346

Sport

Superliga season going down to the wire

admin
April 25th, 2012


This article is more than 12 years old.

With six games to go, perennial powerhouse FC Copenhagen are only six points clear with a potential title decider coming up in a week’s time

On 10 June 2001, Sibusiso Zuma chested a football into the air and rose majestically into the blue summer sky to acrobatically overhead kick it over a disbelieving Mogens Krogh and into the far side of the net. The crowd went ballistic, some of the players fell to their knees in awe, and commentator Carsten Werge might even have crapped his pants a bit. 

Zuma won the league for FCK that day with arguably the most spectacular goal in Danish history against arch nemesis Brøndby with one game to go. Surely it couldn’t get better than that. It didn’t. This time last season, FC Copenhagen had already won the league. They ended up winning it by a whopping 26 points. 

In fact, not since the 2003-04 season has any team won the league by less than five points. That year FCK nipped arch-rivals Brøndby by a single point. The lack of an exciting finish has plagued the Superliga ever since, and although FCK maintain a six-point advantage over this year’s surprise package FC Nordsjælland, a loss away to FCN next week on Wednesday could see the advantage cut to three points. 

The remaining schedule is relatively easy for both teams (see factfile). FCK have a tough game away at FC Midtjylland while FCN’s biggest test may be an away fixture at Brøndby in the same week. 

As for key injuries, FCN will probably be without Mikkel Beckman, who is nursing a heel injury, but perhaps their biggest loss may be their young national team defender Andreas Bjelland, who is highly doubtful due to a hamstring injury.

FCK just lost solid Lars Jakobsen for a week, so he is doubtful for the FCN clash, as is Thomas Kristensen, while Thomas Delaney and Peter Larsson are out for the season. They do, however, have young Zanka Jørgensen back from a long-term knee injury and it should be pointed out that the FCK squad is far deeper than FCN’s. 

One final consideration would be that although FCN have home advantage, their supporter numbers are notoriously low. In contrast, FCK fans travel well and could be vocal enough to make the atmosphere rabidly FCK friendly.

Could there be an exciting finish on the horizon perhaps? Let’s hope so, because the closest thing to excitement recently has been the odd relegation battle. But still, HB Køge versus Lyngby just doesn’t inspire much when it comes to the ‘crapping of the pants’ scenario.

The last time a side outside the New Firm won the league was in the 2007-08 season when Aalborg BK stunned the Danish football community and bested traditional bigwigs FCK and Brøndby. Since then FCK have won three titles on the trot and are eyeing a fourth, despite losing nearly half their team last year to transfers and retirements. 

And let’s not forget that this is the most lucrative Superliga title … ever. The winners will automatically qualify for the Champions League group stage, forgoing the qualification process – the first time a Danish club has been afforded this luxury. For FCK to miss out on this bounty – particularly after earning the bulk of the UEFA coefficients that have made this possible – would be a difficult pill to swallow. 

FCK owes much of its recent success to the CL. The financial windfall that it provides is invaluable, and every time FCK do well – last season they made it past the group stage and qualified for the knockout phase for the first time ever – their Superliga opponents have more reason to worry.  

Should FCK win the Superliga this year, they will only further solidify their dominance. Good news for FCK perhaps, but bad news for the rest as their dominance will only produce a boring league. So while it’s true FCN might have poor home attendances, next Wednesday their support is likely to be national. 


Share

Most popular

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to receive The Daily Post

















Latest Podcast

A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”