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Canadians in Norway (Tippeligaen)


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The latest news out of Norway has Sandro Grande moving from Viking to Molde; that was announced today after Sandro had denied it earlier in the week. He is expected to join his new team for tomorrow's training match against Aalesund pending paperwork. Rob Friend has been lighting it up for Molde this winter, but will be suspended for the season opener.

In Tromsø Patrice Bernier has been playing a lot and playing well this winter, while Stephen Ademolu has not been starting much, but has gotten playing time in almost every game. Kenny seems to have lost the starting GK job to Knut Borch who is returning to form after a lengthy injury.

Lars Hischfeld is the betting favourite to be the starting keeper for Rosenborg. It will become clear tomorrow when Rosenborg play Göteborg; coach Per Matthias Høgmo has said whoever starts that game in goal will also start the season opener.

The season in Norway starts April 9.

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You're welcome - I'll do my best as the season gets started.

Haugesund certainly has attracted a lot of Canadians! I wonder what it is about that town. They've got a pretty good film festival, but not sure what else they see in it...:D

I don't normally follow division 1 ("Adeccoligaen"), but will try to provide some news from there too.

Haugesund are of course newly promoted after a year in division 2 purgatory. They have long-term ambitions to return to top-flight soccer (after about 15-20 years absense), but won't do it this year.

They played their most recent pre-season match on March 15 against division 2 club Kopervik. They won 3-1 despite 12 players on the injury list.

The starting line-up for the 1st half was Per Morten Kristiansen - Chris Pozniak, Eirik Horneland, Ivar Arnljot Sandvik, Arild Andersen - Jørn Rikard Hansen, Johnny Furdal - Sten Ove Eike, Tore Hammerø, Thomas Rønning - Geir Holthe. The half ended 1-1. In the 2nd half they came out with Steinar Eikje - Simon Koch, Ivar Arnljot Sandvik, Milan Kojic, Arild Andersen - Jørn Rikard Hansen, Eirik Horneland, Chris Pozniak - Sten Ove Eike, Geir Holthe, Christian Sæther Moen. Milan Kojic and Chris Pozniak scored the two goals in that half.

Currently Haugesund are at training camp in La Manga, Spain, and their next training match is March 27 against division rivals Tromsdalen.

You can find all their results for 2006 here:

http://fkh.no/Default.aspx?doc=WWW1.IFRAME&docref=WMN%2F100010-LPMNNAAD&nodelevel=2&folderid=WMN%2F100010

Sogndal were pretty pleased to have Marco Reda come "home" I think. After finishing 7th in division 1 last year, the west coast team will be looking for improvement. Their last training match was a 1-0 loss to division favourites Strømsgodset on March 24 at La Manga. Reda played the whole match.

Their next pre-season game is also their last: against Bodø Glimt, the other division favourites, at home in Sogndal.

The division 1 season also starts on April 9.

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Appreciate the updates Start Fan. Please don't forget about Olivier Occean at Lillestrom. We'd like to hear how he is doing as well.

Any truth to the rumour that Start is looking at Greg Sutton for keeper?

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No worries; I won't forget about Olivier. I fear he may prove to be the missing piece of the puzzle for Lillestrøm to move to the top of the league this year. On Sunday, Lillstrøm play the second leg of their Royal League semi at home - it should be formality as they won the 1st leg 3-1 away to Djurgården. Olivier has to be careful - he picked up a yellow card for wearing an earring (! [:0] ) in the first leg and if he gets another tomorrow he's miss the final against Atiba Hutchison and FC København.

As for Sutton, we were trying to get him to Start, but apprently talks broke down about a week ago. I hear the issue was money, but I'm not sure if it was Greg's salary demand or Montreal's transfer demand. It's too bad 'cause he would have stepped right in as our #1 and played a lot in both the league and in the UEFA cup - goal is our biggest weakness right now.

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It doesn't surprise me that Sandro Grande will be leaving Viking. There have been reports last year coming-out of the Viking club that Grande was extremely upset with coaching staff. It appears that the coach refused to play him as a starting player. Grande, on his part, wanted a starting role with Viking, but the coach felt that he wasn't good enough to start.

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The rumours are flying regarding Grande's exit from Viking. The player himself told Norwegian press that the coaching staff were positive to his remaining with the club and had told him he would have chance to make the starting lineup. He went on to say that he felt, however, that club director Egil Østendstad was pushing him out and that promted him to change his mind and accept the transfer to Molde.

Østenstad denied it, and claims Grande made the transfer decision on his own and the club wishes him all the best...

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Rob Friend has been sold from Molde to SC Herenveen in Holland. The transfer will go through July 22nd, so Friend can still possibly play 12 league games for Molde. (He is suspended in the first round of the season because of a sending off in a friendly)

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For those who keep track of such things, the transfer fee for Friend was 2 million euro.

In light of another thread regarding artificial turf: Tromsø are changing their pitch to artificial turf this summer. The plan is for the conversion to happen during the world cup break. The final straw for Tromsø was the state of the pitch last fall for some of the UEFA cup matches. On several occasions, the pitch was more suitable for mud wrestling than soccer.

I am personally dead set against artificial turf for soccer, but have to admit that if there were ever a stadium where it makes sense to have plastic it is Alfheim Stadion in Tromsø. Given that they are north of the arctic circle up there, with an incredibly short warm season, keeping a quality natural grass pitch is next to impossible. They have sunk a lot of time and money into that turf over the years, and inevitably it deteriorates into something more like a cow pasture than a soccer pitch come september...

No word on what the 3 canadians with Tromsø think about this.

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Most teams in the Norwegian Tippeligaen are playing their final training matches today; one is at 11:30 the others at Noon EDT. Norways' TV2 is broadcasting them free on the web (usually it's a paid service)

Anyone interested can watch the matches here: http://webtv.tv2.no/webtv/?treeId=5053

Unfortunately Lillestrøm and Tromsø are not playing (due to Lillestrøm's upcoming Royal League final) but you can see Molde play Brann at 11:30 or Rosenborg travel to Viking at noon.

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quote:Originally posted by Start fan in exile

Unfortunately Lillestrøm and Tromsø are not playing (due to Lillestrøm's upcoming Royal League final) but you can see Molde play Brann at 11:30 or Rosenborg travel to Viking at noon.

I guess I was a little befuddled by the change to daylight savings time...

Tromsø played yesterday as I posted in the results thread.

Lillestrøm lost 1-0 to Lyn earlier today in a game where the Lillestrøm players showed that their minds were on the Royal League final on Thursday and not on today's training match.

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Thanks for the link Start Fan. I managed to catch the second half of the Viking / Rosenborg match, FT: Viking 2 - 3 Rosenborg.

Even though RBK were down to 10 men for the last 25 minutes they did score two goals. Lars didn't have much to do, but the goal Viking did score in the second half was a rocket to the top left corner and I don't think any keeper could have stopped that one.

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Preseason is over in Norway, and the season starts on Sunday, April 9 with a full slate of matches.

There are now 7 Canadians in the top level of Norwegian soccer. Here's a quick preview of their teams' prospects:

Lars Hirschfeld and Rosenborg and Olivier Occéan and Lillestrøm are both expected to challenge for top spot this year. Both teams are very strong and have had excellent preseasons. In both cases the Canadian players will be important to their team's success.

Lars has won the starting GK job from Norwegian national team keeper Espen Johnsen. Johnsen is one of the best pure shot stoppers in European soccer, but has received much (justified) criticism for his inability to control his area and for the occasional monumental blunder. Rosenborg will be looking to Lars to provide more stability at the back - which he has amply demonstrated so far this preseason.

Olivier is being touted as the final piece of the puzzle that will catapult Lillestrøm to the top of the standings. They are a solid, well organised team from front to back and if Occéan finds the back of the net like he did his first season with Odd they will be very difficult to stop.

Tromsø has 3 Canadians. The most important to his team's fortunes is Patrice Bernier who should start pretty much every game in the midfield. He will play a defensive role and should be kept busy supporting Tromsø's somewhat suspect defense. Kenny Stamatopoulos is battling Knut Borch for the starting job in goal. Borch was considered one of Norway's hottest GK prospects until injuries ruined most of last season for him (opening the door for Lars at the time). If Borch is healthy and returns to form, Kenny will spend a lot of time on the bench. As it happens, though, Borch was injured again in Tromsø's last preseason match, and Kenny may stand on opening day. Stephen Ademolu will see lots of action, but mostly off the bench. Tromsø has decent depth in attack, and consider Stephen a joker who can come in and turn a game around. Overall, Tromsø should have enough quality to avoid the relegation battle this year, but will likely finish no higher than the middle of the pack.

Molde recently acquired Sandro Grande, so will still have a Canadian even after Rob Friend departs for Heerenveen this summer. Sandro should see some playing time both as a starter and off the bench with Molde but it is still too early to say how key he will be with the team. Many think Molde's chances of surviving this year will leave with Rob Friend this summer. The big striker is feared and respected around the league, and Molde are very thin up front. It will be a rough year for the team, and they will have to fight for every point. A small consolation will be the chance to play in the UEFA Cup as Norwegian Cup champions.

In the second tier, the Norwegian 1st division, there are still 4 Canadians. Marco Reda returns to Sogndal and Chris Pozniak, Milan Kojic, and Nikola Budalic all ply their trade with FK Haugesund. Haugesund are newly promoted from the 2nd division, and will be in tough to keep their place this year. Sogndal finished in the middle of the pack last year, and should finish in the upper half of the table this year bu† are a long shot for promotion.

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Guest Jeffery S.

Funny, I had a Start fan as a student last week. She said she was from a town near it, but for the life of me I can't recall which. Is Start a city or the name of a club only?

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quote:Originally posted by jonovision

Start is the club name. They play in Kristiansand, if I am not mistaken.

That's correct - the full name of the club is "Idrettsklubben Start" or Start Athletic Club. Kristiansand is is a town of about 70,000 (which makes it around the 5th largest in Norway) just east of the the southern tip of Norway.

quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S.

Funny, I had a Start fan as a student last week. She said she was from a town near it, but for the life of me I can't recall which.

For a small country, Norway has a remarkable number of small towns so I won't list all the ones near Kristiansand here. :) Any decent online map will help you out if curiosity gets the better of you. In any case, Spain is to Norwegians like Florida is to Canadians so I'm sure you'll come across some in Barcelona. Most Norwegian clubs have their pre-season "spring training" in Spain at various times and a surprising number of fans follow their clubs down there. Start was there about a month ago.

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Some news that may effect the 3 Canadians in Haugesund: FK Haugesund and city rivals Vard Haugesund have agreed to cooperate to create a single club in the city. FK Haugesund are the product of a fusion between Djerv 1919 and Haugar, consumated in 1989. Vard stayed out of the arrangement, and many have argued that Haugesund is too small a town to support 2 top flight clubs and the rivalry has kept both clubs from achieving the success they want. It is hoped that with this latest agreement, a single Haugesund club will be able to take the next step and gain promotion to Tippeligaen.

Btw, I have often wondered what the attraction is in Haugesund that has brought so many Canadian players there: it turns out that Haugesund is the home of a pretty good international film festival and also considered (along with Molde) the home of Norwegian jazz. Two good reasons to live there... [8D]

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Guest Jeffery S.

Was teaching another group of Norwegians today and they were a bit surprised by my relative knowledge of their geography (I know club names, so that is a lot for a layman; I also took another look yesterday because of the content of this thread). I told them it had to do with following Canadians in Norway football. "Olivier Occean" was the two-word reply by one of the guys. Then I mentioned that Lars was at Rosenborg, but what you find, if I am not mistaken, that anyone who is not a Rosenborg fan is definitely NOT interested in talking about Rosenborg.

Think indeed by student last week was from a town near Kristiansand, making them a Start fan by proximity.

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quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S.

...if I am not mistaken, that anyone who is not a Rosenborg fan is definitely NOT interested in talking about Rosenborg.

That, indeed, is true! I am an anomaly, mostly due to the fact that I've lived in Canada so long and the only Norwegian team I've ever had the opportunity to see on TV is Rosenborg in the CL. And even as someone who does not like Rosenborg, it was fun when they beat Milan at San Siro...

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Hi Start Fan:

Your updates are very interesting and has prompted me to write my 1st post on this forum. I have been to Norway a few times and have been fortunate enough to have watched a few matches; I've become a Valerenga supporter having first seen them in an Intertoto match against FK Ventspils (Latvia, I think). I find the Tippeligaen to be quite good quality and although I do have an interest in how our Canadians are doing over there, I have one one occasion given Olivier Occean some stick when Odd played VIF last season.

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Two days until Tippeligaen kicks off, and Norwgian soccer fans are eagerly anticipating the first kick of the ball.

Two of the opening day matches feature Canadians against Canadians.

Rosenborg visits Lillestrøm in a match between two teams expected to be fighting for the gold. Lillestrøm will be looking to overcome the dissapointment of losing the Royal League final and get off to a good start at home. Rosenborg will be looking to avenge last year's 7th place finish after 13 straight titles.

Each team features a Canadian expected to play a prominent role in his team's fortunes. Lillestrøm will be counting on Olivier Occéan to put the ball in the net. On the other side of the pitch, Lars Hirschfeld has won the starting GK job from Norwegian international Espen Johnsen, and he will be counted on to bail out Rosenborg's offensive-minded team that can sometimes leave themselves exposed at the back.

It should be an excellent match; who the betting favourite is depends on who you ask - personally I think Rosenborg will prevail in an exciting game with lots of chances.

At the other end of the spectrum, Molde pay a visit to Tromsø. Molde are already in trouble, with Rob Friend serving a suspension and a number of regulars fighting injuries and illness. Sandro Grande may get an opportunity to start in the absense of team captain Daniel Berg Hestad.

Tromsø's 3 Canadians may all get time on the pitch on Sunday. Patrice Bernier is a safe bet to start, while Kenny Stamatopoulos may get the start in goal in place of injured Knut Borch. The coaching staff are awating the result's of Borch's MRI before deciding on who gets the nod. Stephen Ademolu will almost certainly start on the bench, but should get on the pitch if Tromsø make any offensive substitutions.

Tromsø's defense is suspect, but Molde is the weaker team; look for Tromsø to win this pretty easily.

All Tippeligaen matches are being broadcast on the net by TV2. They are launching their new pay-per-view service Saturday and you can find the link on http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/fxt/ - no english service, I'm afraid.

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The coaches of the 14 Tippeligaen teams were asked to rate the best foreign-born players in Norwegain fotball; there are currently approximately 100 foreigners plying their trade in the top level of Norwegian soccer. The coaches were asked to rate their top 3.

Olivier Occéan tops the list ahead of teammate Robert Koren. Rob Friend ranked 6th with Patrice Bernier 7th.

If you want to see how each coach ranked the players, go to http://www.dagbladet.no/sport/2006/04/07/463141.html

Occéan also placed 2nd and Friend 5th on a similar rating of the best strikers in Tippeligaen.

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