Europa League Match Thread - Swansea v. Kuban Krasnodar

Match Day 3 - Swansea City v. Kuban Krasnodar

Liberty Stadium - Kickoff 20:05


Next up in the Europa League is Kuban Krasnodar of Russia who currently sit bottom of the group having lost lost both their games 2-0, away at St Gallen in Match Day 1 and at home to Valencia in match day 2.

A win on Thursday night would put us in a very commanding position in group ‘A’ and just one point short of the 10 that is usually required to progress.

Kuban Krasnodar qualified for the Europa League by finishing 5th in the Russian Premier League last season and entered at the third qualifying round. They beat Motherwell 3-0 on aggregate to progress to the 4th qualifying round where they beat Feyenoord 3-1 on aggregate, winning 1-0 at home and 2-1 away in Rotterdam.

There seems to be an attraction between Russian and English (Welsh) teams in this years European competitions. CSKA Moscow are in Manchester City’s Champion’s League group. Anzhi Makhachkala are in Tottenham’s Europa League group, Rubin Kazan are in Wigan’s Europa League group. Spartak Moscow failed to make the Europa League group phase after being beaten by our Swiss friends from St Gallen. (Zenit St Petersburg are also in the Champion’s League.)

We can expect Kuban Krasnodar to play in their usual strip of yellow shirts and green shorts as they’ve played in these colours home and away. They currently lie 11th (out of 16 teams) in the Russian Premier League this season after 13 games.

Haha. I’d just written a paragraph on who I thought was their manager (Dorinel Munteanu) only to find he has just been sacked on October 12th following underwhelming results in the Russian Premier League and in Europe.

Dorinel Munteanu was a former Romania international who had been in charge since June of this year. Munteanu has a staggering 134 caps for Romania scoring 16 goals for his country and went to the World Cup in 1994 & 1998 and the Euros in 1996 & 2000. No matter, as he is now history.

He has been replaced by 36-year-old Viktor Goncharenko who has come from BATE Borisov in Belarus. He is the youngest ever manager of a team in the group stage of the Champions League. He set this record on September 17, 2008, in a match against Real Madrid, at the age of 31. Seems like his first game in charge (yesterday, Sunday 20th October) was quite eventful as they had two players sent off in a 3-1 defeat away at Dinamo Moscow, Balde the scorer for Kuban.

Players to look out for

9 Djibril Cisse. Getting on a bit at 32 years old but has an impressive CV having played for Auxerre, Liverpool, Marseille, Sunderland, Panathinaikos, Lazio and QPR. His wife, Jude Littler, is a hair-dresser from Anglesey and one of their children is called Cassius Clay Cisse.

99 Ibrahima Balde. 24 year-old Senegal striker who is currently Kuban Krasnodar’s top scorer so far this season. Why does he have a squad number of 99?

71 Ivelin Popov. Dangerous advanced midfielder who has 46 caps for Bulgaria including 8 goals for his country. Has scored 3 goals in the Europa League already this season. Has been linked with a move to Aston Villa.

5 Angel Dealbert. Swansea midfielder Pablo Hernández and Kuban central defender Ángel Dealbert were team-mates at Valencia CF from 2009-12, earning three successive third-place Liga finishes.

10 Charles Kabore. A defensive midfielder, he has played 48 times for Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta in West Africa- Vetch has probably been there) scoring 3 goals. Was sent off in match day 1 away at St Gallen.


Possible line-ups for Thursday’s game

.....................................KUBAN KRASNODAR

..............................................23 Belenov (Rus)

25 Kozlov(Rus).......4 Xandao(Bra).......5 Dealbert(Spa)......28 Melgarejo(Paraguay)

6 Tsoraev(Rus)...........10 Kabore (Burkina Faso)....8 Tlisov (Rus)......11 Bucur(Rom)

...........................................................71 Popov (Bulg)

.................................9 Cisse(Fra/Ivory Coast) or 99 Balde(Senegal)

*************************************************************************************************

.......................................................Bony

Hernandez...........................Michu........................................Dyer

...................................Canas...................Shelvey

Taylor.........................Amat....................Flores........................Tiendalli

..............................................Tremmel

........................................SWANSEA CITY



Krasnodar - the place

Krasnodar is a large city situated 90km from the Black Sea and the Crimea with a population of about 750,000 people. It’s also not far from Sochi on the Black Sea which will host the Winter Olympics in February 2014. The city is situated on the River Kuban, hence the name of the football team although the region is also called the Kuban region.

The Russian M4 motorway goes round Krasnodar in the same way that our own M4 goes round Swansea. (You may need to know that one day).

The city was originally called Ekaterinadar (Catherine’s Gift) from Catherine the Great but was renamed Krasnodar (Red Gift) in 1920 after the communist revolution.

The city was occupied by the German army during WW2 (1942-1943) and sustained heavy damage during the fighting but was rebuilt after the war and is now the economic centre of southern Russia.

With the World Cup being held in Russia in 2018, Krasnodar was on the shortlist of 13 potential host cities. Krasnodar was to have a spanking new 50,000 seater stadium.

http://rt.com/sport/football/world-cup-2018-fifa-russia-krasnodar-rostov-inspectors-243/

In September 2012 the final list of the 11 host cities was revealed, but Krasnodar was one of the 2 cities omitted, leaving the locals angry and disillusioned.

http://rt.com/sport/football/krasnodar-fifa-sochi-worldcup2018-453/

Despite being snubbed, Krasnodar are planning to go ahead anyway and build a new 45,000 seater stadium based on a sunflower.

http://www.stadiumguide.com/krasnodarstadium/

More on the city

If you’re going to the away leg, here’s where you land
http://russiatrek.org/images/photo/krasnodar-airport-russia.JPG

Ooh!...I love trams
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Tram_in_Krasnodar_101_1815.jpg

Yes, it looks like Russia...
http://russiatrek.org/images/photo/krasnodar-city-modern-architecture.jpg

Don’t go in January
http://www.russiakrasnodar.com/krasnodar-winter-snow/images/krasnodar-winter-snow (00).jpg

It’s not all grim though
http://russiatrek.org/images/photo/krasnodar-russia-city-cathedral.jpg

Russian MIGs prepare to flatten Swansea if Kuban end up losing
http://www.airforce.ru/memorial/russia/krasnodar/krasnodar_su-17m_1.jpg

Don’t mess with the stewards in Kuban Stadium
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...eague,_Krasnodar,_Russian_2005_Federation.jpg

 

That's a great thread there Aswan, much better than the rubbish PGF will put up for the West Ham game but not as naughty as the thread I've just about got finished for our game at Legoland

 

I've retired

Where's Jon-jo in the starting X1?

 

You can't retire yet, I'm too busy preparing the one for Legoland. I've been told it has to be vetoed before it's posted. Apparently I'm not trusted to behave myself

 

I might do West Ham cos PGF is shiiiite

 

Yes please, PGF is ****e and I'm too busy doing the Legoland thread. Your Sunderland thread was much better than his

 

Why thank you kind sir, nice to see you back Dilli

 

You carry on KDA. Gives me more time to watch videos of women with large breasts

 

Won't be for long, as soon as the tossers at Legoland see the thread I've got planned they'll all be complaining again

 

Nice matchday thread for once.

Hope you'll be pulling the stops out for the Redtits Dilli.

 

How did you know the term "redtits" is going to be used ?

 

Meethinks we will be busy in the next couple off weeks .

 

Back on thread, think Shelvey will start instead of Leon.

 

So do I, so I changed it

 

Too late though, I saw it

 

me thinks Shelvey was rested for this match

 

Hey PG was that big women with breasts - you know I have a supply!

 

Err..hum..no..it's OK Lumber..........your definition of big is different to mine

 

I've seen your big women lumber, err no thank you!!!!

 

Wotz worse is that for Thursday he's got a BIG Russian woman called Ivana Tearabollockoff lined up