shannon2007

Icelandic Premier League 2006
26th September

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Ã�BV | | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 28 | 9 | +19 | 36 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Fram (ISL) | | 18 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 31 | 22 | +9 | 33 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Ã�A | | 18 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 30 | 23 | +7 | 31 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | FH | | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 25 | 24 | +1 | 28 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Fylkir | | 18 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 22 | 18 | +4 | 27 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | KA | | 18 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 22 | 20 | +2 | 25 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | KR | | 18 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 24 | 27 | -3 | 20 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | KeflavÃ*k | | 18 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 21 | 30 | -9 | 17 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | R | Þróttur | | 18 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 26 | 37 | -11 | 17 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | R | Völsungur | | 18 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 12 | 31 | -19 | 9 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_aurie

Congrats PM
It's not easy to achieve back to back titles in Iceland. Seems like you're riding the pony with lady luck at times, but then again that's what's needed sometimes, if you want to succeed. It's a great read

KUTGW

shannon2007

Thnx axeman. Certainly, drawing nine out of 18 games isn't what you would call great but in the end we managed it to win due to the fact that the other sides are pretty level and so no-one really put together any kind of run. But you probably know that anyway

shannon2007

Kazakhstan (home0, Israel (away), Denmark (home)

Euro 2008 Qualifiers 3,4,5

Whilst the Icelandic season had gone into hibernation for the winter, there was still the small matter of internationals. There were signs of improvement of course in the Faroese national side, but these things are always best inderlined with a win. A home match with a nation the likes of say Kazakhstan would surely provide the opportunity to show that the great Israeli result was no fluke.

Even so, the Kazakhs were no push overs and deserved to be respected. Seventeen minutes into the match, Gudmundsson sent the Faroes ahead and it seemed that the three points were now destined to go to the far north. Yet somehow the Kazaks had failed to read the script, and stubbornly refused to allow their host to dominate the match and eight minutes into the second half even had the audacity to equalize. The goal seemed to knock the Faroes players from their stride, and for a long period it looked as if the Kazakhs might even snatch a winner. With four minutes left though it was Johan Gunnarsson who bagged the winners for the Faroes and ensured they would not end this campaign winless.

Although the last match between the Faroes and Israel had ended in a comfortable 3-1 win for the Jews, the previous match to that of a 5-1 triumph for the Faroes still pretty much rankled. The Jews historically never liked to be put over by any Faroes. The match had barely kicked off though, when Gudmundsson found himself with a great opportunity and the Faroes were ahead. For a long spell the visitors were in control, but once again they failed to kill the match off and as Israel regained their composure so three minutes half time they were level.

Israel though didn't find it as easy to break down the stubborn Faroes defence as Moses had, and as the match edged towards the end it looked as if Ingi's side would hang on bravely for an excellent away point. Ninety seconds into injury time though the defence was finally and cruelly breached and another tale of hard luck to take back home. The Faroes were fast turning into Scotland.

The final qualifier of 2006 for the Faroes was at home to Denmark. Having drawn Norway and Denmark, some commentators had believed that playing similiarly styled nations could be a benefit to the Faroes. On the other hand though, it meant any element of surprise was lost, and by half time a minute from half time a competant Danish performance gave them a 2-0 lead. In first half injury time, Christian Holst slotted home his 9th international goal to give the Faroes a glimmer of hope for the second forty five. Although the Danes were less ruthless after the break, Ingi's side just could not find that element of luck in front of goal and in the end had to settle for another glorious failure.

With five matches played, poor Faroes sat plump at the bottom of the seven team group. Nothing much seemed to have changed on the surface, and all that could be done was wait for things to improve. Yet scratching beneath the surface, the level of performances surely was improving, and all it needed was a little bit of luck to finally see Faroes gain some modicum of success.

A few days after losing to Denmark, a glamour friendly with Argentina took place in Torshavn. For half an hour, the South Americans found it a struggle in the tiny cold stadium, before Riquelme turned on the magic and Argentina took a 1-0 lead at half time. Further goals from Tevez and Crespo gave Argentina a comfortable enough win, but the experience could only have been a good one for the Faroese players and fans alike.

shannon2007

UEFA U-19 Qualifying 1st round, group 1

For the second time in a row, the Faroes had drawn Italy in the first qualifying group for the U-19 UEFA Championships. The group would be hosted by Slovakia, and also contained Ukraine. It would be a tough prospect for a very young Faroese side that contained a number of 16 and 17 year olds.

Along with IBV's Thomas Overgaard, other players to look out for were 16 year old striker Anders Berg, who plays for Danish side Fremad Amager. 16 year old Fjolnir midfielder Morten Clausen and of course 18 year old Everton defender Johann Davidsen. Hopefully a few other prospects would emerge from the three matches.

Things didn't get off to the best possible start against an Italy side determined to make up for their woeful efforts last time round, and that they did with a rather easy 3-0 win. A much improved Faroes performance against Ukraine, but a seeming lack of goal threat meant the Ukranians walked off with a narrow 1-0 win. The final match was against the hosts Slovakia, and a vastly improving team grabbed an excellent 1-0 win thanks to a goal from Anders Berg. Davidsen also played very well, and there were outstanding showings from 16 year old defender Pauli Nielsen of Fram, 19 year old right back Aki Petersen of KI and 16 year old goalkeeper Frank Pedersen of Vejle also had an excellent match.

In the end, the side failed to reach the next stage again, but there were good performances and as the young players mature they can surely only get better and next time out much more improvement is expected.

retired_curlgirl

I'm loving this PM
I have this idea of a storie with Luxembourg that I might give a try thanks to this Storie

KUTGW

retired_curlgirl

Story

Geez it's late...(Belgium=+1hour)

shannon2007

S'ok we knew what you meant

shannon2007

Germany (away)
Euro 2008 Qualifiers, matchday 6

It was true to say that, like all footballing nations, the Faroes were producing youths whom they would hope would one day go on and play for their country. At 15 and 16 years old though, it was unclear just how good these players could be, and certainly as the squad headed off to Germany none of the 'new breed' of Faroese players were considered anywhere near good enough to be included. Indeed, if you were to look at the results of the under-21 squad in isolation, you would severely worry about the future of Faroese football.

So far they had lost all their U-21 qualifying matches. 1-0 losses at home to Germany and Kazakhstan weren't too bad of course, but a 5-0 loss in Norway, a 6-0 loss in Israel and a 5-2 humping at home to Denmark offered little in the way of comfort. And as the senior side prepared for their game, they could not have missed the result from the U-21's which had ended in a brutal 8-0 triumph for the Germans.

To be fair though, it possibly wasn't as doomy and gloomy as it might seem. There were a handful of players in the U-19 set up who just might be able to handle themselves, and it was true to say that 10 of the current U-21 squad were eligible to play for the U-19s, including four sixteen year olds. Clearly though, the gap between U-19 and U-21 level was a bit too much for them. And it was also fair to note that nine of the full international squad were still eligible to play for the U-21's. Raw facts don't always tell the whole story.

As to whether there really was much in the way of an improvement of the playing abilities of the Faroese, it was probably way to earlier to be making such judgements. So far, apart from that one sensational result against Israel there had been a lot of 'near misses' but nothing really substantial that would suggest massive improvement. Yet clearly there was some kind of improvement, albeit on a small scale and albeit that it only took the Germans ten minutes to open the scoring. Yet for long spells in this match, the Faroese were very nearly a match for their far more illustrious opponents and it wasn't until first half injury time before the Germans finally grabbed their second, killer goal.

The second half saw a full international debut given to Everton defender Johann Davidsen, and he didn't perform overly badly if not brilliant by any means. Yet the Faroese players battled away diligently, and so very nearly drew the second half. The Germans though were finally to get their third goal a minute from time, and in the end a result that most people expected. Yet once more it was the performance rather than the final score that was relevant, and it probably shows that there really isn't that much of a gap. It's really just a matter of closing it.

shannon2007

Icelandic Upper League Cup - 2007

Ask anyone outside of Icelandic, who were the winners of the Icelandic Upper League Cup in any given year, and the chances are they'll say 'Huh?' or punch you in the face. In short, it's not exactly the most famous, or most important, tournament in European football. And indeed, even for IBV, the Upper League Cup wasn't exactly the foremost item on their agenda of things to win. Even so, the tournament is important because it's always nice to win something, and the way the Icelandic season is structured, the Upper League Cup is a nice little warm up for the League campaign.

In two eight team groups, each team plays each other once, and the top four go through to the Quarter Finals. IBV could not have asked for a better start as they travelled to IA and hammered them 6-1. Mind you, even that result was overshadowed by Vikingur's 7-1 annihilation of KS. A 2-0 home defeat to the side who were expected to be IBV's main title challengers, FH, was certainly a result that would set alarms bell ringing.

That though was the only blip in the group stage for Olaf's team, winning their next five matches with relative ease and ending second behing group winners FH who handed out a warning for the Championship by winning all seven group matches. The draw for the Quarter Final saw IBV at home to fellow Premiership side Fylkir. Yet although these were both top level clubs, the gap between them was all too obvious as Andrew av Flotum fired in a hattrick, Jann Ingi Petersen and Mortan I Horg both also on target as IBV eased into the last four with a simple 5-0 victory.

IA were again the opponents in the Semis, but it was soon clear that there would be no 6-1 hammering here. Indeed, three minutes from half time, IA were to take the lead. It seemed though only a matter of time before IBV levelled, and eventually that prediction came true as Christian Holst came to the rescue on the 64 minute mark. The match looked to be heading to extra time, when new signing Bardur Jensen popped up with what was his first goal for the club, two minutes into injury time and IBV were into the Final. Where they would face FH.

FH were a side whose manager really believed they could overthrow IBV's dominance, and what better way to start than to wrestle the League Cup away from them. Twenty four minutes into the final, that dream was in tatters as Gislason, Holst and Flotum had all scored, and three minutes from half time Holst added a fourth. It had been a sublime first half performance from IBV, and left the FH manager looking very stupid and red faced. The second half was a stroll in the park for IBV and although FH did pull a goal back, it was no more than a mere consolation and Olaf picked up his second Upper League Cup, and IBV's growing dominance of the Icelandic game was ruthlessly underlined.

If anyone wanted to stop Olaf's side, they were3 going to have to do a damn site better than this!