NEWCASTLE United are red-hot favourites to win tonight's UEFA Cup first-round first-leg tie against Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin at St James' Park and progress to the group stage of the competition.

But any thoughts among the United players of an easy passage through to the next round should be erased if recent events in world and European football are anything to go by.

If the doom-mongers are looking for parallels, a well-told Biblical tale about a poor Israeli shepherd boy defeating a mighty warrior with a sling springs to mind.

Sakhnin boss Eyal Lachman initially seemed to be playing down his side's chances ahead of this evening's clash but then pointed to the success of the underdog in the 2002 World Cup held in Japan and the European Championships in Portugal last summer.

The club is no stranger to causing upsets, of course.

They did so to become the first Israeli-Arab side to win the country's national cup in May when defeating favourites Hapoel Haifa FC 4-1.

Since then Sakhnin had to overcome Albania's Partizani Tirana in the UEFA Cup second qualifying round to have the privilege of meeting the mighty Magpies in the first-round proper.

They went through 6-1 on aggregate, claiming a 3-1 victory away from home before winning the return leg 3-0.

"This game is going to be very hard," said the coach.

"Can we win? While we sit here we win; when we took the Israeli Cup we won; when we play in the Premier League in Israel we win; when we started to play in the UEFA Cup this season - and the people of Israel know Sakhnin are not a famous or big football team - we win.

"People say we play very good football but if we think about winning we won't reach our target.

"We want to be professional and think about football, this is our first target.

"Together with football we want to show something else - something special.

"In the last two or three seasons we have noticed a difference in modern football and it has proved to be small. Korea proved it in the last World Cup, Greece proved it at the last European Championships, and in the last European Cup Monaco and FC Porto proved you can do it if you have not only talent but good tactics and a big heart, and Sakhnin is a team of big hearts."

Goalkeeper Energy Murambadoro, a Zimbabwe international on a season-long loan from Kaps United in his homeland, added: "Newcastle have some very good strikers - Alan Shearer has to be one of the best England has ever produced and Patrick Kluivert is also a big player - but we will all do our jobs and try to win the match.

"They've got the new coach (Graeme Souness) and they'll want to win their first match for him, but all the guys are confident.

"This is the first time for this club. We are relatively small and we want to prove to the world what we can do and hopefully stay in the UEFA Cup for some time."

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