The Irons could face of two horror trips to ‘Borat’s’ Kazakhstan if they get the worst of this afternoon’s draw for Europa League qualifying is made on Monday.
After qualifying for competition via the Fair Play table, we could rack up nearly as many air miles as on last season’s pre-season warm up in New Zealand which wasn’t the best!
And the Mirror reports the worst draw would be to play Kazakhstan Cup winners Kairat, who are based in the city of Almaty – 3,482 miles from the Boleyn Ground.
And they would have to be very unlucky to then get the other team from comedy character Borat’s homeland, Ordabasy, in the second qualifying round.
Trips to Latvia, Lithuania, Gibraltar, Armenia and Georgia are also possible.
However, ‘fortune may be smiling’ and instead Welsh Premier League side Newtown (208 miles away) or fellow Welsh sides Airbus UK Broughton (214 miles) and Bala Town (221 miles) could be on the cards.
The Hammers return to training today but as we have reported it’s likely that fringe and under-21 players will form the nucleus of the squad’s opening Europa games.
New midfield signing Pedro Obiang, will meet his new team-mates on Monday after his move from Italians Sampdoria.
I saw this in the Mirror earlier.When i read the headline i thought it had actually happened.Then remembered the draw hadnt even taken place,lol.Bloody newspapers & their dramatic headlines based on naff all 😀
According to the UEFA website we’ll be going to Azerbaijan, Macedonia, Andorra, Wales or Bosnia/Herzegovina in the first round.
Yeah i saw that.The teams in group two who are unseeded are from these countries so you have to assume we will be heading to one of these countries for our first tie.Borat land doesnt even come into the equation from what i saw.