FC Dacia Chişinău 1 - 1 Hamburger SV

European heavyweights FC Dacia Chişinău were held to a draw at home by the German underdogs, in what could be described as one of the first major upsets in the young UEFA Cup season.

ChiÅŸinău’s coach Emil Caras had to do without his two best strikers though. Ghenadie Orbu is injured and won’t be able to play for the next three weeks while Valeriu Onila has to sit out a three match ban by the UEFA following a red card against St. Gallen.

The Zimbru stadium in ChiÅŸinău was packed with 8000 fans and the match developed very much like everyone expected when Eugeniu Boicenco scored the lead for the Moldovan’s in the seventh minute. Hamburg’s goalkeeper Frank Rost didn’t manage to hold on to a powerful shot by Dumitru Alin Lipa and Boicenco was there for the rebound. Hamburg didn’t look like they could ever seriously threaten ChiÅŸinău - solely relying on long range efforts and free kicks with little success. Yet, ChiÅŸinău failed to extend their lead and it came back to haunt them in the 70th minute. Hamburg’s Ivica Olić was brought down in the area, and some good will by the referee gifted the German side a penalty. The Dutch captain Rafael van der Vaart seized the opportunity to equalise.

This sets up an exciting second leg. While ChiÅŸinău remain favourites to progress, the late equaliser keeps Hamburg’s hopes alive. It might come to Hamburg’s advantage that there is no direct flight going from the Moldovan capital to the North German province so that Dacia’s players may need to take the long way round and arrive a bit jet-legged.

The draw definitely gave Hamburg’s players a lot of self-confidence. “Now we know they can play football in Moldova”, remarked Rafael van der Vaart with a touch of irony and predicted “Next week we’ll have to work hard in Hamburg to earn a place in the Uefa Cup.”

Category: Hamburger SV, UEFA Cup

Tags: Emil Cara, Eugeniu Boicenco, FC Dacia Chişinău, Ghenadie Orbu, Hamburger SV, Intertoto Cup, Rafael van der Vaart, UEFA Cup, Valeriu Onila

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