UEFA Cup Group E: Draw and Predictions

Supporters of English side Portsmouth FC today found themselves in dreamland, having been drawn against 2007 Champions League winners AC Milan in this season's UEFA Cup.

Along with the Rossoneri and Pompey, Group A contains German side Vfl Wolfsburg, Dutch side Heerenveen SC, and a return trip to Portgual to face SC Braga.

Wolfsburg will be remembered by most Pompey supporters as the side that loaned them Argentine playmaker Andres D'Alessandro for six months during the 2005-06 season, but the club are a strong side that finished 5th in the Bundesliga last year and includes Italian right back Christian Zaccardo.

The match against Dutch side Heerenveen will probably be considered by Portsmouth to be the "most" winnable, although the side should still not be underestimated. Although not one of the more "established" Dutch sides such as Ajax, PSV, and Feyenoord, and lacking in any major domestic honors throughout their history, Heerenveen are an experienced club in terms of European competition, having competed in Europe for a number of years consecutively and having been successful in the past in making it beyond the group stage.

Braga qualified for the UEFA Cup through success in the UEFA Intertoto Cup in a similar fashion to Aston Villa. Braga are not considered to be one of the "Big Three" teams in Portugal, but can often be found immediately around/outside of that group, demonstrating the threat they will pose to Pompey.

Vitoria Guimaraes—the team Portsmouth defeated last week to qualify for the group stages—have found themselves in a lower league position than Braga in seven of the last nine Portuguese Liga seasons.

But it is certainly the draw against AC Milan that will be on the lips of every Portsmouth supporter, with the realization that Clarence Seedorf, two-time World Player of the Year Ronaldinho, the reigning World Player of the Year Kaka, and a host of other massive players from the Rossoneri will be facing a team competitively that just three seasons ago barely managed to stave off relegation from the Premier League.

To be perfectly honest, I think we have a good chance of coming out of this group, but only if we really take the chances we're given. There were much easier teams we could have played (Group G, perhaps?) but the games against Heerenveen and Braga must be labeled as the winnable games.

Most importantly, however, will be our home form in these ties; "Fortress Fratton" is definitely going to have to be at it's best, because the away legs against all of these teams will not be easy work. I expect it to be Milan, Wolfsburg, and us (not necessarily in that order) to succeed in the group, but there is plenty of space for an upset.

Even if we don't make it out of the group stage, however, this will still be considered a historic year for the club. And if we manage an ever more historic draw or—gasp—a win against Milan, I'll have considered our curtain raiser in Europe a success.

I can only hope that the "red lot" down the road can take solace, at least, in knowing that AC Milan will be coming to the South Coast in at least someform, while they struggle to overcome Coventry and Plymouth.

A lot sure can change in just four years...