Tottenham European journey clarified for Spurs after draw
By Aaron Coe
The draw for Rounds 2 and 3 of the Europa League qualifying has occurred and Tottenham Hotspur have a long road to travel to reach the group stage.
Over the last two days in Nyon, Switzerland, UEFA has completed the draw for both the second and third rounds of Europa League qualifying, of which Tottenham Hotspur are a part.
While the number of teams in the competition is the same as previous seasons, what were previously home and away ties are now one shot deals, meaning if Spurs are to make the playoffs for qualifying for the group stage of Europa League, they are going to have to do it all on the road.
Spurs were drawn into Group 7, a six-team pod with three seeded and three unseeded teams. The three winners from those matches, then advance to the third qualifying round consisting of eight groups with either six or eight teams in them.
Second Round: Tottenham vs. Plovdiv
PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv 1926 finished second in the Bulgarian Efbet Liga on 50 points from 26 matches. While Plovdiv did not have the stingiest defense in the League, that belonged to league champions Ludogorets, they did score the most goals, netting 49 times in those 26 matches, while surrendering only 23 against.
The new season in Bulgaria is already underway and currently Lokomotiv Plovdiv sit third after four matches, with three wins and a defeat. Besides the four league contests, Plovdiv also played a first-round Europa League qualifier to reach this second round to host Tottenham.
Plovdiv beat FK Iskra Daniovagrad 1-0 in the first round qualifier to reach the second round match with Spurs. Across the five matches thus far this season, Plovdiv has scored seven goals and conceded only four. While not Barcelona, Plovdiv are not sisters of the poor either and a trip to Bulgaria is no small task, on a more than 2600km away trip.
If Tottenham Hotspur can beat Lokomotic Plovdiv, they already know they will face either of two teams.
Spurs in third-round qualifier
If Tottenham can advance from the trip to Bulgaria, they will join five other teams as part of Group 5. Two of the teams in the ‘Group’, Rostov and Vojvodina, are already in the third round qualifier.
The other four teams in the group, Spurs included, must win in the second round qualifier to advance. Of those four matches, only one – outside of Spurs’ matchup with Plovdiv – is of any concern to Tottenham and that is the tie between Botoşani and Shkëndija.
Botoşani is a Romanian team that finished third in Liga 1 last season. The squad was good on the road, earning 23 points from 13 matches, but struggled at home with only 22 points from the same 13 matches. The Romanian league has already started this season and Botoşani have six points from the two matches.
Botoşani’s opponent is Shkëndija, who won the Macedonian Prva Makedonska Fudbalska Liga in 2018-19, but only managed to finish third in this past season. Shkëndija is currently 2-2 from four matches in year’s league campaign, with six goals for and three against.
Regardless of whether Spurs’ opponent is Botoşani and Shkëndija, the one things Tottenham knows is they are going to have to hit the road again, for a one-shot, winner advances, loser goes home match. Given that the third round of the League Cup is scheduled to start the same week as the third-round qualifier, it should be interesting for Spurs.
If Tottenham can manage to win both matches, then they will be drawn for the final playoff round qualifier on September 18 with matches to be played on Thursday, Sept. 24. I just hope Tottenham are still alive at that time and the European adventure can hopefully begin in earnest.