Dundee United braced for another daunting test in bid to end 15-year wait for Euro progress

By ALAN PATTULLO
Published on 02/08/2012 00:00

Although the Andorran part-timers have done little of note since, CE Principat still occupy a significant place in Dundee United’s recent history. It is remarkable that a team who were formed out of a restaurant high in the Pyrenees remain the last side to be beaten over two legs by the Tannadice club in European competition.

Fifteen years ago last week United completed the job of pulverising the part-time opposition with a 9-0 victory in Dundee. One memory sticks in the mind. Jose Pasqui, their printer cum goalkeeper, left the pitch at half-time punching the air, and was clearly quite pleased with himself for having restricted United to just five goals.

It promises to be a different story this evening as United re-engage with the task of surviving more than a round of European football. Given their adventures on the continent under Jim McLean, this may seem a meagre ambition. Yet no-one can claim United have been treated favourably in recent European draws. They were pitched against AEK Athens in 2010 and then the current Polish champions Slask Wroclaw last year, and on both occasions were only eliminated by narrow margins.

Now comes arguably the toughest test of the lot, as United prepare to welcome Dynamo Moscow to Tannadice tonight for the first leg of a Europa League third round qualifying round tie. A signing splurge last January saw the Russian side spend £8 million on Christian Noboa from Rubin Kazan. Peter Houston is uncomfortably aware that the Moscow club could have purchased their Scottish opponents for this sum. Then there is the small matter of the £15m they splashed out on Hungarian midfielder Balazs Dzsudzsak.

One European star who 
United won’t have to worry about is Andriy Voronin, who this week left on loan to newly promoted Bundesliga club Fortuna Sittard after falling out with Dynamo Moscow manager Sergei Silkin.

Providing a little further succour is the knowledge that Dynamo have lost both their opening two league games and currently sit bottom in the Russian Premier League, the most recent reversal coming against Zenit St Petersburg on Saturday evening in searingly hot conditions. While clearly alert to Dynamo’s poor start, Houston is conscious that they are at least in the groove of competitive games. He is, however, satisfied with United’s pre-season programme.

“They have two competitive games under their belt, albeit they have lost,” he said. “I am happy with us. Over the period of games we have had in Austria and here at Tannadice I have seen a huge improvement in the fitness and sharpness in our players. We are ready for the tie. We have had a lot of game-time. I won’t make that an excuse if we are to lose the tie.”

He knows how much it would mean to United’s fans to progress. Like the spam emails deposited in millions of accounts daily, he stressed the merits of lasting longer. “We work very hard throughout the season to try and get into Europe, and I feel and the players feel that this is an opportunity,” he said. “What we would like to do is last a little bit longer.

“I would love the opportunity to go through to another round. We have been close, but not close enough. The draw could have been kinder but we have no fear.

“This is a club steeped in European football back in the Eighties,” he continued. “We have missed out for a while. But over the last six years this football club has had natural progression and is getting better. We are not fighting relegation battles, which in itself is an achievement. For Dundee United to qualify for Europe three years in a row says lots for the players. It will be a right feather in our cap if we can get through this tie.”