zipman

LOL I know at least some words of the language were I travel to As I happened to study in Norway Im fluent in that language. During my studied I also had to battle "Old Norse", so I should be able to read at least Faeroese and Icelandic

Naja ... Dont know what kind of Belgian you are If you are from the Southern part, I could talk a bit French - if North I can only say "Groetjes"

BobbyK

Excellent writing, just caught up again peacemaker. KUTGW

retired_n_S_R

good stuff! KUTGW :thup:

retired_perilousfaith

Oh yeah - this was very entertaining You must be well versed with the ins and outs of CM/FM to be able to produce such good results with any club you go to

KUTGW! :thup:

shannon2007

Icelandic Upper League Cup 2008

The traditional Icelandic pre-season tournament was becoming something of a ritualistic win for IBV under Olaf, as they chased a hattrick. For the new season, three new faces had arrived at the club, all Faroese. 18 year old defender Pauli Nielsen has been capped at full international level, and is a player whom it is hoped has some decent potential. His former employers at Fram though clearly didn't think so, as they let Pauli go on a free transfer. Their loss is IBV's gain though. It's hoped.

16 year old midfielder Jan Poulsen has been impressing at Prottur and has made the odd appearance at U-19 level. It took a club record transfer fee of a massive £120,000 to prise the youngster away, but the money should be well spent as Poulsen looks a real prospect. The final signing is another 16 year old, defender Allan Danielsen who comes in from Por for £6,000. Although not considered as hot a prospect as the other two signings, he is a decent enough player who has played once for the U-21 side.

Three significant transfers out all involved FC Kobenhavnm as they snapped up young Danish trio, Rasmus Frandsen - capped at U-21 level for Iceland, Kristian Kaagh - capped at U-21 level for Denmark, and uncapped Peter Piil. All three are decent enough players, but apart from not being Faroese and therefore not fitting into 'The Plan', the money - which totalled just short of £1M - was certainly more than welcomed as the club continue to live above their means in that elusive search for Champions League football.

The League Cup is, as we all know by now, not the number one priority for IBV. Even so, it is a useful warm up for the League season. Yet a 1-0 loss away to Vikingur handed out a huge warning against complacency and showed that no team is ever invincible. Four wins and a draw later and IVB were into the last eight, but then suffered another defeat, this time at home to IA. Two defeats in such a short space of time might perhaps show that IBV dominance in Iceland is slipping, but as the last game was virtually meaninginless it would perhaps be foolish to read too much into it. We all have off days.

The Quarter Final against KR was overcome with some relative ease, goals from Holst, Horg and Overgaard obtaining a straight forward 3-1 win, and a place in the last four. The opponents in the last four would be Vikingur, who would surely be full of confidence having already beaten IBV this season. Just eight minutes into the match, that confidence was severely dented as Christian Holst sent IBV into the lead, but Vikingur weren't about to give up and were level by half time.

It was becoming clear that Olaf's players needed to up their game a bit on the domestic scene, and as Vikingur vied for a shock win, the match proceeded into thirty minutes of extra time. Holst though was in no mood to miss out on the chance of another Final, and by completing his hattrick with two fine - of somewhat late - goals, Vikingur's brave effort was finally snuffed out.

The Final was also against a side to whom IBV had just lost, IA. This would be the 13th meeting of these clubs since Olaf took charge, and the previous loss was the first time IA had gained the upper hand. Olaf was determined they would not make it two wins in a row, and even though a few players were away with the Faroese U-19 side, it was still a strong side put out by Olaf. IBV were the hungrier looking side, but it took an 18th minute penalty from Horg to finally send them into the lead they deserved. IA seemed to perhaps be overawed by the occasion, and when Holst made it 2-0 after 66 minutes, that was that.

A third successive League Cup is in, the whole scheme of things, a decent enough achievement. It can only be hoped that such success doesn't lead to such overconfidence that it all ends up pearshaped.

retired_aurie

A very nicely paced tale there PM

I had started to miss your Scandinavian tour KUTGW :thup:

shannon2007

Thanks axeman

Have no intentions of ending this, but sometimes a rest is good

retired_puly1364

Well done winning the league cup!

shannon2007

UEFA 2008 U-19 Qualifying - Second Phase

The excitement of 2nd phase of the U-19 Championships was upon us, and with no games for the full or under 21 sides it was as strong an under 19 side as the Faroes could possibly hope to field. Possibly ever. With matches at against Switzerland, Germany and Scotland, and only one place up for grabs in the Finals this was going to be the toughest test yet for the young Faroese players. Mind you, just getting to this stage was success beyond all expectations and as long as they didn't totally humiliated themselves, this could only be another huge learning experience.

With all the players recalled from the other squads, the U-19 side looked strong and for the opening match with Switzerland lined up in a 4-1-2-3 formation:

GK: Bergur Holst Still only 16, a regular in the U-19 set up and deserves his place ahead of back ups Frank Pedersen and Hans Pauli Thomsen.

RB: Ronnie Danielsen One of the weakest areas of the U-19 side, 16 year old Danielsen is a decent enough player, but is far from brilliant. Back up Arnold Jarnskor at a year older is technically inferior and it would seem neither of these players would make it at the highest level.

LB: Morten Larsen The 17 year old IBV player has bags of talent, and plenty of potential. Can play in a central midfield role, but slots into the left back position for the U-19's. Jakob Justensen provides the back up, but he is not a very gifted player.

CD: Johan Davidsen seems to have been around for a while and at 19, this will be his last U-19 Championships and so he will be hoping to do well.

CD: John Hansen Another 19 year old, and although the Fremad player can fill in at left back, he is clearly much better in the center. Not the most technically gifted player you will ever see, but a good solid defender. Back up from IBV's Pauli Nielsen and Ronnie Danielsen as well as Kari Djurhuss of Vikingur.

DM: Morten Clausen One of the most important roles in the team, 18 year old Fremad player Clausen is a highly respected young talent who should go a long way in the game. Morten Larsen can fill in here if needed.

CM: Thomas Overgaard The 18 year old has battled his way into a regular start with IBV and looks to be well on the way to fulfilling his early potential.

CM: Aki Joensen Another 18 year old, the Fremad midfielder is one of those players who you just enjoy watching so much and it can only be hoped that enormous potential he seems to have can be fulfilled. Bjarni Thomsen, Jan Poulsen, Christian Mouritsen, Magni Danielsen and Mortan Andreasen will all be hoping to get an appearance at some stage in the proceedings.

FR: Peter Damgaard A player who has formed a great relationship with Berg at Fremad. Not quite in the same class as the striker, but can certainly provide goals and set them up.

FL: Kaj Kjaerbo A decent player, but with the wealth of talent the Faroes seem to have now up front, he will struggle to gain much more recognition at international level now that he is 19, but should at least be good enough to hang around the fringes.

SC: Anders Berg The golden boy of Faroese football, upon whose young shoulders lie so much expectation. Yet having scored four times on his full international debut, and with an excellent scoring ratio for his club, Berg is one of those players who simply knows where the goal is. technically is perhaps not as gifted as say Aki Joensensen but its that eye for goal that sets him apart for his peers.

Up front back up is provided by Rasmus Nissen, Allan Holm amd Kristian Poulsen.

Its a tough ask to come through any group that contains Germany, but in these three games we will surely see the first real mark of just how good some of these young Faroese players are - and perhaps a taster of just how good they can become.

Or perhaps they'll fall on their arses.

shannon2007

The Swiss were the first side to face up to the Faroese hopefuls. Having reached the final stages last year, they were obviously keen on repeating that achievement. In the first round they had beaten Andorra and Iceland, losing 2-1 to Greece. Although they were clearly a decent side, they were far from unbeatable and with home advantage the Faroese were confident of success.

It was a match in which Olaf's kids had the majority of possession, creating fourteen clear cut chances to Switzerlands eight. In fact the statistics show that of those shots on goal, thirteen of the Faroese efforts were off target and seven of the Swiss were. On another day, this could have ended in a very high scoring game. As it was, a well struck free kick from defender John Hansen one minute into the second half, which curled beyond the Swiss keeper and into the net, was the only goal of the match and the Faroes headed off to Germany with three very precious points.

It's probably fair to say that the match with the Germans was the biggest test the country had ever faced at this level, and although the Germans had failed to reach the finals last time around, they were Semi Finalists in 2006 and you can never ever underestimate a German side. An opening match 1-1 draw in Scotland proved that they were far from the best group of youngsters the Germans had ever produced, but this would still be a tough test for Olaf's side.

The Faroes started brightly, and on 22 minutes Anders Berg stunned the crowd of just over 3000 into silence. The shell shocked Germans though fought back like a wounded Tiger, and seven minutes later were level. Eight minutes from half time the Germans took the lead, but it was fair to say the match was still pretty even and it was little surprise when on the stroke of half time Peter Damgaard levelled the match once more.

In the second half, it was Olaf's side whose confidence seemed to be growing and on 65 minutes it was of course Anders Berg who supplied a quite brilliant finish and the Faroes were on the verge of perhaps their greatest ever international result at any level. Big teams though rarely lose at home. There is a pretty good reason for that. Some call it luck, some call it home advantage - the rest of us call it downright cheating.

With 92 minutes on the clock, the Germans made one final push to salvage a point but as Thomas Heuser slotted the ball home - clearly in an offside position along with two of his team mates - Olaf and the Faroes bench waited for the linesman to raise his flag, the referee to whistle for a foul and the Faroes to leave with three well won points. For whatever reason - and one can only assume they were cheating - the officials refused to rule out the goal and the Germans gained a fully undeserved and disgracefully gained point.

The draw meant that the Faroes would need to win the final match with Scotland - unless the Germans failed to beat the Swiss, who themselves could now not qualify. Things seemed to be going to plan when Anders Berg sent the Faroes ahead after just fourteen minutes, and no sooner had that goal gone in when the Swiss took the lead against Germany. Five minutes later though, Scotland were level and by half time Germany were ahead in Switzerland which meant they would top the group by virtue of having scored more goals - both sides on identical goal differences.

There was no further scoring in Switzerland, and as the match in the Faroes, which had been hard fought and passionate - moved into the 93rd minute, the referee put his whistle to his lips and prepared to bring to an end in the one of the cruelest possible ways a great and glorious attempt from the tiny nation to gain some success. It would be hard to bear, but somehow they must....