The first match of the II preliminary tour of UEFA Cup, “Zimbru” Chisinau – FC “Metalurg” Zaporojie, played on Thursday, August 10, on the Zimbru’ stadium ended with a draw – 0:0. The chief coach of “Zimbru”, Ivan Tabanov declared after the match that “Zimbru” could have scored, given the situations created by the players near the opponents’ goal. Tabanov recognized, though, that the condition of Ukrainians was fair, fact which influenced the second halftime. The coach hopes though that his team will manage to reach its target in the return match. Solicited after the game, several players of FC “Zimbru” declared that it was a difficult match, bur spectacular. The most active of Chisinau’s team was the Romanian midfielder Filip Popescu. Another player who showed a good game was the Russian forward Alexei Jdanov. According to the chief coach of FC “Metalurg”, Serghei Iascenko, this was the first match of his team in European Cups, fact which explains the emotions of the players at the beginning of the game. “After the 30th minute, the game stabilized, the players started to show a better possession of the ball. “I warned my players that in the first 20-25 minutes the hosts will try everything possible to take control of the game. However the players managed to get over this obstacle and obtained a convenient result”, Iascenko mentioned. According to “Zimbru”, 7 thousand spectators were present on the venue. The return match will take place on August 24 in Zaporojie.