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As the U-21 side started their own campaign at home to Slovenia on the 2nd of September, it was just one month shy of three years since the Faroes had last one a match at this level. Given the relative success at U-19 and full levels, it may well seem strange that the U-21's should have been performing so abysmally, but that was due in a large part to the better youngsters almost literally 'skipping' that level. With Ingi concentrating completely on the full team for this campaign, a sensible move given that they might well have a chance to achieve the impossible, the job of the Under 21's was give to Assistant Manager Ingi Rasmussen. Rasmussen, now aged 40, had been capped twice for his country and had not been a particularly distinguinshed coach when appointed as Faroes assistant.
There was very little expectations for the U-21s, a squad mainly composed of players considered to be not good enough for either of the other squads and subject to radical changes in personell dependant on who was needed where. The trip to Slovenia went largely unnoticed, until the side pulled off a splendid 3-1 triumph to end that three year drought. Draws at home to Slovakia and the Czech Republic, followed by a 1-0 friendly win over Liechtenstein gave the U-21's a unique record of being unbeaten for 2008.
A 1-0 win over San Marino kept the run going and there was an outside chance of qualification. It didn't last though and successive defeats to Belgium and Slovenia leave the U-21s in a very similiar position to the full team, only three points of the group leaders Czech Republic. The improvement in the Faroes fortunes though can probably be measured by the fact that the U-21 team, largely neglected under the Danielsen's reign so far, is starting to look like being able to at least put up a battle and that can only auger well for the long term future of the Faroese national side.
How many U19 eligible players do you have in your game for Faroes, just out of interest?
I managed the Faroes for a short time in my Whitley Bay save before jumping ship to Norway, but any hopes I had of building from U19s up were soon eliminated by there being only ~5 players in the game who were young enough!
Originally posted by glamdring:
How many U19 eligible players do you have in your game for Faroes, just out of interest?
I managed the Faroes for a short time in my Whitley Bay save before jumping ship to Norway, but any hopes I had of building from U19s up were soon eliminated by there being only ~5 players in the game who were young enough!
There's quite a few actually, I'm not sure why but there did seem to a few generated each season at IBV and other Icelandic clubs, although there don't ever seem to be any generated at Faroese clubs
I'm about 99.9% certain I did, because with FM scout there are 307 Faroese players in the DB. Of these, 82 are aged between 15 & 19 - some have duel nationality and at least one has been capped at U-21 level for Iceland. Of these, 5 have come through at Faroese clubs. Seems a relatively low number but for the sake of the story I just convienently ignore it!
And of the current full Faroese squad, nine have duel nationalities of Icelandic or Danish. David Privas was allegedly born in France but doesn't hold that nationality - mind you he isnt a regen and thats probably just a research error. A couple of other players were born in Denmark but are not considered Danish. Of course having these players is quite useful and Danes/Icelanders are going to be much better than the overwhelming majority of Faroese. (Although having said that I did find a 29 year old Faroese at a Faroese club with a PA of 172 He was pish though.)
But anyway enough of that, spoiling the illusion that this is more than just a silly game :p
A penalty shoot out triumph over FC Mydtjylland in the Danish Super Cup handed a 3rd trophy to Olaf since his arrival in Denmark, before the road to the Champions League groups got underway. At the draw, there was an almost inevitable sense of deja vu as Olaf watched his new side drawn out to play his old one - assuming IBV beat Glentoran, which in the end they did. With the first leg at Parken, a torrid tie was expected but few could have envisaged the drama that was about to unfold here.
The home support were just taking their seats when Oclay Senoglu caught the defence cold and with an incredible 18 seconds on the clock, IBV had taken a sensational lead. If the home support beleived that this was just an abberation and that normal servive would be resumed as soon as possible they were about to be sorely dissapointed. IBV were in total control of the match, and there seemed little Olaf's new side could do to stop the onslaught and when Maldonado made it 2-0 on 26 minutes the sound silence was audible from the near 25,000 crowd.
This was turning into an absolute disaster, but just after the half hour IBV defender Jose Goncalves was red carded for a trip on Holst who seemed through on goal. Even so, it was still IBV who were the dominant side and two minutes from half time they had the chance to totally kill this tie off when given a penalty. Do Marcolino's effort was poor though and went wide of the post and at half time it stood 2-0 to the visiting Icelanders.
Although things were looking bleak, Olaf refused to make wholesale changes at half time and just two minutes after the break his loyalty paid off as Gunnarsson drove home a great 25 yard effort and the match was changing. Christian Holst was the hero with goals on the 59th and 65th minute as Kobenhavn roared back to salvage their pride and looked like taking a narrow but vital lead to Iceland - until Oclay Senoglu popped up in injury time and grabbed a well deserved and extremely valuable equalizer.
A week later Olaf Danielsson arrived back at his old stomping ground to a mixed reception from the home support. Mostly he was greeted as the hero he undoubtedly was, but of course there will always be those who forget the glories and remember only the percieved betrayal. This was sure to be a night that would test the nerves of any player, but ironically enough the Kobenhavn players had far more experience of playing on this ground and when Holst sent the visitors into a 2nd minute lead, we had a real battle on our hands.
With fourteen minutes gone, Anders Berg - who of course was one of those Kobenhavn players who hadn't played here - added a second as the match took on a complete role reversal from the previous week. This time though there was to be much less drama, with no red card, no penalty and in the end a fairly comfortable win for Olaf's side who never looked like losing to an IBV side who had looked over the fence at the 3rd round and baulked.
The hard fought win for Kobenhavn brought them another tough match in the 3rd qualifying round as former European Champions Steaua Bucharest stood between them and the lucrative Champions League groups.
), and i hope you at least make the WC qualifying play-offs.
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