One Fool's Preview of the Champions League Group Stage (Pt 4 of 4)
| 12
|
by Foolsgold
Group G - Internazionale, PSV Eindhoven, CSKA Moskva, & Fenerbahçe S.K.
Winner - It's hard to go against Internazionale, being that they have a squad packed full of great players, but the way they've looked recently makes this group look wide open. I think they'll be able to get it together to advance, but I'm not sure they'll be on top at the end of this stage. Who does that leave? PSV Eindhoven? Their defensive backbone Alex, their captain Cocu, and one of their key strikers, Arouna Koné, are all gone. I sort of doubt they are of Champions League quality anymore. If they advance, even in a group as weak as this, it'll be a minor miracle. CSKA Moskva? Roman Abramovich's other club might have lucked out in this group. The defending Russian Premier League Champions are a talented squad with the likes of Jô, Vágner Love, Chidi Odiah, and Daniel Carvalho, and having won the UEFA Cup a couple of years back, certainly have shown they know how to get it done in Europe. Finally, we have Fenerbahçe, the Turkcell Süper Lig defending champs and new home to the legendary Roberto Carlos. The big advantage they have over everyone else is opponents have to travel to the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul to play them, which can't be fun for any visiting side.
Who'll advance? I'm gonna say CSKA Moskva to win the group with Inter sneaking by over Fenerbahçe. I just don't see PSV being anything but a doormat.
Intriguing match(es) - September 19th, the opening day for this group, CSKA Moskva travel to the Netherlands to take on PSV. If they administer a smackdown, they'll win this group. If not, than Inter should have no problem advancing here and your guess is as good as mine as to who will join them.
Interesting fact - PSV hasn't won the Champions League in 19 years. It's been 32 for Inter and neither Fenerbahçe nor CSKA Moskva have ever won it.
Group H - Arsenal, Sevilla, FC Steaua Bucureşti, & SK Slavia Praha
Winner - Sevilla If Henry was still with Arsenal, I'd go with them in a heartbeat, but Sevilla knows what it takes to win in Europe and the name of Antonio Puerta will be their driving force. That is, of course, if they can get the Dani Alves situation resolved. With or without him, they should be the cream of this group.
2nd - Arsenal Easily the most talented of the group, but their youth as it did last year can play against them. I just don't think they're mature enough and they're just an injury to Fabregas or Van Persie away from having scoring issues. It's going to take a huge effort from Gilberto Silva to keep this team focused enough to go far into the tournament.
Getting to know the minnows - SK Slavia Praha are a storied club that prior to the Iron Curtain boasted some of the greatest teams and players ever to grace this planet including arguably the best player ever, Josef "Pepi" Bican. Unfortunately, once they came under communist power they pretty much ceased to exist on the world stage and it was even 53 years from 1943 to 1996 in between Czech League titles. Recently, they've come back from the depths of financial problems to the Champions League, mostly in part to the contributions of team captain Stanislav Vlček and keeper Martin Vaniak. They also have former Champions League winner Vladimir Smicer on their squad, though he left in the 14th minute of the second leg of the Ajax tie with an injury scare. They are owned by the same holding company that owns Tottenham and AEK Athens and play in the Stadion Evzena Rosickeho, though a new stadium is being built for the club that will be completed sometime next year.
Interesting fact - The only team to win the Champions League in this group is FC Steaua Bucureşti, who did so in 1986.
Originally posted here
