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Just so you know.
Saturday 18 February 2012
Friday 1 July 2011
The Goal of the Season, in the Best Game, Made by the Player of the Year?
It was a slightly ill-fitting venue for what would turn out to be the match of the season so far. With its artificial surface and small stands, several of them with no roof, Sarpsborg Stadium looks more like a training ground than the home of what is currently one of the most entertaining teams in European club football.
The modern history of that team, Sarpsborg 08, is as complex as a Egil Olsen game analysis. Football in Sarpsborg has a rich history, with the two most noticeable clubs, FK Sarpsborg and Sparta, winning 7 domestic cups between them before 1952. But after decades without a top-flight presence, a project was agreed in 1999 between all the 16 different local teams in the area to cooperate and pool together their resources to cultivate one great club to represent the city. After many false starts, with economic collapses and sporting failures, Sarpsborg 08 was born in 2008. Changing its name from FK Sparta Sarpsborg and continuing its place in the 2nd tier, they got promoted to Tippeligaen for the first time before this season. A great triumph for the club and the city, it was also a truly unique personal achievement for the defender Berat Jusufi, who would become the first player to play for his club (although under different names) in five different divisions.
While coach Roar Johansen’s formation might seem to vary (TV2’s statistical bible http://www.altomfotball.no/ has the team playing in four different formations during their five Tippeligaen games in June), he always sets his team out to play fluid, expansive and above all, attacking football. They are clearly comfortable at their home ground, having taken 13 points in their six games at Sarpsborg Stadium before the visit of Brann this Monday. They have only scored two less goals than current league leader Molde but has also conceded the most, together with Start and Stabæk.
If Sarpsborg 08 is the new incarnation of a city’s football history, Brann is football history personified in Norway. Formed in 1908, they are the only major team in Bergen, the second largest city in the country and one who supports its team passionately and completely. In a way they are Norwegian football’s perennial underachiever, only winning the league three times (lastly in 2007) and only one cup triumph in almost 30 years. With several of their high profile players leaving before the season, some Norwegian pundits were even suggesting a possible fight against relegation for the team, but such predictions were always going to be wide of the mark. Their creative output has been centred around a classic partnership, with the elegant, pacy and technically brilliant Uruguayan Diego Guastavino playing behind the marauding and direct centre-forward Kim Ojo, the young Nigerian signed from second-tiered NIL-Trysil before the season.
The two teams collided spectacularly in Sarpsborg, where the full outlay of their combined attacking powers came to the forefront. Without exaggerating, the match contained four viable candidates for goal of the season. Glenn Roberts gave Sarpsborg the lead, as he pulled in from the left wing and powered the ball past Piotr Leciejewski with a fantastic strike, the ball remaining completely still and static in the air as it flew into the goal and rebounded out again with almost the same force, after hitting the corner post at the back of the goal. Two headers on either side of half-time from Korcsmár and Mjelde would turn the match in Brann’s favour before Guastavino almost copied Robert’s earlier strike, the diminutive technician also cutting in from the left, his marvellous shot dipping and swerving over Hjulstad in Sarpsborg’s goal.
The Uruguyan’s home city of Montevideo could hardly be a bigger contrast to the tiny, northern fishing community of Steigen, but even with a population of only 2000 the latter has produced a technician of both the same size and powerful right foot. Tom Erik Breive has finally had a breakthrough in Norwegian top-flight football this season after he came to Oslo as a 16-year old in 1996. While he studied at Wang ToppIdrett, a private high-school specialising in assisting and supporting promising young athletes he joined Skeid, a club renowned for producing great talents such as Mohammed and Mostafa Abdellaoue, Daniel Braathen and Daniel Fredheim Holm. He was part of the Skeid junior team that won the F.A. Youth Cup in both 1998 and 99, but had never played in Tippeligaen before this season. But it has come at exactly the right time for Breive, as he has now finally developed into a truly consistent performer. And while his excellent right foot being a constant treat on corners and free-kicks, it’s his clever movement and technique that is often the catalyst for many of Sarpsborg’s quick and fluid attacking movements.
He can also finish those attacks as he showed two minutes after Morten Giæver had put Sarpsborg within one goal of Brann with his penalty conversion. Receiving the ball almost 30 yards out, he took one touch, turned 45 degrees and with hardly any backlift hit the ball on the half-volley, the ball going straight over Leciejewski, hitting the underside of the bar and then into the net for the equaliser. And still the best was yet to come.
Another clever pass from Guastavino at the edge of the box set Ojo through on goal, rounding first the goalkeeper and then a defender, and while he was starting to lose his balance that did not prevent him from choosing power from five yards out and facing an open goal, his shot luckily hitting the underside of the bar before finding the net. Two minutes later, Guastavino finally made it safe with a run worthy to grace any football league, anywhere. Picking the ball up on the half-way line, his blistering pace saw him going straight between two Sarpsborg players. Coming up to the corner of the penalty area, he started to go inwards by nutmegging another defender, then faking a shot to trick a fourth player before gently rolling the ball on to Rodolph Austin to side-foot it into the net and give Brann a 5-3 victory.
In a season of crazy results and unpredictable play, it was a magical goal to complete a fantastic game, all orchestrated by perhaps the best player of the league this season. Had Diego Guastavino been a few years younger, his performances this year would have seen a queue of agents around the block outside Brann Stadium, but while he turns 27 there can still be time to show off his undeniable skills at a bigger stage. Having played in Uruguay his whole career until joining Lyn Oslo in 2008, he has found his perfect match in Brann, a club defined by its love of technical dribblers and individual heroes. While Brann always comes first in Bergen, their passionate fans appreciate their players going on to perform in more famous leagues, be it Norwegian exports such as Tore Andre Flo or adopted Bergensere, such as Paul Scharner. If there is any justice in the footballing world, Diego Guastavino will be the next player to use the city called the Gateway to the Fjords as a springboard to even greater things.
Saturday 25 June 2011
World Cup Preview; A Historic Team Looking for New Glory
In June 1995 a flight from Stockholm to Oslo was filled with a jubilant Norwegian sports team and a huge press corps conducting interviews and taking photographs. The undisputed star of the team was sitting with the World Cup Trophy, looking out at two fighter jets from the Norwegian Air Force giving them an honorary escort on its way to a large crowd of fans waiting at the airport in Oslo. The victorious athletes were the Norwegian Women’s Football team and the focus of attention was Hege Riise, who a day earlier had opened the scoring in the World Cup final against Germany with a great individual goal, and then been awarded the Golden Ball as the player of the tournament.
Riise's humble and shy exterior hid a woman whose love for the game and passion to play it had taken her from endless hours of repeatedly kicking a ball against her parent’s garage in the small farming community of Høland to become the world’s greatest female footballer. In those June days 16 years ago, she was the most talked about person in Norway. Never the fastest of players, Riise biggest force was her sublime technique and reading of the game, a great passer of the pall who would dictate the pace of every game she played.
She was an integral part of a team that manifested women’s football as one of the major sports in Norway. Part of that was the way they gave a country not used to team sport success a historic range of memorable successes. Norway’s Women football team became the first Norwegian team to win both a European (1987), World (1995) and Olympic (2000) team tournament. Riise, together with the centre-half Gro Espeseth and goalkeeper Bente Nordby are still the only footballers – regardless of sex – to have won all three tournaments.
The reason for Norway’s comparable bigger success in women’s football compared to the men’s team is a riposte to those who claim politics and sport don’t mix. One of the frontrunners in women’s rights and equality, the participation of women in a sport they for so long had been scandalously excluded from would always be more easily accepted in Norway. But even there the traditionalists held back, the NFF (Norwegian F.A.) refusing to grant official status to women’s football when diminutive steps of organisation was taking in the late 60s. It was a new youth tournament set up in 1972 that turned the tide. Norway Cup is today one of the world most famous and largest youth tournaments, and women’s football was present from the very beginning. The presence of girls and women playing in the fast growing tournament helped turn up the pressure on NFF, who in 1976 finally recognised the women’s game. The first official international was played two years later, Norway losing to Sweden by 2-1 (the men’s team had also lost their first game to the Swedes, but by a slightly more embarrassing 11-3 score line in 1908).
Today football is the biggest sport for women in Norway, its large and constant presence of everyday life for so many families across the country inevitable supporting the popularity of the sport on a national level and in the media. The major tournaments still attract a healthy interests among people who would not normally follow sport closely. That is not to say that women’s football is treated equally with the men’s game in Norway, with a lot less television and paper coverage of the women’s game, although still vastly superior to the pitiful and still often patronising attention given by the British press to its women footballers.
While still struggling to attract crowds to the domestic league and with a lack of the same high profile players as in Riise’s era, women footballers are still very much an accepted and integral part of the game in Norway. It can be seen in the little things, like how women footballers are in contention for the highest annual award given in Norwegian football, Kniksenprisen (Riise winning it in 1995), and in the wider context of playing a central part of the current NFF organisation. Karen Espelund was the governing body’s General Secretary for ten years from 1999, the first woman to hold such a prominent position within a domestic F.A. Another example is the status given to coaching the national women’s team The four coaches in charge between 1989 and 2009 had all both played and managed in the men’s top division in Norway. Per Matias Høgmo, who lead the team to Olympic Gold in Sydney in 2000, went on coach both the men’s U-21 national team and Rosenborg, and is currently in charge of Tromsø, one of the favourites for the men’s league championship this season. Høgmo will also be one of the front-runners for the men’s national team job when Egil Olsen steps down from the role.
At the same time, Norway’s women are going into the World Cup in Germany with their first ever female couch in charge. Eli Landsem has been one of the stalwarts of the women’s game throughout its modern history in Norway, getting her first cap as a 17 year old in 1979. She leads a team who has lost their dominant position in World football to Germany and Brazil, with other strong European challengers in England and Sweden . They have not won a tournament since Sydney, a loss to Germany in the final of the European Championship in 2005 their strongest performance in that period.
Norway have a great pedigree in the tournament, only once failing to reach the semi-finals. With the host nation Germany the huge favourites, the Norwegians belong to a group of teams including England, Brazil, USA and Sweden that will be the German’s main challengers. Norway have been drawn in Group D with Brazil, Australia and Equatorial Guinea, with a quarter-final against USA or Sweden the most likely award if they, as expected, qualify for the knock-out stage. Winning the group will also mean they almost certainly won’t face Germany before a potential final.
Norway lack the high-profile players from the championships winning teams of the nineties and have lost Lisa-Marie Woods, voted the best player in the top-flight last year, to a late injury. However, a good combination of experienced player s and young talent is complemented by a strong central line. Goalkeeper Ingrid Hjemseth is one of the best players in the world in the most, often unfairly, maligned position in women’s football. The versatile centre-half Trine Rønning has 113 caps, nine more than the team’s captain, Ingvild Stensland, a midfielder currently playing for perhaps the world’s best league club, Olympique Lyonnais. The goals are expected to come from the younger players. 22 year old Elise Thorsnes have scored 84 games in 119 league games, while Isabell Herlovsen, also 22, already has 19 goals in 64 games for Norway, getting her first cap at the age of 16. Cecile Pedersen is still only 20, but eight goals in her first 21 caps indicates that she can become one of the breakthrough talents of the tournament.
With Germany’s dominant position combined with being the host nation, nobody expects Norway to emulate the team from 1995, and for one of its players to gain the recognition Hege Riise so deservedly was given. But the women’s game does need a morale booster and a run to the final might well reignite some of the passion and interest in team. Women’s sport has a much wider presence in Norway than in most other countries, with a special affection reserved in the national consciousness for its football and handball teams, who have provided so many memorable and historic achievements. From a position of relative low expectations, that love affair might well blossom up again this summer.
Highlights from the five previous women’s World Cup Finals here (Hege Riise’s opening goal coming after 30 seconds)
Thursday 16 June 2011
Artificial victories?
The strike called by NISO last month was mainly concerned with the standard employee contracts and the right for players to choose their own equipment, but perhaps the one area where the labour union for Norwegian sports athletes has been most vocal is the almost unilateral introduction of artificial pitches in Norwegian top-flight football. The Norwegian F.A. – NFF – recommend that all new stadium projects should include an artificial surface. This much to the dismay of many players and NISO who, quite rightly, has real concerns around the lack of information about the long-term risks that a constant use of artificial pitches may pose.
However, some context is necessarily. Even when I last graced artificial pitches in Norway almost ten years ago as a goalkeeper they were frequently softer and more comfortable than many grass pitches. Whereas I often needed long trousers or padding on hard grass pitches, the tiny pieces of rubber covering modern artificial pitches meant that even with no protection there were limited damages to my thighs and knees when I flapped at various shots and crosses. It’s a technology that is constantly evolving and Norwegian clubs does always seek out the most state-of-the-art surface.
The attraction for NFF and the clubs is obvious. A harsh winter climate makes most grass pitches in Norway virtually unplayable from around November/December to March. Even with the under soil heating and constant care given to grass pitches at the top level, the playing surface will usually not hit peak condition until June/July. With the introduction of two more Tippeligaen teams from the 2010 season the league most now accommodate 30 games, pushing the natural barriers of when football can be played. This year’s start of 18th of March the earliest ever recorded. If all or most clubs were to introduce artificial pitches not only would a future expansion of the league become possible, Norway could also conceivably switch to a autumn/spring season with a long winter break, as is being operated in the slightly more southern and milder climate of Denmark.
That would also eliminate what many argue is the inconvenient truth of NFF's warm support for the project; that having an artificial home pitch gives you an advantage over teams who play their home matches on grass.
It's not difficult to find arguments against this, the most obvious being that there has still not been a Norway league champion whose home turf isn't grass. In addition, while there are six Tippeligaen teams this season who play on artificial pitches, all the other clubs use them throughout the pre-season months and over a third of all away games this season will be held on artificial pitches. In addition, all but the oldest players in the league would have virtually grown up on the surface, so widespread has it become throughout the country, making it inconceivable that any player wouldn't be familiar with the surface.
And yet still there are some interesting stats which points to the continuous improvement of the ‘artificial’ teams compared to the ones that play on natural grass. The third placed team in the last three seasons have all had artificial home pitches and this season has seen some very intriguing patterns emerge.
After most teams have played ten games the top four places are taken by Tromsø, Strømsgodset, Aalesund and Stabæk, all teams with an artificial home surface. Another non-grass club, newly promoted Sarpsborg, is doing much better than expected in 7th place and have quite an astounding record, winning 4 out of their 5 home matches, while only getting two points in five away games.
Tromsø and Strømsgodset has an identical home record, winning 5 and drawing one, with both their draws at home coming against another ‘artificial team’. Away they have only achieved three points each from three games, their four games against ‘grass teams’ resulting in two draws and two defeats.
All in all, after ten matches the ‘artificial teams’ has a distinctly different home record than the teams with grass pitches. At home, they have played 32 games, won 21, drawn 4 and lost 7, a total of 2.1 points per game. The ‘grass teams’ have a combined home record of 41 games, won 14, drawn 11 and lost 16, a total of 1.4 points per game*.
So a quirky, freakish stat or evidence of the advantage in having an artificial home pitch? There are certain some abnormalities in the stats. For example, Stabæk does not only play on an artificial surface, but their stadium is also indoors. Yet their away record is significantly better than at home, even with all but one of their travels being to grass pitches. They’ve lost three home games, two of them to ‘grass teams’. Those teams were Lillestrøm, who beat them 7-0 and the then bottom placed Sogndal, who secured their first win of the season at Stabæk. Similarly, the last team with an artificial home ground, Odd Grenland, have been equally bad wherever they have played, but still with a marginally better away record. The four teams expected to challenge for the title before the season started, Molde, Rosenborg, Vålerenga, Viking and Molde, have all had starts ranging from decent to terrible. With all of them normally playing on grass, their collective dip in form is another explanation for the stat.
So no conclusive evidence yet about the potential advantageous of artificial pitches, but it is a debate which will be a constant presence in Norwegian football discourse in years to come. In Tromsø, Strømsgodset, Aalesund and Stabæk there is still a genuine possibility that this season will be dominated by teams playing on an artificial surface. The current front-runner Tromsø may not only secure their first title, or the first league championship for a team from the north of Norway, they might also add first ‘artificial’ champion to their potential historic achievement.
However, some context is necessarily. Even when I last graced artificial pitches in Norway almost ten years ago as a goalkeeper they were frequently softer and more comfortable than many grass pitches. Whereas I often needed long trousers or padding on hard grass pitches, the tiny pieces of rubber covering modern artificial pitches meant that even with no protection there were limited damages to my thighs and knees when I flapped at various shots and crosses. It’s a technology that is constantly evolving and Norwegian clubs does always seek out the most state-of-the-art surface.
The attraction for NFF and the clubs is obvious. A harsh winter climate makes most grass pitches in Norway virtually unplayable from around November/December to March. Even with the under soil heating and constant care given to grass pitches at the top level, the playing surface will usually not hit peak condition until June/July. With the introduction of two more Tippeligaen teams from the 2010 season the league most now accommodate 30 games, pushing the natural barriers of when football can be played. This year’s start of 18th of March the earliest ever recorded. If all or most clubs were to introduce artificial pitches not only would a future expansion of the league become possible, Norway could also conceivably switch to a autumn/spring season with a long winter break, as is being operated in the slightly more southern and milder climate of Denmark.
That would also eliminate what many argue is the inconvenient truth of NFF's warm support for the project; that having an artificial home pitch gives you an advantage over teams who play their home matches on grass.
It's not difficult to find arguments against this, the most obvious being that there has still not been a Norway league champion whose home turf isn't grass. In addition, while there are six Tippeligaen teams this season who play on artificial pitches, all the other clubs use them throughout the pre-season months and over a third of all away games this season will be held on artificial pitches. In addition, all but the oldest players in the league would have virtually grown up on the surface, so widespread has it become throughout the country, making it inconceivable that any player wouldn't be familiar with the surface.
And yet still there are some interesting stats which points to the continuous improvement of the ‘artificial’ teams compared to the ones that play on natural grass. The third placed team in the last three seasons have all had artificial home pitches and this season has seen some very intriguing patterns emerge.
After most teams have played ten games the top four places are taken by Tromsø, Strømsgodset, Aalesund and Stabæk, all teams with an artificial home surface. Another non-grass club, newly promoted Sarpsborg, is doing much better than expected in 7th place and have quite an astounding record, winning 4 out of their 5 home matches, while only getting two points in five away games.
Tromsø and Strømsgodset has an identical home record, winning 5 and drawing one, with both their draws at home coming against another ‘artificial team’. Away they have only achieved three points each from three games, their four games against ‘grass teams’ resulting in two draws and two defeats.
All in all, after ten matches the ‘artificial teams’ has a distinctly different home record than the teams with grass pitches. At home, they have played 32 games, won 21, drawn 4 and lost 7, a total of 2.1 points per game. The ‘grass teams’ have a combined home record of 41 games, won 14, drawn 11 and lost 16, a total of 1.4 points per game*.
So a quirky, freakish stat or evidence of the advantage in having an artificial home pitch? There are certain some abnormalities in the stats. For example, Stabæk does not only play on an artificial surface, but their stadium is also indoors. Yet their away record is significantly better than at home, even with all but one of their travels being to grass pitches. They’ve lost three home games, two of them to ‘grass teams’. Those teams were Lillestrøm, who beat them 7-0 and the then bottom placed Sogndal, who secured their first win of the season at Stabæk. Similarly, the last team with an artificial home ground, Odd Grenland, have been equally bad wherever they have played, but still with a marginally better away record. The four teams expected to challenge for the title before the season started, Molde, Rosenborg, Vålerenga, Viking and Molde, have all had starts ranging from decent to terrible. With all of them normally playing on grass, their collective dip in form is another explanation for the stat.
So no conclusive evidence yet about the potential advantageous of artificial pitches, but it is a debate which will be a constant presence in Norwegian football discourse in years to come. In Tromsø, Strømsgodset, Aalesund and Stabæk there is still a genuine possibility that this season will be dominated by teams playing on an artificial surface. The current front-runner Tromsø may not only secure their first title, or the first league championship for a team from the north of Norway, they might also add first ‘artificial’ champion to their potential historic achievement.
*This is a stat based on a previously version taken from a twitter discussion between @bjornarpet and @fotballanalyse
Egil Olsen – Playing the odds
You have to give it to Egil Olsen. He has absolutely no interest in what anybody thinks of his chosen tactics or football philosophy. He’s been absolutely unapologetic about the way he has wanted his team to play during his combined 11 years as Norway’s national coach. When he started his first reign in 1991 he was just what the doctor had ordered, a strong, charismatic (in his own way) character with a crystal clear view of how the Norway should play. He was blessed with a generation of players perfect for his methods, individually better than previous generations but still not high-profile or famous enough to question their manager’s tactics, instead following his instructions to the letter, backed by a (almost) collective belief in the tactics.
While most Norwegian football fans would love their team to play a bit more expansive, with a lot more emphasis on individual skill, it is the role of the football authorities to put in place the coaching system and football culture that will produce the skilled players needed to successfully play that way. The role of the national coach is to get 100 % out of the players he has at his disposal at any given time, and Egil Olsen is unshakable in his belief that his way is the only right way for these players.
No surprises then that he before Norway’s European Championship qualifier away to Portugal stated clearly that the team would have to play plenty of long balls behind Portugal’s defence, the home team’s speed and accuracy on the counter attack making the cost of losing the ball in one’s own half too risky to contemplate. And it almost worked, Norway creating a fair few chances in the first half through their aggressive and direct play, their wastefulness costing them dearly early in the second half when Helder Postiga headed home the only goal of the game.
Always analysing, always calculating, Olsen could not be tempted to push more men forward. A 1-0 nil defeat would equal the win Norway had over Portugal in Oslo, goal difference now becoming the deciding factor if the teams were to finish on the same points total at the end of the group stage. With two home games against Iceland and Cyprus either side of the away tie to Denmark remaining, Olsen looked at the odds and decided to fold. Better to keep it at 0-1 then risk giving another goal and a bigger hand to Portugal.
Egil Olsen - a guest player at the Norwegian Poker Championship in 2007 – has always played the numbers game, and not only in calculating the risk of losing a ball in your own half against Portugal or using detailed analysis of player’s performance years before Opta became fashionable. During his first reign as national coach he became very interested in a Norwegian mathematician’s formula regarding the methods used to compromise the FIFA rankings. Another type of coach would have said that the best way to improve your ranking would be to win games, but Olsen was all ears to the mathematician's findings on how to optimise your chances to climb the rankings, one of them that the ideal number of international matches a year was eight.
The subject of the FIFA rankings was perhaps the most interesting point before the underwhelming friendly against Lithuania. Even with the defeat to Portugal a win against the Baltic nation would ensure Norway a place among the top seeds in the draw for the world cup qualifying campaign to be held in Rio in July. A terrible game in Oslo was symbolised by Norway’s late winner. Erik Huseklepp won a cheap penalty and while Morten Gamst Pedersen’s meagre effort was saved by the Lithuanian goalkeeper, the Blackburn winger slotted home the rebound, securing Norway’s place as a top seed in the draw.
Tied with Denmark and Portugal on 10 points with three games left, Egil Olsen’s style may not have many supporters in the wider football community or excited the Norwegian masses in the same way as almost 20 years ago. But he’ll make no excuses for having given Norway their best shot at qualifying for a major tournament since their last appearance in 2000.
While most Norwegian football fans would love their team to play a bit more expansive, with a lot more emphasis on individual skill, it is the role of the football authorities to put in place the coaching system and football culture that will produce the skilled players needed to successfully play that way. The role of the national coach is to get 100 % out of the players he has at his disposal at any given time, and Egil Olsen is unshakable in his belief that his way is the only right way for these players.
No surprises then that he before Norway’s European Championship qualifier away to Portugal stated clearly that the team would have to play plenty of long balls behind Portugal’s defence, the home team’s speed and accuracy on the counter attack making the cost of losing the ball in one’s own half too risky to contemplate. And it almost worked, Norway creating a fair few chances in the first half through their aggressive and direct play, their wastefulness costing them dearly early in the second half when Helder Postiga headed home the only goal of the game.
Always analysing, always calculating, Olsen could not be tempted to push more men forward. A 1-0 nil defeat would equal the win Norway had over Portugal in Oslo, goal difference now becoming the deciding factor if the teams were to finish on the same points total at the end of the group stage. With two home games against Iceland and Cyprus either side of the away tie to Denmark remaining, Olsen looked at the odds and decided to fold. Better to keep it at 0-1 then risk giving another goal and a bigger hand to Portugal.
Egil Olsen - a guest player at the Norwegian Poker Championship in 2007 – has always played the numbers game, and not only in calculating the risk of losing a ball in your own half against Portugal or using detailed analysis of player’s performance years before Opta became fashionable. During his first reign as national coach he became very interested in a Norwegian mathematician’s formula regarding the methods used to compromise the FIFA rankings. Another type of coach would have said that the best way to improve your ranking would be to win games, but Olsen was all ears to the mathematician's findings on how to optimise your chances to climb the rankings, one of them that the ideal number of international matches a year was eight.
The subject of the FIFA rankings was perhaps the most interesting point before the underwhelming friendly against Lithuania. Even with the defeat to Portugal a win against the Baltic nation would ensure Norway a place among the top seeds in the draw for the world cup qualifying campaign to be held in Rio in July. A terrible game in Oslo was symbolised by Norway’s late winner. Erik Huseklepp won a cheap penalty and while Morten Gamst Pedersen’s meagre effort was saved by the Lithuanian goalkeeper, the Blackburn winger slotted home the rebound, securing Norway’s place as a top seed in the draw.
Tied with Denmark and Portugal on 10 points with three games left, Egil Olsen’s style may not have many supporters in the wider football community or excited the Norwegian masses in the same way as almost 20 years ago. But he’ll make no excuses for having given Norway their best shot at qualifying for a major tournament since their last appearance in 2000.
Week 10 and 11 (sort of) round up
168
It was undoubtedly the day of the season so far. 19 years to the day of his first ever top-flight goal Sigurd Rushfeldt scored a perfect hat-trick to make his total tally 168, surpassing Harald Brattbakk as the all-time leading goal scorer in the Norwegian league. My take on Rushfeldt’s career and how it has been shaped by a generation of outstanding Norwegian strikers can be found on the excellent new website covering Nordic football, Stone by Stone
It was undoubtedly the day of the season so far. 19 years to the day of his first ever top-flight goal Sigurd Rushfeldt scored a perfect hat-trick to make his total tally 168, surpassing Harald Brattbakk as the all-time leading goal scorer in the Norwegian league. My take on Rushfeldt’s career and how it has been shaped by a generation of outstanding Norwegian strikers can be found on the excellent new website covering Nordic football, Stone by Stone
Swinging Molde and an Orange uprising
The Norwegian league fixtures have been thrown slightly off kilter with the player’s strike last month, which meant that the week 9 games will now be played at the end of June. Week 10 was completed at the end of May, with six of the eight week 11 matches played last weekend.
Those two matches could not have been more of a rollercoaster of emotions for Molde fans. We’ve had some ridiculous swings in results from one game to another already this season, with Lillestrøm's experiencing a 10 goal swing in the first two games, beating Stabæk 7-0 away followed by a 4-1 defeat at home to Brann in the next game. But Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Molde ™ almost equalled that this week after they bounced back from a 5-0 away defeat to Haugesund with a 5-1 hammering of Start at home. Now up to 5th place, Molde seems in an excellent position to become Tromsø’s biggest threat to the title this year.
Having said that, Aalesund is slowly creeping up the table, a solid 2-0 win over hapless Viking at home followed by a smash and grab victory away to 4th placed Stabæk, Kjetil Rekdal’s orange army overtaking their hosts and grabbing 3rd placed.
Both Aalesund and 2nd placed Strømsgodset are teams carried by predominately young and inexperienced players, and if they can sustain a title challenge it would be an incredible achievement by both Rekdal and Ronny Deila, Strømsgodset’s 35-year-old head coach.
Tarik Elyounoussi continues to impress on his return to Fredrikstad after his unsuccessful spell in Herenveen, saving his team from a defeat to their big rivals Sarpsborg 08 with a delightful late equaliser.
We finish with our regular Expected Top Four update, with the pundits favourites (guilty!) to top the table at the end of the season now lying in 5th, 11th, 14th and 16th (Molde, Vålerenga, Rosenborg and Viking). Viking's season is going from bad to worse to stop taking the mickey, but the resignation of sporting director and former Southampton, Blackburn and Rangers striker Egil Ostenstad had no immediate effect, as the Stavanger side lost 2-0 away to Haugesund in their most recent dismal performance.
Week 10 results
Sarpsborg 08 2-4 Lillestrøm
Jørgensen 51 Nosa Igiebor 5
Giæver 72 (pen) Sigurdarson 15, 87
Ujah (pen) 78
Sarpsborg 08 2-4 Lillestrøm
Jørgensen 51 Nosa Igiebor 5
Giæver 72 (pen) Sigurdarson 15, 87
Ujah (pen) 78
Attn: 3 552
Strømsgodset 1-0 Fredrikstad
Konradsen 68
Attn: 5 241
Sogndal 0-1 Vålerenga
Olsen (o.g) 22
Attn: 3 254
Haugesund 5-0 Molde
Søderlund 7
Paté Diouf (o.g.) 22
Sørum 39, 51
Djurdjic 59 (pen)
Attn: 4 287
Start 2-4 Stabæk
Hoff 32 Pálmason 46, 61
Årst 64 Ollé Ollé 58
Gunnarsson 65
Attn: 6 399
Aalesund 2-0 Viking
Sylling Olsen 11
Barrantes 58
Attn: 9 736
Tromsø 4-0 Brann
Rushfeldt 37, 75, 82
Høgli 90 (pen)
Attn: 4 844
Strømsgodset 1-0 Fredrikstad
Konradsen 68
Attn: 5 241
Sogndal 0-1 Vålerenga
Olsen (o.g) 22
Attn: 3 254
Haugesund 5-0 Molde
Søderlund 7
Paté Diouf (o.g.) 22
Sørum 39, 51
Djurdjic 59 (pen)
Attn: 4 287
Start 2-4 Stabæk
Hoff 32 Pálmason 46, 61
Årst 64 Ollé Ollé 58
Gunnarsson 65
Attn: 6 399
Aalesund 2-0 Viking
Sylling Olsen 11
Barrantes 58
Attn: 9 736
Tromsø 4-0 Brann
Rushfeldt 37, 75, 82
Høgli 90 (pen)
Attn: 4 844
Odd Grenland 3-3 Rosenborg
Brenne 18 Prica 33
Johnsen 31 Bakenga 73
Larsen (o.g.) 86 Dorsin 87
Attn: 5 777
Player of the week: Sigurd Rushfeldt, Tromsø
Brenne 18 Prica 33
Johnsen 31 Bakenga 73
Larsen (o.g.) 86 Dorsin 87
Attn: 5 777
Player of the week: Sigurd Rushfeldt, Tromsø
Week 11 results
Brann 2-0 Sogndal
Guastavino 76
Haugsdal 82
Attn: 11 503
Haugesund 2-0 Viking
Bamberg 2
Djurdjic 55
Attn: 5 000
Lillestrøm 1-1 Odd Grenland
Sundgot 76 Myklebust 52
Attn: 5 363
Molde 5-1 Start
Paté Diouf 7, 24 Vatshaug (o.g.) 48
Angan 13
Thioune 76
Chukwu 81
Attn: 8 702
Sundgot 76 Myklebust 52
Attn: 5 363
Molde 5-1 Start
Paté Diouf 7, 24 Vatshaug (o.g.) 48
Angan 13
Thioune 76
Chukwu 81
Attn: 8 702
Stabæk 1-2 Aalesund
Ollé Ollé 57 Parr 7
Ollé Ollé 57 Parr 7
Myklebust 73
Attn: 6 324
Fredrikstad 1-1 Sarpsborg 08
Elyounoussi 86 Wiig 65
Attn: 12 565
Attn: 6 324
Fredrikstad 1-1 Sarpsborg 08
Elyounoussi 86 Wiig 65
Attn: 12 565
Rosenborg – Strømsgodset (9th July) and Vålerenga – Tromsø (10th July) will complete the week 11 games.
9 goals
Anthony Ujah, Lillestrøm
7 goals
Rade Prica, Rosenborg
Veigar Páll Gunnarsson, Stabæk
Ole Martin Årst, Start
6 goals
Sigurd Rushfeldt, Tromsø
Pape Paté Diouf, Molde
Kim Ojo, Brann
Thomas Sørum, Haugesund
Frode Johnsen, Odd Grenland
Nosa Igiebor, Lillestrøm
Friday 27 May 2011
Player Strike, Top A-ha moments from Week 7-8 and Norwegian Cup.
Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike over.
It is an industrial dispute that will be remembered as the shoe-strike, with the most eye-catching and media friendly discussion point being players’ right to choose their own work outfit, more specifically which brand of boots to use.
In Norway, the team’s kit sponsor is expected to be the provider of all equipment, including that most sensitive tool for a footballer. In a survey done earlier this year, only 14% of Tippeligaen players said they were allowed to choose their own brand of boots, while 95% said that having a personal choice over which footwear to use was a very important issue.
Even in the social-democratic bastion of Norway there were some grumblings over the justification of a player strike organised by NISO (Association for Professional Athletes). The Sport Division of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO), representing the clubs in the negotiations, pointed out that equipment deals were a cornerstone of securing a financially stable future for clubs and that the deal should include all players and all equipment, including boots. Apparently the consequences of given players a free choice of boots would be both ‘wide-reaching and complex’.
Followers of Italian and English football would nod in acknowledgment to that, recognising the complete financial chaos caused in those leagues by evil and cynical players being free to choose their own boots.
The usual pundit-suspects jumped out of their murky shadows complaining about young, uneducated footballers earning too much – actually, that’s the view of Sarpsborg 08’s general manager, showing that people management doesn’t play a large part in his leadership skill-set – and who’s thinking about the poor supportersP following their team ‘through thick and thin’?!
However, the strike was about much more than just boots. NISO wanted improvements to the standard employee contract and a fairer classification of work in team sports, a greater focus on clubs accommodating employees wanting to do academic studies on the side, a set amount of holiday days within a season and, of course, one standard match-ball in football and handball (unfortunately, they didn’t want to use the same ball for both sports).
In the end, the only casualty was the round 9 matches scheduled to have taken place last weekend, with the parties coming to agreement after less than three days on strike. As for the boots issue, no clear decision was made in the end, only agreements including such inspiring words as ‘reviews’, ‘committees’, ‘mapping’, ‘consultation’ and ‘individual suitability’.
NISO have previously been trying to slow down the unilateral introduction of artificial pitches throughout most of top-flight football in Norway, based on the uncertainly around the long-term health impact for player. Once again they came out of a tricky situation with a lot of credit, and justified their role as a relevant and reasonable representative for Norwegian athletes in all wage brackets. And good on the players for showing a united front – if you can’t hold a proper strike in Norway, there is no hope for the rest of us.
Whisper it – Molde looks like a contender at last.
The Presumed Top 4™ have been like a frightened and timid animal this season. Any sort of gentle encouragement from the media and fans about them now, maybe, finally, sort of are starting to look like a genuine contender has lead to more collapses than at a drunken Jenga party and a quick retreat into the cave of darkness and broken title dreams.
First up was Vålerenga who after two convincing wins looked to have maintained their impressive form from last season when they claimed 2nd place behind Rosenborg. Impressive is also the correct adjective for their following collapse, taking only two points in the following six league games and then topping it off with an exit to third tier Kjelsås in the second round of the cup. Those famously unbeaten title defenders Rosenborg didn’t even bother to have a good start, securing one point in their first four games. They looked to have turned a corner after beating both Vålerenga and Molde 2-0 in successive games, before somehow contriving to lose at home to Haugesund. In their last match they threw away another two points, conceding an injury time penalty to Start, before a 92nd minute equaliser saved them from an early cup exit (see below)
But if that was bad, Viking’s run of good form lasted for exactly 90 minutes. With one win and six points after more than a quarter of the league already played, Åge Hareide can only dream about peeping out from that metaphorical cave so central to the laboured analogy holding up this paragraph.
But wait! What’s that coming over the hill? No sudden movements, because it could be the first sign of potential being fulfilled amount the top 4. Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Molde started the season poorly with two points in their first three outings, but four wins in the next five have demonstrated the attacking flair inherent in the team, with a strong squad more than capable of lasting a full season. In fourth place – only two off leaders Tromsø – they should now be in a perfect position to challenge for the title. Their next game away to a very unpredictable Haugesund side on a terrible pitch will give anothe good indication of whether Solskjær’s team can keep their consistent run of form going and not buckle under the pressure, as their presumed title rivals have done so spectacularly already?
Presumed Top 4 Watch ™:
Molde, Rosenborg, Vålerenga and Viking now 4th, 11th, 13th and 16th respectively.
Sogndal is definitely going down
Ah yes, the season’s first iron cast prediction from this blog has been blown out of the water already. It the last post we confidently predicted that Sogndal – the poor little things – would most certainly finish bottom of the league. While a very unpredictable season could throw up any kind of ranking among the fifteen other teams, Sogndal’s fate was as sealed as the date of the next Armageddon.
Enter Mats Solheim and a miracle of shot. 37 minutes into their away game inside Stabæk’s Telenor Arena (that’s right music lovers, home of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest), a free-kick about 25 yards out was tapped into Solheim’s path and he blasted the ball straight into the top right corner for a classic goal.
Somehow Stabæk wasted a handful of great chances in the second half, with Sogndal holding on to record a crucial victory. And they followed that impressive away win with their first home victory of the season only four days later, beating Lillestrøm 2-0. Even Hovland, who is a great prospect at centre-half, scored one of the scrappiest goals you’ll see all year six minutes from time, before Ole Jørgen Halvorsen ran 75 yards with the ball and hammered in one of the best goals of the season a minute later.
It was a week that made all the difference for Sogndal. Six points, two spectacular goals and two more cleans sheets from a defence that had been their only saving grace so far. Can it actually turn out well for Sogndal after all? Probably – and unfortunately - not, but you won’t be seeing this blog making any more bold predictions for a while.
A classic in need of an update
Time flies when you’re having fun but we’ve also managed to complete the third round of the Norwegian Cup. It’s the last round where the fixtures are set up by the Norwegian F.A. based on ‘sporting and geographical considerations’, with still no top-flight teams facing each other.
It didn’t do much good for Stabæk who became only the second Tippeligaen team to get knocked out, losing 3-1 to Hønefoss. Rosenborg almost followed them, but 18 year old striker Mushaga Bakenga saved them from a humiliating defeat to Byåsen, getting an injury time equaliser to make it 2-2 and send the game to extra-time. Within eight minutes of the re-start, Rosenborg was out of sight with three quick goals, Bakenga eventually getting four goals in the 6-3 win.
The only top-flight team to get a home tie didn’t make very good use of it, Lillestrøm scraping past Sandefjord 5-4 on penalties. Odd Grenland and Aalesund also needed extra-time to go through, and luckily there weren’t too many of the embarrassing big defeats that has plagued the earlier rounds. With the exception of Molde that is, who can now add a 7-1 win over Tiller to their 11-0 rout over Eidsvåg, a pathetic 2-0 win over Træff in the second round ruining their sequence of rugby scores.
The Norwegian Cup is a genuine classic competition, but it is surely ready for a few tweaks. The fixtures of first few rounds can still be kept between geographically close teams, but there are no reason not to draw the teams in a normal fashion, while still giving away ties to top teams, saving small provincial clubs the travel cost.
Apparently denying players to choose their own boots is a higher priority at the moment.
Week 7 results
Rosenborg 0-1 Haugesund
Sørum 53
Attn: 20 710
Brann 2-1 Start
Ojo 49 Årst 71 (pen)
Austin 86 (pen)
Attn: 17 237
Lillestrøm 0-3 Molde
Hoset 38 (pen)
Kippe 54 (o.g.)
Moström 70
Attn: 8 852
Stabæk 0-1 Sogndal
Solheim 37
Attn: 6 662
Aalesund 2-1 Strømsgodset
Post 35 Nordkvelle 5
Ulvestad 69
Attn: 10 012
Tromsø 2-2 Sarpsborg
Abdellaoue 37 Hoås 21
Nystrøm 90 Røn 90
Attn: 6 290
Viking 1-1 Odd Grenland
Berisha 79 Johnson 28
Attn: 11 204
Fredrikstad 3-1 Vålerenga
Thomassen 2 Muri 71
Elyounoussi 19
Ruud Tveter 89
Attn: 12 565
Player of the week: Tarik Elyounoussi, Fredrikstad
Week 8 results
Strømsgodset 1-0 Brann
Andersen 87
Attn: 6 012
Haugesund 1-1 Vålerenga
Nordberg 20 Strandberg 6
Attn: 4 844
Molde 2-1 Fredrikstad
Holm 9 Elyounoussi 55
Chukwu 16
Attn: 8 158
Sarpsborg 08 2-0 Aalesund
Hoås 79
Breive 86
Attn: 3 724
Tromsø 3-1 Viking
Kara Mbodij 42, 45 Nevland 80
Björck 74
Attn: 4 137
Odd Grenland 2-3 Stabæk
Johnsen 16 Gunnarsson 78 (pen),
Andersson 43 Hammer 86
Pálmason 89
Attn: 5 087
Sogndal 2-0 Lillestrøm
Hovland 84
Halvorsen 85
Attn: 2 186
Start 1-1 Rosenborg
Årst 90 (pen) Lustig 65
Attn: 7 721
Player of the week: Tom Erik Breive, Sarpsborg 08
Top Scorers:
8 goals:
Anthony Ujah, Lillestrøm
6 goals:
Veigar Páll Gunnarsson, Stabæk
Rade Prica, Rosenborg
Ole Martin Årst, Start
Kim Ojo, Brann
5 goals:
Øyvind Hoås, Sarpsborg 08
Frode Johnsen, Odd Grenland
Nosa Igiebor, Lillestrøm
It is an industrial dispute that will be remembered as the shoe-strike, with the most eye-catching and media friendly discussion point being players’ right to choose their own work outfit, more specifically which brand of boots to use.
In Norway, the team’s kit sponsor is expected to be the provider of all equipment, including that most sensitive tool for a footballer. In a survey done earlier this year, only 14% of Tippeligaen players said they were allowed to choose their own brand of boots, while 95% said that having a personal choice over which footwear to use was a very important issue.
Even in the social-democratic bastion of Norway there were some grumblings over the justification of a player strike organised by NISO (Association for Professional Athletes). The Sport Division of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO), representing the clubs in the negotiations, pointed out that equipment deals were a cornerstone of securing a financially stable future for clubs and that the deal should include all players and all equipment, including boots. Apparently the consequences of given players a free choice of boots would be both ‘wide-reaching and complex’.
Followers of Italian and English football would nod in acknowledgment to that, recognising the complete financial chaos caused in those leagues by evil and cynical players being free to choose their own boots.
The usual pundit-suspects jumped out of their murky shadows complaining about young, uneducated footballers earning too much – actually, that’s the view of Sarpsborg 08’s general manager, showing that people management doesn’t play a large part in his leadership skill-set – and who’s thinking about the poor supportersP following their team ‘through thick and thin’?!
However, the strike was about much more than just boots. NISO wanted improvements to the standard employee contract and a fairer classification of work in team sports, a greater focus on clubs accommodating employees wanting to do academic studies on the side, a set amount of holiday days within a season and, of course, one standard match-ball in football and handball (unfortunately, they didn’t want to use the same ball for both sports).
In the end, the only casualty was the round 9 matches scheduled to have taken place last weekend, with the parties coming to agreement after less than three days on strike. As for the boots issue, no clear decision was made in the end, only agreements including such inspiring words as ‘reviews’, ‘committees’, ‘mapping’, ‘consultation’ and ‘individual suitability’.
NISO have previously been trying to slow down the unilateral introduction of artificial pitches throughout most of top-flight football in Norway, based on the uncertainly around the long-term health impact for player. Once again they came out of a tricky situation with a lot of credit, and justified their role as a relevant and reasonable representative for Norwegian athletes in all wage brackets. And good on the players for showing a united front – if you can’t hold a proper strike in Norway, there is no hope for the rest of us.
Whisper it – Molde looks like a contender at last.
The Presumed Top 4™ have been like a frightened and timid animal this season. Any sort of gentle encouragement from the media and fans about them now, maybe, finally, sort of are starting to look like a genuine contender has lead to more collapses than at a drunken Jenga party and a quick retreat into the cave of darkness and broken title dreams.
First up was Vålerenga who after two convincing wins looked to have maintained their impressive form from last season when they claimed 2nd place behind Rosenborg. Impressive is also the correct adjective for their following collapse, taking only two points in the following six league games and then topping it off with an exit to third tier Kjelsås in the second round of the cup. Those famously unbeaten title defenders Rosenborg didn’t even bother to have a good start, securing one point in their first four games. They looked to have turned a corner after beating both Vålerenga and Molde 2-0 in successive games, before somehow contriving to lose at home to Haugesund. In their last match they threw away another two points, conceding an injury time penalty to Start, before a 92nd minute equaliser saved them from an early cup exit (see below)
But if that was bad, Viking’s run of good form lasted for exactly 90 minutes. With one win and six points after more than a quarter of the league already played, Åge Hareide can only dream about peeping out from that metaphorical cave so central to the laboured analogy holding up this paragraph.
But wait! What’s that coming over the hill? No sudden movements, because it could be the first sign of potential being fulfilled amount the top 4. Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Molde started the season poorly with two points in their first three outings, but four wins in the next five have demonstrated the attacking flair inherent in the team, with a strong squad more than capable of lasting a full season. In fourth place – only two off leaders Tromsø – they should now be in a perfect position to challenge for the title. Their next game away to a very unpredictable Haugesund side on a terrible pitch will give anothe good indication of whether Solskjær’s team can keep their consistent run of form going and not buckle under the pressure, as their presumed title rivals have done so spectacularly already?
Presumed Top 4 Watch ™:
Molde, Rosenborg, Vålerenga and Viking now 4th, 11th, 13th and 16th respectively.
Sogndal is definitely going down
Ah yes, the season’s first iron cast prediction from this blog has been blown out of the water already. It the last post we confidently predicted that Sogndal – the poor little things – would most certainly finish bottom of the league. While a very unpredictable season could throw up any kind of ranking among the fifteen other teams, Sogndal’s fate was as sealed as the date of the next Armageddon.
Enter Mats Solheim and a miracle of shot. 37 minutes into their away game inside Stabæk’s Telenor Arena (that’s right music lovers, home of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest), a free-kick about 25 yards out was tapped into Solheim’s path and he blasted the ball straight into the top right corner for a classic goal.
Somehow Stabæk wasted a handful of great chances in the second half, with Sogndal holding on to record a crucial victory. And they followed that impressive away win with their first home victory of the season only four days later, beating Lillestrøm 2-0. Even Hovland, who is a great prospect at centre-half, scored one of the scrappiest goals you’ll see all year six minutes from time, before Ole Jørgen Halvorsen ran 75 yards with the ball and hammered in one of the best goals of the season a minute later.
It was a week that made all the difference for Sogndal. Six points, two spectacular goals and two more cleans sheets from a defence that had been their only saving grace so far. Can it actually turn out well for Sogndal after all? Probably – and unfortunately - not, but you won’t be seeing this blog making any more bold predictions for a while.
A classic in need of an update
Time flies when you’re having fun but we’ve also managed to complete the third round of the Norwegian Cup. It’s the last round where the fixtures are set up by the Norwegian F.A. based on ‘sporting and geographical considerations’, with still no top-flight teams facing each other.
It didn’t do much good for Stabæk who became only the second Tippeligaen team to get knocked out, losing 3-1 to Hønefoss. Rosenborg almost followed them, but 18 year old striker Mushaga Bakenga saved them from a humiliating defeat to Byåsen, getting an injury time equaliser to make it 2-2 and send the game to extra-time. Within eight minutes of the re-start, Rosenborg was out of sight with three quick goals, Bakenga eventually getting four goals in the 6-3 win.
The only top-flight team to get a home tie didn’t make very good use of it, Lillestrøm scraping past Sandefjord 5-4 on penalties. Odd Grenland and Aalesund also needed extra-time to go through, and luckily there weren’t too many of the embarrassing big defeats that has plagued the earlier rounds. With the exception of Molde that is, who can now add a 7-1 win over Tiller to their 11-0 rout over Eidsvåg, a pathetic 2-0 win over Træff in the second round ruining their sequence of rugby scores.
The Norwegian Cup is a genuine classic competition, but it is surely ready for a few tweaks. The fixtures of first few rounds can still be kept between geographically close teams, but there are no reason not to draw the teams in a normal fashion, while still giving away ties to top teams, saving small provincial clubs the travel cost.
Apparently denying players to choose their own boots is a higher priority at the moment.
Week 7 results
Rosenborg 0-1 Haugesund
Sørum 53
Attn: 20 710
Brann 2-1 Start
Ojo 49 Årst 71 (pen)
Austin 86 (pen)
Attn: 17 237
Lillestrøm 0-3 Molde
Hoset 38 (pen)
Kippe 54 (o.g.)
Moström 70
Attn: 8 852
Stabæk 0-1 Sogndal
Solheim 37
Attn: 6 662
Aalesund 2-1 Strømsgodset
Post 35 Nordkvelle 5
Ulvestad 69
Attn: 10 012
Tromsø 2-2 Sarpsborg
Abdellaoue 37 Hoås 21
Nystrøm 90 Røn 90
Attn: 6 290
Viking 1-1 Odd Grenland
Berisha 79 Johnson 28
Attn: 11 204
Fredrikstad 3-1 Vålerenga
Thomassen 2 Muri 71
Elyounoussi 19
Ruud Tveter 89
Attn: 12 565
Player of the week: Tarik Elyounoussi, Fredrikstad
Week 8 results
Strømsgodset 1-0 Brann
Andersen 87
Attn: 6 012
Haugesund 1-1 Vålerenga
Nordberg 20 Strandberg 6
Attn: 4 844
Molde 2-1 Fredrikstad
Holm 9 Elyounoussi 55
Chukwu 16
Attn: 8 158
Sarpsborg 08 2-0 Aalesund
Hoås 79
Breive 86
Attn: 3 724
Tromsø 3-1 Viking
Kara Mbodij 42, 45 Nevland 80
Björck 74
Attn: 4 137
Odd Grenland 2-3 Stabæk
Johnsen 16 Gunnarsson 78 (pen),
Andersson 43 Hammer 86
Pálmason 89
Attn: 5 087
Sogndal 2-0 Lillestrøm
Hovland 84
Halvorsen 85
Attn: 2 186
Start 1-1 Rosenborg
Årst 90 (pen) Lustig 65
Attn: 7 721
Player of the week: Tom Erik Breive, Sarpsborg 08
Top Scorers:
8 goals:
Anthony Ujah, Lillestrøm
6 goals:
Veigar Páll Gunnarsson, Stabæk
Rade Prica, Rosenborg
Ole Martin Årst, Start
Kim Ojo, Brann
5 goals:
Øyvind Hoås, Sarpsborg 08
Frode Johnsen, Odd Grenland
Nosa Igiebor, Lillestrøm
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