Transfer: Brede Hangeland to Fulham

Norwegian defender reportedly having Craven Cottage medical.

This story is on most Danish newspaper sites as well.

Obviously a weakening of our central defensive line but not too bad considering we still have Gravgaard, Antonsson, Zanga and no international games.

Transfer rumors

ru·mor /ˈrumər/
–noun

1. a story or statement in general circulation without confirmation or certainty as to facts: a rumor of war.


2. gossip; hearsay: Don't listen to rumor.


3. Archaic. a continuous, confused noise; clamor; din.

–verb (used with object)

4. to circulate, report, or assert by a rumor: It is rumored that the king is dead.

- dictionary.com

Fansites around Europe are over-heating in unrealistic entries. Our sports director says he's not in any kind of panic (TIPS-Bladet / Ingen transferpanik i FCK) while one of our scouts have been spending some time in the Czech Republic lately.

Incoming?

Søren Larsen

Current employer: Schalke 04 (German 1. Bundesliga).
Price: 1 million €.
Other offers: Eintracht Frankfurt, Wolfsburg, Nürnberg plus a British club.
Sources: Bild / Die Hau-ab!-Liste der Bundesliga, bold.dk / Avis: FCK vil have Søren Larsen.

Martin Laursen

Current employer: Aston Villa (English Premier League).
Price: ?.
Other offers: ?.
Source: bold.dk / Martin Laursen åben for FCK, Berlingeren / Aldrig mere Italien.

Yoav Ziv

Current employer: Beitar Jerusalem (Israel).
Price: ~½ million €.
Other offers: Club Brugge (Belgium).
Source:
Ekstra Bladet / FCK lun på israelsk landsholdsspiller, Politiken / Israeler meldes på vej til FCK, bold.dk / Israeler koster FCK 3,7 millioner kroner, Haaretz / Beitar facing 'January sales' crisis.

Tommy Bechmann

Current employer: Bochum (German 1. Bundesliga).
Price: ?.
Other offers: ?.
Source: bold.dk / FCK jagter Tommy Bechmann.

Kasper Bøgelund

Current employer: Borussia Mönchengladbach (German 2. Bundesliga).
Price: ?.
Other offers: ? (quite possibly not even us).
Source: TIPS-Bladet / Bøgelund vil væk.

Thomas Kristensen

Current employer: FC Nordsjælland (Danish Superliga).
Price: ?.
Other offers: ? (quite possibly not even us).
Source: TIPS-Bladet / FCN-profil vil gerne til FCK.

Outgoing?

Marcus Allbäck

Offers: Elfsborg (Sweden).
Price: ~2 million €.
Source: Expressen / Elfsborg redo att köpa Allbäck - för 15 miljoner, Expressen / Öis: "Vi ska inte värva Allbäck".

Brede Hangeland
Offers: Newcastle (English Premier League) a.o.
Price: ~2½ million €.
Source: TIPS-Bladet / Newcastle vil igen byde på Hangeland.

Other possible transfers include Morten Bertolt and Michael Silberbauer.

This week's league: Elite tactics vs. mediocre dog fighting

The league in a nutshell: Copenhagen barely clinch victory in tactical top flight encounter with Odense while Brøndby suffer loss to league run-of-the-mill Esbjerg fB despite hard fought come back. Both Copenhagen teams scored twice but that must be the only similarity.

FC København - Odense Boldklub 2-1

This Saturday I witnessed from the sideline FC København registering another home win. By half time I was wondering why I hadn't put a bet on 0-0 because this was at least as defensive a game as anyone could have predicted. Before this weekend Odense only allowed 0.6 goals against on average and hadn't been beaten for seven games straight. We used five or six defenders in total and played the first hour with only one really dedicated striker. But with half an hour to go Marcus Allbäck made it 1-0 only minutes after entering the pitch. That man only scores important goals.

Now the game opened up a bit and we got two more goals to enjoy before leaving for post-game beers and games of billiard at the Copenhagen bars. A typical set piece header by Brede Hangeland and another sharp striker type finish by former FC København player David Nielsen. 2-1, 3 points and in place at the league pole position while Odense stay 4th.

Esbjerg fB - Brøndby IF 3-2

The contrast to Brøndby IF's away game against Esbjerg fB couldn't have been sharper. For one thing, I witnessed it getting drenched in hails and rain from the warm comfort of my couch. Brøndby have declared their crisis is over and talked of silverware in the pre-game interviews. Only to allow Esbjerg's Njogu Demba-Nyren to score after just 32 seconds.

Esbjerg continued dominating the game by excellent short passing, technical details and optimist attacking. Jesper Mikkelsen and Demba-Nyren made it 3-0. But before Brøndby collapsed Chris Katongo was brought on and managed to make it 3-1 by a resolute cannon ball finish from close distance. Then Stefan Gislason, Martin Ericsson and the strong wind collaborated on turning a corner kick into another goal.

Pressing for the equalizer Brøndby also allowed a couple of Esbjerg counter attacks. One of these ended in Niki Zimling - who otherwise had a great day at the job - wasting the opportunity of taking a penalty kick. Esbjerg fB are now placed 8th two points ahead of Brøndby.

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

Newcastle interested in Brede

Official Newcastle homepage

One new name to emerge is that of FC Copenhagen centre-back Brede Hangeland. The 26-year-old Norway international is said to be available for a fee in the region of £2m, according to The Sun and The Times.

Elsewhere: BBC, Times Online.