Nordic Football News

This recent bout of hot weather has made Norwegians hit the beaches like dyslexic gangsta rappers, but like busses in the Stavanger-area the Tippeliga waits for no one, and so here is a quick roundup of the latest batch of games from the top tier of Norwegian football.

By now you really must be getting tired of reading this phrase, but it continues to be the case and we’re too hot to figure out a more clever way of wording it: Unless Rosenborg sell their entire midfield in the summer, they’ll win the league. Their top-scorer Rade Prica summed it up excellently when he told TV2 that “Right now it feels like we’re a train that just keeps going. They had to work for it this weekend, as on-form Vålerenga went ahead through a flying header from defender Andre Muri, but the same Muri then pointlessly equalized down the other end and in injury time Rade Prica rose majestically and nodded home a fine 2-1 winner. “Better than sex,” according to RBK-manager Erik Hamren, who may or may not need to spice up his marriage a bit.

The lanky and slightly effeminate figure of Brann-winger Erik Huseklepp continues to polarize opinion, with some claiming he’s a bit of a genius while others pointing to his success as a sign that the Tippeliga is rubbish. As in most cases when football-fans are divided like that, the truth lurks somewhere in the middle. No matter what the skeptics say, his goal against Stabæk this Monday was pure class, but on the other hand it’s a well established fact that almost any winger who can control the ball will wreck considerable havoc in the Tippeliga, so Huseklepp’s occasional wing-wizardry may not be that impressive in the grand scheme of things. You’d certainly have to be more than a bit mad to meet Brann’s comical asking-price of 40million kr, but then money and stupid executives are two things european football has in abundance these days, so who knows. That Stabæk actually won the game 2-1 almost seems besides the point, it’ll be remembered for Huseklepp’s exquisite strike.

When a team is looking as thoroughly doomed as Lyn. you start wondering how their fans are holding up. Well, in this case the answer is “not particularly well”, as their slender grip on sanity seems to be slipping rather rapidly. A few days ago they demanded the sacking of manager Kent Bergersen in a press-release reeking of the kind of self-important delusions usually associated with Geordies and Bengt Eriksen. Now, after Molde predictably wiped the floor with their team to the tune of 4-0, the Lyn-fans were enraged that Bergersen wouldn’t come over to applaud the fans who showed up. Let me have another crack at that: They’re demanding that Kent Bergersen should lose his job, but are at the same time enraged that he isn’t applauding their efforts to support the club. Even for us here at NFN that is impressively nonsensical. Normally we would have no sympathy for a man who repeatedly mistakes Lucas Pratto for a footballer, but with fans like these who needs enemies?

And now, for a slightly belated edition of our much-loved feature – What’s Kjetil Rekdal unhappy about this week (apart from Eirik Bakke)? Pay attention, here’s the quote: “[the answer] destroyed Nils Johan Semb, but [he/she/it/they] won’t break me!”

What is Kjetil Rekdal talking about?

A – The Media

B – Berit Riise

C – Glue-sniffing

D – Tor Hogne Aarøy

Answers in the usual place, down there in the comments-thingy.

For Aalesund’s game against Tromsø the man Rekdal had decided to sit in the stands, and from there he had an excellent view of Aalesund repeating a trick they’ve been pulling quite often lately, namely playing decently and then throwing  it all away with some slack defending. 3-1 the final result, an important win for Tromsø but AaFK must do better.

Weirdness at Skagerak-Arena, Peter Ijeh lives! Yes, encounters between Odd and Viking continue to throw up strange and unpredictable incidents, and this time it was Peter Ijeh who mysteriously sprung to life and scored two goals, one of them a rather splendid one as well. “The future will take care of itself” the occasional striker told TV2 after the game,  impressively resisting the temptation of shouting “PLEASE SOMEONE GIVE ME A CONTRACT PLEASE” into the microphone. The game ended 2-2.

Bodø/Glimt refuse to lie down and notched up a pretty handy 2-2 draw away to Fredrikstad, who really should be better than that. The game was mostly memorable for another strange goakeeping error, this time it was FFK’s Erik Bråthen who had a moment to forget as a mishit cross from Glimt’s Mounir Hamoud caught the young keeper wrongfooted and went straight in. “I think there have been incredibly many big and weird errors,” chirped former Sevilla-man Frode Olsen from the comfort of his studio.

One goalkeeper who has enhanced his reputation this season is Espen Bugge Petersen, and this weekend he put on a superb performance and was the main reason Sandefjord escaped the clutches of Ronny Deila’s plucky darlings with a point. Strømsgodset huffed and puffed but only managed to put one past an inspired Petersen in the Sandefjord-goal, and 1-1 was the final score.