Goal video highlights from the SC Freiburg vs Werder Bremen game on Saturday, November 21, 2009. Game KO time:- 14.30 UK at the Badenova Stadium. Final score :- SC Freiburg 0-6 Werder Bremen ( Hugo Almeida 33′, 57′, Marko Marin 55′, Mesut Ozil 67′, Naldo 73′ pen, Markus Rosenborg 82′) Werder Bremen hammer Freiburg 6-0 to temporarily [. Click to continue reading...

This is slightly late in the game, as it's a preview for the Norwegian 2009 Tippeligaen. The same Tippeligaen season which ended on Sunday. (Rosenborg are celebrating their 15th title in 17 years while Norway of off celebrating parity.) But this little season preview has popped up and it bears a striking resemblance to the [. Click to continue reading...

Back in September 2008, when Dimitar Berbatov and Man United CEO David Gill put the finishing touches on a lucrative 4-year contract tying the enigmatic Bulgarian to Old Trafford for the prime years of his career, you would have been an absolute plonker to ask the question.

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While the Aughts have been full of speculation/proposal about the Old Firm joining the EPL, the 90's was about the Old Firm joining what was dubbed as the Atlantic League. It was a joint proposal from the big clubs in the Netherlands, Scotland and Portugal. ESPN is reporting that there may be another attempt at this break away league, which would involve the aforementioned clubs along with Belgium and the Scandinavian clubs.

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Tyrel Lacey and Lyn look to take down first place and undefeated Rosenborg while Troy Perkins and Valerenga hunt for their first league win in months. Click to continue reading...

(Le immagini del Trofeo Bernabeu)
Gol, spettacolo e tante emozioni nel prestigioso Trofeo Bernabeu (31° edizione della manifestazione dedicata alla memoria di Santiago Bernabeu, uno dei più importanti uomini di Spagna e presidente del club madrileno dal 1943 al 1978). Click to continue reading...

Valencia CF is probably growing some fierce dislike for the country of Norway. In the fall of '07, back when Valencia were supposed to be good, they were humiliated twice by super Cinderella Rosenborg, who also achieved infamy by morphing The Special One into The Jobless One, with double 2-0 defeats. Click to continue reading...

The Times' Gary Jacob did a chat today and got a few questions on Arsenal/Hangeland:

Arsenal are pushing for Brede Hangeland  but Fulham claim that there is insufficient time to find a replacement, so they would only sell for an excessive fee of £15m

Fulham want to have a replacement in place first and want £15m.

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Ending weeks of speculation, FC Dallas General Manager Michael Hitchcock issued a statement on the transfer status of striker Kenny Cooper, saying the club "received offers from multiple international" but "elected to decline them all." (ASN, July 29, 2009).

English Championship side Cardiff and Norwegian club Rosenborg were just two of the clubs said to be bidding for Cooper's services.

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A massive number of clubs are involved in the Second Qualifying Round (80 in total).

The winners of the 23 First Qualifying Round ties were joined in this round by a further 57 clubs that includes the domestic cup winners from the national associations ranked 30 to 53 in the UEFA coefficient, the runners-up from the associations ranked 19 to 34, the third-placed sides from the associations ranked 16 to 21, the fourth-placed sides from the associations ranked 10 to 15 and the fifth-placed sides from the associations ranked 7 to 9.

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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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You heard me. And after a fairly hectic summer-period one imagines quite a few of the Tippeliga players could do with a rest as well, which is why it's so convenient that after this weekend the Tippeliga takes a two week holiday. Before that though there is a potentially cracking round of matches to be played, including the ultimate showdown of doom.

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A lot of lesser-known teams are involved at this stage but the big upset of the day was SPL side Motherwell losing at home to Welsh opponents Llanelli. 42-year-old player-manager Andy Legg, who played for both Swansea City FC and Cardiff City AFC, called their 1-0 win at Motherwell "the best result that Llanelli have ever had".

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A lot of lesser-known teams are involved at this stage but the big upset of the day was SPL side Motherwell losing at home to Welsh opponents Llanelli. 42-year-old player-manager Andy Legg, who played for both Swansea City FC and Cardiff City AFC, called their 1-0 win at Motherwell "the best result that Llanelli have ever had".

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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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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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Troy Perkins and Valerenga will do their best to continue their winning streak agains Rosenborg while Clarence Goodson and Hunter Freeman will try to work their magic in Start's defense on their trip to Lillestrom. Click to continue reading...

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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Rosenborg's victory over defending champions Stabaek IF signalled the halfway checkpoint in the Norwegian Tippeligaen, delivering a chilling reminder to the chasing pack that their ten-point lead at the table summit will not be relinquished with fifteen matches remaining.
The unimposing consolation tag as ‘Best of the Rest' is usually granted to the party who clamber across the finishing line in the wake of the dynamic favourites or heavyweights, salvaging several ounces of pride in doing so but effectively beleaguered in the knowledge that silverware will remain elusive. Click to continue reading...

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..Â

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SaturdayÂ

Sandefjord (9th) VÃ¥lerenga (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?

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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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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

HÃ¥kon Opdal - Brann

Rune Allmenning Jarstein - Rosenborg

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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

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Midfielders

Fredrik Winsnes - Strømsgodset

Henning Hauger - Stabæk

Christian Grindheim - Heerenveen, Holland

Bjørn Helge Riise - Lillestrøm

Per Ciljan Skjelbred - Rosenborg

Simen Brenne - Odd Grenland

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Wingers/Forwards

Daniel Braaten - Toulouse, France

John Carew - Aston Villa, England

Erik Huseklepp - Brann

Morten Gamst Pedersen - Blackburn, England

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

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Don't pass to me just now - I'm barfing... again Rosenborg youngster Per Ciljan Skjelbred is tipped for big things in football, but at present his most notable on-pitch contributions come in the form of carrot chunks. Poor Per can't seem to keep anything down him at the minute. Last weekend, Skjelbred was in the process of [. Click to continue reading...

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.Â

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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Tout Simplement means "its just that" in French.

It is also the title of the new book by Claude Makelele which has already generated a fair bit of controversy. The former Blues midfielder claims in his book that John Terry's unhappiness with his playing time was the catalyst behind Jose Mourinho's ouster.

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Tout Simplement means "its just that" in French.

It is also the title of the new book by Claude Makelele which has already generated a fair bit of controversy. The former Blues midfielder claims in his book that John Terry's unhappiness with his playing time was the catalyst behind Jose Mourinho's ouster.

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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 VÃ¥lerenga 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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