EL thoughts

Fulham should be favorite in the first fixture. Zamora isn’t fit, but will play. Great home record in Europe, one draw (Shakthar) and all other wins. This is the most important game in their lives.
Hamburger sacked Labadia, players definitely feel better. Decent German team with some very good players, Petric, Berg, Jansen, ZeRoberto, van Nistelroy.
The problem is final game is in Hamburg. Last season old farts from FIFA and UEFA were saying the interest of football is Barcelona to play in CL final (???!!!). So, this season interest of football (read: tv rights, advertising, bigger attendance, lack of Englishmen in town…) could be Hamburg to play at home. So would like to see Fulham in the final, but my vote goes for German side.

Liverpool - Atletico M. To be honest, have no idea about this one. Liverpool should progress, all season is in this game. But it could be the end of one (Rafa’s) era as well. Vote for Liverpool.

No bets, I’ve been just wasting my money lately.

P.s.: It was offside, right?

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Cup edge to Hamburg and Shakhtar

An away goal from Piotr Trochowski earned Hamburg a 1-0 win in their all-German Uefa Cup semi-final first leg against Werder Bremen. 
Trochowski rose at the far post to head in a Guy Demel cross in the first half. 
Hugo Almeida missed a couple of good chances for Bremen who contributed much to a superb game.

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Shakhtar Donetsk came away the happier from the all-Ukrainian Uefa Cup semi-final first leg after grabbing a vital away goal in a 1-1 draw at Dynamo Kiev.An important away goal from Brazilian striker Fernandinho earned Shakhtar Donetsk a draw in the first leg of the all-Ukrainian semi-final at the Valeri Lobanovskiy stadium against Dynamo Kiev . 
Kiev took the lead after 20 minutes when Olexandr Aliev's long-range free-kick deflected off Ismael Bangoura's instep across goal to the far post where Chygrynskiy - marking Kiev striker Artem Milevskiy - unfortunately deflected the ball into his own net.
www.bbc.co.uk

Boring Thursday (short view)

Uefa Cup, semi-finals today. In the first game we'll watch two Ukrainian sides (who expected that?). Dynamo Kiev is a leader in domain league with 12 points more than Shakhtyor. After Tottenham, home side eliminated Metalurg and PSG. Boss Yuri Semin have all key players available. Shakhtyor is having a big expansion since Rinat Akhmetov took a charge in club. Thankfully to disaster season start, they lost every chance for Europe competition next year. They surprisingly eliminated CSKA Moscow first, than Olympique Marseille. Mircea Lucescu keeps his keys in domain league and their European games are much different. I don't dare to predict anything here. Bookies fancy under as the odds against the goals are really low. 

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In second game, two German clubs will fight for final. In the previous week, they played a national cup game in Hamburg. Werder was a better side after the penalties. In their mutual games, usually hosts have an advantage. Big relief for a home side is Diego has fully recovered and fit. Schaaf and Jol announced formations with one man in attack, Pizarro on one and Olic on other side. Hamburg lost very good striker, Mladen Petric and he'll miss both games, maybe the rest of the season. Considering bookies offer, Werder is a slight favorite and over is expected. Personally, I fancy away side (though their decreasing shape), but I won't support that opinion with a money.

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I don't dare to predict anything here, won't force any bet, wasting the time and money, and I'm taking a break. I should do that three days ago. Anyway, I guess there are some football fans between "Football Betting (and More)" readers, so I'll post later the third and the last part about Football casuals and casual culture.

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Cheers, Dule.

Hamburg 3-1 Man City

Manchester City were emphatically beaten by Hamburg in the first leg of their quarter-final to leave their Uefa Cup hopes hanging by a thread. 
Stephen Ireland slotted the visitors ahead after 35 seconds but they were under constant pressure after that. 
Joris Mathijsen headed Hamburg level before Piotr Trochowski converted a penalty after Micah Richards' handball. 
Jose Paolo Guerrero then fired in from close range at the far post to put the German side firmly in the driving seat. 
The home side would have been in an even stronger position had it not been for City keeper Shay Given's heroics as the visitors' defensive frailties away from home were again exposed. 
Hamburg boss Martin Jol would have been confident about the chances of his joint Bundesliga leaders ahead of the game, especially as he had won all six of his games against City while in charge of Tottenham.
Hamburg: Rost, Benjamin, Gravgaard, Mathijsen, Jansen, Pitroipa, Jarolim, Aogo, Trochowski, Petric, Olic (Guerrero 71). 
Subs Not Used: Hesl, Ndjeng, Rincon, Schmidt, Torun. 
Booked: Trochowski, Pitroipa. 
Goals: Mathijsen 9, Trochowski 64 pen, Guerrero 79. 

Man City: Given, Richards, Dunne, Onuoha, Bridge (Garrido 46), Wright-Phillips (Fernandes 83), Zabaleta, Ireland, Sturridge (Mwaruwari 62), Bellamy, Robinho. 
Subs Not Used: Hart, Elano, Petrov, Berti. 
Booked: Bellamy, Given. 
Goals: Ireland 1. 

Att: 50,500 
Ref: Olegario Benquerenca (Portugal).
www.bbc.co.uk

Hamburger SV - Manchester City

Hamburg, who are managed by former Tottenham boss Martin Jol, have enjoyed a productive season to date and will fancy their chances of claiming an English scalp. After a fourth win in a row (1899 Hoffenheim, 1-0 at home), they surprisingly became one of the main title candidate, with the same number of points as Wolfsburg. Whole season, they have problems with injuries, but Jol always finds a competent substitutes and resulst are stabile. Defenders Alex Silva and Guy Demel are still injured, while Paolo Guerrero and Collin Benjamin have returned to training after ankle and thigh problems, respectively, and could be involved. Anyway, these four are not the standard members of first eleven and will be replaced easily. Their good run of results and home ground make of them a big favorites tonight.

Mark Hughes' side required a penalty shoot-out to see off AaB Aalborg in the last round. They perform very well at home, but away games look like nightmare for The Blues. Four competetive defeats in a row with no scored goal! 2-0 defeat against Arsenal hasn't increased team morale. Vincent Kompany and Nigel De Jong will not have the opportunity to play against their former club. Midfielder Kompany suffered the setback at the weekend and has remained at home for treatment. De Jong is not registered for Uefa Cup. Stephen Ireland and Wayne Bridge have joined to injury list. Stilian Petrov made his comeback for the reserves against Newcastle on Monday and travelled to Germany. 

Hamburg is in excellent run of results, leading by Martin Jol. Their performance looks good and consistent. Visitors are without a few very important players. Even with them, they would be in subordinate position. Expekt and the most of others offer 2.oo for Hamburger. I have no dilemmas. Home win.

Werder - Udinese

I expect an open game and goals. Over.

Greuther Furth - Hansa

Home side is fighting for promotion, but doesn't have the stadium that requires the standards for Bundes Liga. Visitors are two points under the relegation line. Like to play 3 for 3 in mutual games. Away win is 4.70 at Expect. Gamble bet for me. Away win.