ÍF only I could think of a witty headline

Hopperational details
Date & Venue: 21 April 2011 at Fuglafjørður Stadium
Results & Competitions:
ÍF Kvinnur 1 HB Kvinnur 5 in the Steypakapping (a knockout-competition)
ÍF 0 KÍ 1 in the Meistaradeildin (top-tier for men)


Hopping:
Two games, one venue.  That now exhausts my possibilities for top-tier games on this trip, meaning that I have been to 8 of the 9 venues in the division (remembering that HB & B36 are ground sharers).  As the fixtures turned out, B71 Sandoy are the team I missed out on seeing, even as visitors.


These matches in one sentence each
HB Kvinnur took a significantly higher percentage of their chances and the challenge from the home team fell away after half-time as Marianna Jacobsen completed an impressive hat-trick.


KÍ scored an early goal and were able to defend their lead while threatening to score again on the break.


So what?
HB Kvinnur go through to a quarter final at home to Víkingur Kvinnur, who had a walk-over in their tie.


KÍ are top of the league after three rounds, with a 100% record, on goal difference from EB/Streymur, who beat 07 Vestur today.  In the other games, HB beat B71 and B36 drew with Víkingur.  Víkingur’s point mean that ÍF drop to 7th after their defeat.


The drama unfolds




In glorious Spring sunshine, and with flags for once hanging limp, HB Kvinnur took an early lead.  Marianna Jacobsen was brought down from behind in the box in the 3rd minute and Rudi Zachariassen converted the penalty, although keeper Hanna Poulsen got a touch.  0-1

Zachariassen's penalty hits the back of the net

The match looked to be running away from the hosts when a second was scored after 11 minutes.  Jacobsen was played through the middle, and she had time to steady herself before finishing with confidence.  0-2


ÍF Kvinnur got one back after 22 minutes through their player-of-the-match, Jensa Olsen.  She flicked the ball over the approaching keeper with the outside of her foot after a good through ball.  1-2  The clip shows some action from the first half.




The game hinged on the last 5 minutes of the half.  After 40 minutes, Zachariassen, who had caused problems throughout the game, burst through the home defence in the left channel and finished superbly high into the far corner for her second goal.  1-3


ÍF should have scored immediately in reply, but a header came back off the post, and there was another clear shooting chance before the whistle.  As it was, HB took a two-goal cushion into the interval.  1-3 at half-time

As the second half began, ÍF pressed forward and Olsen had a couple of half-chances with shots from distance.  Then a flowing HB move involving Steintóra Joensen and Hildur Egilsdóttir led to Jacobsen’s shot creeping agonisingly past the post.  The fourth goal came on 68 minutes.  It was similar to the second - Jacobsen took the central route and was strong and composed as she finished superbly.  1-4


She completed her hat-trick nine minutes from the end with a shot off the bar as the ball fell to her 18 yards out from a corner. In the end it was comfortable enough for HB who won this game without any major scares.  Final score 1-5

Blue & White v Red & White - anyone else getting Subbuteo flashbacks from childhood?

In the following game, table toppers KÍ had the better of the opening few minutes.  One shot fizzed narrowly wide and ÍF goalkeeper Jákup Mikkelsen had to pull off a smart-one handed save from a free-kick.  The visitors duly took the lead with a goal from number 13 after thirteen minutes.   Kristoffer Jakobsen took one good touch on a through ball and scored easily.  0-1


My first clip is timed just after this, as ÍF immediately went in search of an equaliser.  




Mid-way through the half they had two chances in quick succession.  Jan Ellingsgaard hit the bar with a looping shot and Christian Muomaife headed just over.  They left themselves vulnerable to swift KÍ breaks and Aleksandar Jovevic had to take a yellow card for a cynical trip on one such occasion.  The resulting free-kick only led to a corner, which also came to nothing.

KÍ’s Høgni Zachariassen showed that the honourable art of centre-back shooting is alive and well.  Jovevic rolled the ball to him in space and the ball-boy may reach puberty before he finds that one.  As I was trying to count the number of youngsters around me wearing some sort of English Premiership item of clothing, (I lost count), ÍF’s Bogi Løkin had a header pushed away just before the whistle.  0-1 at half-time


The second half started as a midfield shutout, with no real chance of note until the hour mark when another ÍF header went over, this time from Uni Petersen.  The home side had plenty of possession but again they nearly conceded on the break, as Jakobsen set up Bárður Heinesen but only for Mikkelsen to save well once again.  ÍF then forced the KÍ defence into a panicky clearance from the 6-yard box, before Jakobsen missed a great chance for his second goal.


As the final whistle drew nearer, KÍ’s tactics changed and they looked to run down the clock.  Jakobsen limped off after a couple of heavy challenges, and ÍF had one more good chance in stoppage time as a shot went narrowly wide from 20 yards.  The win was greeted joyfully by the travelling support in a crowd of around 500.  My final clip is taken from the dying seconds as I moved back to try to capture the feel of the arena.  Final score 0-1




Post-match entertainment
A drive along the old road from Fuglafjorður to Leirvík in gorgeous sunshine, pausing only to look at the site of the Islands’ only hot spring (well, warm at 18 degrees Celsius) and for the pastry of the day.

Learn Faroese through football

Steward

Hósdagur  Thursday
Sól  Sun
Lot  Light breeze
Fjorðingsfinalur Quarter-final
Hálvfinalur  Semi-final












What Next?
A number of possibilities for Saturday to be investigated which should allow me to visit at least one more venue.  The most likely is Argir for AB’s game with FC Suðuroy in the second tier.  I really don't want to think about the flight back on Sunday, the laundry on Monday, and the in-tray on Tuesday.  As ever, thanks for your interest.  I have tried to explain the concept of "groundhopping" to the local supporters, and they are more than ready to welcome an invasion of English eccentrics.

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!