Going Dutch

Oh, I wish it was last season. For many reasons, of course, but also because we’d have a reasonable chance of actually getting out of the group stages if we were anywhere near decent. Sporting may be the favorites, but they’re only seventh in the Portuguese league, twelve points behind the leaders. FK Ventspils come from a country that is only vaguely interested in football (basketball and hockey being much more important), and tomorrow’s opponents Heerenveen sit fifteenth in the Eredivise. For a team actually in the upper reaches of the Bundesliga, it would be a fine place to be.

Of course, this isn’t last season and we’re nowhere near the upper reaches of the Bundesliga. We’re in worse form than Heerenveen, certainly, as they won a game last weekend, going 3-0 over Den Haag.

As is so often the case, we’ll be a bit injury-hit for our trip to the Netherlands, with Pal Dardai, Gojko Kacar, and Rasmus Bengtsson (as well as longer-term injuries Florian Kringe and Timo Ochs) not making the trip. We’ll also be without Patrick Ebert, who got two yellows when Heerenveen came to visit and is suspended. This could mean some playing time for some youngsters- Lennart Hartmann, Sascha Bigalke and Fanol Perdedaj are all in the squad- but I’m not holding my breath.

While this is perhaps not as necessary as Saturday’s game against FC Köln, I’d love to have any sort of result. Hopefully the players will as well. Any sort of confidence boost going into the Köln game is a good one. For the players as well as the fans.

As the crisis in the capital goes on, I’m sure we’ll see more and more fanciful suggestions as how to pull ourselves out of it in the tabloids. It’ll be interesting as to how they’ll top what I’ve seen today, though. Bild says that we want ex-Bayern Munich striker Roy Makaay, currently warming the bench at Feyenoord. He definitely knows where the goal is, but he’s also 34 and that number is unlikely to go lower.

Not to be outdone by the Germans, the Daily Mail is reporting that we’ve made a lucrative offer for Sol Campbell. Yes, that Sol Campbell. Undoubtedly talented, undoubtedly eccentric, and just having left the Notts County experiment by mutual consent after playing only one game in League Two. Apparently he’s hoping that the special tribunal that meets next week will let him join a new club, and even more oddly, we apparently have a lot of money to throw at him.

I don’t even know how to react to that kind of news.

If you’re in the States and have DirecTV, you’re in luck. Hertha’s being televised among their list of games. Check your listings and cross your fingers.

Category: europe, match preview

Tags: europe, match preview

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