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| Dragons face Latvian trip ![]() Barry defeated Azerbaijani side FC Shamkir last season Barry Town have been handed Latvian opposition in the first qualifying round of the European Champions League. The Dragons will face Skonto Riga, who have won their national league 11 times in succession since 1990. "We don't know much about them," admitted manager Barry Kenny Brown, "but we've got a few weeks now to get the information we need and to prepare accordingly. "It could have been easier for us, but we believe it's a winnable game." The Baltic state's side have faced a Welsh team before, beating Newtown 7-1 on aggregate in 1996. Skonto has been the starting point for many of the country's internationals, including Marian Pahars (Southampton), Igor Stepanovs (Arsenal) and Andrei Rubins (Crystal Palace) now playing in England. The matches will be played on July 17 and July 24, and the winners will play Bulgarian side Levski Sofia. Lucrative Meanwhile, Bangor City have missed out on a lucrative qualifying round clash with Ipswich Town. They were drawn in the same geographical group as the Tractor Boys but, instead of making the short trip to Suffolk, they face a clash with Yugoslavian side FK Sartid. Sartid finished third in their national league last season behind Partizan Belgrade and Crveda Zvezda (formerly Red Star Belgrade) and defeated Dundee 5-2 in the 2001/02 Intertoto Cup. Bangor boss Peter Davenport said he was happy to be at home in the first leg, though it will be played at Wrexham's Racecourse Ground. "If we can get a good result at home, then you never know. We'll have to be at our best, and our players will have to be up for it. "We will find out more about them and, hopefully, their game against Dundee will be on video so we can gain something from that." Fellow League of Wales side TNS are also in eastern Europe, they travel to Poland for the second successive season to face Amica Wronki. Last term they were beaten over two legs by Polonia Warsaw. Wronki, who finished third in their league, are sponsored by electrical giants Amica and have made progress into European competition in the last four seasons, going out to Athletico Madrid and Hertha Berlin in the past. The matches will be played on August 15 and August 29. Champions League, first qualifying round: Tampere Utd v Pyunik Uefa Cup: first qualifying round: |
See also: 20 Jun 02 | League of Wales 20 Jun 02 | League of Wales 28 May 02 | League of Wales 23 Jun 01 | Europe Top League of Wales stories now: Links to more League of Wales stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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