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Israel 2 Faroe Islands 2 Saturday 8th October 2005 Ref: Urs Meier Att: 37 822
XI (4-4-2): Mikkelsen; Johannesen, J Joensen, J Hansen, H Hansen; Mortansson, Jorgenson, Thomasson, Av Flotum; a Borg, Jonsson.
Playing in front of 38000 people I was again concerned at the effect this might have on my team, who seem ill at ease playing unless in front of much smaller crowds. This, however, was a relatively pleasing performance in terms of grounding out a result as the defence was called into action for long spells during the game and did its best to minimise the attacking chances of the Israeli attack.
Goals were at a premium in the first half, with the Faroes opening the scoring in the 40th minute courtesy of a rather fortuitous own goal by Ben-Haim who appeared to panic with a Borg bearing down on him in the Israeli penalty area. Given the precious few chances we created, a 1-0 lead at half time was perhaps a touch undeserved.
Unfortunately, Israel came out a far stronger team in the second half and were to reap their own reward after 52 minutes when Biruk rocketed a shot from outside the area beyond Mikkelsen. With the Faroes now on the back foot, I hauled the ineffective Jonsson off and replaced him with Elttor, who proceded to repay my faith with a super strike 6 minutes from the end of the game. This would indeed have been a complete steal of 3 points, but a late late equaliser was to deny me that privilege with Denin scoring deep into injury time.
This was a touch disappointing, but my mood was lifted upon hearing the other results filter through, with both Cyprus and Switzerland losing.
Having completed all 10 games, we were fortunately not faced with a tiring return to Vagar, nor a frantic attempt to get to another away game, in time for a midweek match. Instead, our fate was now outwith our hands. As the Swiss were well beyond us points wise, I really wasnt too bothered about how they fared against Ireland. Of considerably more interest was Cyprus' trip to France, since as long as they lost, the Faroe Islands would occupy 4th spot and complete perhaps their best every qualifying round. Given the obliteration we suffered, I didnt really expect Cyprus to do much in this group, especially since France required a victory to ensure that they won the group and thus guaranteed themselves automatic qualification.
And in the end, that is exactly the way things panned out.....
France 6 Cyprus 0
Ireland 2 Switzerland 2
World Cup European Qualifying Section Group 4
(all teams played 10 games)
France 26pts
Ireland 24
Switzerland 14
FAROE ISLANDS
World Cup European Qualifying Section Group 4
(all teams played 10 games)
France 26pts
Ireland 24
Switzerland 14
FAROE ISLANDS 9
Cyprus 8
Israel 2
Our own record
Pld 10, w 2, d 3, l 5, gf 14, ga 22, gd -8, pts 9
The run of form in the last 6 months or so also meant we now found ourselves sitting 118th in the world!!! A tremendous achievement in my eyes, and certainly a much greater impact on the group that I could possibly have imagined when we embarked upon this journey in 2004!
So after the excitement of the qualifying matches - the highs and the lows - it was time to finish off the year 2005 with two friendly matches against Andorra away and Georgia at home (given that we would not be taking part in the playoff matches that weekend or midweek). Gunnar Nielsen finally made it back to the first team after I remembered to include him in the squad well before the squad selection deadline to avoid him being tied up with the u21s, whilst Arnold Joensen (having made only 1 start i think) was removed; his berth in the team was then given to Palli Augustinussen (VB).
Given that the squad remained relatively unchanged over the past 15 months or so, it was always going to be the case that I had an ageing squad under my command, and so the focus was on youth for these friendly games. To that end, I was striving to make sure that the players were predominately under 30.
Although more concerned about my own matches, it was difficult not to lose sight of the vital playoff games taking place over the next few days, with some intriguing ties on offer:
Ukraine v Serbia
Norway v Slovakia
and Bulgaria v Czech Rep
Andorra v Faroe Islands Saturday 12th November 2005 Ref: Lutz-Michael Frohlich Att: 724
XI (442): Nielsen, S Joensen, Andreassen, H Hansen, J Hansen; Mortansson, Jorgensen, Thomassen, Benjaminsen; a Borg, Jonsson.
Not massive changes as most of my squad are under 30 anyway, but of the veterans, the 2 Hansens kept their places at the heart of the defence (one area of the pitch that I'm not going to make sweeping changes just for the sake of it!). Playing in front of such a miserable crowd was a bit of a change for the Faroese who are now commanding home attendances of almost 10,000 on a regular basis.
The Faroes raced into a 1 goal lead in the 7th minute with a Borg yet again popping up in the penalty area to score another poacher's goal and increase his tally for the year. However, after this we seemed to take our foot off the pedal, and for large chunks of the 1st half, Andorra more than matched us.
With substitution restrictions lifted for the friendly, I made a large number of changes at HT and during the 2nd half. Unfortauntely, it did adversely affect the performance, with play becoming a bit more fragmented, and letting Andorra get more and more into the game. Then, in 79 minutes, Mr Frohlich pointed to the penalty spot in what was a very soft award of a penalty. Up stepped Andorra striker Mellado who balloned it over the bar. That was a bit of a let off, and we were to hold out the remaining 9 minutes to win the game. The only sour note being the ordering off of S Joensen in injury time for his 2nd caution.
Andorra 0 Faroe Islands 1
It was pleasing that 19yo Gunnar Nielsen kept a clean sheet on his international debut, and afterwards he publicly thanked me for his opportunity.
Faroe Islands v Georgia Wednesday 16th November 2005 Ref: Mike Dean Att: 9974
XI: (442) Nielsen; S Joensen, Andreassen, Petersen, H Hansen; Mortansson, Jorgensen, Thomassen, Benjaminsen; a Borg, Jonsson.
If you thought losing a goal after 29 seconds against France was embarrasing, you were right!! So imagine my reaction when we surpassed even that and allowed Georgia to score afater only 26 seconds. Truly appauling, especially at home. Added to that, we were only making things harder for ourselves against a team that narrowly missed out on the playoffs for the world cup. Things were to get worse when Iashvili scored a penalty after 14 minutes and then Kobiashvili (scorer of the first goal) snatched his 2nd after 29. Gigiadze put the game out of sight in 41 mins, leaving the Faroese rather despondent at half time.
Abandoning the 442 formation that was leaking goals in this game, I shifted first to a 4132, and then later to a 4411, and whilst this tightened up the defence and allowed us to get forward a bit more, ultimately, we were destined not to score in this game - a bitterly disappointing way to close the year 2005 which had offered so many high points.
Nevertheless, again it was a good game to have and much more was learned in this game than the victory over Andorra. Perhaps still tactically a touch naive when managing one of Europes weaker teams, the games against the tougher teams allow me to learn rather then simply bask in the reflected glory of a victory.
Faroe Islands 0 Georgia 4
News from elsewhere in Europe.....
In the playoffs, Czech Rep, Ukraine and Norway all went through, and they will also be joined in Germany by the automatic qualifiers:
Holland, Turkey, Portugal, France, Ireland, Italy, England, Wales, Spain and Sweden.
I´m really impressed by your run. I have never had any luck trying to coach a minor country. I can´t get the defensive minded tactic that is needed to work.
Germany
Croatia
Wales
Belarus
FAROE ISLANDS
Azerbaijan
With the only qualification games in 2006 being in September and October, a number of friendlies have been arranged against opponents of varying difficulty:
2006:
Moldova (A) 8th Feb
Czech Rep (A) 29th Mar
San Marino (H) 2nd Sept
Denmark (H) 11th Nov
Switzerland (A) 15th Nov
2007:
Sweden (H) 14th Nov
Other dates in 2007 have still to be arranged.
The U21s have also got friendlies and been paired up with the games against Denmark and Sweden, and also at home to Australia 21s on 1st Sept 06.
Of more promising news was the performance of the u19 team who narrowly missing out on progressing from the First Qualifying Round of the u19 European Championship Qualifying on goal difference. Perhaps the future for the Faroes could well be reasonably bright.
Originally posted by Uffe Johansson:
I´m really impressed by your run. I have never had any luck trying to coach a minor country. I can´t get the defensive minded tactic that is needed to work.
One of the problems I have found is that my team is more attack minded than is perhaps healthy. Although this tends to work for the home games, the 7-0 demolition in France does highlight the weaknesses of such an approach. I think I shall be contemplating a more defensive approach for away games in the future!!
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