raring
02-10-2010, 07:52 PM
Scandinavian football
Right, so I guess only our Scandinavian members care about the football that is being played in our three brother-countries. Nevertheless, I create this thread in order to a. kill some time, b. try and make anyone else interested. (Like that will ever happen!)
So, with me being a Norwegian, I want to kick this thread off by writing a short piece on Norwegian football.
The Norwegian National football team began its history back in 1908, six years after the Norwegian Football Association (NFF) was founded. The first match was against our Swedish brothers in Gothenburg, and the Norwegian team scored three goals in their first ever international game. (With that being said, they also conceded 11.)
It was uphill from there, but in 1936 Norway managed to win the Bronze medal in the summer Olympics after beating Germany by 2-0. The Führer himself was in the stands, and this game is said to be the reason why Hitler decided to invade Norway four years later.
Two years after beating Germany, Norway played in their first ever World Cup, in France. We were, however, knocked out by eventual winners Italy after one of Norway’s goals was controversially disallowed for offside.
From 1945 onwards, we were totally unable to qualify for anything. There were, however, a few impressive games. We beat Yugoslavia away in the sixties, England in 1981 (Your boys took a hell of a beating!) and Argentina in 1986 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kjetil_Osvold). We lost the majority of our games. Norway was a joke in football. We finished last in most qualifying groups.
In 1990, coach Ingvar Stadheim resigned, and a former Marxist named Egil Olsen took over, at least for a few games until the NFF had found a better choice. In the last 40 games, Norway had won just six times. Egil Olsen won his first three games, including a 6-1 win against World Cup surprise Cameroon.
After just seven games, Norway had recorded a total of six wins and not lost one game! We just missed a spot in the European Championship in Sweden despite beating Italy 2-1. (The U21 teams had been in action earlier the same day, and the Norwegian youngsters had won that game by 6-0. 6-0!)
Olsen based his playing style on an amazing discovery: The average goal in football was scored after less than five moves. To exaggerate things, he would often say that if you hadn’t scored after seven or eight passes, you would never score and you’d be better off by getting rid of the ball. To put it short:
a. High aggression zonal defense.
b. Whenever we won the ball in a good position (the opponent was unorganized or unbalanced), full speed towards the goal.
c. Whenever we got the ball in a not-so-good position (against a so-called “established defense”) we would often use the long ball (sometimes against strikers Jan Åge Fjørtoft or Gøran Sørloth, but usually against the 193 cm tall, 90 kg winger [!] Jostein Flo or Frank Strandli), as Norway has never been famous for technically gifted midfielders, and Olsen did not want to risk losing possession in midfield. Since then, the long ball has been referred to as a “Flo pass”.
After narrowly missing out from the 1992 EC, we were handed a very tough WC qualifying group, consisting of ourselves, England, the Netherlands, Poland, Turkey and San Marino. We opened well, San Marino was beaten by 10-0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1AVnibLjDk) in Oslo and the Netherlands were beaten by 2-1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I42Pscz73Gs) in what was described as an epic game by technically limited, but hard working Norwegians. (Imagine Frank Strandli dribbling Dutch defenders!) By beating San Marino away in the next game, Norway had for the first time, notched up three straight wins in competitive matches. We went to Wembley and were dominated heavily by the home side, but managed a lucky (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sv7O6NWYnU) draw. Turkey was beaten in Oslo, and England were brushed aside as Norway beat them easily by 2-0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XmsVHGrQQM). After beating Poland twice, Norway lost to Turkey in Istanbul, but this didn’t matter, as Norway was ready for the World Cup in the US.
Optimistic Vikings got ready to kick some butts in the States, but Norway was eliminated in the group stages by the smallest of margins: In the first round, Norway beat Mexico (with substitute Kjetil Rekdal scoring the only goal) and Ireland beat Italy. Italy (with ten men) beat Norway and Mexico beat Ireland in the second round. Both games in the third round ended with a draw, but as Norway had scored only once, the Vikings had to sit and watch Sweden win the bronze medals. For the first time, Olsen’s tactics were criticized as boring, destructive and “cod-stupid coward-football”. (That last one from a Danish newspaper)
We looked to qualify for the 1996 EC in England, but lost our three last games in the qualification. It was the Czech Republic who “stole” our spot and eventually lost the final against Germany.
After the failed attempt to qualify for the Euro 1996, several older players were replaced by exciting prospects such as Tore André Flo, Petter Rudi and Ronny Johnsen. In order to play in the 1998 World Cup, we beat Azerbaijan twice (a Manchester United scout was watching Ronny Johnsen in defense, but added the name “Solskjaer” to his list, as the young attacker scored one good and one fantastic goal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b81FCHHsgVs&feature=related).) Switzerland twice, and took four points against both Finland and Hungary. We also played Brazil in a friendly at Ullevaal on a lovely evening in May 1997. Brazil thought they were going to show really how limited the Norwegian players and tactics were, but were shocked by an attacking Norwegian side which won by 4-2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQnOZfERz-o).
We got off to a pretty poor start in France ’98. Morocco was supposed to be an easy match, because of their possession-oriented tactics. Norway were lucky to get a 2-2 draw after one own goal. Scotland was no easy task, and although Håvard Flo (cousin of both Tore André and Jostein Flo) sent us into the lead, Scotland fought back and the game ended 1-1.
Egil Olsen (or “Drillo” as he was nicknamed because of his dribbling skills), had said that he would resign after the 1998 World Cup. The game that could prove to be his last in charge of the national team was against Brazil, on mid-summer’s eve. Brazil wanted revenge after being humiliated the year before, and took the lead after 78 minutes through Bebeto, who celebrated by gesturing cutting of his tongue towards the Norwegian bench. (Drillo had, in the build-up to the game, claimed that had he been chief coach for Brazil, they would have been much better.)
The powerful target-man Håvard Flo on the right wing had been replaced by goal-getter Ole Gunnar Solskjær after 70 minutes and box-to-box-midfielder Roar Strand was replaced by playmaker Erik “Myggen” (“The mosquito”) Mykland. The last, desperate substitution was to take winger Vidar Riseth off, and replace him with the long-serving target man Jostein Flo. Striker Tore André Flo missed two huge chances, both of which after Jostein Flo had won in the air. Then, on a counter-attack, Tore André left Junior Baiano stranded and scored (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NvyuvI3bJs)! It was 1-1, five minutes to go and Norway’s hopes were very much alive. After 87 minutes, Tore André got his shirt pulled in the penalty area (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1g0oYAZoyo), referee Esse Baharmast pointed to the spot. Kjetil Rekdal stepped up, scored and sent the whole country into raptures. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFzAsqveT0w)Norway had beaten Brazil, who had not lost once in the group stages since 1966, and qualified for the knock out-stages for the first time ever. The pictures from capital Oslo from that night can only be compared to the ones from when the King returned to the country after WW2.
We were beaten by Italy one week later, but no one were really disappointed. We had beaten Brazil and reached further than ever in the World Cup.
Drillo resigned, as planned, and was replaced by assistant Nils Johan Semb. He got us to the 2000 EC, but the incredibly boring 0-0 game against Slovenia is to this date the last game we have ever played in any Championship.
His successor, Åge Hareide resigned late in 2008, after we went a whole year without winning.
Now, Drillo is back. We have won our two first games in our qualification group for the European Championships, away against Iceland and at home against Portugal. Can we qualify again?
I hope we can discuss Scandinavian football here, and anyone who wants to write a piece on Swedish or Danish football, feel free to do that.
Right, so I guess only our Scandinavian members care about the football that is being played in our three brother-countries. Nevertheless, I create this thread in order to a. kill some time, b. try and make anyone else interested. (Like that will ever happen!)
So, with me being a Norwegian, I want to kick this thread off by writing a short piece on Norwegian football.
The Norwegian National football team began its history back in 1908, six years after the Norwegian Football Association (NFF) was founded. The first match was against our Swedish brothers in Gothenburg, and the Norwegian team scored three goals in their first ever international game. (With that being said, they also conceded 11.)
It was uphill from there, but in 1936 Norway managed to win the Bronze medal in the summer Olympics after beating Germany by 2-0. The Führer himself was in the stands, and this game is said to be the reason why Hitler decided to invade Norway four years later.
Two years after beating Germany, Norway played in their first ever World Cup, in France. We were, however, knocked out by eventual winners Italy after one of Norway’s goals was controversially disallowed for offside.
From 1945 onwards, we were totally unable to qualify for anything. There were, however, a few impressive games. We beat Yugoslavia away in the sixties, England in 1981 (Your boys took a hell of a beating!) and Argentina in 1986 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kjetil_Osvold). We lost the majority of our games. Norway was a joke in football. We finished last in most qualifying groups.
In 1990, coach Ingvar Stadheim resigned, and a former Marxist named Egil Olsen took over, at least for a few games until the NFF had found a better choice. In the last 40 games, Norway had won just six times. Egil Olsen won his first three games, including a 6-1 win against World Cup surprise Cameroon.
After just seven games, Norway had recorded a total of six wins and not lost one game! We just missed a spot in the European Championship in Sweden despite beating Italy 2-1. (The U21 teams had been in action earlier the same day, and the Norwegian youngsters had won that game by 6-0. 6-0!)
Olsen based his playing style on an amazing discovery: The average goal in football was scored after less than five moves. To exaggerate things, he would often say that if you hadn’t scored after seven or eight passes, you would never score and you’d be better off by getting rid of the ball. To put it short:
a. High aggression zonal defense.
b. Whenever we won the ball in a good position (the opponent was unorganized or unbalanced), full speed towards the goal.
c. Whenever we got the ball in a not-so-good position (against a so-called “established defense”) we would often use the long ball (sometimes against strikers Jan Åge Fjørtoft or Gøran Sørloth, but usually against the 193 cm tall, 90 kg winger [!] Jostein Flo or Frank Strandli), as Norway has never been famous for technically gifted midfielders, and Olsen did not want to risk losing possession in midfield. Since then, the long ball has been referred to as a “Flo pass”.
After narrowly missing out from the 1992 EC, we were handed a very tough WC qualifying group, consisting of ourselves, England, the Netherlands, Poland, Turkey and San Marino. We opened well, San Marino was beaten by 10-0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1AVnibLjDk) in Oslo and the Netherlands were beaten by 2-1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I42Pscz73Gs) in what was described as an epic game by technically limited, but hard working Norwegians. (Imagine Frank Strandli dribbling Dutch defenders!) By beating San Marino away in the next game, Norway had for the first time, notched up three straight wins in competitive matches. We went to Wembley and were dominated heavily by the home side, but managed a lucky (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sv7O6NWYnU) draw. Turkey was beaten in Oslo, and England were brushed aside as Norway beat them easily by 2-0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XmsVHGrQQM). After beating Poland twice, Norway lost to Turkey in Istanbul, but this didn’t matter, as Norway was ready for the World Cup in the US.
Optimistic Vikings got ready to kick some butts in the States, but Norway was eliminated in the group stages by the smallest of margins: In the first round, Norway beat Mexico (with substitute Kjetil Rekdal scoring the only goal) and Ireland beat Italy. Italy (with ten men) beat Norway and Mexico beat Ireland in the second round. Both games in the third round ended with a draw, but as Norway had scored only once, the Vikings had to sit and watch Sweden win the bronze medals. For the first time, Olsen’s tactics were criticized as boring, destructive and “cod-stupid coward-football”. (That last one from a Danish newspaper)
We looked to qualify for the 1996 EC in England, but lost our three last games in the qualification. It was the Czech Republic who “stole” our spot and eventually lost the final against Germany.
After the failed attempt to qualify for the Euro 1996, several older players were replaced by exciting prospects such as Tore André Flo, Petter Rudi and Ronny Johnsen. In order to play in the 1998 World Cup, we beat Azerbaijan twice (a Manchester United scout was watching Ronny Johnsen in defense, but added the name “Solskjaer” to his list, as the young attacker scored one good and one fantastic goal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b81FCHHsgVs&feature=related).) Switzerland twice, and took four points against both Finland and Hungary. We also played Brazil in a friendly at Ullevaal on a lovely evening in May 1997. Brazil thought they were going to show really how limited the Norwegian players and tactics were, but were shocked by an attacking Norwegian side which won by 4-2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQnOZfERz-o).
We got off to a pretty poor start in France ’98. Morocco was supposed to be an easy match, because of their possession-oriented tactics. Norway were lucky to get a 2-2 draw after one own goal. Scotland was no easy task, and although Håvard Flo (cousin of both Tore André and Jostein Flo) sent us into the lead, Scotland fought back and the game ended 1-1.
Egil Olsen (or “Drillo” as he was nicknamed because of his dribbling skills), had said that he would resign after the 1998 World Cup. The game that could prove to be his last in charge of the national team was against Brazil, on mid-summer’s eve. Brazil wanted revenge after being humiliated the year before, and took the lead after 78 minutes through Bebeto, who celebrated by gesturing cutting of his tongue towards the Norwegian bench. (Drillo had, in the build-up to the game, claimed that had he been chief coach for Brazil, they would have been much better.)
The powerful target-man Håvard Flo on the right wing had been replaced by goal-getter Ole Gunnar Solskjær after 70 minutes and box-to-box-midfielder Roar Strand was replaced by playmaker Erik “Myggen” (“The mosquito”) Mykland. The last, desperate substitution was to take winger Vidar Riseth off, and replace him with the long-serving target man Jostein Flo. Striker Tore André Flo missed two huge chances, both of which after Jostein Flo had won in the air. Then, on a counter-attack, Tore André left Junior Baiano stranded and scored (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NvyuvI3bJs)! It was 1-1, five minutes to go and Norway’s hopes were very much alive. After 87 minutes, Tore André got his shirt pulled in the penalty area (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1g0oYAZoyo), referee Esse Baharmast pointed to the spot. Kjetil Rekdal stepped up, scored and sent the whole country into raptures. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFzAsqveT0w)Norway had beaten Brazil, who had not lost once in the group stages since 1966, and qualified for the knock out-stages for the first time ever. The pictures from capital Oslo from that night can only be compared to the ones from when the King returned to the country after WW2.
We were beaten by Italy one week later, but no one were really disappointed. We had beaten Brazil and reached further than ever in the World Cup.
Drillo resigned, as planned, and was replaced by assistant Nils Johan Semb. He got us to the 2000 EC, but the incredibly boring 0-0 game against Slovenia is to this date the last game we have ever played in any Championship.
His successor, Åge Hareide resigned late in 2008, after we went a whole year without winning.
Now, Drillo is back. We have won our two first games in our qualification group for the European Championships, away against Iceland and at home against Portugal. Can we qualify again?
I hope we can discuss Scandinavian football here, and anyone who wants to write a piece on Swedish or Danish football, feel free to do that.