Brøndby at UEFA.com

Usually, I leave Brøndby alone. But today they made news at UEFA.com... Rivals' pity highlights Brøndby gloom:

"There is no doubt the ongoing rivalry between Brøndby and us has been good for both clubs financially, and for Danish football in general," [club director Dan Hammer says,] "If Brøndby's crisis goes on for too many more seasons we will have to find a new rival, and that will take time."

Papin comment

Lens will probably have to do without Julien Sable [against Toulouse] who injured his ankle against Copenhagen.

"It's a little sprain and it should not be too serious," said Papin to Lequipe "It will be sorted in the next few days."

Papin was pleased with the display against Copenhagen, if not the result.

He said: "I only regret the first five minutes. We are confident in our play and we looked good against a solid team."

Source: Football365.com - EMANA CONFIDENT OF VICTORY - France - Football365 News

2 x 1-0 & G-14

Both us and RC Lens won our league games Saturday by 1-0 home, both scoring at about 2/3s of the game played into the 2nd half.

FC København - AC Horsens 1-0

57' Morten Nordstrand

Lens - Nancy 1-0

71' Aruna Dindane

Aruna Dindane scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot on 70 minutes

Source: Sporting Life - NANCY SLIP TO FIRST DEFEAT

Nancy coach Pablo Correa said: "We have the impression that we gave them the match, we missed our chances. Our biggest battle was with ourselves."

Source: AFP: Lyon close in on Nancy as Marseille crisis deepens

[Q:] Lens doit-il mettre un peu de côté une compétition, l'UEFA par exemple, pour être performant en Ligue 1 ?

[A:] Je ne sais pas s'il faut lâcher quelque chose. Il y a un gros effectif. Je n'ai d'ailleurs jamais côtoyé un effectif pareil. Je crois que l'on peut jouer sur tous les tableaux. Cette dynamique doit nous aider à créer une émulation. Il n'y a pas de titulaires. Tout le monde est là pour donner cent pour cent de lui pendant le temps qu'il joue. Dès mercredi, face à Copenhague, il y aura probablement un gros turn-over, avec une équipe qui sera performante et ne voudra rien lâcher. C'est ce que l'on s'est dit depuis le stage du Touquet.»

Source: L'EQUIPE.FR Football - Sablé : «Un grand soulagement»

From reading the above articles and a few more here's a line-up ('?' probably just the same guy as last week):

Akalé - Dindane - Monterubbio

Boukari


Sablé - Mangane


Ramos - Hilton - Coulibaly - Laurenti


Runje

Update: CB Hilton and GK Runje were selected for last weekend's team of the weak - along with such players as Juninho, Rothen and Elmander.

2nd update: Lineup corrected according to football-lineups.com - what a wonderful site!

G-14

After yesterday's game Jørgen Glistrup and Flemming Østergaard paid visits to the stadium bar allowing my buddies to have their pictures taken with them and answering questions on the recent G-14 rumors. In short, they seemed more concerned with what influence if any you'd get from a membership of it than if allowed in at all.

Recent articles on G-14: Goal.com - G-14 Set For Expansion, El G-14 estudia aumentar su número - Marca.com (Spanish), FCK forhandler om indtræden i G14 (Danish).

International performances 12th of September

Fans arrived singing songs of protest but left with a feeling of promise as Canada and Costa Rica played to an entertaining 1-1 draw on "Black Wednesday" at the National Soccer Stadium in Toronto.

Source: Soccer News Black Wednesday's silver lining - sportsnet.ca

The hosts were quickly into their stride at the Sparta Stadium, Libor Sionko's shot deflecting wide but a breakthrough was not long in coming, Jankulovski exchanging passes with Plašil and skipping past Richard Dunne to drill in. Sionko spurned another presentable opportunity and Ireland finally began to exert some pressure of their own, Dunne exploiting a Sionko miskick to play Doyle in on goal and the Reading FC striker guided his left-foot shot beyond Petr Čech only for the post to come to the goalkeeper's rescue.

Source: uefa.com / Czechs close in on finals place

Denmark kept alive their hopes of reaching UEFA EURO 2008™ as Morten Nordstrand scored twice in a convincing home victory over Liechtenstein.

Source: uefa.com / Nordstrand on song in Denmark stroll

Hangeland did not look particularly brilliant at the first Greek goal.
Source: uefa.com / Greece on course with Oslo draw

Hangeland thought he'd be playing with Newcastle

Norwegian newspaper VG Nett says Brede Hangeland was Man of the Match in Moldova - Norway yesterday. And Brede talks about how he had his bags packed for a move to Newcastle when FC København turned down the offer of about 4 million €. Enjoy if you can read Norwegian.
Source: VG Nett / Hangeland: - Følte jeg var nær en overgang

International performances 8th of September

San Marino - Czech Republic 0 - 3

San Marino far from disgraced themselves here, holding the Czech Republic to a (relatively) narrow victory in Serravalle - even after going down to ten men.

Source: Goal.com - Euro 2008 - San Marino Sink To Czech Republic Late Show

The Czech Republic picked up the expected win in San Marino which consolidated second place in UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying Group D but they were made to work by their hosts.

Source: uefa.com - UEFA EURO 2008™ - Hard work pays off for Czechs

# 17 Libor Sionko unused substitute.

Sweden - Denmark 0-0

The home side will feel that they should have won the game, but Denmark have left the Rasunda with a point following a 0-0 draw. While Denmark looked good in places, it was the Swedes who carved out most of the openings - each of which, however, was wasted...

Source: Goal.com - Euro 2008 - Sweden And Denmark Play Out Entertaining Draw

Sweden stayed on course to reach UEFA EURO 2008™ thanks to a goalless draw with neighbours Denmark that took Lars Lagerbäck's team three points clear in Group F.

Minute-by-minute
1 Grønkjær (Denmark) is flagged for offside.
19 Grønkjær (Denmark) commits a foul after challenging Hansson (Sweden).
33 Grønkjær (Denmark) misses the target.
37 N Jensen (Denmark) delivers the corner.
80 Grønkjær (Denmark) is booked.
88 Mellberg (Sweden) gives away a free-kick following a challenge on Grønkjær (Denmark).
90+1 Gravgaard (in) - Tomasson (out) (Denmark)

Source: uefa.com - UEFA EURO 2008™ - Solna shutout suits Sweden

Jesper Christiansen injured in practice (!), Marcus Allbäck, Rasmus Würtz, Hjalte Nørregaard and Morten Nordstrand unused substitutes.

Moldova - Norway 0-1

Moldova kept the score down but failed to excite as Norway managed a narrow 1-0 win in Chisinau.

Source: Goal.com - Euro 2008 - Norway Edge Out Moldova

Steffen Iversen struck four minutes into the second half as Norway secured a victory against Moldova in Chisinau which boosted their bid to qualify for UEFA EURO 2008™.

Minute-by-minute
62 Hangeland (Norway) commits a foul after challenging Zmeu (Moldova).
82 Hangeland (Norway) delivers the corner.

Source: uefa.com - UEFA EURO 2008™ - Iversen goal takes Norway second

Last weekend's league games

02/09 2007: Nice - Lens

50' Bakari Kone, Nice 1-0
81' Aruna Dindane, Lens misses penalty

Akalé - Dindane


Monterrubio - Sablé - Kovasevic - Demont


Ramos - Coulibaly - Hilton - Laurenti


Runje

02/09 2007: FC København - Randers FC

14' Jesper Grønkjær 1-0

Allbäck - Nordstrand


Grønkjær - Nørregaard - Würtz - Silberbauer


Jensen - Hangeland - Gravgaard - Wendt


Christiansen

(Written straight from feeble memory... may have minor errors.)