The Offside 03 November @ 11:32 AM EST
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 [.
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[Photo: IK Start]IK Start defender Clarence Goodson scored his club's final goal of the 2009
Tippeligaen season to cap a 2-0 win over old MLS foe Troy Perkins and VÃ¥lerenga. Not only do we
have the highlight clip, but we also have a closing day interview with the hero.- Greg Seltzer
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Dirty Tackle 25 September @ 01:19 AM EST
I don't know what Johan Ameng did to Kenneth Dokken to deserve this unprovoked, off the ball
attack (watch the middle of the screen) in the Norwegian Cup semifinal match between Odd Grenland
and AaFK, but it must have been pretty bad. I'm thinking something along the lines of taking a dump
in locker and then another in his shoe while he was cleaning up the first one.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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.
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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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Reports suggest that the Gunners are ready to step up and make an offer for Fulham's Brede
Hangeland. Hangeland, who had his real breakthrough this season with Fulham, started his career at
local Norwegian club FK Vidar. In 2001 he moved to the top of the Tippeligaen, Viking FK, where he
later was promoted to captain.
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Fredrikstad 3 - 0 TromsøÂ
Odd Grenland 3 -1 Brann
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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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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..
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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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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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