing Santander in great form having won five of their last six games in all competitions. But they in fact only scraped through to this phase of the competition by the skin of their teeth via the away goal rule after holding French side Stade Rennais to a 2-2 aggregate draw in the qualifiers.
The Dutch side, and indeed Racing as well, will both have their work cut out for them in this group, widely regarded as the group of death.
The Cantabrians have a new manager at the helm to guide them through this unique adventure after highly rated coach Marcelino García Toral made the surprise decision to reject European football in favour or helping a second division side, Real Zaragoza, gain promotion.
Juan Ramón López Muñiz have a tough act to follow and in La Liga, he is already finding out exactly how difficult it can be after just seven rounds. The verdiblancos currently lie in 14th place in the standings with only one win to show and if they don’t improve immediately, the prospect of another top ten finish will soon disappear.
But improvements will not come easily for Racing. Things will only get tougher for them as the group stage of the UEFA Cup gets underway and the club’s paper-thin squad will be put to the test.
Probable Starting XI (4-4-2): Boschker – Wielaert, Braafheid, Tioté, Douglas – Brama, Staam, Perez, Hersi – Denneboom, Nkufo
Racing’s only major injury concern lies in defence. Ezequiel Garay and Oriol are both sidelined with muscular injuries and they have been left behind in Cantabria to recover. Forward Jonathan Pereira, meanwhile, has been omitted for the trip for technical reasons and this should leave Munitis and Tchité as the preferred attacking duo.
Probable Starting XI (4-4-2): Toño – Pinillos, Moratón, César Navas, Marcano – Valera, Luccin, Colsa, Serrano – Tchité, Munitis
Twente to win..proably by a goal.
The Dutch side, and indeed Racing as well, will both have their work cut out for them in this group, widely regarded as the group of death.
Consisting of experienced European sides, PSG and Schalke as well as a Premiership club by the name of Manchester City, the trio will be slight favourites to snatch the top three spots in the group to advance to the next round.
De Tukkers will be hoping that their English coach, Steve McClaren will be able to impart some knowledge and experience to the team, having picked up some invaluable lessons at his previous jobs which included a stint as the assistant manager at Manchester United, a quite successful spell at Middlesbrough where he led the side to the UEFA Cup final in 2005, and ofcourse the hottest of all hot seats as the England national team boss
De Tukkers will be hoping that their English coach, Steve McClaren will be able to impart some knowledge and experience to the team, having picked up some invaluable lessons at his previous jobs which included a stint as the assistant manager at Manchester United, a quite successful spell at Middlesbrough where he led the side to the UEFA Cup final in 2005, and ofcourse the hottest of all hot seats as the England national team boss
Racing are making their very maiden voyage into European competition. They successfully avoided the embarrassment of crashing out at the qualifying stage to a relative unknown in the form of Finnish outfit, FC Honka and that is a good way to start things off, eventhough they may not have been very convincing in the two-legged victory.
The Cantabrians have a new manager at the helm to guide them through this unique adventure after highly rated coach Marcelino García Toral made the surprise decision to reject European football in favour or helping a second division side, Real Zaragoza, gain promotion.
Juan Ramón López Muñiz have a tough act to follow and in La Liga, he is already finding out exactly how difficult it can be after just seven rounds. The verdiblancos currently lie in 14th place in the standings with only one win to show and if they don’t improve immediately, the prospect of another top ten finish will soon disappear.
But improvements will not come easily for Racing. Things will only get tougher for them as the group stage of the UEFA Cup gets underway and the club’s paper-thin squad will be put to the test.
FC Twente
Probable Starting XI (4-4-2): Boschker – Wielaert, Braafheid, Tioté, Douglas – Brama, Staam, Perez, Hersi – Denneboom, Nkufo
Racing Santander
Racing’s only major injury concern lies in defence. Ezequiel Garay and Oriol are both sidelined with muscular injuries and they have been left behind in Cantabria to recover. Forward Jonathan Pereira, meanwhile, has been omitted for the trip for technical reasons and this should leave Munitis and Tchité as the preferred attacking duo.
Probable Starting XI (4-4-2): Toño – Pinillos, Moratón, César Navas, Marcano – Valera, Luccin, Colsa, Serrano – Tchité, Munitis
Twente to win..proably by a goal.
posted by Midnight Sun @ 23:55,
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