CLQR2 Cork City Vs Red Star Belgrade

gimmick

Well tickets for this are sold out in record time. They went on sale on Friday evening, and were sold out by 3 pm Saturday afternoon. Looks unlikely Red Star will be returning any tickets either, as they have a big supports club in London.

Anyway, to the tie itself, well, City dont really have any chance of progress IMO, as this was about the worst possible draw available. Red Star have four Serb internationals, all at the World Cup, and a Ghanain also. The fact that City are sans John O Flynn, George O Callaghan, Joe Gamble and Danny Purphy doesn't exactly help matters at all.

An appeal is happening today on the latter two suspensions. Citys case really lies on the fact that no one was informed of the sendings off until Thursday morning, but the rule is that if a player is send off after the game, a club official must be informed before they leave the stadium. However, The ref reckons he told a City official, so its his word against Citys. Touch wood it works out, but I wouldn't be too confident.

Best City can hope for is a 0-0 at the Cross and hope to catch them on the break in Belgrade. With the spince of the team missing for the 1st leg though, I cannot see much hope though

_blank_

One word.

BELIEVE.

Bateman

I can see Cork getting a real savaging here, I think Red Star will be strong enough to come away with a 1-0 or a 2-0 from the home leg, and I can see Cork losing it altogether in the second leg. That said, if Cork can come some way towards matching them physically (something they lacked badly in their UEFA Cup game last year), they'll have a fair chance.

treefingers

there is some good news though, in that john o'flynn looks likely to be fit, for a change. city really miss his pace up front when he isn't available. which is about 90% of the time!

i reckon we will put up a decent battling performance at home. i'll go for 1-1 in an ugly game of football.

but i can see red star winning very comfortably in the marakana - at least 2/3 nil. hope i'm wrong though.

Big Ears

With the players missing I see Red Star winning 2-0 , but I would love to see Cork win and progress . What stage are Crvena Zvezda at in their season ? , I can't remember what month they start in in Serbia .

treefingers

they're still in pre-season...

soma

Well if RSB are indeed still in pre-season that is a major plus for cork.

However, I feel that for any EL side to have a good run in europe and to punch above their weight, there needs to be real harmony in the camp and they have to be in absolutely top form. Injuries, in-fighting and now bizarre suspensions do not bode well.

KdjaCL

Score draw at home, shockingly finding odds on that result now are a bit hard.

I could fly down and buy a ticket of a tout with the amount of money im saving from no bloody games to go to.

If Derry feckin win thats that game off too



kdjac

gimmick

Well, the appeal has been done and rather than missing the game tomorrow night, both Gamble and Murphy are to miss BOTH legs, and Cork City have been fined €5k. This is the biggest pile of horsehsh*t I have ever heard.

**** UEFA, **** that referee, and **** those cheating Turks.

_blank_

:eek:

That's a joke alright.

gimmick

I just hope Appollon are fined heavily more than City. Thise ****ers couldn't take their beating in The Cross, and were ratty little ****s once City equalised last week.

Getting suspended and fined for defending yourself? Thats a new low. Even with Andy Needhams account of what happened, they increased the punishment. BULL.

Its just a case of a small club in European terms being punished to make an example. This wouldnt happen with Chelsea, or Barca or whoever.

Bateman

gimmick wrote:

This wouldnt happen with Chelsea, or Barca or whoever.

Happened with Chelsea, against Bar$a! :mad:

Seems a bit harsh on Cork though, they really thought they had a chance given that the referee broke with procedure by not telling anyone what he had done until he released his report.

MrJoeSoap

Don't get to post much here these days but had to give a shout to wish Cork the best of luck. We're all behind you.

20 Times 20 Times

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Don't get to post much here these days but had to give a shout to wish Cork the best of luck. We're all behind you.

Yeah was wondering where my auld mucker was and how the holidays went ?

applehunter

With the news that Gamble is out of both legs and that George is no closer to coming back, I am very pesimistic about the game.

Out bench is very weak and I can see this as a containment job at this stage.

Very frustrating.

gimmick

Just saw Red Star training, They did very little ball work, and from their demeanour, dont look too pushed. It almost seemed to be an informal training session. They are all very big though - both tall and broad, and the little ball work they did, looked sharp.

Going to be an interesting night tomorrow.

Big Ears

gimmick wrote:

Just saw Red Star training, They did very little ball work, and from their demeanour, dont look too pushed. It almost seemed to be an informal training session. They are all very big though - both tall and broad, and the little ball work they did, looked sharp.

Going to be an interesting night tomorrow.

I hope to god they are taking Cork lightly , because otherwise I just can't see Cork going through . The rediculous decision to ban Gamble and and Murphy for a further two games was absurd and has really made things tough for Cork .

applehunter

Seems that Colin O'Brien is not suspended so that is a huge boost IMO.

He can fill in for Gamble and was excellent in that position on the Inter-toto run 2 season ago.

Interesting to see if Rico tries to pack the midfield 4-5-1 or go for the 4-4-2.

Last season although it was admirable, we were vunerable out at Prague when we went for the attacking lineup. I think this time his hand will be forced because of a lack of options.

I would pick

---

Devine

---

Horgan--murray--Bennett--Lordan

Woods--Softic--O'Brien--O'Donovan

----Fenn

---

Behan---

If John O'Flynn is fit then I would play him instead of Behan and bring Behan on late on.

Everything says that Cork City can't get a result tomorrow. But!:D

gimmick

^ You coming down?

John O Flynn took full part in training this morning, but not at all this evening, though Im sure that was only pre-cautionary. If Flynn is fit I would play him upfront with Behan, and play Fenn in the George role, along side Colin O Brien. His European performances have all been sublime, and he hasn't really played as a striker in any games so far, always alot more withdrawn, holding the ball up and distributing wisely from around the half way line.

On a funny side note, Red Star arived at The Cross tonight without any training gear, and asked to be supplied with same. Someone had to go back to their hotel to get some, as none was forthcoming from City. But all the more funny, both strips they brought clash with Citys as they didn't bother checking, so didnt bother bringing their third kit - so looks like they will have to go shopping tomorrow :rolleyes:

[Jackass]

Nothing is impossible!!

Granted all the odds are against them and that fu*king joke of a result of the appeal is almost unbelieveable....

I don't fancy Cork at all on paper, but Irish sides are great at getting themselves pumped for european games and sometimes it rattles the oppesition and catches them off guard as we've seen in recent years and the league is doing very well this year so far also.

I would love to see Cork win this, the whole country's behind you lads, give it a good lash and see what happens!!

Töpher

Pretty unproffessional from Red Star! Will we see Red Start in replica Arsenal gear tomorrow?

Hope they're underestimating Cork, and hope they pay for it.

If Flynn is fit its a no brainer to play him and drop Fenn back - I wouldn't think Softic has enough experience? Although he could translate the insults Red Star players are banding about!

Roar

have it on good authority that the team will be


============devine================


horgan -- bennett -- murray -- woods

o'donovan -- o'brien -- softic -- mccarthy

---

fenn--- o'flynn

---

a lot of pressure on mccarthy and softic's shoulders, but i reckon they could do the business tonight...

actually feeling a bit confident for some unknown reason.. maybe it was after seeing red star train last night - they did shag all ball work as gimmick said, instead they played netball on half a pitch, with headers only counting for scoring in the goals, then they had some shooting practise where about two of their players hit the target, in fact two fellas put their shots outside the stadium onto the main road..

Töpher

Will be watching in work, cheering on the City! G'wan Cark!

eirebhoy

I just realised that Zigic plays for Red Star. He'll no doubt be one of the toughest opponents Bennett and Murray have ever faced. Not that I've seen very much of him but at 6'8, twice Serbia player of the year and as good a record in the Serbian league as Shevchenko he must be good.

Roddy23

G'wan the Cork!!

Whats the kick off on this one?

Töpher

8PM.

Coverage starts on RTE2 at 7:30PM.

Roar

Einst&#252 wrote: »

8PM.

Coverage starts on RTE2 at 7:30PM.

7.45 kick off tonight

radiospan

Yeah the kickoff time was changed to 7.45pm for RTE.

The 3rd qualifying round draw is on on Friday, so City will definately be in the hat. "Cork City or Red Star" will be drawn against one of these:

AC Milan (had their European ban revoked today)
Liverpool
Arsenal
Valencia
Ajax
Lille OSC
Benfica
Steaua Bucuresti (or ND Gorica)
CSKA Moscow
AEK Athens
Dinamo Kiev (or Liepajas Metalurgs)
Levski Sofia (or Sioni Bolnisi)
Shakhtar Donetsk
Galatasaray
Hamburger SV
Slovan Liberec

gimmick

Apparantly Sam Allardyce, Harry Redknapp and Mick McCarthy will all be in attendance tonight. Im told they rang the club looking for tickets and a reserved parking space

Word is that they are after that tall Serbian bloke, the striker.

EDIT: I can't believe there is more interest in Cole going to Chelsea than the Irish Champions playing Red Star Belgrade. Says it all really :rolleyes:

_blank_

Maybe they are looking at Devine.

Not long til Kick Off now. I remember how I felt before our games against Hajduk Split two years ago :eek: Nervous as hell, just dying for thegame to start.

Come on City!

Töpher

Christ, I;m bloody nervous!

Chucky the tree

1 hour to go. Looking forward to this!


1-0 to city

KdjaCL

That mid looks very weak, if only you could combine Shels going forward with Cork going backwards, a team that wouldnt look out of place in the CL at all.

Good luck, i have money on this so dont let me down

http://www.paddypower.com/bet?action=show_event_by_markets&chosen_ev_id=672364&category=SOCCER


kdjac

20 Times 20 Times

i will be fast asleep when the game kicks off but even i as a dundalk supporter would love to see cark do well.

KdjaCL

WEDNESDAY 26 JULY
CHAMPIONS LGE 2ND Q'FYING RND 1ST LEG
Cork City * -v- Red Star Bel' 8.00
Turner's Cross
* Live on RTÉ TWO

FFS RTE!!!!


Anything happen in the 15 minutes i missed?


kdjac

Chucky the tree

no. Very little action so far.

KdjaCL

Tight game so far, you can smell the poop emanating from Cork



kdjac

KdjaCL

1-0 Red Star OG from a corner


Corks 4th or 5th of the season, they then hit the bar from their own corner.


kdjac

Chucky the tree

Very unlucky. Where doing well until then. If we had our full strength team we would be infront.

Draupnir

Cork look like they are playing well but struggling to contain a superior technical side. The first touchs and passing range of all the Red Star players is a little bit above that of Cork so far.

That said, Cork look well capable of a draw here. Softic is playing very well in the middle and Fenn is very very good technically.

Roddy23

its a pity Murray hit the bar, was a lovely header again.

KdjaCL

Corks crossing from set pieces and play has been fairly poor, but the wingers both playing well

Not looking good



kdjac

CiaranC

Pretty disgraceful 3 of Corks best players getting themselves suspended through stupidity.

The goal was a bad one to give away. Woods didnt need to put it out for a corner, never mind the finish.

Illkillya

CiaranC wrote:

Pretty disgraceful 3 of Corks best players getting themselves suspended through stupidity.

The goal was a bad one to give away. Woods didnt need to put it out for a corner, never mind the finish.

Did you see Gamble and Murphy's red cards?

mike65

whats the final score?

Mike.

Töpher

Unlucky result. On another day that would've been 1-0 Cork. But such is football, hopefully they will learn something from it so it wasn't a complete waste.

The Insider

Thought Cork deserved the draw, had nothing up front though, O'flynn must be nowhere near fitness if he didn't even get on for 10 minutes. For all of Behans effort he is well off the required pace at this level. Murray had a great game at the back with Bennett pity he ruined it with a stupid yellow card he will be sorely missed for the second leg.

Unfortunately think Red Star will win the 2nd leg comfortably enough.

Big Ears

Cork were quite unlucky , a draw would have been fair . Murray and Bennet were extremely solid at the back and I can't really blame Murray for the yellow it was that same lad who got the card for diving who jumped to the ground with the slightest bit of contact from Murray(this was when Murray went to get the ball for the throw) .

Softic was very god in the first half but couldn't keep it up , while Roy O'Donavan was poor in the first but came into it in the second half .
Same with Neale Fenn , much better in the second . Behan clearly isn't up to the standard and it was a stupid og to give away but you can't fault the man for effort .

The only player that really impressed me for Red Star was Basta , quality holding midfielder who breaks up the play and starts attacks . He was also very comfortable at right-back . Zigic seems to be a height=hype type of player but he does have a good goalscoring record even if it is hard to believe from what we saw last night .

Red Star's final ball let them down time after time , they would build an attack well but just are good with the killer pass and because of that they had few if any real chances .

Cork seemed to do better in the second half because of how much they pressured Red Star , they don't look the same side when forced to do things at a higher tempo and I would like to see Cork play the same way as they did in the second half for the whole of the next leg . Hopefully John O'Flynn will be back and will replace Behan .

Devine , Horgan , Bennet , Murray , Murphy , O'Donavan , Gamble , O'Callaghan , Woods , Fenn , O'Flynn...................if only that team could play .

Bateman

I think that if the OG hadn't been scored, it would have finished 0-0. However, the other side of the coin is that Red Star look as if they have another gear or two in them, and they didn't have to use them to come away with the away win.

gimmick

AC Milan should we squeeze past Red Star!!!! :eek:

finnpark

Red Star really tired towards the end I thought. I think Gamble, O'Callaghan amd O'Flynn are too big a loss to do without. Beating Apollonon was a fantastic result though but thats it for Cork this year and they may struggle to regain their title at home too.