Cause for optimism: 4/4 teams in the Conference League

As Differdange also enter the competition, we are taking a look at the situations of the four teams ahead of this week’s set of matches.

Swift Hesperange

Last season’s BGL Ligue champions Swift certainly had reason to believe their tie against Slovan Bratislava was a winnable one, as the first leg ended up as a draw, after a penalty and a free kick were both successfully converted in Slovakia.

At the Stade de Luxembourg, a nearly half-packed national stadium hoped to witness the upset of the first qualifying round, as a Hesperange team containing some amateur players looked to beat group stage regulars Slovan. After last week’s disappointing result, Slovan manager Vladimír Weiss Sr. made sure to leave no doubts about his team’s pedantic preparation for the deciding leg in light of new footage about Hesper to analyse.

Whatever the guests practiced in trainings to counter the Luxembourgish threat barely showed in the first half, though. It was undeniably delightful to see Hesper feel totally comfortable under the weight of pressure on and off the pitch, and build out from the back with short, slick interplays in the way new manager Carlos Fangueiro prefers. The promising build-ups were followed by shots most of the time, while there were also numerous examples of Slovan players getting caught out on their awkward first touch.

The crescendo of the first half could have easily been a penalty. Dejvid Sinani was clearly shoved inside the box, which screamed for punishment, and so it happened. Unfortunately, the resulting penalty kick was saved, as the goalkeeper must have already figured out Dominik Stolz’s side preference from the previous game.

And so, however undeserved given the state of play and the gap on paper and in the coefficient standings, the teams took to their dressing rooms with 0-0 on the scoreline at half-time. Hesper had considerably more possession and also more shots to go with it, but luck eluded them this time.

And if trouble comes in threes, then Hesper’s penalty chronicle of the night couldn’t stand more true. Spot kicks are what decided on the night, as it turned out. Stolz having already missed his, it was Slovan’s turn next to make something of two opportunities in a short timeframe after fouls by Luxembourgish defenders Cédric Sacras and Aldin Skenderović, respectively. The first game’s Slovakian hero, 33-year old captain and former Manchester City and Glasgow Rangers winger Vladimír Weiss Jr. stood to take both, and put them past hopeless goalkeeper Géordan Dupire, winning the battle of nerves.

Even for the last 20 minutes, the Hesper attacks didn’t stop. The goals happened completely against the state of the game as the only way Slovan really hurt Hesper was through a few lobbed balls over the defence. Otherwise, they were exploited and pressed into turnovers more often than not.

However, Slovan’s net stayed untouched, resulting in Swift Hesperange losing their first UEFA Champions League tie in their history. They continue their 6-game winless streak in continental fixtures, which dates back to their debut in the now-defunct Cup Winners’ Cup against Legia Warsaw, back in 1990. Draws against Domžale and Slovan Bratislava were both followed by aggregate losses. Swift will have to break that curse in the Europa Conference League now, if they plan on reaching the groups this year – and becoming the second-ever team from the Grand Duchy after F91 Dudelange in doing so.

As they have been eliminated at the very first time of asking, Hesper also passed their chance to have the UEFA Europa League to fall back on, and will now have to win three consecutive duels in order to progress to the Europa Conference League.

The first of those tests will be against Welsh Premier League winners The New Saints, from the English town of Oswestry. The New Saints lost to Swedish champions BK Häcken, 5-1 on aggregate. Although they are a fellow semi-professional outfit, there is reason to believe Swift could gain the upper hand on Tuesday, when the teams first meet near the Welsh border.

Progrès Niedercorn

Although the Wasps were clearly tipped to edge past Kosovar opponents Gjilani in the first round of the Conference League, they were met by some resistance, as they conceded two penalty goals to sloppy errors and slightly doubtful refereeing decisions. Their objective for the second game was to keep up the well-oiled attacking structure and solidify the backline as much as possible.

In order to achieve this, manager Jeff Strasser decided not to make a single change to the starting line-up. For much of the game the attacks were slow, though, and Gjilani defenders had a relatively easy task on their hands.

Luckily, Progrès were then able to switch gears and get the desired result in the second half by goals from Antoine Hanus-Mazure and new signing Walid Jarmouni.

The “prize” for making it through to the second round will be the chance to play one of the big-hitters at such an early stage, in Danish opponents Midtjylland.

Midtjylland, from the town of Herning, have enjoyed great domestic success since being taken over by Brentford majority owner Matthew Benham. Only two years on from their first Champions League campaign, though, they only scraped the last European play-off place this year, finishing in the bottom half of their division.

Although FCM did well to make a comeback and get the last ticket to the Conference League, this team is still very much in a transformation phase, as several key players could be on their way out. This might play into Progrès’ hands, who already have an established squad ready for the league start in early August.

Having said that, Midtjylland can only be regarded as a strong favourite against any Luxembourgish team despite their minor squad management issues, and Niedercorn will have to look to overachieve in order to make that extra step forward. Many might remember their heroic come-from-behind win against Rangers five years ago, and a result of that sort would be needed this time around, too.

F91 Dudelange

The Diddelengers’ first game against St. Pat’s Athletic could have been summed up as an impressive first half, and a slow regression from there. As the game ended up 1-2 from a two-goal Luxembourgish lead, some of the items on Jamath Shoffner’s agenda were improving stamina and mental resilience ahead of the game in Ireland.

And one of his players looked especially sharp and up to the task to rise above everyone else when it mattered the most. Dutch attacker Oege-Sietse van Lingen powered F91’s magnificent win, registering a hat-trick of eye-catching efforts that proved to be impossible to save for Dean Lyness.

The other signing from the Netherlands, Yahcuroo Roemer also had a great night, regularly getting one over St. Pat’s defenders with his agility and speed on the break. Captain Bruno Freire is also one to highlight after a tie where he shown total composure, great vision and technical excellence on the ball, replacing Charles Morren quite effortlessly.

On the other hand, it wasn’t all about the positives. Goalkeeper Didier Desprez will surely remember this game for a while after his remarkable howler, rushing out to the edge of the box for a ball forward, and then proceeding to head it backwards into his own net, as his defenders watched his manoeuvre helplessly. In the end it didn’t cost F91 their place in the next round, but it is an alarm sign over the young Frenchman’s performance. Having sold another liability Lucas Fox this summer, Dudelange’s staff surely thought they had a more reliable product in their hands this time around.

Now that the win has been sealed, Dudelange can look forward to a very winnable tie against Maltese side Gzira United.

Although it’s too early to determine a winner already, we can confidently say that Gzira was one of the few teams F91 could specifically wish to draw, given the strength of some of the non-seeded teams.

Gzira United played Glentoran from Northern Ireland in the first round, and prevailed after a ridiculously long penalty shootout, where they had a perfect record of 14 out of 14 kicks scored. It’s now F91’s turn to try and urge matters before they could escalate into such havoc once again. The first leg will be played on Tuesday in Malta.

FC Differdange 03

Winning the 2022/23 Coupe de Luxembourg qualifies FC Differdange to take part in the Europa Conference League this season, despite the team only finishing fifth in the league standings.

Even though they are joining the rest of the teams in Round 2 having received an automatic entry there, it doesn’t mean they have been enjoying their holidays while the other teams were out training.

FCD have been through six friendlies so far, beating all of Niedercorn, Schifflange, Jeunesse Esch, (2nd division) Etzella Ettelbrück, Käerjéng and (2nd division) Koeppchen Wormeldange, with a combined goal difference of 15:2.

Differdange have already played under manager Pedro Resende in Europe, when they only lost to Olimpija Ljubljana after extra time, putting up a fight in a tie they were widely seen as underdogs after losing several key players that summer. Resende was later sacked in the autumn, but after an unsuccessful reign of Stéphane Léoni and a resignation from the cup-winning trainer Hélder Dias, Resende is now back in the helm.

If that already feels like a loop, add in that the next destination is Slovenia again, and the situation will be even more familiar. This time the opponents will be Maribor (featuring ex-Atalanta star Josip Iličić), who only narrowly got past Malta’s Birkirkara in the opening round, saving themselves from the hassle of extra time with an 87th-minute winner in the second game.

Looking at how each team started their respective seasons, one can’t say Differdange are by any means hopeless. Maribor still has the advantage of having played more games, boasting a better squad full of professionals and having a history that’s far more illustrious than that of the young FCD03. But just like with the other three teams mentioned above, a wave of optimism can surround the atmosphere when the teams will step onto the Stade Municipal turf this Thursday.