Determined Stripes take on West Ham United

by Ayrton Galea - 16th July 2015

This evening Birkirkara FC will be involved in the first leg of the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League, when at the Boleyn Ground, they take on the Barclay's Premier League's side of West Ham United FC.

To progress to this attractive fixture, the Stripes deserve all credit as they gave two impressive performances to qualify at the expense of the Armenian side, Ulisses FC. Following a goal-less draw at home, where the Stripes had the better chances, they made amends with a terrific performance and an outstanding 3-1 victory.

West Ham United qualified to the UEFA Europa League after finishing on top of the Barclays Premier League's Fair Play Table. They started fom the first qualifying round and found little problem to ease past Lusitans from Andorra with a 4-0 aggregate score, following a convincing 3-0 victory in the first leg and another 1-0 victory in the second leg.

Both teams have players unavailable as Terence Vella is suspended for the Stripes while Diafra Sakho and Dimitri Payet are suspended for West Ham. On the plus side for West Ham's Manager, Mr. Slaven Bilic, new signing Pedro Obiang is available for selection.

The match's officials are from Austria and Markus Hameter was appointed as the referee while the assistant referees are Roland Braunschmidt and Andreas Heidenreich. The fourth official is Julian Weinberger.

The match will be played at the Boleyn Ground, where more than 30,000 tickets have been sold, and it is scheduled to kick off at 20:45 (CET).

Come on the Stripes!

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