The CL quarterfinal

 We have reached the quarterfinals of the CL, with some exciting matches ahead:

• Paris St. Germain-Liverpool: The defending champions dispatched the world champions, Chelsea, and will be facing the great Liverpool side, but who will be looking to fight for a good result against a PSG side that is looking to repeat the title
• Real Madrid-Bayern Munich: perhaps an early final? Bayern Munich have been awesome, and destroyed Atalanta in the previous round while Real Madrid are... welll... Real Madrid, who can win it all
• Barcelona-Atletico Madrid: a Spanish derby, where Barcelona are probably favourites, but never ever discount Atletico, although they faced the poorest side in the tournament, Tottenham, and still had to fight to make it.
• Sporting Lisbon-Arsenal: Sporting Lisbon impressed by eliminating fan favourites Bodø/Glimt when everything seemed against them, and this fighting spirit will have to be as strong if they are to defeat an Arsenal side that is surely a light-dark horse for the title?

All these matches are worth watching. 

It will happen

There are so many doubts about the World Cup right now, due to the complex geopolitical situation. Some weeks ago I bought a ticket for the play-off match between Iraq and the winner of Bolivia/Surinam on March 31st, to take place in Monterrey. I am treating it as an excuse to visit the state of Nuevo Leon, including the iconic BBVA stadium, and see a match that will go into the history books of one of these nations.

But there have been many doubts about Iraq: due to the war in Iran, Iraqi airspace has been closed down, and until today there were doubts whether the team would even be able to make it to Mexico. Today the doubts seem to have been cast aside, and the match will go ahead as the Iraqi team will have chartered a private plane to take them to Mexico.

I am looking forward to my little pre-world cup adventure in Northern Mexico in a couple of weeks, and hope you will be able to read about it here, on this very blog :)  

Bodø /Glimt on the way

Sporting Lisbon were either cold or had not been watching the Champions League earlier stages, because the Portuguese side appeared totally unprepared despite being the favourites on paper against the Norwegians. But nobody would have guessed what team came from a big European league, and what side came from a small city in the far north.

The Norwegians were completely dominant throughout the match, and despite the 3-0 score it could have been more. 

Is it impossible for Sporting Lisbon? Of course it is not, but having seen how disciplined and sure on the ball that the Norwegians are (against Inter...), and with confidence flowing over, I think that Bodø/Glimt already have more than one foot in the quarterfinals, and will continue enjoying every neutral fan's support.

The sad state of the world

 Iran and the United States are at war; people are dying, people are suffering, and in this context the world of football is absolutely irrelevant.

This being said, Iran has qualified for the World Cup and they are set to play its matches in group G in Los Angeles and Seattle. But what now? Will Iran retire from the World Cup in a country they are at war with? While a lot of things can happen over the next few months, this is a real risk, and if it happens, Iran would likely have to be replaced by Iraq, who in this moment is set to play a play-off final in Guadalajara against either Bolivia or Suriname. But being the next Asian participant in line, they would take Iran's spot, and the United Arab Emirates, as the next in line, would take Iraq's place in the play-off.

I hope it does not come to this. I hope the world will be standing, and that Iran will participate with its great team and fans to celebrate a world in which I hope that football brings people together, because we certainly need that... 

Superligaen

 It is not that I get to watch much Danish football here in Mexico, and yesterday I enjoyed Cruz Azul defeating Monterrey 0-2 in a great match in the Mexican league, where Toluca continues on top.

But today the first phase of the Danish superliga was ending with the top six going to play for the title; the first historical thing that happened was that FC Copenhagen, the traditionally dominating team in Denmark over the last couple of decades, did not make the top-six for the first time since it was founded. As a Brøndby fan I am not crying (Brøndby ended in fourth place)...

The top team is AGF, from the second city in Denmark, Århus. They are one of the few traditional traditional clubs left, founded in 1880, but have not won a title since 1986, but appear now as realistic candidates. The number 2 side is the other fusion team, FC Midtjylland, who with FC Copenhagen has been dominating the league for more than 10 years (Since 2015 either side has won the league, except for 2021, when Brøndby won).

I sympathize more with FC Midtjylland, but for the variety and history in Danish football, it would be good to get a title back to one of the oldest clubs in the Superliga, meaning AGF.

But the title race will be without FCK.