A big hand for Villarreal!

Normally I would not settle in copy & paste action but there is nothing really to add here. A beautiful gesture and reaction to world-wide economic crisis!


From Villarreal FC homepage;

"Roig: "Season ticket holders who are out of work will receive free entrance next year"
Villarreal President announces the most pioneering 'anti-crisis' initiative in Europe for next season
Villarreal CF has decided to take anti-crisis meaures for next season, the most radical of which is the decision to give free season tickets to existing holders who find themselves out of work. It is doing this to demonstrate that the club itself is not exempt from the current economic situation. To help with its plan it will be seeking the collaboration of all components that make up the club includng the directors, technical team, squad and sponsors, calling on them to add their own 'grain of sand' and help compensate this initiative that will mean that being out of work will not mean having to miss out on watching football at the Madrigal.


The plan, totally new in European football, will be innovated by the club once a few minor details have been ironed out over the next few weeks.
"The idea is to think about the many members of our society who have had the misfortune of finding themselves without a job and to enable them to continue coming to watch football at the Madrigal," confirmed the club's President Fernando Roig. "All of us that form part of this club including directors, the technical team, players and sponsors should all contribute to community fund to help compensate those that have been left without work", explained.

In addition to this new initiative he also announced other new measures.

Purchase a ticket for the rest of the season
Villarreal CF continues to make progress on the footballing front, a fact clearly demonstrated by it forthcoming appearance against Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the Champions' League, which puts it in the top eight sides in Europe. At the same time the club has maintained its place among the La Liga elite, currently in fourth place on 48 points and with the firm intention of taking part once again in the top European competion next season.

For these reasons the club has launched a new campaign to attract new seasn ticket holders from now until the end of the season. A total of 200 passes for the North Stand will go on sale for the one off price of 110 euros -a third of the normal cost- for those fans who want to follow Villarreal on the home straight of this most important of seasons. Fans will be able to watch match es against such teams as Málaga, Recreativo, Sevilla, Real Madrid and Valencia as well as the Champions¡ League games up to the semi finals. Tickets are on sale at club shops at El Madrigal and Salera Shopping."

U21: Finland - Latvia 1.4.2009 at Finnair Stadium

This is a friendly for the younger age group of U21, so these players are not going to Euro 2009 U21 at Sweden.

The most interesting player of this bunch is definitely Lauri Dalla Valle (b. 1991) from Liverpool, most talked about youngster for ages. Also Juhani Ojala has been training with Espanyol this winter, but talks about transfer would surely be premature.

Qualifications for next U21 start autumn 2009.

Updated Finnish squad, no Dalla Valle this time.


Oskari Forsman, FC KooTeePee

Juha Tuomi, FC Lahti

Juhani Ojala, HJK

Markus Joenmäki, FC Haka

Jari Nikkilä, FC Haka

Jussi Äijälä, VPS

Henri Aalto, FC Honka

Jonas Emet, FF Jaro

Valeri Minkenen, FC Haka

Patrik Lomski, TPS

Jesse Saarinen, TPS

Jani Bäckman, FC Haka

Jarkko Värttö, FC Honka

Niko Ikävalko, FC Haka

Pele Koljonen, KuPS

Mikko Sumusalo, HJK

Live thoughts Wales - Finland 28.3.2009

1 Jääskeläinen
2 Pasanen
5 Tihinen
4 Hyypiä
3 Kallio
16 Johansson
15 Heikkinen
7 Eremenko, R
6 Eremenko jr
10 Litmanen
9 Forssell

A good first 5 minutes for Finland. Kallio is on an offensive mood which is well needed.

6 min Simon Davies dangerous.

8 min wales corner, Davies - Bellamy. Reflected by Hyypiä.

5-10 min Wales controlling, attacking and fast.

11 min Litmanen finds Johansson cleverly, but off-side.

Pace of the game is fast, home better 55-45.

14 min game is settling down.

Pitch seems to be in a bad condition. Very heavy.

10-15 min even and medium-paced game.

17 Johansson looking sharp.

19 Ere jr finds Johansson on the right.

15-20 min Wales in control, 57-43.

21 min Wales corner from the left.
24 min Wales corner from the right.

20-25 Wales 60-40.
------------------------
i am concentrating on the game now and hoping for the best.

41 min a perfect pass from Litmanen to Johansson. 0-1.!!

Until the goal Wales was slightly better but the goal seemed to be a very decisive one. 0-2 at 9o min by Kuqi was just cosmetics.

A well-deserved win for the Finns. Thank you old timers!

Craig "Cry-baby" Bellamy was a bad loser, again.

On Johansson's goal, Bellamy added: "They sucker-punched us really.

"Johansson scored but I don't know how. I don't think he is a good enough player to score.

"We were just poor to be honest."

Fortunately it was a home game for Wales so it is not a long trip to go on home and cry some more.

John Toshack was far more realistic.

Jari Litmanen was on top of the game, again, and got chosen into week´s dream team by Eurosport. After all, he is only 38.

"FW: Jari Litmanen (Finland) - Following his ill-fated and brief spell with Fulham, it seemed the veteran striker's career had come to a natural conclusion. His masterclass against Wales suggests there is life in the old dog yet."


Next stop Norway 1st of April. Yes way!

Finland - Sweden U21 1-0 at La Manga 27.3.2009

Unfortunately this was only a friendly ahead of the Euro 2009 for U21 in coming summer, but it show that the boys are on a right track. According to match reports the result is at least almost a deserved one ;)

The only goal was scored by Bielefeld striker Berat Sadik and Finland also missed a late penalty.

Report in finnish here.

Wales - Finland 28.3.2009 @ Cardiff

This is a crucial game for Finland if they want to keep their hopes alive of qualifying to South Africa. I admit, looking at the team now the hopes have already gone, but the general opinion of the fans is that everything is still possible if Finland wins this game away and I might as well pretend and play along for a while.

Finland´s likely line-up;

Jussi Jääskeläinen (gk)

Petri Pasanen, Hannu Tihinen, Sami Hyypiä, Toni Kallio

Markus Heikkinen

Roman Eremenko, Jonatan Johansson, Jari Litmanen, Daniel Sjölund

Mikael Forssell

Like it has been lately the line-up is not optimal in this ageing team and Teemu Tainio (Sunderland, injury) and Mika Väyrynen (Heerenveen, injury) are seriuosly missed.

The key to a possible success for the Finns is the magic of Jari Litmanen (38!) together with Mikael Forssell, otherwise creating goal chances will be a huge problem for them.

Goalkeeping is no problem if Jussi Jääskeläinen (Bolton) is even close to his solid self, but the once very tight defense is not so tight anymore, Pasanen has looked unhappy on the right, Hyypiä has too much to do covering Tihinen and Kallio was originally trained as a striker and has not played much lately at Fulham. Since Roy Hodgson has gone there is not so much support from the midfield anymore.

Roman Eremenko is good, Jari Litmanen is magical but old, whereas Johansson and Sjölund are only mediocre midfielders and not too much can be expected from them.

Mikael Forssell´s best playing days seem to be way past, but if he gets his self-confidence back and Litmanen finds him like he did in the good old times anything is possible for Forssell.

From the sub´s bench the only player who can change things is Eremenko jr who seems to have a more humble and professional attitude after being banned from the national team from some time because of actions out of the pitch. Shefki Kuqi is also there waiting for chance to prove everyone wrong, but will only get his chance as a last resort.

Niklas Moisander (AZ) would have been my 1st choice to replace Kallio as a left-back, but also he has suffered injuries lately and is hardly in full match fitness.

A win would be needed for both teams, I am afraid both will come out with one point in the bag and the qualifications campaign is over. Getting rid of any qualifying chances and ridiculous hopes would be good for Finnish football now as we really need to throw away all the dead wood and start fresh.


Verdict; 1-1.

Adeccoliga 2009 ranking

Some fresh thoughts after seeing most of the last pre-season friendlies played at La Manga.

A HamKam
A- Moss
B+ Sogndal
B Kongsvinger
B Hønefoss BK
B- Bryne
B- Notodden
C+ Haugesund
C Tromsdalen
C- Mjøndalen
C- Sarpsborg
C- Skeid
D Nybergsund
D LøvHam
E Alta
E Stavanger

There is quite a drop in class and quality from B to C, and basically any of the C,D & E teams might get relegated.

If you want to seem them yourself, tune in to NRK or find a decent stream somewhere.

ADECCOLIGAEN
TV-kamper Adeccoligaen 1. periode 11.3.2009

NRK har i samarbeid med NFF og NTF valgt ut TV-kampene i Adeccoligaen for de tre første serierundene.

Dag:Dato:Kl.:Kamp:TV-kanal:

Tirsdag 7.04 19:30 Sogndal-Hønefoss NRK2
Tirsdag 14.04 21:00 HamKam-Alta NRK2
Tirsdag 21.04 19:30 Sogndal-HamKam NRK2

Adeccoligaen odds 2009

Adeccoligaen 2009 odds for win

Ham-Kam 1,85

Obviously this is quite far from being best price available as this is an example only, but it is too short also elsewhere. I rate HamKam to be a favourite with only some 33% probability.

Moss 5,50

Moss might be worth a punt.

Sogndal 7,50

Sogndal struggle when trying to create goal opportunities and looks likely they will draw too many games to get promoted. Definitely not worth a bet.

Hønefoss 11,00

FK Haugesund 15,00

Notodden FK 15,00

Kongsvinger 18,00

Kongsvinger is an interestinng team. Follow!

Bryne 40,00

Nybergsund 60,00

Sarpsborg 08 75,00

Løv Ham 125,0

Skeid 150,0

Alta 200,0

Stavanger IF 250,0

Tromsdalen 250,0

Mjøndalen 300,0

Obviously the odds for the teams in the bottom look tempting in the first sight, but the only one that really strikes out is Bryne. 40 for a win, and 6 to be in the top 3. I would take both. Edit: After seeing Bryne having no chance against Moss last night I better forget at least the idea of them winning. No chance. HamKam is deservedly the favourite, then we have a tight competition and another team I have enjoyed watching so far is Honefoss. Moss was also a very good and balanced team last night, and the King of the pitch was another fellow to follow, Lars Øvrebø .

Alta, Nybergsund and Lov-Ham are not going to win this league, I can assure you, neither will Mjondalen but I do not think it will be the last either. The worst team being Stavanger.

Adeccoliga - worst teams 2009

The season has not yet even started and I have to teams to be relegated from Adeccoligan already.
Goodbye Alta. Goodbye Löv-Ham.

There is no chance me being wrong, but if the promoted teams are as crap as these two then the question remains open, but I can not see them not to struggle for the whole season anyway.

It is not fun to talk bad things about your team, sometimes truth hurts.

There are very little good things to say about these two, and I will keep that information to myself for future purposes.

Today the played a pre-season friendly here at La Manga, and even though Löv-Ham 2-1 it can hardly be described as the better of them. All the goals came from set pieces or terrible defensive mistakes.

The average Adeccoteams are not always fun to watch, but these two will be destroyed by HamKam and Bryne and get eaten for breakfast.

Tippaligaen ranking 2009

Spring is finally here! There is no more sure sign of that than the beginning of the Scandinavian football leagues, and the first to start is Norwegian Tippaligaen.

Last weekend the Norwegian Supercup, the local Charity Shield was played between the Champion Stabaek and the cup-winner Vålerenga in the brand new indoor arena built on the former airport of Oslo – yes, there is parking space – and Stabaek marched to an easy victory. Vålerenga had returned from their pre-season two weeks camp from La Manga only the day before and legs were quite heavy, perhaps for some players also the head.

No reason to stress this, or any other result too much. Thinking about the season to come and the ranking to be created the first and obvious thing is always the check the usual suspects. I know it is boring, but would you forget ManU and Chelsea while placing a bet on the Premier League Champion to be?

Thus, it is no surprise to no one that the only two teams in category A are Stabaek and Rosenborg. Most people seem to rank Rosenborg first, I might do the opposite but the competition is very harsh.

A Rosenborg
A Stabaek

The B-category is very tight. There are lots of questionmarks and dark clouds on the economics of many of the clubs, but I am not going to into details about that just yet. Last season´s surprise third Tromsö do not look quite that strong at the moment, but I give the chance to get third in the liga to a total of five teams.

B Lilleström
B Vålerenga
B Viking
B Fredrikstad
B Tromsö

C-category is not any easier. With loads of luck some of them might even reach the top spots and qualify to Europe, but if the shit hits the fan and things start getting wrong there is always a chance of getting relegated or bankrupt.

C Brann
C Lyn
C Bodo/Glimt
C Molde

This looks a bit funny and unbalanced now, but there are only three teams left in my D-category. I can not see them much higher but I have a feeling that they are a class above the two teams that are in my opinion going down most likely.

D Strömsgodset
D Sandefjord
D Odd Grenland

Now it is time to say thank you and goodbye for now to

E Aalesund
E Start.

Unless they obey very strict and humble strategy of killing the games and the sport both home and away and try to snatch some points every now and then. Of course there is a chance of good late value signings and Ville Jalasto from FC Honka to Aalesund right defender spot might be one of them.

Note to self aka players to watch

Centerback from Notodden number 3 Oneill Thompson has some flair and skill that pays the bills. Me like! From oppositions side in tonight´s game Notodden - Mjondalen there were two sparking players, number 19 Christian Smerud who was controlling the attacks and anchoring the midfield and number 22 Mads Hansen who also has long throw-ins as a deadly weapon. The game ended 0-1 when Mjondalen scored from a last seceond corner, Notodden had been playing with 10 men from the first half when another centerback had received two yellow cards for foul play, before that they formed a nice couple with Thompson.

I just wonder can anybody in Adeccoliga score?

Edit; Nr 7 of Tromsdalen Ole Talberg is a class above the rest. A wonderful player and a leader, commandant and captain. Nr 10 Espen Minde from Tromsdalen has some Dutch flair in whatever he does, a poor man´s version of Overmars or Sneijder.

Best Veikkausliiga defender season 2009

Defenders of the Veikkausliiga 2009

Last season this would have been quite easy. The Champion Jos Hooiveld as the anchor man, the centerback. Rami Hakanpää from Honka as another one and no high balls would have any chance going through. There would be discussion about left and right back but not as much as this season. Naturally, the new season has not yet begun which makes this all so much more difficult and interesting.

Let´s start with the left backs which seems to be achilleus heel for most teams. My pick is Jukka Raitala from HJK. He is not yet ready and not at his peak, but one of the few promising players and I believe this season will be his last in the Veikkausliiga.

Centre backs, well we have already Hakanpää from last season´s dream team and only missing a suitable partner for him. As a duo I would play Roope Heilala from Honka with him because they complete one another, but I would not pick him with anyone else. As it is, I chose a duo and it is chosen now.

There is more competition for the right back and as HJK are only playing there their Lahti recruits I must look somewhere else. One of the most progressed backs would be Ville Jalasto, again from FC Honka and even challenging the public opinion that I am biased I pick him. Sorry lads, this is a solid defense, you want to get into my team you better start performing!

Who are we missing out then? One of most discussed and also overhyped players of the whole League is Ville Koskimaa, now at Honka, before that in VPS Vaasa. The ball-controlling style of play that Honka is learning to do is just poison for Koskimaa for two reasons. He is useless with the foot, and more importantly, he has no sense of the game. Unless someone holds his hand all the time and gives him orders he will chip the ball just over midfield which might reach own players if they are good enough and Koskimaa might temporarily look good, but in truth he is making the game a lot more difficult for his team which will drop him from the starting eleven before mid-summer.

Sauso from HJK might get a lot of votes but he is all too inconsisent and clumsy with the ball to my liking, though he is strong in the air and has also some good long passes in store.

All in all, there is not too much talent in the defense department and our next professionals are mostly not coming from that area of the pitch.

Best goalie of Veikkausliiga?

The best Veikkausliiga players for season 2009 to watch

There will be several votes for this is the media and football discussion football forums but I might as well reveal the the best of the best right now.

Surprisisingly the goalkeeper spot does have the tightest competion as almost all the clubs have at least a decent keeper. The usual suspects would be Henriksson, Korhonen and Bantamoi, followed closely by Lehtovaara, Koljander, Forsman and Szentpeteri and with some doubt also Peltonen and Wallen might come to mind. Some Vaasa-born fanatics always hail for Henri Sillanpää too.

The ranking of the club is hardly a deciding factor, nor is the amount of goals conceded as in some teams like Honka and Inter you get a lot of from the defence. There are people who did see Henriksson to make a huge amount of huge saves in the now relegated KooTeePee last season and see him as the ultimate hero of a keeper but I have to disagree. His lack of ball control is a huge minus in the modern game, and one thing I have personally always wondered is his self-taught style of stopping the balls. He is talented, he is strong and a good candidate, but would never be my choice and I do not wonder he never got a professional contract in a bigger league. This season we will a lot more inconsistency between Honka goal posts that we have seen in the last couple of seasons.

Many of those words also fit perfectly talking about Bantamoi, and it was only the superb central-defence in the form of Jos Hooiveld that helped Inter to win the Championship and Bantamoi to be goalkeeper of the Champions.

Janne Korhonen, this season in Haka is a good goalie but there is something bothering in his presence, he is too much low-key, not a march-winner type. Technically and physically solid, I would not voter for him for the simple reason that I would remember his presence. He would probably make a good referee.

Lehtovaara has been promising but inconsistent, Koljander is just not good enough and voting for a mediocre foreigner as Szentpeteri would just be a disgrace to the League, so my answer to this problem is Oskari Forsman from Inter Turku.

I do not want any problems or injuries for their number 1 Bantamoi, but sooner or later Forsman will get his chance, and from that on he not let it slip it through his hands, just like there are not balls rebounding. Good luck Oskari, show them what you are made of!
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Coming soon, Best Defenders!