Never thought much of Erik Pedersen, an average player. But Kjell Olofsson was great at his best, very underrated. Should have accepted Rosenborg's offer when they tried to sign him from Moss. Could have been a part of their Champions League adventure in the late 90s. Playing his football in Norway probably kept him away from the Swedish national team, like it did with Dennis Schiller.
Well this was quite a fun read... Much as it pains me to admit this, Norway simply has not produced a player with the skill of a Laudrup... Solskjær will forever be a legend to MU fans as well as norwegians, but he is not and has never been the skilled player Laudrup was. Perhaps some day Gamst Pedersen, Carew, Hæstad or Skelbred (if he recovers from his nasty break) will make that list. We have, however, produced defenders and defensive midfielders to equal any from Denmark or Sweden, and players such as Rune Bratseth, Henning Berg, Hallvar Thoresen, Erik Mykland and Erik Thorstvedt would merit consideration for any scandinavian "all star" team from the past 20 years. We Norwegians will have to console ourselves with the fact that no Danish or Swedish club come close to Rosenborg's achievements in Europe since 1990.
Ravellis performance at wc 1994 was unforgettable. I've never seen a goalie put on a show like Ravelli did that summer. I'm a bit too young to remember but wasn't he always heavily criticized for the smallest mistakes? I have small fragments of memories that he wasn't loved by the swedish press. Well, anyway, it was an unforgettable summer he gave us. Kinda off topic, let me just swear my love for our greatest midfielder in recent time... Stefan Schwarz was a favourite midfielder of mine for the longest time. I liked his rough play but he was at the same time a neat player. just an amazing player to have on your team, i wish we had someone like Schwarz on our team again.
Come on guys, how can you not pick Antti Niemi in your top 20 ?? Finalnd is still in Scandinavia, right ?
OK I'm confused http://www.gofinland.org/web/us/publish.nsf/(pages)/FabulousFinland?OpenDocument I quote "Warmed by the Gulf Stream, this Scandinavian country enjoys a climate similar to that of New England and the Great Lakes region of the United States—with four very distinct seasons." I would pick Niemi anyway
Traditionally Scandinavian countries are Denmark, Norway and Sweden and when you talk about the Nordic countries you also include Finland, Iceland and lately sometimes Estonia. But this is not a 100% rule and that's why Finland and Iceland sometimes are included into the Scandinavian countries.
Finland is often "packaged" as part of Scandianvia for tourism purposes, but has a quite distinct history, language and culture from Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Some Swedes may still consider Finland as part of their country since they occupied it for so long, but I doubt many Finns would be happy with that... Scandinavia is Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Period. The "Nordic countries" includes those three and Finland and Iceland. Regardless, even if Finland were part of Scandinavia, Niemi would not make the list of top 'keepers! Schmeichel and Thorstvedt are the top two.
If they were a part of Scandinavia, Jari Litmanen and Sami Hyypia would have made the list. From Iceland perhaps Eidur Gudjohnsen.
There's actually a better Icelandic player than Gudjohnsen. Retired noe, obviously, but used to play in Stuttgart.
I don't think that any Swedes consider Finland a part of our county. We did not occupie Finland, it was a part of Sweden between mid twelft cetury until 1809 when Russia occupied. 1917 it became a own country.
It's a matter of perspective...that's like saying Norway was just a part of Denmark from the middle ages until 1814 when it was ceeded to Sweden after the Napoleonic wars...not a perspective many Norwegians would agree with
It wasn't really the same scenario. Swedes started to colonize parts of Finland and went on crusades to Finland to christianize the Finns. Unlike the union between Denmark and Norway, Sweden and Finland was never describe as a union between two countries. Finland was just a part of Sweden as Gotaland, Svealand and Norrland still are today. That's why there still is a Swedish speaking minority in Finland. Finland may at one point back in the 12:th century been conquered by Sweden but later it was not considered as a occupied territory by either the Swedes or the Finns. The Finns fought next to the Swedes under the Swedish King's command during endless of battles. Many Swedish kings spoke both Swedish and Finnish. Sorry for the very much off-topic post.
Whoops....edited 'cause I hadn't read the whole thread before writing the post. But, about the Finland thing. Why can't you just take Finland to the oh so popular 'Scandinavia'. Just for this thread? ...I mean, we still are neighbours with Sweden and Norway and have some swedish speaking minority.
I have to admit, there are many times I feel like I have more in common with finns than swedes or danes
Now this is positive. Now should we have Finland in this thread or do we have to start a new post called best Finnish players or nordic?