Blackhawk

Looks like there is also a corona virus infection to one of our players/staff member, who will not travel with the team to Croatia and San Marino.

UEFA created Nations League mainly to replace the useless friendly games that used to be played. as a result it appears that our coach is using these games to rebuild the national team. That is the reason for the youngsters that he is calling up. At the same time he cleans house of the saboteurs that used to cause trouble. His goal is to have a solid team to enter the WC qualifying campaign.

Their stadium is not ready to host European games apparently. They selected OAKA for their UEFA games.

Is 4th time the charm?

VS MATCHUP: PAOK Thessaloniki – SL Benfica Lisbon COMPETITION: Champions League – Qualifying Round 3 DATE: 15-September-2020 TIME: 21:00 EEST (18:00 GMT, 13:00 CDT, 04:00 AEST next day) CITY/STADIUM: Thessaloniki - Toumba Stadium (28,703) REFEREES: Felix Brych - Mark Borsch, Stefan Lupp (Germany) TELEVISION: OPEN Beyond TV, Noivasports 1 (Greece) PAOK’s History against teams from Portugal in European Competitions 2018-2019: PAOK – Benfica Lisbon 1:4 – (Prijovic) - Att: 26,725 - Champions League (Qualifying Round 4, Leg 2) 2018-2019: Benfica Lisbon – PAOK 1:1 – (Warda) - Att: 44,084 – Champions League (Qualifying Round 4, Leg 1) 2013-2014: Benfica Lisbon – PAOK 3:0 – Att: 31,058 – Europa League (Round of 32, Leg 2) 2013-2014: PAOK – Benfica Lisbon 0:1 – Att: 24,670 - Europa League (Round of 32, Leg 1) 2002-2003: PAOK – Leixoes SC 4:1 (Okkas 2, Salpiggidis, Koutsopoulos)) – Att: 5,960 – UEFA Cup (Round 1, Leg 2) 2002-2003: Leixoes SC - PAOK 2:1 - (Kukielka) – Att: 4,000 - UEFA Cup (Round 1, Leg 1) 1999-2000: Benfica Lisbon – PAOK 1:2 (4:1 penalty kicks) – (Maragos, Sabry) - Att: 28,417 – UEFA Cup (Round 2, Leg 1) 1999-2000: PAOK – Benfica Lisbon 1:2 – (Frantzeskos) - Att: 28,008 – UEFA Cup (Round 2, Leg 1) GAMES: 8 WINS: 2 TIES: 1 LOSSES: 5

Worst possible draw. We are not qualifying to the next round. Dinamo Kiev would have been better, and Gent the best just to have a better chance to get our hands on the cool 5 mil. I think we are going to this game with much weakened squad compared to last years matchup against Ajax. Youth enthusiasm can only get you so far. I think we should just be preparing for the group stage of Europa League and hope for the best.

Why am I not surprised. This covid thing can be used to get out of many unpleasant situations.

It's up to him to grab the chance given to him. If he can't do it now it's time to move on.

No surprise at all. It worked the first time around. Proven method.

Some reports say Matos's father is very sick and that is the reason he went to Brazil. However following the recent developments who knows what the real issue is.

Did some more research on the subject ... For reaching the EL group stage we are getting the following: € 2,920,000 - for making the group stage of EL € 2,777,130 - coefficient payment (based on 5-year coefficient in UEFA standings) € 2,000,000 (minimum) - 5,692,130 (maximum) - market pool (based on how many Greek teams make the group stage So far we have € 7,697,130 guaranteed If we qualify to the CL playoff round (and lose) we will receive an additional € 5,000,000 In group stage we will also receive € 570,000 for each win and € 190,000 for each tie. If we win the group we will get extra € 1,000,000. If we finish 2nd we will get € 500,000 If by any miracle we make the CL group stage we will make a lot of money. We will revisit this if it happens.

Reports are that if Paschalakis leaves, Rebbe already has a goaltender lined up. I have a feeling Rey will also leave (loan/free). There is a reason why he did not get any playing time in the two friendlies.

I think Limnios has reached the maximum. Still can't dribble around the opposing player. Don't see him improving much in the future. The sooner we can unload him the better. Pelkas was not called because he was injured.

Sore losers ...

Just shows you that Greece does not have good standings wit IAAF. When Duplantis broke the U20 world record in pole vault it took 7 days for the doping test to be administered. In Tzenko's case the test was administered the next day. Still SEGAS should have people from the doping agency at the competition to administer the tests.

I am going by last season's distribution: https://sillyseason.com/money/champions-league-prize-money-91913/ I am assuming not much has changed for the new season.

We are obviously in a rebuilding stage. Not surprised to see some of the young faces. Still hate to see so many PAOK players called. We don't need unnecessary injuries.

Apparently "we sold our B' team" to an Australian businessman Bill Papas (Vasilis Papadimitriou). The selling price apparently depends if the Xanthi stays in Superleague 1. Otherwise the selling price is cut in half. And speaking of the relegation/promotion playoffs, it is being played right now wit Apollon completely dominating Xanthi and I have no doubts they will win the promotion. Xanthi is playing with their U17 team as all the players from this past season did not renew their contracts.

We stand no chance against Benfica, and if we play like yesterday we have no chance against Kiev either. For that reason I prefer Gent which is the easiest opponent, specially if we play them at Toumba. If we qualify to the playoffs, we get an extra 5 mil in prize money, which might be our real goal anyway, and then have a better fighting chance in a 2-game series in the playoffs.

Apparently Rebbe has 3 transfers lined up and was waiting until we played the CL qualifying game. There will be some movement of players in the coming days. I expect changes in the goalie position, and possible sale of Giannoulis. I would not be surprise if we see other players leaving (Matos, Biseswar). Certain departure is Warda. Also some youngsters will be loaned out/set free.

He is making 800K a year and will most likely stay for the rest of his contract with PAOK unless some Italian team pays us some decent money, which I don't see. I think he will finish the season with us and then move on. If he stays injury free he will be a helpful asset for Ferreira this season. He will not take a pay cup after his contract ends. The pay cut proposed to old players such as Mauricio/Vierinha turned into the players moving on. I expect the same with El Kaddouri.

We played a very good 1st half. Missed a penalty as well. Besiktas had some chanced in 2nd half to get back into the game, but in the end we prevailed. Hero of the game was Tzolis who scored two goals and assisted on the third. Draw for next round is no Monday. We will face one of the following: Benfica, Dinamo Kiev, or AA Gent. At the very least we have secured a spot in the Europa League group stage.

OPEN TV will have geo restrictions, but VPN should solve that issue. Last resort will be the Turkish channel Kanal D which I think will have the game without geo restrictions.

These are the players picked for the game: Πασχαλάκης, Ζίβκοβιτς, Ροντρίγκο, Βαρέλα, Ίνγκασον, Κρέσπο, Μιχαηλίδης, Γιαννούλης, Εσίτι, Σβαμπ, Ελ Καντουρί, Μπίσεσβαρ, Πέλκας, Ζαμπά, Λημνιός, Σφιντέρσκι, Άκπομ, Τζόλης with than in mind I expect this lineup: ------------- Paschalakis ------------- --- Ingason -- Varela -- Michailidis --- ----- Schwab -------- El Kaddouri ---- Rodrigo ------------------- Giannoulis ------- Pelkas ---------- Tzolis ------- ------------- Akpom ------------------ Would not be surprised to see Crespo instead of Michailidis or Limnios instead of Rodrigo

Exactly, only 3 subs allowed (4 if the game goes to extra time). The worst thing is that there is no VAR. Leaving Matos out is a big mistake IMHO. There is more going on behind the scenes than we know. Vieirinha is an example of that.