shannon2007

Belgium v Faroe Islands
2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifying (European Zone), Group 8, Matchday One
5th September 2012

With the euphoria of the Olympic triumph still sweeping the tiny country, it was probably just as well that the first match of the 2014 campaign was away from home. It would be another month before the Faroe Islanders could welcome their heroes and perhaps by then some of the euphoria at least would have died down. There was quiet confidence within the Faroese camp that they had a decent chance of coming second in this group and taking a play off spot. Confidence, arrogance or just blind stupidity, but at least it show that the Danielsens had made a bit of progress in the last few years.

The big problem for the Faroes though was that, after the away match in Belgium they had France at home. The very real and probably obvious possibility of two losses straight away would certainly put the dampers on their soaring hopes. Yet they had met Belgium during the last qualifying campaign and a 0-0 draw in Brussels, followed by a nice 3-2 win in Thorshavn showed that the confidence was perhaps not as ill-founded and daft as many might be led to believe.

And certainly for 44 minutes Belgium looked like a side possessed as they went for the jugular, but fortunately for Ingi's men, the home side simply couldn't get the ball into the back of the net to give them the goals their quanitity of possession dictated they should have. Then came the 44th minute, and Prince Asubonteng finally sent the Belgians into the lead and in truth it had not been the greatest first half of football the Faroes had played under Ingi Danielsen. Then again, it probably hadn't be the worst and six or seven years ago most people would probably have been quite pleased with that forty five minutes.

As the hour passed, so Belgium retained their lead and didn't really look like losing it. They were the dominant side still, but a combination of inspired goalkeeping and poor finishing kept their lead to the just the narrowest margin possible. On 62 minutes Rasmus Nissen and Thomas Overgaard made way for Christian Holst and Johan V Gunnarson and gradually the tide began to turn. On the 75th minute the Faroes won a free kick on the left hand side of the area, about 25 yards out. Aki Joensen floated over a delightful ball and there on the end of it was none other than Peter Damgaard (And all those who thought it was Anders Berg, hang your head in shame) to slam the ball home, and on his 20th international appearance the right winger finally bagged his first ever goal for his country at full level.

Belgium, who had seemed to be easing their way to victory, were suddenly stunned and as the Faroes confidence grew so the Belgians declined. Six minutes from time Damgaard turned provider, and this time it was Anders Berg who volley home a spectacular effort and the Faroes had stolen all three points, and anyone who doubted their qualification credentials would no have to think again. With Albania winning 2-1 in Scotland, and France being held at home to a 1-1 draw with Slovenia, this group was there for the taking........

BarryLFC

Yas! \o/

shannon2007

Glad someones still reading this :o

shannon2007

Faroe Islands v France
2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifying (European Zone), Group 8, Matchday Two
6th October 2012

And so the conquering heroes returned home. There had, of course, already been a parade to celebrate the Olympic success but this was the first game of football since that achievement and the Faroes supporters were not about to miss out another opportunity to celebrate. There might never be such an occassion again, and they were determined to milk for everything they could. And of course there was the added excitement of another match with former World Champions France.

This would be the fourth time the side had met under Ingi Danielsen. A 6-2 defeat in Paris in only his second match in charge, was followed bt a 2-0 home and then a 3-1 away defeat in the previous European Championship campaign. The French had eventually gone out to England in the Quarter Finals of that event, and if truth be told they seemed to be going through a bit of a mini crises. The 1-1 home draw with Slovenia had underlined once and for all that the days of Zidane were long gone and the French were looking a very ordinary side. The Faroes had hope they could pull off a sensational win, and it was genuine hope at that.

The win over Belgium had lifted the Faroes up to the heady heights of 53rd in the world - a huge rise from the lowly 131st they had been in when Ingi took charge seven years ago. And of course they had Anders Berg, who has been in sensational scoring form for his club. They were though without the influential Aki Joensen who was a long term injury and would also miss the home match with Albania in four days time, as would Rasmus Nissen, but he at least was not a regular and could easily be replaced by the legend that was Christian Holst. Aki Joensen would be replaced on the left of midfield by Kim Joensen, who would be making his international debut - a bit of a baptism of fire.

And indeed so it was to prove for the 20 year old, who although performing adequately in the first half found the going tough but he does look as if he has the potential to be a very good player, if not quite in the same class as Aki. But then he is an exceptional talent and not someone that the Faroes will produce very often. Not that they did produce him given that he is Icelandic.

The French started in explosive style as Samir Nasir forced Gunnar Nielsen into a fine save after just three minutes, and N'Zogbia saw a shot go just over the bar a few seconds later. Nasri again had a good chance on thirteen minutes which Nielsen saved, and this was torrid stuff for the Faroese support to endure. It seemed the defence could not hold out, but it actually did. For forty minutes anyway, when Gael Givet finally gave the French the lead their play so richly deserved.

Yet if anyone though the floodgates would now open, they obviously hadn't been watching this Faroes team for the last seven years. Six minutes into the second half, the match was level. Debutant Kim Joensen providing the cross that allowed Anders Berg to claim his 18th Faroese goal in 24 international appearance and put him just two behind all time top scorer Holst. For a while it seemed that the Faroes might not just snatch what still be a magnificent point, but that they might even pull off a miraculous win, a win that would stun world football to it's core.

Sadly, it wasn't to be. The brave Faroese resistance certainly did last longer than the French in World War Two, but seven minutes from time David N'Gog rattled the ball home and the French could count themselves lucky to escape back to Paris with all three points. It may well have been a defeat, but the performance was more than creditable and confirmed the enormous strides this tiny nation had taken.

shiloh23

I'm reading it .

shannon2007

Thanks Saxonator, that deserves another update

shannon2007

Faroe Islands v Albania
2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifying (European Zone), Group 8, Matchday Three
10th October 2012

Of course it had been Albania who had taken the wheels of the last Faroese bandwagon, when their 2-0 win in Tirane had ended Ingi's sides long unbeaten run in competitive matches. Mind you the Faroes had gotten their revenge with a 4-2 home win, and that result would do nicely again thank you Ingi hoped his side would bounce back from the narrow loss to France and re-establish themselves as play-off contenders. Injury to 3rd choice keeper Berint Andreasen did give Ingi a minor headache but in the end 16 year old Bjarni Dahl was called up, but he would only play if there was an absolute disaster, and thankfully there wasn't.

There was no repeat of the Albanian's first minute goal the last time these sides met in Thorshavn, much to the relief of the support. Despite a 3-1 loss at home to Belgium, Albania were a decent enough side and their 2-1 win against Scotland in Glasgow proved that on their day they might just have as much chance of winning as anyone in this group. And if you think beating Scotland is no big deal, the Scots themselves were about to cause a minor upstt by beating France 2-0 in Paris to really blow this group wide open.

Whether the Scots win was a good or a bad thing was uncertain, but what was certain was that, as news filtered through of Scots scoring, if The Faroes didn't score it would all be pretty irrelevant. Albania made the odd half chance in the first half hour but the truth was that the Faroes were by far the stronger team. On 27 minutes Anders Berg laid the ball into the path of the onrushing Peter Damgaard inside the Albanian area. Berg was probably expecting the ball back, but Damgaard had so much enjoyed finally scoring for his country that he wanted to do it again, which he did do by rocketing a shot to the bottom left of the net and the Faroes were finally ahead.

Damgaard was no longer content to be the provider it seemed, and eight minutes into the second half it was he who got the lightest of touches with his head on a Kim Joensen free kick to make the scoreline two nil. Very unusual as it was for Damgaard to score for his country, it was almost unheard of for him to score with his head. He was, it seemed, starting to get aspirations above his station - and long may it continue.

The Albanians continued to provide a decent match, but they could no breach the Faroes defence and as the full time score in Paris was confirmed as 2-0 to Scotland, so the Faroes would end this match winning by the same score and Belgium ripped Slovenia apart by 3-0. The upshot of the evenings work for the six teams in group eight was that, after three matches played, the Faroes sat top of the group on the six points along with Belgium who had a superior goal difference but the Faroes were ahead on the actually head to head. Slovenia and France had four points each, and the Albania and Scotland were trailing a wee bit with three. The group was still there for the taking, the only question was, who was going to do that taking?

retired_ruska

'Mon the Faroes!

shannon2007

Brondby 2012-13 Champions League Group Stage, Part One

This was certainly not going to be an easy group for Brondby, battling against Chelsea, Bayern Munich and CSKA Moscow and most people felt that getting into the UEFA Cup from this group would be achievement in itself. Yet the decent performances from the Faroes national side suggested that Brondby just might cause a little bit of an upset and do much better than people anticipated.

The home match with Chelsea was first up, a huge occasion for the Danish Champions - and it couldn't have gotten off to a worse start. Chelsea were fairly dominant from the off, and on 23 minutes Brondby's cause was certainly not helped when Morten Clausen was adjudged to have fouled Chelsea's Adebayor just outside the area, and whats more was also adjudged to be the last man and the Spanish referee decided to show him the red card. With ten men against a side the quality of Chelsea, it would now need a minor miracle.

Yet whilst Brondby did not have Jesus of Nazareth in their side, they did have the next best thing - Anders Berg. Seven minutes from half time, Berg latched onto a quite ludicrous attempted pass back from the half way line to thunder a forty yard drive beyond the reach of a befuddled Chelsea keeper and against all the odds, Brondby went in at half time with a narrow but very precious lead. Chelsea though had by some way been the better side in terms of skill, and in the second half they were certainly not worse. Brondby were battling hard, but it was going to take a hell of a lot to hold out defensively until the 90th minute, and sadly they'd had all their miracles today. Robinho finally pulled Chelsea level on 63 minutes and seven minutes later Adebayor sent them into the lead. The 10 man Brondby side were running out of steam as Robinho added a 3rd and then Robin van Persie grabbed a 4th two minutes from time and Brondby had been absolutely murdered.

In Germany, another brave first half almost saw the Danish side go in level at the break, but in first half injury time Fernando Torres broke Brondby hearts and second half goals from Roque Santa Cruz and Lucio saw Bayern ease to a more than comfortable win and leave Olaf's side in dire trouble. Mind you, they knew those games would be tough and anything gained would have been a bonus. The real game for Brondby were the matches with CSKA and the battle for the UEFA Cup.

The Russian side had lost 2-0 at home to Bayern, and gained a very creditable 1-1 draw in London. And just eight minutes into the match in Brondby the Russians were ahead. A second goal came in first half stoppage time and hopes of a UEFA Cup berth looked to have been ridiculously overly optimistic. The second half provided little comfort for the home fans in the near 29,000 crowd and CSKA easily held on to their two goal lead and Brondby are left sitting bottom of their group and a bit like a broken pencil. Pointless.

retired_Roark

Great story.

Has it finished? :thdn: