KuPS hosts Vorskla Poltava in the first leg of the Europa Conference League qualification quarterfinals. The match will be played on Thursday, July 22nd at Savon Sanomat Areena (Kuopio)
KuPS managed to become the champion of Finland in 2019. However, the Canaries failed to defend the title and fell to the 3rd place. But this year they look very strong again. In the local arena, Simo Valakari's charges managed to win the Finnish Cup in 2021. And having gained 25 points in 12 rounds of Veikkausliiga, KuPS is in second place in the standings and lags behind only eminent HJK. The debut in the Europa Conference League was not especially convincing. Armenian Noah won the first leg with a 1-0 score. However, the Finns took a more than convincing revenge at home, opening the scoring already in the 14th minute and upsetting the opponent’s goalkeeper three times more in the first half. Moreover, the Canaries scored another goal in the second half and won 5-0.
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Vorskla Poltava is among the teams of the "second wave" in Ukraine. In 2018, the Green-Whites won bronze medals and played in the group stage of the Europa League. Then there was a recession associated with the financial problems (by the way, there are some nuances even now, as the president and the owner, Kostyantyn Zhevago, is wanted by Interpol). But under the management of Yuriy Maksymov, Vorska again pleases its fans. In 2020, it managed to advance to the cup final, where Dynamo Kyiv turned out to be stronger only in the penalty shootout. And in the next season, the representative of Poltava won the fight for 5th place, which was enough for a ticket to the debut Conference League. However, the team has undergone serious changes in the roster. The top scorer of the last UPL, Kulach, didn’t extend his contract, and several other players left for different reasons. But there are also good newcomers (Tamm, Eseola, Batsula, as well as Vakula and Bondarenko loaned from Shakhtar Donetsk). Still, only the official games will show what the team is capable of.
The clubs never played against each other. Moreover, KuPS has never met with representatives of Ukraine before, and Vorskla will fly to Finland for the first time. KuPS is in excellent shape and should gain a positive result at home. But let's insure ourselves with a zero handicap.
Prediction for the match: KuPS to win with 0.0 handicap
