After unfortunate losses of quality players like Giuseppe Rossi, Neven Subotic, and Edgar Castillo to other countries Jermaine Jones decided he would apply to FIFA to play for the US national team due to few given chances by German head coach Joachim Low. Well, it looks like the United States could have another player to give a quick cheer about.

This recent bout of hot weather has made Norwegians hit the beaches like dyslexic gangsta rappers, but like busses in the Stavanger-area the Tippeliga waits for no one, and so here is a quick roundup of the latest batch of games from the top tier of Norwegian football.

By now you really must be getting tired of reading this phrase, but it continues to be the case and we're too hot to figure out a more clever way of wording it: Unless Rosenborg sell their entire midfield in the summer, they'll win the league.

Darren Tilley's Rochester Rhinos will not repeat their feat of 1999. The US Open Cup Final will feature two MLS teams and two coaches who are part of the US system. USL-1 with its British flavored football and coaches who tend to promote defensive tactics have been eliminated from the tournament.

Brann (12th - 1-3-2, 6 points, goal-difference -2) vs Lillestrøm (16th - 0-3-3, 3 points, goal-difference -4)

In a televised one-off midweek fixture, two of the most highly rated young Norwegian managers will pit their wits against each other. And both Henning Berg and Steinar Nilsen find themselves in sticky situation, because as it turns out reputation alone doesn't get you points.

Brann 2 - 0 Molde

Highlights

There is something profoundly annoying about Brann. Probably because we're told by the media that their fans are among the best in the country while actually they're a fickle bunch who only sing when they're winning. Probably because saying the club is run like a circus would be an insult to circuses.

Midweek madness in the Tippeliga! While you're waiting for a certain Champions League semi-final to kick off, why not sit back and watch some players who don't make more in a week than you do in a year? It's fun, we promise..

Wednesday

Sandefjord (4th) - Viking (5th)

Have Viking turned a corner ?

The annual May 16th round of the Tippeliga attracts big crowds of people ready for a party, as people look to kick off the May 17th constitutional day celebrations a few hours early.

No place typifies the May 16th phenomenon like Brann Stadion. Now Brann-fans are a fickle bunch, but when they're all out and up for it there are few grounds in the Tippeliga that generates a better atmosphere, and May 16th is usually one of those occasions.

Enough with this international nonsense, let's get on with the proper football..

Saturday

Rosenborg (1st) Strømsgodset (13th)

And we start this weekend's preview with an appeal. Strømsgodset are a nice little team with a likable manager and a bunch of sympathetic players (and Stian Ohr).

As clubs across the board sack players and cut wages, we here at NFN plow on heroically..

Saturday

Sandefjord (9th) Vålerenga (5th)

After Mad Martin Andresen realized he was about to lose his job a couple of weeks back, he shelved ambitions of playing expansive football and went into "let's just not get fired"-mode.

A rare outbreak of sunshine in the Western bits of the country has left NFN's Norwegian offices in a state of confusion and chaos, yet we struggle manfully on and here is an unusually pithy preview of this weekend's action.

Sunday

Tromsø (13th) Aalesund (9th)

Tromsø will be desperate to improve on their rubbish home-record (1-4-2), while Aalesund will be desperate to get attention for something else than what's coming out of their manager's mouth.

Well, terrific if you like your games full of goals and incidents. No so much if you like, youknow, vaguely competent defenders.

After a couple of pretty stale rounds the Tippeliga perked up a bit in round 17, with goals flying in at a fairly bonkers rate of 4,4 goals per game. Still, no matter how hard the ever-excitable TV2 tried to talk it up, it was hard for the discerning viewer to watch the weekend's highlights without being slightly troubled by the hopelessly poor defending displayed by most of the Tippeliga outfits.

Sunday

Start (3rd) - Bodø/Glimt (9th)

While Start's diminutive druggie may be almost universally adored by Norwegian football fans, Erik Mykland has been cynically kicked around the park by most teams he's come up against so far this season. Sporting director Svein Mathisen is less than thrilled: "Everyone thought it was great that Myggen was making a comeback beforehand, but now people are trying to put him out of the game," he told TV2, before going on to suggest that the players who rough up Mykland should be sent off.

Today is in fact the 98th anniversary of the Titanic being launched, and NFN is acknowledging this by publishing this unsinkable preview, which will no doubt hit a metaphorical iceberg at the earliest possible opportunity.

Monday

Fredrikstad (13th) - Start (2nd)

FFK's bright idea of going into the season with eight players in their first team squad on the last year of their contracts was always going to end up creating some sort of a stink, and their chief executive's bright idea of telling Norway's biggest tabloid that the situation was like "winning the lottery" didn't really help.

As Drillo prepares for his date with destiny, we here at NFN run the ruler over the Norwegian squad and look at what we can expect from Macedonia in the game that will determine wether or not Norwegians can start dreaming about South Africa 2010 again..

Norwegian Squad

Goalkeepers

Jon Knutsen - Stabæk

Håkon Opdal - Brann

Rune Allmenning Jarstein - Rosenborg

Defenders

Espen Ruud - OB, Denmark

Jon Inge Høiland - Stabæk

Kjetil Wæhler - AaB, Denmark

Brede Hangeland - Fulham, England

Morten Fevang - Odd Grenland

John Arne Riise - Roma, Italy

Trond Erik Bertelsen - Viking

Midfielders

Fredrik Winsnes - Strømsgodset

Henning Hauger - Stabæk

Christian Grindheim - Heerenveen, Holland

Bjørn Helge Riise - Lillestrøm

Per Ciljan Skjelbred - Rosenborg

Simen Brenne - Odd Grenland

Wingers/Forwards

Daniel Braaten - Toulouse, France

John Carew - Aston Villa, England

Erik Huseklepp - Brann

Morten Gamst Pedersen - Blackburn, England

Steffen Iversen and Tore Reginiussen were both called up to the initial squad, but withdrew due to injury.

Tippeliga rounds are coming thick and fast, and the market is in severe danger of being flooded. The issue is in no way helped by the fact that Rosenborg are running away with the league, while everyone else just look a bit knackered. So, with the league currently a less than entrancing event in purely sporting terms, we need some good old soap-opera to keep it interesting.

Having just put in one of his best performances in a while, Rosenborg-keeper Rune Jarstein withdrew from the national squad today, citing the impending birth if his first child. The decision won't go down well with outspoken (which is just a polite word for "raving lunatic") pundit Ivar Hoff, who once famously said that then [.

This weekend's Tippeliga preview contains pollen allergy, diving, a first mention of NFN's smug-o-meter, an injured Jesus look-alike, stripping and the possibility of a sporting director going into orbit. What more could you possibly want?

Saturday

Molde (1st) - Viking (11th)

As the Norwegian end of NFN well knows, it's simply impossible to make pollen allergy sound butch.

Bodø/Glimt 0 - 2 Brann

A double from the delinquent dane David Nielsen was enough to give Brann their first win of the season. Steinar Nilsen's men were under significant pressure to deliver after failing to grab three points in any of their first five games, but a thoroughly hapless Bodø/Glimt-side and a return to scoring-form for Nielsen conspired to take some heat off the boys from Bergen.

Brann 3 - 1 Lillestrøm

Highlights

So, put yourself in Henning Berg's shoes for a minute. You're trying to radically rejuvenate an aging team by bringing through a bunch of youngsters at the same time. Your team hasn't played terribly, but you still find yourself without a win so far this season.

Fredrikstad 3 - 0 Tromsø

Odd Grenland 3 -1 Brann

On Thursday evening Tromsø's inexplicably poor start to the season continued as their defense yet again seemed to have somehow forgotten how to defend. Last season the Northerners were tighter at the back than Tom Nordlie's speedos, but eight games into the 2009 Tippeliga they've now conceded 17 goals which, like the content of the aforementioned speedos, is just too much.

Norwegian teams are off on the road to Ullevål after a first round that was like a footballing equivalent of a Harry Potter-convention: Plenty of belief, but no actual magic to be found.

The Norwegian cup is a terrifically democratic competition: No favors are given to the big names from the Tippeliga as they start on square one along with the rest of the pack.

13 games in and there are three teams in particular who look like they could be heading for doom and despair (or the Adeccoliga, as some call it), but amidst the casual randomness of the Tippeliga few things are ever certain and on matchday 14 all three of those teams picked up points..

Leading the line of the troubled threesome is Lyn, who even by their standards face a remarkably bleak set of circumstances.

After several teams looked sluggish and tired at the weekend, this midweek round could see some very random results even by the Tippeliga's standards..

Wednesday

Fredrikstad (14th) Lyn (16th)

One rather peculiar quirk of the current standings is that bottom of the table Lyn actually have a better goal difference than Aalesund, who are eighth.

Kjetil Rekdal downs the mighty Brazil by Chris RockThere was quite a hot "discussion" between Aalesund manager and legendary former Norwegian international Kjetil Rekdal and Brann's former Leeds...

Really, this has to stop now, this wonderfully stereotype-busting weather currently enjoyed in most of the country makes it virtually impossible to get anything done.

Saturday

Sandefjord (9th) Odd Grenland (3rd)

Right, the fact that this game is well underway at the time of writing renders this preview utterly pointless.

As the curtains close on part one of the Tippeliga, the 18th round proved a highly appropriate ending: Rosenborg won without impressing anyone, Molde won and impressed everyone, Lyn shot themselves in the foot and the rest was all a bit random.

Now, nothing would be more gratifying than to report that the bullies from Bergen where humped, thumped, thwacked and indeed wallopped by a magnificent Molde.

Troy Perkins and Valerenga snapped their seven league match losing streak against mighty Molde while Clarence Goodson and Start slipped at home versus Brann.

In the social democracy that is Norway we're all about sharing, but this is getting ridiculous: A baffling six out of seven games this weekend ended in 1-1 draws. You'd think that with all this brotherly sharing of points going on the aftermath would be a tranquil one, but the fallout from the weekend fixtures is dominated by various forms of angry men.

Don your party hat and ready your flag, tomorrow is the traditional May 16th round of the Tippeliga and we're all going to party like Steffen Iversen on a weeknight.

Vålerenga (8th) - Fredrikstad (6th)

According to polls on the Dagbladet website, Vålerenga have both the best and the worst fans in the country, neatly illustrating the problem with such polls.

More midweek madness in the Tippeliga as Molde try to keep up with Rosenborg, Mad Martin tries to hold on to his job for a few more days, Lyn try to keep the derby-ghost alive and Viking try to be less terrible at football.

Thursday

Molde (2nd) - Tromsø (12th)

The whole Tore Reginiussen-situation is growing increasingly bizarre.

Rosenborg still better than anyone else, Brann still can't be bothered against smaller teams, Molde still quite tasty, Viking still struggling: In the excessively random world of the Tippeliga there are still some things you can rely on..

The best team in the league versus the (on current form) worst, Rosenborg's visit to Bodø was always going to end badly for the hosts.

Honestly, it may be that our brains were dulled by watching Norway and that we've lost the ability to judge these things objectively, but wasn't that a rather good round?

The Tippeliga rolled back into life in predictable fashion this Saturday when Rosenborg won 3-0 over a hard-working but undeniably limited Strømsgodset.

The second round of the Norwegian cup was so staggeringly uneventful and dull that we here at NFN elected to ignore it altogether. However, with an epic shootout in the South, a local derby in the Southwest and rampant minnows up North, the third round was an entirely different kettle of fish...

We start up North with the upset that wasn't really an upset.

With Tromsø and Rosenborg yet to play it's fair to say that round 2 of the 2009 Tippeliga was richer in drama and talking points than it was in quality of football. After a week that's been dominated by talk of just how doomed Mad Martin's job at Vålerenga is and just how rubbish Brann are, [...]

Will Steinar Nilsen's pampered pansies recover from Monday's miserable mauling at the hands of Sandefjord? Or will Stabæk rediscover their free-flowing football stylings and batter the boys from Bergen in their own backyard? Follow NFN's updates from this intriguing (seriously) Tippeliga encounter with over at www.

Having just put in one of his best performances in a while, Rosenborg-keeper Rune Jarstein withdrew from the national squad today, citing the impending birth if his first child. The decision won't go down well with outspoken (which is just a polite word for "raving lunatic") pundit Ivar Hoff, who once famously said that then [.

Coming to you this week live from a rather unpleasant coffeehouse in Oslo, it's the world famous Tippeliga preview! Saturday Viking (3rd) - Start (7th) Very rarely does a points-average of 1 point per game put you in the top half of the table, but that's the situation for Start just two games into the 2009 Tippeliga.

Coming to you this week live from a rather unpleasant coffeehouse in Oslo, it's the world famous Tippeliga preview! Saturday Viking (3rd) - Start (7th) Very rarely does a points-average of 1 point per game put you in the top half of the table, but that's the situation for Start just two games into the 2009 Tippeliga.

With first choice goalkeeper Rune Jarstein (Rosenborg) already out of the running, Norway has been further weakened by the withdrawals of Per Ciljan Skjelbred (Rosenborg), Torstein Helstad (Le Mans) and Kjetil Wæhler (Vålerenga). Martin Andresen (Vålerenga) has also pulled out of the squad. Håkon Opdal (Brann), Erik Huseklepp (Brann) and Jon Inge Høiland (Stabæk) have been [.

Now what's this then? A clear blue sky and not a rain-bearing cloud in sight? In Bergen?! The town is ripe with confusion and scantily clad felines, while in Oslo flying pigs have been spotted, Sarpsborg has frozen over and apparently Azar Karadas managed to successfully control the ball several times during Brann's training-session yesterday.