|
PREVIEW OF FC XANTHI
It's UEFA Cup first round time again and just like last year, we were paired with a team who we had never heard of before. So just who are the mysterious Xanthi Skoda FC of Greece and do they pose a danger to Boro? Harry Haverton has all the answers.
Former Olympiakos boss Matzourakis Ioannis is in his second spell as Xanthi manager and ironically enough, he was also once in the hot seat at our old rivals Eagalio.
The Romanian has built a solid team who remain unbeaten after two games in the Greek league this season. A 1-1 draw with OFI Crete yesterday came hot on the heels of a 1-0 win against AOK Athens and the team also fared well in the run up to the new season. They are fired up and in good form for this tie, so we had better not take them lightly.
Like Boro, this is Xanthi's second season in Europe but unlike Boro they crashed in the first round last season, holding their opponents to a 0-0 draw in the home leg and going down 4-0 in the return. The oppoenets? Lazio. And we all know what happened to them in the group stages last season.
The FC Xanthi website is quite devoid of information with only one news article available for 2005, one from 2004 and a few from 2003. So I can only assume that not a lot happens football wise in Thrace, Northern Greece where the club are based.
They do have quite a cosmpolitan squad though including three Brazilian players, one of whom we know a little bit about already, an Italian called Jesus and a Dutchman called Shalimar Jones who may well get up at half time and sing a few old Motown numbers to entertain his team mates. Or maybe not.
Defenders Sikov of Macedonia and Frenchman Paviot will almost certainly be playing on Thursday night and although competent, the pair will almost certainly be sikov a paviot by the final whistle as they don't have the necessary goods to stop whichever strike pairing Steve Mc opts for.
Another Italian, De Mattia will join them in defence but it is unlikely that he will be lobbing our keeper from fourty yards in the first minute, especially as it's not Emerson's job to pick him up this time round.
In fact, the only problem that I can see Xanthi posing comes in the shape of Brazilian striker Luciano de Souza. Whilst not exactly a powerhouse tour de force, we do need to check him early and not allow him the run of the play. French Franck or Pogosticks should be able to take care of him fairly easily.
Xanthi are one of the youngest clubs in European competition this season, having being formed in 1967 through the merger of two Thrace clubs, Aspida and Orfeas. They reached Greek top flight status in 1988 and fought a continuous struggle against relegation for three seasons until club president Aristides Pialoglou secured major sponsorship from Skoda and solved the club's financial problems overnight.
Boro are rightly expected to kill this tie off in Thursday's first leg but be warned. The Skodas from the land of Greek mythology may well certainly be revved up and firing on all four cylinders for this one.
We need to be careful and on top of our game because any complacency in the Boro dressing room could result in a nasty surprise.
We have the ammunition to beat Xanthi and beat them well and in reality we should sail through. But it is written in Greek mythology, and I quote;
"The son of Saturn gave The nod with his dark brows. The ambrosial curls upon the Sovereign One's immortal head were shaken, and with them the mighty mount, Olympus trembled."
Which probably means that we are going to win.
Harry Haverton. Resident European Football Expert
BACK TO EUROPE INDEX
|
|
|
|
