Cork City FC Vs SK Slavia Praha - Pre match thread.

jubbly

Away leg - Prague, September 15th.
Return leg at Turner's Cross on Thursday, September 29th.

Cork drew SK Slavia Praha in the first round proper of the UEFA Cup. Do you think Cork can get a result? Personally I think they can. Cork has three weeks where they can more or less wrap up the league and then concentrate on the 2 legs.

Slavia got off to a poor start this season. They crashed out of the Champions League losing 4-1 to Anderlecht, over the two legs. In their own league they have won one, drew one and lost one. The victory they got was by a marginal 3-2. Currently they are 8th in their league. So they aren’t exactly on top form. That may change in the next three weeks but it’s a good sign for Cork at the moment. Having the away leg first is another plus. They know what they have to do when they get back to Turners Cross. (The return leg is in Turners Cross AFAIK)

Cork beating Slavia over the two legs would be good for the league, even though I support Shelbourne. A draw out there would jump us two places in the co-efficient league and IF Shelbourne make the UEFA Cup spot then we would be seeded next year. A win for Cork and maybe Derry City would be seeded as well (AFAIK).

I know Cork played them a decade ago and got hammered but that result isn’t exactly relevant because the club was part time and the league was in winter football. The current Cork team is by far a better team. Plus I think Slavia were in very good form back then.

Cork does lack that something in the final third. I think Cork sold one of their most promising strikers to Reading for peanuts and the fact that they haven’t scored at home is a worry. The other concern is that Cork won’t go for the victory on both matches, the league being more important for the club. Personally I think the league is important but getting to the group stages is very important and they mightn’t get a favourable draw next season.

Corks odds must be 50 / 50.

therecklessone

Is it not a bit early for a pre-match thread?

Nevermind, carry on.

bohsman

The league may be more important for the fans but the club? Cork are virtually guaranteed a top 2 finish meaning Setanta Cup and either UEFA Cup or Champions league, the difference in prize money between 1st and 2nd isnt great AFAIK and the difference between Champs League or UEFA cup Qualifying monetary wise is bound to be smaller than beating Prague and getting to the group stages this year

jubbly

so what are you saying Bohsman ?

bohsman

That this game is more important than winning the league

jubbly

Yeah thats the way I see it too. I think a lot of people see it the other way too

Big Ears

Well those people are wrong . my predicition: Slavia 2-1 Cork .

eirebhoy

bohsman wrote:

The league may be more important for the fans but the club? Cork are virtually guaranteed a top 2 finish meaning Setanta Cup and either UEFA Cup or Champions league, the difference in prize money between 1st and 2nd isnt great AFAIK and the difference between Champs League or UEFA cup Qualifying monetary wise is bound to be smaller than beating Prague and getting to the group stages this year

The extra few quid should not be more important than winning their 1st league title in 13 years.

gimmick

bohsman wrote:

That this game is more important than winning the league

No it isnt. Ask any City fan, as any City official, player, anything and all will say the league is far more important. Sure, a win in this tie will make a financial killing, but are City ready for the group stages? Id have to say no. The squad is smallish, and certainly not equpped for the extra long season the group stages will offer. Thats not to say that if progress is made City wont make a bloody good showing.

If City were to throw away the league at this point, it would be very poor for morale, and would look terrible to the casual/barstool fans.

That said, there is no reason why City cant do both!

Roar

Slavia are a step up from Jokegardens ( (c) Roar 2005)... Its going to be very difficult i have to say, but whos to say we cant go through?

But i agree with Gimmick, its the league is the priority.. anything after is a bonus

jubbly

If Cork go through they are looking at what, €2million Euro or possible 3 or €4 million ? That a really big winfall.

It would pay any redevelopment work being done around the ground, a few new players could be brought in ( replacement for your striker lost to Reading or whoever ).
It would just be a matter of trying to draw 2 - 3 games in the group stages and losing the other one would be acceptable to most barstoolers.

But then again, its always nice to have silverware at your club

Does anyone know if Slavia played today?

KdjaCL

FT Olomouc 4 - 3 Slavia Prague

Lost earlier.


kdjac

gimmick

cry :mad:

jubbly

KdjaC wrote:

FT Olomouc 4 - 3 Slavia Prague

Lost earlier.


kdjac

Good result for Cork. Letting in four goals cant be healthy.

MrJoeSoap

To get all the Cork Fans in the mood

Voodoo dolls, whatever it takes, every soccer fan on this board has to will Cork City to win.

Jivin Turkey

Im going to the leg in Prague, will be there at the time so I may as well lend my support. I assume there will be no problem getting tickets?

I just wish it was another EL team but Cork!

MrJoeSoap

Jivin Turkey wrote:

Im going to the leg in Prague, will be there at the time so I may as well lend my support. I assume there will be no problem getting tickets?

I just wish it was another EL team but Cork!

Dont miss the Ajax-Sparta game in Prague the day before if you can.

edit: Sorry, just saw your post in the other thread. Enjoy!

KdjaCL

Jivin Turkey wrote:

Im going to the leg in Prague, will be there at the time so I may as well lend my support. I assume there will be no problem getting tickets?

I just wish it was another EL team but Cork!

Could always streak with €hel€ daubed on your back and lad


Bet you a tenner you dont


kdjac

jubbly

IF cork get into the group stages it will be

€ork €it¥ £oot£all €lub :rolleyes:

jubbly

Slavia beat Kralove in the 2nd round of their cup.

CMFS Cup2nd round
Dvur Kralove - Slavia 0 : 3

Their next match is

Gambrinus League5th round
Plzen - Slavia
sat 9/10/2005 2:25 pm

Plzen are 9th and Slavia are 11th (out of 16th) so it will be intresting to see how they get on before they meet cork. I dont think they have any more matches before Cork.

jubbly

RTE has secured the rights to the UEFA
Cup 1st round, 1st leg game between
Slavia Prague and Cork City.

The game is on September 15, kick off
7.00pm.
RTE Teletext

Good to see RTE announced that they will be showing the first leg, I guess it all depends on how Cork do out there before the announce the return leg.

applehunter

Good stuff. It looks like there could be close to 500 City fans making the trip. 2 charters and the usual mystery tour trips. Im still in the raising funds stage.

181,000 watched the Djurgardens game which compared favourably to the Premiership(126,000) so It was a no brainer to show this game.

Slash/ED

Unfortunately, I think this could be the match where the absence of Doyle is really exposed. Cork should have won the last UEFA game easily but despite dominating and outplaying their opposition for the entire match they couldn't get the goals they deserved. I think it'll be very difficult in this game and unless O'Flynn is really on form Cork could struggle to put away the chances they create which will obviously be essential.

I hope I'm wrong though

applehunter

Fenn is scoring well in Europe even though I share your concerns. Flynny has showed sparks of a return to form but he is snatching at his chances and is not clinical enough.

Doyle had the ability to create a chance by himself with his control and speed.

jubbly

Cork confirm Slavia Prague ko times

Cork City have today (Sep 2nd) confirmed to UEFA a kick-off time of 5.30pm for their UEFA Cup First Round, Second Leg tie v Slavia Prague at Turner’s Cross on Thursday September 29th.

Slavia Prague earlier this week confirmed a kick-off time of 8pm local (7pm Irish time) for the first leg at the Evzena Rosickeho stadium on Thursday September 15th.

I take it the 5.30pm kick off is due to the lights at Turners Cross and UEFA regulations. still 5.30 better than 3pm.

jubbly

Slavia have yet to set their Gambrinus League on fire. They got a draw and are still 12th.

Gambrinus League
5th round
Plzen - Slavia 1 : 1
http://www.slavia.cz/index_en.asp

Richardson wont be travelling but it shouldnt hold back CCFC. They are in top form in the Eircom league and can get a scoring draw out there.

_blank_

Come on City!!

jubbly

Prague the gateway to Uefa glory for Cork
Emmet Malone
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/sport/2005/0913/2091725903SP3EMCOLUMN_A.html
On Soccer: After spending another weekend in the shadow of the county's hurlers, Cork City's players head for Prague this morning intent on stealing back just a little of the limelight. By the standards of Sunday's events at Croke Park, their meeting with Slavia Prague will be rather low key but another good away performance would leave Damien Richardson's men on the verge of a breakthrough that just might be as well remembered in years to come as a 30th All-Ireland hurling title.

City will travel this morning without Richardson who is well but still undergoing tests in a Cork hospital after severe tightness of breath late last week led to the suspicion he had a clot in one of his lungs. Travel, in the circumstances, is out of the question but work not so and with Thursday night's game being shown on RTÉ, the manager is set to spend the night with a remote control in one hand and a phone in the other.

In Prague, Dave Hill will be relaying the instructions and he will be helped on the night by veterans of City's last trip to the Czech capital, Phil Harrington, Pat Morley and Declan Daly, all of whom are travelling for the game.

The Uefa Cup's many changes in format make City's achievements in the competition hard to gauge properly. Even if they were to beat Slavia Prague over two games they would only be in the last 40 of the competition which would not in itself break new ground for an Irish club.

In modern times, however, it has become a great deal tougher to compete in and if City could become the first Irish club to reach the group stage of a European competition it would represent, by quite some distance, the most significant step forward by an Irish outfit.

Needless to say, it won't be easy. City travelled to Prague to play the same opponents 11 years ago when they lost the first leg 2-0 before being overrun back at home by twice that margin. It was a decent Cork side with the likes of Daly, Morley, John Caulfield, Tommy Gaynor and Liam Murphy all starting both legs and one member of the current squad, Billy Woods, coming on in both games. Slavia, as it turned out, were that bit better with Patrick Berger and Vladimir Smicer among the future internationals at a club that was to win the league for the first time in almost half a century and beat both Lyon and AS Roma on the way to the semi-finals of the Uefa Cup the following season.

Since then they have reacquainted themselves with the reality of being the country's second club as Sparta have gone on to become Champions League regulars. Slavia have benefited from their neighbours' success as they gained a second spot in the tournament's preliminary rounds but they have yet to capitalise on the European opportunities that have come their way. They have repeatedly lost out - as they did this season to Anderlecht - at the third qualifying round stage of the more lucrative competition.

Over the past few seasons they have racked up a great deal of European experience while performing solidly at home. They were again second in the league last year, which isn't too bad for a club whose leading players are always available for the right price. One fairly recent departure was goalkeeper Radek Cerny who left for Spurs (also part-owned by the ENIC group) while perhaps a greater blow was the loss during the close season of vastly experienced midfielder Radek Bejbl to Rapid Vienna.

Coach Karel Jarolim has done well in the circumstances but he is working with a young squad which, rather remarkably, contains no senior internationals and just two players who have represented their country at under-21 level.

The club have not started the season well and lie 12th in the table with just five points from five games despite not having met any of the title favourites yet. Of perhaps most concern for the locals, they have yet to keep a clean sheet with nine goals conceded to date.

Anderlecht also managed a couple in each leg against them but City would surely settle for one and the prospect of having something to sit on again back at Turner's Cross. To date they have taken the upper hand against each of their opponents in the first leg and with their home form still slightly unreliable, they will hope to do the same again this time around.

Quite what happens if City do get through remains to be seen. Playing group matches at Turner's Cross with its meagre 5,500 capacity for European games would seem like a major opportunity lost but the club believes there are no serious alternatives locally while relocating to Lansdowne Road would surely be unthinkable, no matter how attractive the opposition.

The problem may not arise. Slavia will start as favourites and if they rediscover last season's best form on Thursday night then they should be capable of laying the groundwork for progression. As Brian Lennox observed yesterday, however, this is a young City side who have got used to winning and have developed a considerable distaste for losing.

European football presents a very different set of challenges but another 6-0 aggregate defeat certainly seems to be out of the question. Just how far Cork have come, we shall see.



© The Irish Times

Good article there by the Irish Times (best for sports analyisis IMO). It will be intresting to see how cork do get on. SLavia are not in a rich vien of form by any stretch of the imagination. But they are a better team. Best of luck to Cork, I think it will be very tight over the two legs.

Draupnir

jubbly wrote:

But they are a better team

Seen many of their games yeah?

applehunter

Well they are not the team they were 11 years ago. Thats for sure.

And Cork City are not the same team we were 11 years ago either, so it should at least be competitive.

soma

I think cork are *well* capable of a 0-0 or 1-1. I'd be more confident of them getting a 2-1 or 1-0 win if they were just more creative & clinical up front.

jubbly

Do cork have any regrets selling their striker to Reading ?

I said better team since they are playing in a better league, Cork could prove me wrong though and beat Slavia over the two legs. It will be very intresting to see how Cork get on, from a progression point of view.

Malone reckons the UEFA Cup is slightly easier now seeing that 40 clubs are in the group stages. Clubs have a far better chance of improving when they are playing better opposition regularly so moving the group stages nearer is a great idea IMO. The UEFA Cup group stages is not a pie in sky ambitions for EL clubs.

applehunter

Kevin Doyle is a massive loss.

He was able to create goals on his own. He could drag the centre backs out of position.

Our loss is Reading's gain.

If you look at the Reading fan forum, they are talking about it being the best bit of business ever and how when Leroy Lita(£1million purchase) was on the pitch with Doyle on Saturday, you would have though that Doyle was the £1 million player.

MrJoeSoap

Transfer fees for players leaving this country have to increase significantly. How much did Cork get for Doyle? I'm positive he was massively undervalued anyway, and looks set to play a massive part in Readings promotion campaign meaning a Premiership season isn't too far away at all. Daryl Murphy was undervalued as well.

Anyway, back on topic, now is the perfect time to play Prague, they're 12th out of 16 teams in their league, W1D2L2, with Cork in fine form.

Roar

City got 117 grand for Kevin Doyle, and half a bag of magic beans.

He's a huge loss for us, as we were struggling to score goals up until the bray game, and even then John O'Flynn could have had about 6 were it not for poor finishing.

fair play to doyler, he's doing well and hopefully he'll keep his palce in the team when Kitson comes back..

anyway, lets try keep this on topic...

City are up against it on thursday, no doubt about it. We're without Alan Bennett, who's a massive loss and i think one of the most underestimated players in the league; Think Derek will struggle against Slavia to be honest.

Rico's going to be a loss as well, but i reckon the players will be even more spurred on to get a result in his absence..

If George O'Callaghan actually decides to turn up and pretend to be interested for 90 minutes I reckon we could cause them a fair few problems.. its going to take a huge effort from the boys but if everyone does their part there's no reason whatsover why we cant get a result..

i'm nervous already..

Illkillya

jubbly wrote:

Do cork have any regrets selling their striker to Reading ?

The club didn't have much choice in the matter when it happened, it wasn't a conscious decision by this team's current management to sell Doyle. Its just an unfortunate thing to happen for the team, imo very similar to when Setanta Ó hAilpín went to Australia... all you can do is get on with your current squad and wish Doyle the best of luck in England. I bet he'll be named in the Ireland squad for some friendlies in the future, which would almost definitely not be the case if he were still at Cork City.

It is worth remembering that O'Flynn and Fenn on their day are two top notch strikers, and with much more appealing performances in recent games, O'Flynn looks like hes capable of scoring these days. Maybe its just blind optimism but any day now I'm expecting him to play the game of his life.

The loss of Bennett could be the deciding factor in Prague imo... I expect us to lose 1-0 or so away, and I think we could win 1-0 or so in Cork... but then I would have no faith in our team playing extra time, and if it came to penalties we surely wouldn't have a chance. Maybe we could do a Nijmegen and edge them out by 1-0 on agg

jubbly

Richardson adopts hands-on approach

Emmet Malone in Prague




Uefa Cup First Round: Given the problems it has meeting its more run-of-the-mill responsibilities it seems unlikely the Irish health service will manage to rustle up a chalk board and video link for Damien Richardson tomorrow night.

Rest and recuperation appeared to be some way down the Cork City manager's list of priorities as his side arrived in the Czech capital yesterday with his assistant, Dave Hill, confirming that the starting 11 will be selected by Richardson from a hospital bed back at home.

Hill and the rest of the club officials who arrived back at the same Hotel Praha where the team stayed when beaten here by Prague in 1994 are optimistic about Richardson's chances of being in charge for the second leg in a fortnight's time. In his absence here, though, they must ensure the tie is not effectively decided this time, as it was on that occasion, in the first leg.

Cork will be anxious not to leave themselves too much to do back at home, where their form has been unreliable. Scoring away from home, as they have done in each of the last two rounds, will again be a major target for the Eircom League leaders as they take on a side whose only clean sheet since the summer was in a cup game against fourth-division opposition.

"We'll be talking about the approach a lot between now and the kick-off but I can't imagine anything much changing from the games in Lithuania and Sweden," said Hill yesterday. "Damien may not be here but it will be very much his, very positive, style of play. It's what has brought us a lot of success and it would seem crazy to change things now. To try and play in a more European way would upset us and invite them on. This way we have a chance of dictating things a bit.

"It's a big game and everybody knows what's at stake," he continued. "We've got through two stages of the Uefa Cup and have one more to go if we're to make the really big one. What the players could achieve here would be immense in terms of Irish football history but it's on their doorstep . . . it's well within their grasp."

Alan Bennett, who pulled a hamstring in the home game against Djugardens, is the only player expected to miss the game through injury although the centre back did do some light training last night and hasn't been officially ruled out. Of the current squad only Billy Woods was involved in the 6-0 aggregate defeat 11 years ago.

Hungry for success and a growing belief amongst this young group of player that they can achieve a significant breakthrough at this level will fire them on even against a club that has made the last eight of a European competition three times and the semi-finals once since they last came face to face with City.

Left back Danny Murphy, like several of his team-mates, views tomorrow's game as about the biggest of his career to date, with Prague marking another stage on the 22-year-old's journey back from football's wilderness.

Born and bred in south London, the defender showed promise as a teenager at West Ham which he delivered on for a spell at QPR but after almost a season of first-team football his career embarked on a downward spiral and nearly ended altogether after a spell with Conference outfit Margate.

"It was the first time I'd been a part-timer and I got a job as a scaffolder," he recalls. "I only lasted two weeks at it but it was a real wake-up call. It reminded me just how good I'd had it all that time as a full-time footballer. After that I realised I had to turn things around."

He had been thinking of giving up the game, but after his father, Tommy, whose family came from Cork, persuaded then City manager Pat Dolan to give Danny a trial, things finally started to look up.

"I loved it from the minute I got here," says Murphy, who used to holiday as a child with his family in Kinsale. "It was the best thing I ever did because it got me away from certain things in London and gave me the chance to start again."

It's an opportunity he has seized with both hands. Regarded by many as the best left back in the league, Murphy has been a key figure for Cork and his performances in Europe so far have reinforced his growing reputation. Personal recognition continues to elude him - team-mate and friend Liam Kearney, with whom he bought a house after moving to Ireland, twice pipping him to league player-of-the-month awards.

The value of his input, like his confidence in the team's ability to deliver, is huge. "We know that as a club Cork have probably underachieved over the years but we're a young side and we know that we can go forward and win things," he says. Before that, they have two more games to show that they are now leading the way in Europe too. Neither he nor anyone else in the camp believes it will be easy. Crucially, however, nobody believes it is impossible either.

Slavia Prague v Cork City Strahov Stadium, tomorrow On: RTÉ 2 (kick-off 7.0)
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/sport/2005/0914/4215968247SP3SOCEMMET.html


© The Irish Times

Kingp35

I give CCFC a big chance to come through this tie. Prague have not had a good start to the season and they seem to be struggling. Their defence is leaking goals and we all know that CCFC are by no means a defensive team so they will go to Prague with an attacking mentality with the hope of nicking a goal. If Bennett doesn’t make the starting 11 it will be a massive blow for CCFC as they really need to restrict Prague at the back and try not to concede too many goals. If they can come away from the opening leg with a draw, preferably a score draw, it will be a fantastic result for them and it will set up a cracking return leg in Turners cross. Even if they come away trailing by a single goal it will still give them a massive chance in the return leg.

I must say looking at the current form of both clubs I am queitly optimistic about CCFC's chances going into this tie. Lets get the whole country behind them because if they can manage to get through it will be a massive boost for the EL and Irish soccer. Come on CCFC!!

applehunter

Im a bit worried about Caughlan and Murray in defence.

Both are not the quickest and Bennett brought a bit of mobility to the defence. From reading reports, Prague are big team so Derek will be important from set-pieces.

But, they may be big, but Im sure they will have great movement too which is where Caughlan may be found out.

Hopefully im proved wrong and Derek gets a goal form a set piece or something.

applehunter

Previews can be seen here....

1. http://www.irishfootballonline.com/news_story.php?newsid=3571

2. http://corkcityfc.ie/home.htm

3. http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UEFACup/news/Kind=1/newsId=340092.html

Slash/ED

Looks like O'Flynn has made a timely return to form, they'll need him at his sharpest tonight. If Corks big players, especially Kearney and O'Callaghan preform, they can get a score back to the Cross that they can do something with, no question.

MrJoeSoap

Haven't looked forward to a game this much in ages, I really hope Cork do us all proud tonight. I've no reason to see why they wouldn't.

Kingp35

Good luck to Cork tonight. I for one will be backing them all the way

soma

Best of luck to the Cork.

radiospan

Really looking forward to this. C'mon City!

MrJoeSoap

Going to the shop to get some popcorn, anyone want some?

Slavia coach wary of Cork threat

September 15, 2005

Slavia Prague head coach Karel Jarolim admits he is approaching tonight’s Uefa Cup first round first leg clash with eircom League leaders Cork City with the utmost caution after hearing the scouting reports of his coaching staff in recent days.

Members of the Slavia backroom team took in Cork’s demolition of Bray Wanderers last Friday night.

On that occasion, they coasted to a 3-0 win and could have scored six or seven but for a Man of the Match performance from Bray keeper Chris O’Connor.

The win kept them in top spot in their pursuit of a first domestic crown in 12 years, while they remain in contention in the FAI Carlsberg Cup in addition to their European commitments.

And the Czechs insist they will be taking nothing for granted when they take to the field at the Evzena Rosickeho Stadium this evening – with the 6-0 aggregate defeat of Cork in the mid-90s reduced to a distant memory.

Said Jarolim: “We are definitely going to play different opponents from 11 years ago when we won easily. My assistant saw their most recent league game and we have also seen videos.

“They have very good players, including their two central midfielders and a number of under-21 internationals.

“They are opponents we must be very careful against.”

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/euroclub/irish_soccer_detail.asp?newsid=19137

county

cork to win 17/2,cork to win 1-0 22/1,not bad odds

Bateman

I don't know much about Slavia, apart from the fact their league form has been poor, so I predict Cork to get a score draw tonight and finish off the Czechs at home. Cork are light years ahead of most other teams in this league, annd I think they can go further in Europe. That's as close as I'll ever come to cheering on another Irish team in Europe.

MrJoeSoap

HAHAHAHAHAHA! Damien Richardson live from his hospital room! Classy RTE as usual!

Devine
Horgan
Murphy
Bennett
Murray (c)
O' Donovan
Kearney
Gamble
O' Callaghan
Fenn
O' Flynn

wheres me jumpa

good luck to cork, good to see a huge interest in this one. can only be good for irish game.

MrJoeSoap

Great for Irish club soccer alright, a victory tonight would be amazing. Still disappointing that this thread has been around almost 3 weeks and only has half as many views as Wayne Rooneys red card last night.

This is, in my opinion, a bigger game than Shels-Deportivo last year because Cork honestly have a great chance of progressing and making the UEFA cup group stages.

Good to see Rico well and Nutsy and Roddy getting behind the team.

I really think the way the Prague tactics are set-up that Corks wingers can have lots of joy if they are on form. O'Flynn will need support at times though, especially from Fenn. Of course the defence will need to be on form too.