Good weekend

Barcelona didn't win, so now Valencia, after winning 1-0 in a difficult home match against Atlético Madrid, are second in the Spanish League, after Real Madrid. I know it does not matter much after two matches, but right now I can live with the illusion that it does: Valencia is on top!
One the 21st of September Valencia faces FC Barcelona. They will likely have the referee with them, as it does seem that besides Barcelona's and Real Madrid's awesome power in the Spanish league, the referees do have a tacit agreement about helping these teams to be even more superior.
But so far so good for Valencia.
Less so for the best club but worse team in Denmark, Brøndby, who has started in the bottom half of the Spanish league. However, today they managed to get a great victory against Køge, 5-0, and I really hope that this is what will change Brøndby's fortune. Anyway, hope is all that is left for the teams I support...

Bundpropligaen

FC Copenhagen has surely been one of the teams of the year: they upset everyone by playing excellent football in the CL, coming second in their group, only behind mighty Barcelona, and will now face Chelsea in the Last-16.

In the Danish League, no team has ever been so dominating as FC Copehagen is now: they are undefeated in the league, and as they go on winter-break, they are impressive 19 points ahead the second ranked OB. There is no doubt they will be champions, it is only a question of how many records they will beat.

So is all this good for the Danish league? It seems doubtful. It is not the Danish league that has become better; it is FC Copenhagen that has run away from everyone else!

While FC Copenhagen is not only well-managed, they are very rich compared to any other club in Denmark, and are sure to become more so. The other teams in the league are all pretty level: there are only 16 points between OB on second spot, and the bottom team AaB. Of the 12 teams, six or seven seem to be fighting to avoid relegation, while the remaining teams basically fight for the European spots, where one, given FC Copenhagen's success, may lead to another Danish CL spot. That would not be nice; as much as I would love to see my dear Brøndby have the opportunity, I only think they would be there to be humilliated. Bad for Brøndby, and bad for Danish football.

FC Copenhagen's success is admirable, but it is not great to see the Danish league become a mono-league.

Oh well, I live in Venezuela, and hardly follow it anyway...

FCK-Brøndby

And Brøndby lost 0-2 to FC Copenhagen in the Danish derby. I think it was to be expected, although my Brøndby heart always keeps a tinge of hope - the Danish league is effectively a one-team league, and Brøndby has not been able to win in Copenhagen for six seasons.
Sadly, Brøndby fans behaved ungracefully again, so only thing that remains is to congratulate FCK fans, and hope again: "next season...."

Ynkeligt ynkeligt Brøndby

It is not much I follow Danish football as I am living abroad. Still, I try to always follow the results of Brøndby IF, although it has lately brought me in a foul mood to know that the once in Denmark so mighty Brøndby is only becoming worse and worse. It all seemed to start when Michael Laudrup left as coach - perhaps he was seeing a club with pedantic leaders who seemed to invest heavily on second-rate players from second-rate leagues and forget its youth programme. A club that had forgotten that it belongs to the fans and not to one family.
Today Brøndby lost to the bottom team of the Danish league, HB Køge, 1-3 at home, and the club that sees itself as belonging to the top of Danish football should now admit that the top of Danish football belongs to other teams that have worked hard and retained what it is to be a top football club, values that have been forgotten in Brøndby.
The coach Kent Nielsen has been fired, but truth is that the problems are much deeper: there is an inept leadership and most players are simply not good enough if Brøndby has to return to the top - most of the players go.
Ynkeligt Brøndby.

Good Brøndby victory

The last seasons have been quite disappointing for any fan of Brøndby. Living abroad much of the time I have only followed indirectly, but have been disappointed to see Brøndby defeated and far away from the Danish title, but entered this season full of perhaps vain hope. Until now, Brøndby has been wavering, much as many of the other teams in the Danish league, where the top seven teams are within five points of each other within the first ten rounds.
Last weekend Brøndby was destroyed 4-1 by one of the positive surprises of the Danish league this season, Silkeborg IF, who nevertheless should never be so much better than Brøndby.
Today Brøndby played FC Nordsjælland - not a top team but nevertheless with some very good players. I had a careful optimism and hope of a narrow victory, but was delighted to see an enterntaining match where Brøndby's strikers, who have been rather disappointing, finally struck: Morten Duncan Rasmussen scored four goals, and Brøndby carried away a victory of 6-3, giving hope again that the team may be strong enough to compete for the title.
Brøndby are now on third place, two points behind Esbjerg of first spot, and equal to FC Copenhagen.

Start of the Danish Superleague

The Danish Superliga started last weekend on its season 2009-10, and already there have been some interesting results: My favourite Brøndby is looking even more disappointing than last season after losing to Esbjerg and 2-2 against OB. The Odense team is supposedly one of the strongest teams this season, and have also started well with the tie against Brøndby and a victory against Sønderjyske. The defending champions of FC Copenhagen started out with a surprising loss away to FC Nordsjælland, but this week they showed that they are still favourties for the title by smashing the new superliga team from HB Køge by 7-1. Køge is already on the way down.
The other newcomers, Silkeborg IF started the league by 1-1 against HB Køge, but this week went to first spot by defeating FC Midtjylland 4-0 in a long-awaited local derby in central Jutland. Surely the ambitious FC Midtjylland must be in pain after such a thorough defeat!

Scandalous Brøndby

In the last few games of the Danish season Brøndby has managed to throw all away and end the season an appalling way. It all started to go wrong when they were destroyed 0-4 by FC Copenhagen in the match that in reality decided the title. But even after the debacle in Copenhagen, Brøndby should have managed to remain in second position ahead of Odense B. However, yesterday, Brøndby lost 2-4 at home to FC Midtjylland, and were surpassed by OB, who won well-deserved silver medals.
Brøndby on the other hand ended as a pathetic team whose season will be sadly remembered for hooliganism and players that were simply not up to the challenge when it was called for. In any other club with great ambitions such a horrible season would be a wake-up call for drastic changes, but I am afraid that Brøndby's leadership is not up to it, since the leadership itself is one of the problems. Brøndby is still led by Per Bjerregaard, the emperor of Brøndby, who quietly pulls all the strings of the club - did so succesfully for some years, but the last few meager seasons for a club of great ambitions should call for a new leadership, who will look into some of the deeper problems of the club.
Firstly, they need to have a serious discussion with the coach, Kent Nielsen. I would often be the first to argue that the coach should be the first to be fired, but the problem is that except for Lars Olsen from OB (who will be unlikely to leave OB for now), I see no alternative to Kent Nielsen. Also, although I feel that he has been too careful and unable to motivate the players, I am not sure whether the problem is Kent Nielsen, or the lack of players. No matter what, Kent Nielsen will have to reconsider his style and approach entering next season, or Brøndby will seriously have to start looking for a new coach.
The second aspect that needs to be looked at are the players. Some are simply not up to this level, most notably the strikers: Morten Duncan and Ousman Jallow are simply not good enough and should go. In midfield there should also be a major resturcturing: Michael Krohn-Dehli may have been one of Brøndby's best players, but truth is that he is a player who only performs when it goes well, and is unable to lift a team. Samuel Holmén should also be taken out, while they need to look for a strong midfielder with good technique, and with strong leadership skills. Finally, a they need a more wide selection of defenders: the only one with any quality is Max von Schleebrügge, and guys like Mikkel Bischoff and Daniel Wass are simply not good enough for this level.
The final aspect that I hope Brøndby looks at in detail next season is the small group of very bad fans that again and again have behaved violently wherever Brøndby plays. The club leadership apparently keeps believing that this has nothing to do with the club, and does not seem eager to want to register and ban people from its games. The club leadership should be much more resolute in tackling this issue if they are not to be seen as accomplices to the violence.
It has been a depressing season yet again for any Brøndby fan, and I hope that next season the club will start showing again what it is all about: Brøndby the best!

Great weekend!

It was a great football-weekend: Brøndby IF won 5-1 against FC Sønderjylland, and with FC Copenhagen losing 0-1 to Aarhus GF, Brøndby and FC Copenhagen are now tied at the top of the Danish league.
In Spain, Valencia defeated 3rd ranked Sevilla by 3-1, and is now more firmly on fourth place, heading towards CL participation next season!
Great weekend!

Onside Manager

As the league's in the entire world are progressing, I have of course made my own fantasy managers' teams on different sites. One of them is on TV3's Onside.dk, where you can make your fantasy team for the Danish league. Since many years ago, when I was s young and jolly guy, I won fifth prize in Denmark on a similar one with Politiken, I have again joined this one, but mostly to compete with old friends, whom I nevertheless usually defeat (especially the girls!).
Onside Manager is ok, although some clear faults, for instance that there are no automatic substitutions options.
As it is now, my team looks as follows:

• Goalkeeper: Karim Zaza, Aalborg B
• Defenders: Max Von Schleebrügge, Brøndby; Kasper Bøgelund, Aalborg B; Dennis Cagara, FC Nordsjælland; Thomas Helveg, Odense B.
• Midfielders: Stefan Gislason, Brøndby; Eric Demba-Djemba, Odense B; Anders Due, Aalborg B; Jonas Borring, FC Midtjylland
• Attack: Ousman Jallow, Brøndby; Frank Kristensen, FC Midtjylland
• Coach: Lars Olsen, Odense B

I have lived up to my principle of no players from Copenhagen, although some of my selections are admittedly looking a bit dubious: Ousman Jallow in attack is not looking as strong in attack as I had hoped, and I think he will become a bench-warmer in Brøndby.

Anyway, but I think I will win, and the name of the team says it all: "Hvis jeg ikke vinder er det dommeres skyld".

Finally....

Valencia finally won a game, 0-1 against Racing the Santander, and although it held hard (Santander missed a penalty in the last minute) it gives hope for at least some satisfactory position for a team in deep crisis. But FC Barcelona remains the ones to beat in Spain: their attacking machine trashed Málaga by 6-0!
In the Premier League the title race drew even closer with Manchester United losing to Fulham, and Liverpool continuing riding on a wave by defeating the top-team Aston Villa with 5-0. As Chelsea lost, the title increasingly seems to be ending in either Liverpool or Manchester.
In Denmark Brøndby kept the pressure on FC Copenhagen by winning against Randers.

Aalborg out of the UEFA

The did well Aalborg B: they played wonderful matches in the Champions League and after two stunning victories against Deportivo la Coruña (who as all Spanish teams nevertheless always underestimates any team from any other country but England and Italy) they faced Manchester City. The Danes put up a great fight, and after winning 2-0 in the second leg forced a penalty shoot-out that the English came out of victorious.
Still, for a small irrelevant league like the Danish, the northern Juts' achievement is quite extraordinary, and they certainly have the best record of any Danish team in Europe. I think this achievement is due to hard work, modesty and knowledge of own limitations and forces, some things that the bigger and arrogant Danish teams from FC Copenhagen and Brøndby IF know nothing about.

So congratulations and thank you to AaB although I must add that as a football fan, I would any time prefer to see Manchester City progress to the next round, with its big stars, than the charming but unknown second-rate players from some unknown faraway corner of northern Europe.

Being a Brøndby fan....

I am a Brøndby supporter, and I consider Brøndby the best team in Denmark. That said, there are some bad things about supporting Brøndby, primarily the "fans"/hooligans who give the rest of us Brøndby supporters the following reputation:

• We have never read anything but the label of a beer
  
• Our diet is composed of pizza, burgers and cheap beer
• We have never talked to any woman besides our mothers and the woman selling beer at Aldi
  
• If we ever have children, we will name them all Kim Vilfort, even the girls
  
• Our geographical abilities are limited to knowing the bus number to the stadium
  
• We cut each others hair, and that is why we're all bald skinheads
  
• None of us have ever held a job for any longer than until the next match
• More than a Brøndby victory, we like beating up people
• Burp, fart, shit, puke...
  
• None of us actually know the rules in football...

Sadly for the real Brøndby fans, the vast majority of supporters who dearly love the blue-yellow team, who love football and who know how to behave, there is a small group of Brøndby supporters who for some reason keeps following our team, giving us the above reputation and making trouble like they did yesterday in Århus, after Brøndby lost 2-1 to AGF. Therefore the loss is doubly sad.

Go Brøndby!

The wolves from Midtjylland

When I was a young lad I lived for a while in central Jutland, not far from Ikast. Back then, Ikast had a team in the top Danish league, and did quite well: they played a memorable cup final against Brøndby in 1989, and I went to many of their matches. It was all a bit strange for this little town in the middle of the marshes, but it was so: local traders, traditionally with a lot of money, poured money into the team.
Some years ago the teams of central Jutland, Ikast and Herning, got together to make a big team, seated in Herning, but pulling from Ikast's success. They created a team with the really stupid name, FC Midtjylland. I have always found it a silly thing, and have never supported them: I would prefer good ole' Ikast, and I find that FC Midtjylland is an artificial money-creation, more than a team with traditional support.

That is my personal opinion, but not to take away the extraordinary results over the last years as the investment of FC Midtjylland money-men starts to pay off: FC Midtjylland is leading the Danish Superliga, and last night they opened up at European level! In the UEFA Cup qualifers FC Midtjylland was to face the Premier League team from Manchester City. A Danish team should be no problem for a Premier League team, and although the English stars grossly under-estimated the Danes, it doesn't take away the fact that FC Midtjylland played a great match and deservedly won 0-1 in Manchester.

The team emblem is a wolve, so the wolves roared in England last night.

Aalborg Boldklub

With a 2-0 victory at home against Brøndby IF, Aalborg BK just became Danish champions for the third time in their history. This happens with style, as there are still two rounds left in the league, but they can not be reached by their nearest rivals, last years champions, FC Copenhagen.

I have been away, but was very surprised to see AaB (as they are usually called) be leading the league as I returned; but apparently, the team from northern Jutland has been a surprise throughout the season, showing stability and commitment, something the defending champions of money-spending Copenhagen hadn´t.

As a Brøndby fan, I am happy FC Copenhagen didn´t win the title, and well, happy to see the AaB fans party their asses off: they are great fans, a great town (Aalborg), and deserve to be champions.

I know they will celebrate it with massive amounts of beer: Cheers!

Lyngby Boldklub

I have great sympathy for Lyngby Boldklub. Firstly, when I was in High School in Birkerod, not far, I often went to their games in their tiny stadium - to eat their delicious sausages in this charming town north of Copenhagen.

They always hosted young talented players, and there have been and are still many of Denmark´s best players that were schooled in Lyngby.

In 2001 the club was forcefully relegated to "Danmarksserien" due to having gone bankrupt. They closed their whole professional office, and returned to being amateurs, but still, with massive talents. Havign ascended through 5 divisions, they are now back in the Superliga where they belong.

Who would have thought!? I did. Back in 2001-2002 I told a friend, who is a die-hard Lyngby fan, that they´d be up again latest by 2010. I was right again. And he didn't believe me, and did bet a crade of beer with me.

Even though I am not watching football I am still earning beers from it!!!!

Barcelona-Valencia and Brøndby-FC Copenhagen

After 2-2 in Barcelona last night, Valencia remains undefeated in the Spanish league (Although Celta Vigo has now taken over first spot). Barcelona has not started off very well this season, but I am sure they will improve. In spite of this, it is impressive that Valencia remains undefeated in Barcelona since 2000! I am getting my hopes up for the season!

In another match, in another league, Brøndby and FC Copenhagen played 1-1. Considering the many injuries Brøndby had, it was a good result. However, Brøndby remains 6 points behind Copenhagen on first spot, and should start closing the gap.

Danish Champions

I am back in Denmark, and as I had hoped, in perfect timing to celebrate Brøndby taking "the double". Last night Brøndby were playing at home to Herfølge. With a victory, they would secure the Danish league title, three rounds before the season ended. Michael Laudrup's team left no doubt: Herfølge was dispatched with 7-0.

This was certainly the most amazing way to win the 10th title since 1985 (the last one was in 2002), as well as the double. This is the first coach- championship for Michael Laudrup. He is true to his football style of attacking football, and has made marvels with the Brøndby youngsters. I just hope they will be able to keep him in the team at least one more season.

Skål for Brøndby!

Danish football twits

In Danish football, there is a very controversial man called Christian Andersen. He is currently coaching the team of FC Nordsjælland (another unpronounceable name of a Danish team), where he continues to be a very controversial coach: he has a very antisocial attitude and unpleasant way of addressing people. At the same time, he is very direct, making him a seemingly awful person. However, he has had great results with lesser teams, and in 1999, he was recruited to coach Denmark's biggest club, FC Copenhagen. But on this post, he was fired after only one game. It was then said that he had been fired because of personality clashes with the players. A long period of slandering ensued, particularly between Mr. Andersen, and the uncharismatic president of FCK, Mr. Flemming Østergaard, also known as "Don Ø".
In the last week, the slandering has reached proportions of shit-slandering. Mr. Andersen published a book, boring as it may seem, where he criticized the attitude of Don Ø, as well as other candid remarks on for instance Per Frimann, former boss in the football club AB, and now a central figure on a Danish football TV show, OnSide.
Then, this weekend, Don Ø was on TV with Mr. Frimann, commenting on the real reason Mr. Andersen was fired five years ago. It was apparently because Mr. Andersen was a drunk womanizer during a trip to the Canayr Islands, five years ago. Don Ø could not keep quiet any more.
Now, Mr. Andersen is obviously an idiot. But Don Ø is more so by replying to him in this low way, five years after these events supposedly happened. It is nothing but a low form of revenge, of the kind a real gentleman would be too large to enter into.
It is understandable that both these teams play so bad, and both lost pathetically this weekend (FCK 1-4 to Silkeborg, and FCN 2-3 to Esbjerg). At least fans of either team can be entertained by this pathetic circus of two clowns, when their teams cannot perform. Maybe we will have to be thankful, to them and to OnSide for providing the cannon fodder.

superliga strejke

Selvom man jo sympatiserer med arbejdere der forsoger at forbedre deres arbejsforhold gennem en konflikt, er det da trist for sporten...
De fleste hold stiller med anden-hold af spillere som ikke er meldemmer af Spillerforeningen, f.eks. Brondby og AaB i UEFA Cuppen. Paa trods af at modstanderne ikke er store hold, er det da skuffende at dansk fodbold ikke kan monstre starkeste hold naar man skal ud i Europa for at udstille dansk klubfodbold. Dansk klubfodbold er bunden af tredje division i Europa, paa niveau med Finland, Irland, Ungarn og andre andenrangs ligaer. Paa trods af haab om bedre resultater for danske klubber, og maaske en dag igen en plads i Champions League, saa virker dette lysaar vaek med denne konflikt.
Jeg haaber spillerne faar det de vil have, og vi snart kan se noget bold igen!