Feast Your Eyes on Eysturoy

It's all in the preparation ...

Hopperational details
Date & Venue:  Monday 11 April 2011 at Svangaskarð, Toftir
Result:  B68 Toftir 3 ÍF 4
Competition:  Meistaradeildin


Hopping:
Third game of the tour.  Although I was able to walk into and photograph the adjacent national stadium, that one will not be added to the operational listing under my rules of engagement.  I have to see a competitive game there, not just visit.  I should also say that, unlike many other spectators, at no time did I watch from the car.  That’s just wrong.


Pre-match entertainment
I visited some villages in northern Eysturoy and found another ground that I now hope to go back to later in the trip for a youth game.  The day brought sunshine, hail, wind and rain in various amounts but I was able to walk for 2hrs before a very scenic drive to Toftir and a pre-match pastry.

The coastline near Eiði in northern Eysturoy

The descent to Funningar and its famous church (below)

 

This match in one sentence
The visitors will be delighted with three points from an entertaining game in very difficult early-season conditions, in which at least three of the goals were wind-assisted.


So what?
ÍF are 3rd and B68 are 6th in the fairly meaningless table after one round of games.


The drama unfolds 
It turned out that this was the most wind-affected fixture of those seen so far, and even some of the locals agreed that conditions were difficult.  It would have been worse - the first face-shredding hailstorm hit the ground just before kickoff, and the second fitted neatly into the half-time interval.  Sheltering in the car from ice pellets moving at the speed of meteorites IS allowed if play is not in progress.


B68 took the lead in the 9th minute with a well-taken goal from Ibrahima Camara, as captured in the first clip below.  1-0







The second clip is a scene-setter taken before the wind equalised after 30 minutes.  This has been recorded for posterity as an own goal by the home keeper, Tórður Thomsen.  A corner from the left wing swerved perfectly and ended up in the far corner of the net.  1-1

This corner-kick got to this point in the space-time continuum...

... and two frames of autoshooting later was in the back of the net!

Ndendi Guéye should have put B68 in front shortly afterwards but fizzed a low shot narrowly wide.  Then this deflected free-kick from Christian Muornaife gave the lead to the visitors after 43 minutes. 1-2





However, just before the half-time whistle and the arrival of a weather front fresh in from the North Atlantic, Christian Andreasen’s free-kick for B68, meant as a cross, albeit a curling one, looped across the box and broke all rules of conventional physics by ending up in the net.  His goal celebration was an embarrassed shrug, I kid you not.  To be fair, he had a good game and was unlucky to be on a losing side in the end.  2-2 at half-time


The weather was gradually worsening.  The referee had to take a lenient view over free-kicks - if he had insisted on a stationary ball then we’d still be there now playing stoppage time.  For some set-pieces, a team-mate was deployed as a ball-holder, removing his hand at the last moment as the boot came in.


After 52 minutes, ÍF took the lead from the penalty spot.  I am not sure why, to be honest.  I thought the linesman on the far side had flagged for offside, and I am guessing at a handball.  Muornaife stepped up for his second goal of the game.  2-3


Five minutes later, the visitors went further ahead.  Chaos ensued from a set-piece.  Danjál á Lakjuni’s first attempt was blocked but he smashed home a shot from a few metres out when it fell back to him.  2-4  Then this happened ...





So, another wind-assisted corner helped B68 pull one back.  I had stationed myself near there with my goal-line technology in anticipation of such an event.  It has been given as another own-goal in the record books, unluckily for ÍF captain Bartal Eliasen, who otherwise had a splendid game at the back.  3-4


B68 started to use the wind as a twelfth man as they battled to equalise, but ÍF held firm and join the four other teams with three points from their opening game.  Final score 3-4


What I learned today
Statues of a mother and a child looking out to sea have a poignant meaning in these parts.  I came across more than one example in gardens of remembrance that commemorated the loss of life - always male - at sea.  The first pic is from Eiði and the others are from Nes, near Toftir.

Learn Faroese through football
Mánudagur  Sunday
Stoður  Standing (i.e. league table) 
Brottspark  Penalty-kick
Mál  Goal
Sjálvmál  Own-goal
Málmaður  Goalkeeper
Hvassur vindur  Near gale (force 7)


What Next?
My route through top-tier games is now provisionally set as follows, although I hope to see at least one lower league, women’s or youth game if time and travel allows.  Tuesday looks like being a football-free day but I hope to find something somewhere on Wednesday.  I will be keeping up the pastry count whatever happens.  That's dedication.

• Viking v NSI on Friday 15th
• HB v 07 Vestur on Saturday 16th
• KI v B68 on Sunday 17th
• NSI v B68 on Wednesday 20th
• IF v KI on Thursday 21st

I conclude this post with my contribution to the library of European floodlights.  The electric ones aren't spectacular until nature gives a hand.  Thanks again for your interest!