UEFA Cup Preview

By: Chris | October 23rd, 2008

Well, it may be the red-headed stepchild of European competition, but at least we are competing in Europe (albeit in a pretty tough group). Tonight, HSV square off against MŠK Žilina in a UEFA Cup Group F match in Žilina, Slovakia.

Žilina play in the Slovakian Corgon Liga (First Division) and Žilina currently sit atop the Corgon Liga table with 24 points on 12 matches, leaving them equal of ŠK Slovan Bratislava and MFK Košice. Since the formation of the the Slovakian first division following the breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1993, Žilina have been league champions 4 times and runners-up twice, with their most recent championship coming at the end of the 2007 campaign. Žilina qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Cup by knocking off MTZ-Ripa Minsk of Belarus (3-2 on aggregate) in the first qualifying round, Slovan Liberec of the Czech Republic (an old opponent from the pre-1993 Czechoslovakian first division) 4-2 in the second qualifying round, and finally topping Levski Sofia of Bulgaria 2-1 in the UEFA Cup’s first round. I have tried to perform my due diligence, but I am hard pressed to tell you who the leading scorer for Žilina is, even after translating the club’s web site (and I speak a little bit of Czech, mind you). So what are HSV facing? Well, everyone in Hamburg seems to think that captain David Jarolim is an expert on all things Czech-Slovak, and he has been grilled in the days leading up to the match. David Jarolim on Žilina:

“We have got to watch out because they are very strong at home,” he said. “It is no coincidence they are at the top of the table.”

HSV are still battling the injury bug–Marcell Jansen, Nigel de Jong and Thiago Neves are still out. Good news in that Mladen Petric is over his intestinal virus and will be available tonight–he’s the secret weapon, you know. Probable starting lineup:

Rost

Demel Reinhardt Mathijsen Atouba

Jarolim Benjamin

Trochowski Guerrero Olic

Petric

There is a huge what-to-do over the fact that this match will not be broadcast via any media, ANYWHERE. It seems that the Czech and Slovak football associations co-own the TV rights to the Slovakian clubs, and that Žilina has long protested the inequitable distribution of TV revenue (they feel that the Czech clubs get a disproportionate share of the revenue from Slovakian matches). As a result of this dispute, Žilina will not allow the regular broadcast outlet to air the game, feeling that they alone should reap the reward of qualifying for European competition. This situation is further complicated by the fact that there are 3 German clubs in the UEFA Cup this season and that UEFA has mandated that all matches involving those sides begin somewhere between 1830 and 2030. Žilina opted for the earlier start (for reasons that did not translate too well) and felt that they would get an offer from a German TV network for the broadcast rights to the match. They did get an offer from a local Hamburg station, but the offer was for €120,000, provided that Žilina started the match at 1630. Žilina refusesd, saying their supporters could not make it to the ground from work by 1630 (fair weather fans I say–I mean, what are your priorities people?) and told the German network that they would only consider moving the start time for more coin. On top of that, they (Žilina) don’t want to sell the TV rights to a German network and not have the game available to a Slovakian audience.

UPDATED UPDATE (1100 CDT/1800 CET): At Jan’s behest, I checked that link again as we are approaching kickoff. The destination is not–repeat NOT–a broadcast, but a live commentary.

UPDATED: I checked the Zilina web site this morning and there is a link to an online broadcast on the home page. If you really, really want to see this match, here is the link to the broadcast (I am at work and can’t see streaming video due to the firewall):

http://www.onlajny.sk/detail.php?id=491&hra=fotbal

Bottom line: This is going to be a difficult game, both to win and to watch. I think if HSV come away with a draw, they’ll be money ahead. Fearless prediction: 2-2.

Third Update: There is a live commentary in English on ESPNsoccernet. Now, how they are doing a live commentary for an American TV network when THERE IS NO BROADCAST OF THIS GAME ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD is beyond me. But there it is. So far, about every third comment is “Frank Rost takes a long goal kick.”