He sure has. If he stays around. I doubt Klepp have pulling power in the Norwegian market to replace these players. Klepp could well be next season's Røa. Clubs with tradition get relegated one by one these years. And Camilla Linberg has signed for LSK, but isn't available until 2021, so we won’t see her in the Champions League in December. We need the transfer set-up back on the thread again. November and December are hectic months for new signings. Arna Bjørnar IN: Milena Kokosz (fw, Åsane) OUT: Avaldsnes IN: OUT: Klepp IN: OUT: Marthine Østenstad (df, Sandviken), Tuva Hansen (df, Sandviken), Elisabeth Terland (mf/fw, Sandviken), Nicole Stanton (mf, back to USA) LSK Kvinner IN: Mimmi Löfwenius (fw, Lyn), Camilla Linberg (fw, Lyn) OUT: Silje Kittilsen (mf, Fart) Lyn IN: OUT: Mimmi Löfwenius (fw, LSK Kvinner), Camilla Linberg (fw, LSK Kvinner) Rosenborg IN: OUT: Sandviken IN: Marthine Østenstad (df, Klepp), Tuva Hansen (df, Klepp), Elisabeth Terland (mf/fw, Klepp) OUT: Stabæk IN: OUT: Vålerenga IN: OUT:
Ah yes, good call - the silly season returns. Thanks for thinking of it and setting it up. Klepp always find a way to compete, but then Røa did too. Either way, hope they have quality leadership on and off the field. That alone should do it. Will be an interesting year in 2021 near the drop zone, because Stabæk aren't your usual lightweight promotion. Captain Jorgensen of Røa head already hinted of her unlikeliness to return. Hegge Riise knows a thing or two about talent identification and unsurprisingly jumped at Linberg. Well deserved and good for her, but still kind of sad for Lyn. Who knows where they could have lofted to with another year under their belt. But alas, twas not to be. There seems a lot of movement in the Toppserien lately. It would be interesting to see a list of the stalwarts, who retired out at one club. The link on the previous page about the site with good metrics... it showed player age and you can really see how the top teams to be older white the lower are younger. The odd 15/16 and 30-something with the sweet spot in the early 20s.
The post at the top of the url below from another channel has a link to a broadcast of the Vålerenga game today at noon CET (Thursday) in Lithuania: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/uefa-womens-champions-league-2020-21.2106646/page-4
Small community field in Lithuanian residential community. Running track, no stands on far side, surrounded by Soviet looking apartments. Beautiful opening goal by Vålerenga. Spitse took a beautiful corner and finished world class by Ingibjörg Sigurðardóttir (although originally given to Sigrid Heien Hansen by the statistician). The Lithuanians have a couple Americans, a Canadian, Jamaican, etc. Better quality than i imagined. Nchout just made it 2-0 but was well offside. Synne Jensen just 1v1'd a player into the box and hammered a laser over the bar. Only been 25 minutes but Vålerenga are looking sharp. Production quality is great. On Hansen's goal they had multiple angles and the camera work is quality. Rilke Madsen just made it officially 2-0 on a corner again from the other side of the field. And they add a third goal (think it was an own goal) off a deflection on a save by the GK into one of her defenders. There was a single minute of extra time and they scored it with a second or two left in the half. They have the own goal to Dejana Stefanović as the keeper punched it into her just off the goal line in the middle of the net and it deflected in. Have to drop offline but really enjoyed the first half.
Champions League qualifier - 2nd round Gintra 0 - 7 Vålerenga Sigurdardottir 19, Madsen 33, Stefanovic 45+1, 61, Njoya 62, Neverdauskaite 70(og), Jensen 89 An all-round solid performance by Vålerenga in their first ever European game abroad. Unlike against Klaksvik in the first round, there was a strongest possible line-up from kick-off in this game. Terrible weather and a difficult pitch to play on, but a successful result in the end. You never know about these one-off games away in Europe with no home leg available to make up for possible mistakes, so a seven goal win was a bit more than I expected. After a few misplaced passes in defence early on, which lead to half chances for Gintra, Vålerenga adjusted themselves to the surface, grew into this game and took completely control of things. Sigurdardottir's opening goal on a bullet header from a Spitse corner cemented that. From then on there was no question who were going to win. Vålerenga are through to the main competition and Round of 32 in the unseeded group. The draw is Tuesday next week. LSK Kvinner are also there, but in the seeded group.
Are there any rule, at this point of the competition, to avoid teams from the same nation to clash against each others?
Yes. The UEFA administration will form groups for the draw based on these principles: Seeding of clubs based on the club coefficient rankings In every group an equal number of seeded and unseeded teams No club can meet a team from their own association Covid-19 travel restrictions
Sherida Spitse is heading home after the season is finished in December due to family reasons. She will join Ajax. Vålerenga have been informed about it since summer and I guess that's why Rikke Nygard was signed. Spitse's foot on set pieces will be missed. There aren't many better players around in Europe with her ability in that area of the game.
Ajax run such an amazing program out of de Toekomst. It's as professional as it gets. Not many goalkeeper coaches come out for the pregame warmup in a suit. She was born about 90 minutes away so a great fit culturally. Pushing past 30 years of age now and with a new child recently has new realities to manage. Most of Vålerenga are between 18-23 so her experience in reading the game will be tough to replace, but there's always solutions if you have a wallet. The tougher part in replacing her will be the quality leadership she takes on the field.
90 minutes away is practically halfway across the country [emoji1]. Comparatively it's like Iowa or Nebraska to NY City...
Too funny. 90 minutes over here is considered commutable. I spent a month in the Netherlands each year for about 10 years and every time I flew in and looked down from the plane I was always completely blown away that every postage stamp of arable land was farmed and used. Here we are about 250 times a bigger land mass, but comparatively we develop about a postage stamp. Part of that is the climate and snow but most is just human remoteness. I've commuted 90 minutes to work each direction a few times in my life for long periods. She could even live in the middle and make it 45. Poetic that's football numbers. I was just thinking Amsterdam is a lot closer than driving through three countries to get home.
Semi-final weekend in the NM Cup. The first semi played today. LSK Kvinner 2 - 1 Sandviken 1-0 Emilie Haavi 16 2-0 Thea Kyvåg 34 2-1 Rakel Engesvik 50 LSK seem to be on an upward trajectory again after looking like mediocre also-rans in Toppserien for a long time. After beating Rosenborg in the previous round, LSK beat Sandviken this afternoon and booked their tickets to the NM Cup final at Ullevaal stadium next month. The first half was probably LSK's best this season with some neat flowing attacking football, a bit like the old days. They lost the momentum in the second half though, but weathered the late storm from Sandviken, who still missed Brochmann and Cordner through injury up front. Tomorrow Vålerenga take on Avaldsnes in the second semi-final. Kick-off at 16:00.
Although they won't qualify again at the end of this season, LSK-Kvinner have a Champions' League game ahead of them: what do you think about their chances, independent from which team they'll be paired with?
I'm not optimistic. LSK are seeded, so they avoid the big guns this time. I think they'll have a fair chance against most of these unseeded teams, but my expectations are low on their behalf. I've seen them struggle against all kinds of teams in Toppserien, and 2020 has been a year for rebuilding, not European ambitions. CL is a bonus for them this year. UEFA use short travel restrictions as a main criteria, so I suppose Göteborg are very likely opponents. Probably the strongest team LSK could face as well, newly crowned Swedish champions as they are. (LSK beat Göteborg 1-0 in a pre-season game in February though..). Looking at the map, something tells me Minsk could end up as possible opponents as well.
The second NM Cup semi-final: Vålerenga 4 - 0 Avaldsnes 1-0 Sherida Spitse 24 2-0 Sherida Spitse 30 3-0 Synne Jensen 32 4-0 Dejana Stefanovic 51 Vålerenga are stepping up on the final stretch of the season and were simply too good on the day for Avaldsnes, and move on to the NM Cup final against LSK in December. Sherida Spitse ended her unlikely 21 game goal-drought for Vålerenga with a bullet from long range and then added a second shortly after. Spitse is renowned for being a goal-scoring midfielder, but hadn't scored at club level since the season opener in early July. Pro/Rel play-off - 1st leg: Kolbotn 5 - 0 Medkila 1-0 Mette Skau 2 (own-goal) 2-0 Kristin Holmen 17 3-0 Johanne Fridlund 38 4-0 Kristin Holmen 45 5-0 Julie Hoff Klæboe 52 This match was moved 20 km away from Kolbotn to Strømmen because there was problem with the pitch. Still, the quality difference was too obvious. Medkila were outclassed and the return leg on Wednesday night up north will be a formality. I hoped Medkila would have kept the score to a two-goal loss to keep the second game alive, but it was never within reach. The Northern region will have to wait until Tromsø's collaboration project with Fløya in the second league gets underway next season. They have the financial muscle and facilities to reach Toppserien.
Must be a tough hangover for the Northerners to have their bells rung and dreams crushed so convincingly. Hard to see Vålerenga not putting down Arna-Bjørnar easily and taking the league on the 6th. But stranger things have happened. Hopefully the Champions games don't distract them too much and they can hold their focus. Given the push to December, for the final round will we see snow? We're supposed to get 20cm in the next 24 hours here. That will either force them indoors or could level the results if they stay outdoors. Upsets are a lot more common in crazy weather Fingers crossed LSK draws Minsk. Regarding their Cup semi I think LSK's experience might have weighed in a bit. Having won the Cup a few times they are keenly aware of the media attention, party, etc. Sometimes you fight a lot harder for something known than unknown. Hope we are all able to watch the final.
Vålerenga avoided PSG and Manchester City in the draw and come up against Brøndby in the Round of 32. Home leg first, which I think is a clear advantage in this special case considering the tight programme ahead. Three matches in Oslo and then the away leg in Copenhagen as last game of the season. No travelling in between. Dec 06 (13:00): Toppserien MD 18 Dec 08/09: Champions League Round of 32 (1st leg) Dec 13 (13:00): NM Cup final Dec 15/16: Champions League Round of 32 (2nd leg) LSK face FC Minsk with the away leg first.
Hege Riise is one of seven nominees for FIFA's Coach of the Year 2020, but for her work with the LSK league and cup double in 2019. Other nominees: Lluis Cortés (Barcelona), Rita Guarino (Juventus), Emma Hayes (Chelsea), Stephan Lerch (Wolfsburg), Jean-Luc Vasseur (Lyon), Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands). Caroline Graham Hansen is one of eleven nominees for FIFA's Player of the Year 2020: Other nominees: Lucy Bronze, Delphine Cascarino, Pernille Harder, Jennifer Hermoso, Sam Kerr, So-Yun Ji, Saki Kumagai, Dzsenifer Maroszan, Vivianne Miedema, Wendie Renard.
And there's the final round postponement hangover. Playing really, really important games midweek means your sharpness on the weekend is questionable. For managing load who do you lineup softer for: The Cup? The League title? The Champions 32? Would be nice to have the bench of Ole Gunnar but they don't have a fraction of the bench strength he does. Just an awful decision however you go after it. Hope karma is in full play and the Gods are smiling on them.
Pro/Rel play-off -- 2nd leg last night: Medkila 2 - 1 Kolbotn 1-0 Miriam Mjåseth 1 2-0 Martine Brustad 52 2-1 My S. Haugland 74 Good start for Medkila, but Kolbotn won 6-2 on aggregate and stay in Toppserien. Stabæk replacing Røa will be the only change in the league for 2021 compared to 2020.
Perhaps a statement on the development and growth of women's football - other than Renard/Cascarino all are from different countries. Also perhaps the first with no CONCACAF, CONMEBOL or CAF. So more varied, but just within UEFA/AFC.
The big Toppserien climax is coming up on Sunday with all games kicking off at 13:00 CET. Three teams can win the championship on the final matchday. Because of postponements, cup rounds and international break, we haven't had league football in four weeks now, which adds extra spice to this final matchday. Vålerenga – Arna Bjørnar Klepp – Rosenborg Sandviken – Avaldsnes LSK Kvinner – Lyn Vålerenga are without their three Danes (Ballisager, Thomsen, Madsen) who are all in quarantine, but will most likely win the title if they beat lowly Arna Bjørnar. If any club can cope with players missing, it's Vålerenga. They have depth. Rosenborg are on equal number of points, but are trailing by four in goal-difference. Rosenborg have only once scored four goals this season, never five which will be needed if Vålerenga win 1-0. Rosenborg face Klepp who have many injured players and nothing to play for. Anything can happen. Avaldsnes are the third title candidate and they travel to Bergen to play Sandviken, who have been strong again under new leadership.
Given the circumstance, It'd be nice to know what the subsequents tie-breakers are, after goal difference!