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."

We're the Champions. Again.

The Brøndby away was a well earned 0-1 win.

As expected they came at us with full physical force but little else. As the game progressed the Copenhagen squat got better and better control of the game. And then in the 33rd minute Gravgaard headed a long pass towards the opposite pole where Allbäck finished for the only goal.

Brøndby kept trying but despite quite a bit of possession didn't produce anything really scary. The game was marred by a couple of nasty fouls but luckily no injuries. With 13 minutes to go Linderoth was sent off for an extremely harsh second yellow card. This of course inspired another wave of Brøndby attacks but progressively desperate ones.

Solid performances at all positions with none outshining the team as a whole. A handful of mess ups by Brøndby to enjoy. The ref had a busy day, I guess, but only barely managed to stay out of focus. Despite being crammed into a tiny corner of the stadium (main reason for me not attending in person), the FCK fans were often louder than their counterparts; in particular I enjoyed the "Brøndby, sing a song for us" that rang out of my TV speakers at max volume. Beautifully, the last minute of overtime was spent guiding a pitch invading Brøndby "fan" out of the field.

Congratulations to the team and every other FCK person in the world. The rest of the season we'll just spend enjoying Brøndby's struggle not to finish no. 7 (which will mean they get an extra away game next season). Oh yeah, and perhaps winning the double on May 17th.

Cheers!

Brøndby away tomorrow

This one's worth a few more copy pastes...


Last 6 games: Brøndby: DWLWLW (10 points); FC København: LWWWWW (15 points).
Last 5 games, Brøndby home: WWWWW ; FC København away: WWWWD.
Brøndby points home: 34; FC København points away: 33.

Injuries & suspensions: Brøndby IF: Andreas Randrup, Henrik Kildentoft, Jean Philippe Peguero, Kasper Lorentzen, Mads Jørgensen, Martin Ericsson, Thomas Andresen, Trond Andersen (some of the injured may get ready); FC København: Dan Thomassen, Michael Silberbauer, Nathan Coe.

Approximate outcome probabilities: Brøndby win: 27%, draw 27%, FC København win 46%.

Bollocks: Norwegian ref had a bad day

Royal League 2006/2007 final: Brøndby IF 1 - FC København 0. That's the score and nothing will change that. I'm feeling slightly bitter because the conceded goal was a penalty. Obviously I don't have a picture of the foul, but you can see it at this article at Danish Ekstra Bladet: yes, the ref actually blew his whistle on Grønkjær. Unfortunately that wasn't his only mistake this day.

I'll quit before I build up some real anger here. Read the AP or Reuters story. Or dare visit the Royal League home page.

Royal League final vs Brøndby

denmark.dk / Danish team will win Scandinavian championship

For the third time in the three year history of the Scandinavian championship, the final match will be a contest between Copenhagen cross-town rivals FCK and Brøndby.

Wrong. I should know. I was physically present at both previous finals.

Intl. Herald Tribune (AP) / FC Copenhagen vs. Brondby for Royal League final

"Fucking miles away": Brøndby IF

"If Brøndby did like FC København Danish football would be fucking miles away." Quote, Brøndby coach René Meulensteen (curiously, René is former youth squad coach at Champions League opponent Manchester United). He was talking about growing talents as opposed to buying foreign players. But he did so for a season in which Brøndby has signed numerous questionable players. And even at UEFA.com, they have noticed that indeed Brøndby is "fucking miles away".

UEFA.com / Bitter winter descends at Brøndby

While Danish fans have been thrilled to see FC København and Odense BK fly the flag in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup respectively, they have been equally fascinated by goings-on at Brøndby IF. [...] while the rest of Denmark is celebrating a headline-grabbing season for København and OB, Brøndby are feeling horribly left out.

Their list of Brøndby troubles is far from complete:

There has been plenty of unrest in the ranks. Defender Joseph Elanga refused to play in a reserve-team fixture, while former Danish international Thomas Rytter left the stadium at half-time of one game, apparently furious at having been substituted, and was also involved in a training-ground row with team-mate Adam Eckersley.

I may or may not bother to put down a shit list on Brøndby some time.