Third round - 27 July 2008 17:00 CET (18:00 local time) - Daugava - Liepaja
FK RīgaAggregate: 0 - 1 Elfsborg
FK Rīga0 - 0
Elfsborg

Efficient Elfsborg win out

Sunday 27 July 2008
Match report by Mikhail Korolev from Riga
Denni Avdić (left) struck the first-leg goal that helped Elfsborg into a second straight UEFA Cup campaignDenni Avdić (left) struck the first-leg goal that helped Elfsborg into a second straight UEFA Cup campaign (©Getty Images)

IF Elfsborg made the most of their first-leg victory as they held on to move past FK Rīga into the UEFA Cup second qualifying round.

First-leg goal
In a tie certain to produce the only 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup winners that began the competition in the first qualifying round in June, Elfsborg travelled to Latvia ahead thanks to Denni Avdić's early goal in Sweden in last and held on despite a valiant effort from a Rīga team whose coach had changed since the opening leg.

Coaching change
Rīga were forced into a coaching change when Genadijs Morozovs decided to leave his role, meaning former assistant Andrei Manannikov took caretaker charge ahead of a possible permanent appointment. In an open game his team went close before the break through Andrei Agafonov and Grigori Chirkin but Elfsborg looked the better side in the second half and Rīga's hopes effectively ended when defender Dimitrijs Halvitovs received a second yellow card and was dismissed five minutes from time. Elfsborg will discover their UEFA Cup opposition on Friday for next month's tie as they aim to move closer to a second consecutive group stage campaign.

©uefa.com 1998-2008. All rights reserved.

Match Content

UEFA Intertoto Cup