Having given the Norwegian cup a deservedly wide berth so far due to the relentless tedium of the thing, the quarter finals were so jam-packed with incident that NFN can no longer ignore it. Like a kind of weird uncle in the Norwegian footballing family, the 2009 Norwegian cup has gone from annoyingly dull to entertainingly crazy, and as such it now warrants our full attention..
On Saturday there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth as Brann felt wronged by Odd Grenland’s Hungarian forward Peter Kovacs, who had the nerve to score after Brann-keeper Håkon Opdal fell over injured instead of clearing a backpass. Leaving aside for one moment the irony of Brann whinging about fair play, Odd won the game 5-1 so the situation was hardly decisive, and that in the heat of the moment most players would probably have done the same. Of course, rampant moralizing being one of Norwegians’ favorite past times, people have been queuing up to castigate the big man through whatever media-outlet available to them. If anything, it was an opportunity missed for Kovacs, as bitter Brann-manager Steinar Nilsen pointed out: “Kovacs had an opportunity to become a fair-play legend in Norway, but he didn’t take it”. After all, with Brann being a bit rubbish and Eirik Bakke getting himself sent off for yet another attempt to end a fellow professional’s career, it wasn’t a game Odd were likely to lose and they didn’t really need the controversial goal.
In the other quarter final this Saturday NFN-favorite Kjetil Rekdal’s Aalesund managed to dump a very tired-looking Stabæk out of the competition. “We’ve been playing three games a week for I don’t know how long…We started to run out in the second half against FCK, and we didn’t have a lot of fuel left today,” admitted Stabæk’s talismanic forward Daniel Nannskog.
Now, if Kovacs-gate made Saturday an uncharacteristically lively cup-day, Sunday was completely off the trolley. First up, Vålerenga defeated Tromsø in a pretty bonkers 4-3 thriller. The Northerners were 3-1 up before half time, but substitute Hans Åge Yndestad who had just come on in the 33th minute somehow managed to pick up two yellow cards before the whistle sounded, and Tromsø were forced to defend their lead with just ten men in the second half. That didn’t go well at all, and in extra time Vålerenga’s turnaround was completed by Tromsø captain Miika Koppinen who scored an own-goal. “We were under pressure for 60 minutes, we made a stupid substitution in the first half and then we had a red card and an own-goal. It was pretty dark today,” concluded Koppinen after the game.
Unless something very strange happens Rosenborg will win the 2009 Tippeliga, but only the most blinkered RBK-fan would claim that they are currently the best team in Norway. “Right now we’re the best team in Norway,” announced Molde’s metrosexual midfield maestro Magne Hoseth after his team had just tonked Rosenborg 5-0, and it’s impossible to argue against him. Hoseth also thanked Rosenborg-legend Rune Bratseth for his “pep-talk”, as Bratseth in the buildup to the game had a rather childish and ignorant pop at Hoseth, claiming he couldn’t handle adversity. Hoseth of course responded by being instrumental as Molde humiliated Rosenborg, and even if RBK wins the league this year people will point to this game as evidence that the best team doesn’t always win the league. You almost hope Molde end up winning the cup so they’ll at least have a trophy to show for some of the remarkable football they’ve played this season.
10. August 2009 at 6:19 pm
Is there a draw for the semi-fianls or do the Saturday winners play each other and the Sunday winners play each other?
It is difficult to see any of the other three beating Molde. But, I also thought Valerenga would lose by several goals in the cup final last year. So, you can see how well my crystal ball works.
10. August 2009 at 10:21 pm
Hmm, maybe I should’ve told you I did a writeup on that particular Odd math.
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11. August 2009 at 9:05 am
Al: Molde – Vålerenga and Aalesund – Odd. You’d imagine Molde to have few problems dealing with VIF at home, while getting Odd at home means Aalesund are in with a shot even if Odd are a much better team..
Håkon: Not at all, nothing wrong with getting several (if somewhat similar) points of view on an issue like that.
11. August 2009 at 11:14 am
My opnion i think Kovacs did the correct thing. Sure uf the guy wants to apply for sainthood he shud not have scored.
But funny how defenders are not expected to play by the same fairplay rules.
I mean it`s not like anyone expects a defender not to bearhug any attacker in sight during corners. and personally i think that is worse the what Kovacs did.
As for Rosenborgs game i watched it with my brother and he is a Molde fan so it was a rather painful experience. But well Molde was the best team even if it was closer then what the results showed. At least intill like 3-0.
11. August 2009 at 4:03 pm
I’m so incredibly mad that I was working the afternoon shift on Sunday, missing both Sunday games. Just like I predicted in my write-up after Saturday’s games, they too would be full of drama. Just you wait for the epic final on Ullevål now, folks! IT WILL HAPPEN!
Anyway, yeah, pretty mad. Imagine sitting there live when Hoseth made his goal… “OK, so Jarstein shoots out the ball, Hoseth just makes a volley HOLY FUCK WHAT JUST HAPPENED THERE?!?!?!” must have been the main reaction for everyone seeing that one.
Speaking of which, is it just me, or has there been a fair amount of really technical goals lately? Especially well executed lobs over the keeper seems to be the new fad these days. Not that anyone (except the keeper) is complaining about good-looking goals, of course. Heck, even the old “Pass from the wings and shoot/head into the goal” routine often has some really nice variants that makes them worth seeing (Lekven to Kovacs 4-1, for instance).
And yeah, Lars, sometimes there’s a need for several perspectives. And with two people, there’s a bigger chance that one of us will note the irony of any comment Nannskog makes about Stabæk’s economy.
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11. August 2009 at 4:36 pm
Not to mention Brann’s fair play-woes, that was particularly amusing to me.
Anyway, yes, a lot of good goals so far this season. Happy days.
11. August 2009 at 10:33 pm
Well, being a Rosenborg fan I was not too pleased with Hoseth’s amazing volley, but it has to be said, it was really rather well done.
What annoyed me a bit (well, infuriated me, given the situation) was the moronic duo of Semb and Alsaker agreeing wholeheartedly that “you had to have technique on way above Tippeliga level to pull off a shot like that”. Correction: you need superior technique to shoot like that all the time. Even Hoseth himself admitted to not having struck the ball like he intended to. If one lucky strike qualifies for way above Tippeliga technique, then put me on the list: I have missed crosses from even longer range.
But yeah, an easy goal to enjoy, even, rather grudgingly, by myself. And Molde were the better team.
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11. August 2009 at 11:04 pm
Haha, well, youknow, “TV-employees in overhyping something shock-horror”, who’d have thunk it?
I agree with you though, it is annoying when they go over the top like that. Remember Huseklepp’s lob against Stabæk? By God I didn’t think there were going to make it out of the commentary-booth alive. I have never before heard anyone in such need of valium in my life..
13. August 2009 at 12:27 am
Speaking of which, after Molde’s 8-1 game, there was the unsurprising “Should Hoseth be on the NT?!?!?!” thingie going on*, where VG (Norway’s biggest tabloid) asked three famous football persons about this. Now something -really- surprising happened there, in that Jan Ivar Jakobsen actually had a calm and reflected answer, that basically boiled down to “This was one match, the NT squad was based on several weeks worth of performances.” The shock of Mini saying something like that almost made me fall off the chair, especially considering how the rest of the media were metaphorically standing outside Drillo’s window, shouting “Hoseth, Hoseth, Hoseth!”
Of course, Hoseth sort of went on to prove that he deserved the spot after all, didn’t he?
*For non-Norwegian readers, at this point, Hoseth hadn’t been picked for the squad against Scotland.