It's Elfsborg away - without Allbäck

royalleague.com / Elfsborg against FC København in the Quarter Final

Sunday March 4 2007 at 1655 IF Elfsborg vs. FC København

I'd really love to have this kind of thing appear automatically in the bar to the right. But the only relevant services I'm aware of are Google Calendars Dansk Fodbold (Superliga / SAS Liga / Pokal / Royal League) and UEFA Champion League.

Regarding Marcus Allbäck's knee they scanned it yesterday but are still not sure how bad it is. But it seems they are not counting him in for about two months. Sucks for us, Sweden and Allbäck.

Hammarby thrashed - Quarter finals secured

Of course. It has been kind of entertaining to read major news outlets babble about FC København needing at least a draw to secure the quarter final spot. Actually a loss by five goals would be needed to get rid of Copenhagen. But it was closer to a win by 5 goals. A 4-0 victory taken with relative ease. Beautifully kicked off by a world class bicycle kick goal by Markus Allbäck only to have him carried off pitch on a stretcher later on. He suffered a knee injury and we're all in fear it's serious.

Read about the game at International Herald Tribune (AP) / FC Copenhagen clinches last quarterfinal berth and at Yanks Abroad / RECAP: COPENHAGEN 4 - 0 HAMMARBY (Hammarby fielded American Charlie Davies who did OK).

Quarter final draws are tomorrow. By the way, match statistics on their site are rather detailed.

Royal League in The Twilight Zone

11th of February is early for football in Denmark. So the roof had been pulled over the stadium to make it kind of an indoor experience. By the onset of second half it was so foggy you couldn't see the spectators farthest away on the other side of the field.

In all honesty I think FC København was the best team on the day and did control the game most of the time. Even though Tobias Linderoth, Jesper Grønkjær, Niclas Jensen and Markus Allbäck had been allowed a day off. But things didn't work out our way. An unbelievably lucky goal for Brøndby on one of their few attacks, a similarly unbelievably disallowed goal scored by Dan Thomassen (Man of the match in my book) etc. A "symmetrical number" of fans: 17,071. A loss of 0-1. All in all a bit weird.

Here's the only main stream media report in English about the game: Intl. Herald Tribune (AP) / Ericsson scores winner for Brondby in Royal League. Did AP miss there's still two games left?

Check out the miserable standings in group 2. Looks bleak eh? But note FC København only played four games and still have 6 points to play for. That's because of schedule re-planning due to Champions League (first priority, fair enough). And because the two best no. 3's also qualify for the quarterfinals all isn't lost yet.

The games to go are Brøndby IF again but away on the 18th and Hammarby at home on the 25th. Both are games with points in them. To not finish worst no. 3 we may just need one win because that's already likely to be better than AIK from group 3. They have just 6 points and a goal deficit of 5. I'd prefer two wins though.

All in all, I estimate the probability of FC København progressing from the group to be 65-70%. Also, consider the only bookmaker with odds on the tournament winner this morning has us and Vålerenga IF for equal favourites at roughly 16% chances.

So, even if it is living on the edge the ruling champions may not be totally lost in the darkness in this tournament that itself could be in it's last year. With the help of a little coffee, probability calculations and a look out the window things appear a lot brighter than they did walking home through the park in the snow and darkness.

Brede Hangeland comment

EuroSport.com / Hammers had Hangeland contact

"I'm in no hurry [to leave]. I'm enjoying myself at FC Copenhagen and it looks like it's going to be a good year. But playing against Manchester United last year was a great experience."

No news really, but I couldn't help noting it. Why leave for some questionable club right before cashing in a gold medal?

Danish championship probabilities

1. FC København 82%


2. FC Midtjylland 9.9%


3. Odense B 5.3%


4. Aab Aalborg 1.6%


5. Brøndby I.F. 0.7%


6. FC Nordsjælland 0.4%


7. Esbjerg f.B. 0.2%


8. Viborg FF 0.1%


9. Silkeborg IF 0.1%


10. Vejle 0.1%


11. AC Horsens 0.1%


12. Randers FC 0.1%

Source: Bookmakers.

The league restarts in about five weeks but because the transfer deadline has passed I guess it's an appropriate time to do a snapshot of the odds.

The transfers

The deadline has passed. There is no more news except this.

FC København signed Australian Nathan Coe. Check tribalfootball.com / Copenhagen check on PSV keeper Coe if you bother. He'll most likely be second choice for some time. But it also suggests Jesper Christiansen will be sold next transfer window.

That makes the full transfers list for FC København look like this:
In: Niclas Jensen (Fulham), Ailton Almeida (Örgryte), Morten Bertolt (HamKam loan ended), Nathan Coe (PSV Eindhoven)
Out: Martin Bergvold (Livorno), Martin Bernburg (FC Nordsjælland)

There's a full list of transfers in the best Danish league at bold.dk - you'll probably get it even if you don't understand Danish.

So, I promise I'll go back to posting boring numbers and statistics. No more insane rumors for a very long time. Those are mostly a waste of life. BUT to round off the transfer mill bollocks: after the passsing of the deadline, it was reported that the club turned down a 40 million Danish kroner offer for Michael Gravgaard from Newcastle and that Jesper Grønkjær himself turned down Fiorientina.