Yanks Abroad 16 August @ 09:10 PM EST
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.
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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.
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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.
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As many of you will know, the UEFA cup has undergone a transition this year and it's not just
the name that has changed. An incredible 193 teams will enter the 2009/2010 Europa League, with the
initiative to play highly esteemed clubs such as Valencia, Ajax, Benfica, Zenit St Petersburg and
Werder Bremen; just some of the teams entering the competition.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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Before this round pundits were claiming that the high number of draws and away wins this season
meant the 2009 Tippeliga is a bit rubbish. With seven out of seven games played over the weekend
ending in a home win, does that mean it's now quite good?
Kjetil Rekdal's superbly entertaining rants at his own players this season has prompted much
moralizing and finger-wagging from people who think they know better.
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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.
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Uneven, unpredictable, and utterly bonkers: This round was typical Tippeliga, for better or
worse.
In Oslo the derby-ghost remains un-busted as Vålerenga failed to overcome a
Lyn team possibly powered by the paranormal. Mad Martin's merry men held a 1-0
lead going into half time after a decidedly dull first half, but then in the second it all exploded
into insanity, and after strange things had happened in both ends of the pitch the score at full
time was 4-4.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 ?
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Rosenborg and Molde are still going strong, but NFN takes time out to salute the efforts of this
years promoted teams, who have all been superb so far. Other notable events this weekend include
the continuing struggles of Stabæk, Viking possibly turning some kind of corner and renewed calls
for Mad Martin to go away.
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Slap on a facemask, stock up on tamiflu and come this way for an all coughing, all sniffling
preview of the 6th round of the Tippeliga..
Saturday
Aalesund (5th) - Molde (2nd)
One of the fiercest rivalries in the league, this encounter has been given some extra gloss
because of the fact that both teams are riding uncharacteristically high in the table.
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VPS Vaasa 2 Honka 5
Highlights
TPS Turku 0 JJK Jyväskylä 0
Highlights
The ice hockey world championships is getting quite a lot of media coverage in Finland at the
moment, and ahead of today's Czech Republic-Norway game I asked Lars what he thought of the
Norwegian team's chances.
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You know it's been an eventful round when a goalkeeper can slap someone in the face and no one
really takes any notice. Even Norwegian broadcaster TV2, who are more interested in controversies
than actual football, had more interesting things to talk about this week. Erik "Myggen" Mykland
made his first appearance in the Tippeliga in 13 years, Christian Bolanos recorded an
early candidate for goal of the season, Rosenborg showed why their name is on the trophy this
season, an 18 year-old defeated the reigning champions and Sandefjord won their first away-game at
the highest level in 15 attempts.
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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.
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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.
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Compared to the other Nordic countries and indeed any other nation it's reasonable to compare
with, the stadia in the Norwegian top flight really are shiny and impressive. Within the last ten
years, most teams in the Tippeliga have either built a new ground or had theirs heavily
refurbished. And it shows.
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Compared to the other Nordic countries and indeed any other nation it's reasonable to compare
with, the stadia in the Norwegian top flight really are shiny and impressive. Within the last ten
years, most teams in the Tippeliga have either built a new ground or had theirs heavily
refurbished. And it shows.
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Viking 1 - 2 Fredrikstad
(goals)
He's back! Last season the Norwegian end of NFN professed major man-love for Raymond Kvisvik,
and here he is, the widest wide-man in the business rides again to end what was an atrocious game
of football on a classy note.
To be fair, he looked remarkably svelte by his standards when he came on as a 86th minute
substitute to help Fredrikstad shore up a crafty 1-1 draw on a bad day.
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