UEFA — The UEFA Champions League has completed its group stage on Wednesday, December 9, 2009.

The knockout stage is next and 16 clubs have qualified, which are the group winners and runner-ups. Many of the favorites are there including FC Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea, FC Porto, Arsenal, and Real Madrid. A few surprises are also included such as Liverpool not making the knockout stage, and smaller clubs such as Olympiacos and Stuttgart advancing.

Here’s the full list of the 16 teams that have qualified for the 2009-10 UEFA Champions League knockout stage.

Teams that have qualified for 2009-10 UEFA Champions League Knockout Stage

The draw for the First knockout round will take place on 18 December 2009, one week after the final round of UEFA Champions League group stage matches, and will feature the top two teams from each group in the group stage.

The first legs of the first knockout round will be played on 16/17 and 23/24 February 2010, while the second legs will be played on 9/10 and 16/17 March.
Qualified teams

Group winners

* France Bordeaux (Group A)
* England Manchester United (Group B)
* Spain Real Madrid (Group C)
* England Chelsea (Group D)
* Italy Fiorentina (Group E)
* Spain Barcelona (Group F)
* Spain Sevilla (Group G)
* England Arsenal (Group H)

Group runners-up

* Germany Bayern Munich (Group A)
* Russia CSKA Moscow (Group B)
* Italy Milan (Group C)
* Portugal Porto (Group D)
* France Lyon (Group E)
* Italy Internazionale (Group F)
* Germany Stuttgart (Group G)
* Greece Olympiacos (Group H)

Source: 90th Minute Soccer Blog

World Cup Qualifying — Live in Petrol Arena is Slovenia Vs Russia on a match, live streaming may be available as the 2 battle for the 2nd leg of UEFA playoffs.

Russia coach Guus Hiddink has called for calm ahead of the second leg of his side’s World Cup play-off against Slovenia.

Russia take a slender one-goal advantage to Maribor, having conceded a late away goal to Matjaz Kek’s side at the Luzhniki Stadium on Saturday.

Diniar Bilyaletdinov’s brace looked to have handed the Russians a commanding 2-0 first-leg advantage, but substitute Nejc Pecnik’s header has given Slovenia hope.

And it has dampened the mood amongst a Russian support notoriously sceptical about their national team’s chances.

But Hiddink feels his side are still in a strong position.

”It would have been good to take a two-goal cushion without reply to Maribor”, the Dutchman told Sport Express.

”An away goal for the visiting side is always a luxury, but there is no use in going from one extreme to the other and dramatising the situation.

”Why should we start panicking, tearing our hair out or getting distressed?

”At the end of the day we won the first match. We didn’t lose or draw. That is the situation we are proceeding from.”

Slovenia boasted one of the meanest defences in Europe during qualifying, conceding only four goals in their 10 group games prior to the defeat in Moscow.

And Hiddink feels the fact his side scored two goals past such a tight defence is a good sign heading into the return leg.

He added: ”The second leg will be very difficult. Nobody is disputing that.

”But we have once more shown that we are capable of scoring against any opponent.

”It doesn’t matter how many goals they conceded in the qualifiers, how threatening the opposition are or how full their stadium is. Last autumn our team managed a goal away in Germany.

”Scoring two goals against one of the most reliable defences in Europe should give us the confidence to be able to do the same in Maribor.

ESPN Soccernet may be available to offer the said match for live streaming online. Check out your local Soccernet sites for more info. Kickoff time for Slovenia vs Russia match is at 20:00 UK time.

(Slovenia Vs Russia поток в реальном маштабе времени)

Source: ESPN

World Cup Qualifying — In just a few hours away, the playoff match of UEFA in World Cup Qualifying 2010 between Ukraine and Greece is about to kick-off, with live streams possible for online viewers to watch.

For this particular match coming tonight, Ukraine are confident they can nullify the counter-attacking threat of Greece and claim a place at the World Cup by defeating Otto Rehhagel’s team in the second leg of their qualifying play-off.

Alexei Mikhailichenko’s men are in the driving seat ahead of the crunch match in Donetsk having kept the Greeks at bay in Saturday’s goalless stalemate in Athens.

Although the omens favour his team – Ukraine defeated Greece to secure qualification for the 2006 World Cup ahead of their rivals – Mikhailichenko is aware of the danger posed by Rehhagel’s troops.

”If you analyse the Greek national team matches for as long as Rehhagel is coach you can say they play with the same characteristics every time,” said Mikhailichenko

”Greece bet on having a disciplined defence and looking for a chance to counter attack. They are quite right in playing like this and we need to be mindful of this.

”I believe that after the first-leg game away, we are closer to South Africa. However, our chances remain 50-50.”

Mikhailichenko has intimated he expects his team to play more attacking football than in the first leg in order to try to win the match in normal time – and avoid the lottery of penalties.

Greece arrived in Donetsk yesterday wearing special masks as part of precautions as the swine flu health scare escalates across the country and Europe.

Ukraine shut schools, banned public meetings and restricted travel earlier this month in an attempt to combat the H1N1 flu epidemic, which has claimed 17 lives so far while 189 people have died in total from the flu outbreak.

All but three of Rehhagel’s 22-man squad received a basic flu vaccination ahead of the trip.

Ukraine have not conceded a goal at home since June when Kazakhstan netted in a 2-1 defeat and Greece must score or win the game on penalties to secure qualification.

Kickoff time for this match is at 18:00 UK time. Live streaming may be available at your favorite live stream sites. You may check out ESPN Soccernet for the game availability.

Source: ESPN