Tippeliga 2006

[Green Apes]

I think it will be cool to meet again thats all, and if it will be at real Champion League would be better than anything else.
_________________
~GA

[Gerrit]

wouldn't Rosenborg-Haifa be a nice Champions League final? Finally some new teams instead of always those boring Milan-Barcelona finals and such... Would be massive
_________________
Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[Green Apes]

Dude let Maccabi first reach CL for second time, then talk about moving on. Maybe say in 10-20 years?
_________________
~GA

[Gerrit]

[attach]

You have to use IE, WMP 11 and install this

[Gerrit]

I watched the game in perfect quality! I had to pay 99kr but it was worth it Sweet evening, now for once I think I will get some alcohol

I hope to find that job in Scandinavia soon now, so that I can attend games like this live. I've seen Rosenborg several times, but of course it's hard to attend games really often. Hopefully my jobhunt will result in something, will make it so much easier to attend these games and celebrate on the stand.

Anyway, I am going to celebrate now, and probably will get drunk
_________________
Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[attach]

Congratulations!

99 kr? On FXTV? Then I suppose you payed for a week ticket, not a match ticket (50 kr). That probably means you can watch the game tomorrow too.

[Gerrit]

Really? Hmmm, I thought it was a game ticket, I may have selected the wrong option in a rush...

Anyways, Tromsø are the one other Norwegian team I like - and their game is on tomorrow, so if I have another game it's a lucky coincidence!
_________________
Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[attach]

I guess you can watch the games next sunday at 1800 too. You can find the expiration date on the confirmation e-mail, if I remember correctly.

[Harald]

Nope, the match tickets cost 99kr, TV2 obviously needs to cash in on us poor supporters. The week tickets also cost 99kr(where is the logic) so i bought on of those.
Im pretty f****** so i will go to bed
_________________
Sliter

Medlem nr. 2477

[Gerrit]

So I paid as much for one game as for multilple games? What a rip-off Anyway, I guess I'm happy to have witnessed the victory, it was worth the costs.

I guess it is one of those little things in which Norway is hyper modern. I mean, in Belgium or Ireland we don't have any system where you can stream programs and pay with creditcard. When you don't have a TV, you either need to watch illegally or not watch at all. Norway must be one of the few countries having pay-per-program online television.

When I visited Oslo lately, I also noticed lot of those little things are automatised. Every street light, every door lock, ... could be operated with a remote control in that area! Even in the shopping center, the door of the men's room was operated by remote control, so the lady from the toilets opened the door only after having received payment. Clever Never saw any toilet that clean before in my life by the way, it almost made me feel guilty to urinate there ...

Anyway, if next game is broadcasted as well, I will buy another of those game tickets.
_________________
Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[Gerrit]

So is the game vs Viking tomorrow on TV again? My creditcard is ready for the service (but this time I'll make sure to buy a week ticket and have the last season's games as well in the same efford)
_________________
Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[attach]

All the games are broadcasted on the internet. You can buy the ticket today, if you want to.

[maxpitaly]

Now we are the best!

Next champions league i hope rosenborg will play with italian team, so i could watch it!

[RBK Ã…lesund]

I hope this will be the start of a new Rosenborg era!

[Jon Irenicus]

[Gerrit]

Sometimes football is just pure perfection. Every single result was what I was hoping for today. RBK are league champions again, which of course is all that matters, and a nice extra is that Tromsø (the only other Norwegian club I do wish well) seems to just save their premiership slot in time! And Molde, the old rivals, are down to division II. Bliss!

What a game today, it had everything: lot of chances, two teams going for the victory 100%, a unique decor in a snow-swamped Lerkendal, and the ultimate joy at the end... Great great day!!




I wrote another article for my blog, however for a few chances I was not sure of the name of the player (I didn't have a notebloc with me and I had lot of attempts to remember), maybe someone can add those few missing names?



Rosenborg has seized the power again in Norway. In the second last game of the Norwegian season 2006, it has become 100% official. In fact the championship trophy was a certainty already last week, when Rosenborg beat the last competitors Brann 1-3 and took a 6 points lead on top of the table. With also a goal difference of +13 goals more than Brann, the champions title was in fact decided yet last week, but in theory of course we needed 1 more point to be also sure in terms of mathematics. This certainty came today in our own "theatre of dreams", the snow-covered Lerkendal in Trondheim.

Opponents today were Viking FK from Stavanger, a team struggling to survive in the top division of the Tippeligaen. The team, traditionally one of the teams just below the top, had a disastrous season so far and seemed to be doomed to relegate, A new manager/coach a few weeks before the end of the season, seemed to turn around things however as Viking suddenly started winning their games. However, as also Tromsø IL started winning games since star striker Sigurd Rushfeldt returned home to North Norway, Viking was still in a very difficult struggle to survive.

RBK by the way also had a succesful "change of manager" earlier on the season: halfway the season we were 10 points behind Brann, and manager Høgma suffered from a nervous breakdown and overdose of stress. Rosenborg agreed to send Høgmo on sick leave, and assistent Tørum took over temporarily. It seemed back then that we would be very happy to clinch a spot in the UEFA Cup, and a new championship trophy (the 14th in 15th seasons after Valerenga last year finished our record run) was out of question. However, since Tørum took over we lost not a single game (apart from the semi final in the Norwegian cup) and won almost every game since late June. Combined with Brann having their own nervous breakdown as well and throwing away their lead, RBK seized the power again and is now one point away from a new championship title. Høgmo meanwhile returned to the front, however, in order not to break the concentration of the players in the decisive weeks, it was agreed that Tørum would stay in charge until the end of the season.

Lerkendal today was a typical decor for the Mid-Norway area around this time of the year: covered with snow (though the snow was cleared off the field before kick-off) and the game was played in harsh weather while the snow was pouring down. This is North Europe at its best, and a unique decor to celebrate a football trophy.

Viking, struggling to survive in the Tippeligaen but in great shape since the new manager took over, showed from the beginning that they did not travel north to just defend and counter. However, it was Rosenborg making most pressure in the early stage of the game, an øyvind Storflor cross from the right was almost headed in the own goal by a Viking defender. Goalkeeper Aspe saved. Another Storflor cross, this time from the other side, was headed just past the far post by Iversen.
RBK was in control and took an early lead: Marek Sapara, last week's match winner with a brilliant free kick at Brann, took another free kick, this time quite far from goal and from the far right side of the pitch. The ball looked like a cross at first sight but was let through by all defenders and Rosenborg strikers, and disappeared in the far side of the net. 1-0 Rosenborg!

Viking however didn't just lay back and let it happen. A long ball from Stavanger reached Ijeh at the border of the penalty zone, Ijeh lobbed the ball over Hirschfeld who had left his goal, but Riseth was back fast enough to head the ball out of the empty goal and in corner. While running for the ball, Riseth would have pushed away a Viking striker trying to reach the ball first, or so the Viking players claimed. The referee made the correct decision of only allowing a corner and no penalty kick, and Gaarde received a yellow card for protest.
However, danger was not over, as the corner reached that same Gaarde whose header was blocked by Hirschfeld, the rebound was blocked in corner by a defender. And this corner also resulted in mayhem in our defense, as a Viking shot from just outside the box had to be blocked by the defense.

Viking didn't give our defense any time to breathe and kept coming. In the 18th minute, Søren Berg brilliantly passed our defenders and finished his run with a shot from 20m which ended perfectly in the corner of the net past Hirschfeld. 1-1 and a well-deserved equaliser for Viking, which actually made it harder for us at home than last week Brann did in the away game.

Although a draw was enough to secure the title, the black-and-whites did try to force a new lead. A shot from Steffen Iversen went just past the far post. But also Viking kept on coming whenever possible, a corner from them was not cleared well and the resulting shot from just inside the bock deflected onto a defender and just past the far post. Relief for the mighty Rosenborg who were facing a very well-playing opponent that never gave the impression of being close to relegation. A new cross from Viking resulted in a header that missed the goal however.

1-1 at half-time in a difficult game for us, while the snow was coming down badly now above Lerkendal. The loyal Rosenborg support, showing up in very big numbers for the championship celebrations, had a reason to scream hurray just before half-time when the news reached Lerkendal that competitor Brann was 0-1 behind versus HamKam. While the players of Rosenborg and Viking were already in the dressing rooms for half-time, ex-Rosenborg striker Thorstein Helstad would equalise for Brann though, meaning that also in Bergen a 1-1 score at half-time was reached.

Although the draw would be enough to celebrate the title officially, Rosenborg did chose to further seek more goals after half-time. This proved almost succesful when a Solli lob over the defense reached a teammate who, eye to eye with Asper, however shot the ball in the wrong side of the net. On the other side, Berg took a Viking free kick from just outside the box, the ball was curved well past the wall but blocked by Hirschfeld and cleared in corner by the defense. A Rosenborg offense resulted in a low cross reaching a player in front of goal, who volleyed the ball just over the bar from close range.
Meanwhile our former striker Helstad was striking again when he brought Brann onto a 2-1 lead.

Viking didn't get as much grip on the game as before half-time, but still managed to cause danger to our defense on regular basis. The hard-working Søren Berg took his chance from over 25m, but the shot just passed the far post.
Tørum decided to bring in some more offensive power and replaced Storflor by our top talent Daniel Braaten, on the bench just like last week because of a mild injury.

Rosenborg further sought the goal, and in the 68th minute the attempts proved succesful: the constantly threatening Solli launched a perfect cross from the left side, Iversen controlled the ball just inside the bux, turned around and perfectly shot the ball into the upper corner. 2-1 and the celebrations really started!
A few minutes later Iversen came close to a second goal, when Dorsin launched a perfect cross from the right side, Iversen was left alone by the Stavanger defense and headed in the ball from close range, Asper saved the ball with a very fine reflex. Another cross from the left was extended to Iversen at the far side of the box who headed the ball only centimeters past the far post.

The third goal came however, and made especially goalkeeper Matthias Asper not look good... Rosenborg took a free kick on the right side and dropped the ball into the box, where Asper grabbed the ball without any problem. Running forward to throw the ball back into play, he suddenly dropped the ball out of his hands, and saw how Strand lobbed the ball from 17m over the goalkeeper and defense into the empty goal. 3-1 and big protest from the Viking goalie, who claimed his arm was being held while running, which would have resulted in dropping the ball. The referee did not give any listen to the protests and Rosenborg's new victory was secured.

The frustrations with Viking now grew, and resulted in a very mean tackle by Gaarde who targetted Sapara. Gaarde, already having received a yellow card for foul language, received his second yellow card and Viking had to finish the game with 10 men.
Not much happened after that, as the audience and players were already focussing on the big celebration to come. However, in injury time a pass reached Braaten inside the box, who controlled the ball well, turned around and shot the bal hard into the net via the post. 4-1 and the celebrations now truely got started.

The final whistle came less than a minute later: it is official now, ROSENBORG BALLKLUB are champions of Norway again!! 2 years after winning the 13th-in-a-row domestic title, and one year after finishing 7th in the most disastrous campaign of the last two decades, RBK was celebrating the 20th domestic league championship in its existance. A great efford for the Trondheim side who had won practically every game since Tørum took over as interim coach. Last year, we ended at 7th spot and nearly relegated, while Valerenga from Oslo was celebrating the league championship. It seemed like the end of an era for us, and when being in 3rd position halfway the season with 10 points behind Brann, it seemed we would just be happy with a UEFA Cup slot and like the Norwegian league the coming years may not come our way again. Almost four months later, the unexpected happened and we are celebrating the league trophy again, nr 14 in 15 seasons, nr 20 in total. This is not the end of an era for Rosenborg, but hopefully the beginning of a new era of Rosenborg triumphs!

Today's game just had it all. Great atmosphere, lot of goal attempts, two teams going for it 100%, a unique snow-swamped decor, and the ultimate joy in the end when the new triumph was assured. Football can be good.

While the black-and-whites and the crowd (who were outstanding vocally throughout the game) were having a party in the snow-covered stadium, you still have to feel sorry for Viking somehow. The team we saw today has found a new spirit and is absolutely not the sort of team that deserves relegation. Despite playing in our own familiar Lerkendal, Viking gave us a harder nut to crack than so-called title competitors Brann did in their own home. Had Viking switched manager a few weeks earlier, they may not be in this mess right now.
However, they are in VERY VERY BIG troubles. With one game left, Viking is on a relegation spot and can only hope their rivals drop points next week.
The big winner at the bottom is Tromsø. Playing their last home game in a snow-covered and dark Alfheim Stadium far above the polar circle (Tromsø are actually the only professional team in Europe above the arctic circle), Tromsø won 1-0 versus Start and gained a very very important 3 points which now assures them a very good chance of maintainance in the top flight. While the Tromsø players celebrated the vital win by having a snowballs throwing at their core support, Viking knows that even a win may not be enough to avoid relegation, as Tromsø now have their fate in their own hands.
For Molde, 10 years ago our biggest rivals for the league title, it looks very very hopeless. Molde are last from bottom, and lost with a humiliating 8-0 score today at Stabaek... relegation is now almost sure for them. We win the league ourselves, while the old arch-rivals are going down to second division ; life can be full of simple joy sometimes.

Valerenga and Lillestrøm botrh won their away games today and may decide next week who claims the 3rd spot that entitles UEFA Cup participation. For Lyn that battle is over after a 1-2 loss versus Fredrikstad at Ullevaal.
But who cares anyway about the others. Rosenborg are champions again, and that's all that matters. After a one year break, the league trophy is heading home, home to Lerkendal. Manchester United, Barcelona, AC Milan, Bayern Munich: we are back, see you next year in the Champions League!
_________________
Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[attach]

Nice blog

Maybe you know it, but you can watch the complete replay of all the matches with the week ticket.