Europa berth on the line for Sevilla

Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido said his club need to put their fight for European qualification to one side when they face Villarreal.

Sevilla are seventh in the table on 46 points but will be hoping to finish fifth or sixth to grab an all-important Europa League qualification spot for next season.

They need to bounce back from last weekend’s 1-0 defeat away at Getafe with a win over fourth-placed Villarreal at home on Sunday, but del Nido said they cannot afford to be distracted by their plight in the league.

“At this stage in the season, we need to focus on Sunday’s game and on beating Villarreal,” del Nido said.

“We will look to make certain that we finish fifth or sixth in the table, and then see what happens in the next match after that.

“The table shows that it is getting more and more difficult. Especially with Villarreal winning last night while we were not able to take a point from our last two away games. The problem is more to do with us not winning than with our opponents doing well.”

But despite failing to reach the heights of previous campaigns, del Nido refused to concede that this season had been a disappointment.

“Failure would be to finish 10th, or eighteenth and get relegated. We are fighting above what our budget allows, and we aren’t talking about failure,” del Nido said.

“We are talking about Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid and Valencia – rich cities, who have other economic possibilities.”

Wed 20 April, 2011

Europa berth on the line for Sevilla

Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido said his club need to put their fight for European qualification to one side when they face Villarreal.

Sevilla are seventh in the table on 46 points but will be hoping to finish fifth or sixth to grab an all-important Europa League qualification spot for next season.

They need to bounce back from last weekend’s 1-0 defeat away at Getafe with a win over fourth-placed Villarreal at home on Sunday, but del Nido said they cannot afford to be distracted by their plight in the league.

“At this stage in the season, we need to focus on Sunday’s game and on beating Villarreal,” del Nido said.

“We will look to make certain that we finish fifth or sixth in the table, and then see what happens in the next match after that.

“The table shows that it is getting more and more difficult. Especially with Villarreal winning last night while we were not able to take a point from our last two away games. The problem is more to do with us not winning than with our opponents doing well.”

But despite failing to reach the heights of previous campaigns, del Nido refused to concede that this season had been a disappointment.

“Failure would be to finish 10th, or eighteenth and get relegated. We are fighting above what our budget allows, and we aren’t talking about failure,” del Nido said.

“We are talking about Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid and Valencia – rich cities, who have other economic possibilities.”

Wed 20 April, 2011

Osieck: Australia worthy of semi berth

Australia boss Holger Osieck hailed his team’s display in what he called a thoroughly deserved 1-0 Asian Cup quarter-final victory over Iraq.

Harry Kewell’s extra-time winner at Doha’s Al Sadd Stadium on Saturday was all that separated the sides, sending the Socceroos into the semi-finals of Asian soccer’s flagship event for the first time.

“I’m very pleased and happy with my team’s performance,” said Osieck.

“We managed to qualify for the semi-finals, which is definitely a great achievement and, looking at the game itself, although it went to extra time, during the regular 90 minutes we had more of the game.”

Osieck reserved special praise for his side’s robust defence, which he felt set the platform for a solid all-round team performance.

“We played solidly in defence, we had a good structure, we created a lot of good chances and if I’m not mistaken, Iraq only had one great opportunity, the rest came from half-chances.”

“You can learn when you make serious mistakes but our defensive shape looked solid, we created opportunities that looked good but that we didn’t finish. That was maybe not so good.”

Standing in between Australia and a place in the tournament decider are Uzbekistan, but Osieck is refusing to look beyond Tuesday’s semi-final.

“That is two steps ahead,” Osieck stressed.

“The next game with Uzbekistan is waiting, I saw them the other night, they are a very good team too, they play a different kind of football and it’s going to be a different challenge.”

“First we need to recharge our batteries then we look at the game with Uzbekistan, that is my next target and I don’t want to look further ahead than that.”

Iraq coach Wolfgang Sidka was upbeat despite the defending champions’ exit, and had nothing but words of praise for his players.

“I think we created our chances by playing football,” Sidka said, adding: “I must praise my players especially for the last 30 minutes. The condition was very good, we did everything at the end to try and win and we end up empty-handed.”

“You saw everything in this game and we’ve always played in an attacking manner, tried to create chances and we got chances in extra time. We did everything but in the end, it was one cross and one header.”

“We were disappointed to lose in the quarter-finals but the way we played I think was 100 percent okay.”

Sat 22 January, 2011

Osieck: Australia worthy of semi berth

Australia boss Holger Osieck hailed his team’s display in what he called a thoroughly deserved 1-0 Asian Cup quarter-final victory over Iraq.

Harry Kewell’s extra-time winner at Doha’s Al Sadd Stadium on Saturday was all that separated the sides, sending the Socceroos into the semi-finals of Asian soccer’s flagship event for the first time.

“I’m very pleased and happy with my team’s performance,” said Osieck.

“We managed to qualify for the semi-finals, which is definitely a great achievement and, looking at the game itself, although it went to extra time, during the regular 90 minutes we had more of the game.”

Osieck reserved special praise for his side’s robust defence, which he felt set the platform for a solid all-round team performance.

“We played solidly in defence, we had a good structure, we created a lot of good chances and if I’m not mistaken, Iraq only had one great opportunity, the rest came from half-chances.”

“You can learn when you make serious mistakes but our defensive shape looked solid, we created opportunities that looked good but that we didn’t finish. That was maybe not so good.”

Standing in between Australia and a place in the tournament decider are Uzbekistan, but Osieck is refusing to look beyond Tuesday’s semi-final.

“That is two steps ahead,” Osieck stressed.

“The next game with Uzbekistan is waiting, I saw them the other night, they are a very good team too, they play a different kind of football and it’s going to be a different challenge.”

“First we need to recharge our batteries then we look at the game with Uzbekistan, that is my next target and I don’t want to look further ahead than that.”

Iraq coach Wolfgang Sidka was upbeat despite the defending champions’ exit, and had nothing but words of praise for his players.

“I think we created our chances by playing football,” Sidka said, adding: “I must praise my players especially for the last 30 minutes. The condition was very good, we did everything at the end to try and win and we end up empty-handed.”

“You saw everything in this game and we’ve always played in an attacking manner, tried to create chances and we got chances in extra time. We did everything but in the end, it was one cross and one header.”

“We were disappointed to lose in the quarter-finals but the way we played I think was 100 percent okay.”

Sat 22 January, 2011