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VIENNA (VG) On Wednesday night, fulfill a childhood dream in Austria. But the daily life of the Belgian clubs of Mats Møller Dæhli (25) is turning into a little nightmare.
SELECTED: Mats Møller Dæhli is the man who will lead the national emergency team with the captain’s bandage around his arm. Here at Tuesday’s training session in Vienna with Jørgen Skjelvik and Ruben Gabrielsen. Photo: EXPA / Florian Schroetter
“It quickly becomes football,” is a so-called cliché. The former Manchester United talent can sign him.
He said it as it was when VG asked him about daily life in the clubs in Genk on Tuesday night:
– I have been removed from the team for the last five weeks, but the form is good. I have trained everything and I have no injury problems.
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Møller Dæhli becomes captain of the emergency national team: – A dream come true
The boy from Oslo was more animated when he spoke of the captain’s role as “a dream come true.” That “when Norway calls, we introduce ourselves.”
Exactly a year on the day that separates their 23rd and 24th international matches, and there’s a reason for that. The transition from life as a fan favorite in St. Pauli to the fringes of Belgian Genk has been a painful one.
Huge disappointment
360 minutes in eight games is all Dæhli has had since he was bought by former club Sander Berge in January. He has scored a goal, just before the close of Europe in March.
This fall has hurt worse: Dæhli has played 20 minutes of league football since August, hasn’t had playing time since September and hasn’t been in the squad since October 3. That was not how he envisioned the future when he was named Manchester United Academy Player of the Year in 2012.
– It was a huge disappointment, to be completely honest, read the verdict of Belgian journalist Kjell Doms, who closely follows Genk for the major newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws.
Dæhli was picked up by the German Hannes Wolf. The former Stuttgart and Hamburg coach knew the Norwegian well after seeing him in St. Pauli. I wanted him as a playmaker and as a workhorse on an offense. “Counterpress”style without the ball.
The first months were ruined by injuries. And when Dæhli started to find form and scored his first goal, the corona virus effectively stopped all of football.
– I would be worried
A Wolf in distress gave him the opportunity again after the break, but the performance failed. The bench was cold.
– He gained trust, but he just doesn’t come off as the guy who can improve a team. Better as a first defender than as a playmaker. He can run and push, but he never makes the decisive pass. I don’t know if he has a future here, says Doms.
After Wolf was fired in September, Genk has had three different coaches: Danish Jess Thorup, Belgian Domenico Olivieri in a temporary position and now Dutchman John van den Brom. None of them seem to trust Dæhli.
– I would worry if it was Dæhli who ran my national team. He’s a decent supporter, but he’s not a great leader. I hope he doesn’t chase me with a bat for this, Doms says and laughs.
The journalist is much more impressed with Dæhli’s compatriot Kristian Thorstvedt, who arrived in Genk at the same time.
– He’s a much bigger leader than Dæhli in Genk, says about the former Viking player.
Thorstvedt has started the last eight games for Genk, who has five wins and two draws in the last seven.
– Thorstvedt was good. He is a “Motherfucker” in the countryside. He’s a bastard, one who annoys the other layer, gets under the opponent’s skin. It also has quality. A very good player who works from box to box. I’m much more impressed with him, says Doms.
But conditions have never been better for Dæhli to take advantage of a bleak situation. If he leads the national emergency team to a miraculous triumph in Vienna on Wednesday night, he will be inscribed in Norwegian football history forever.
And then Belgian journalists are almost only allowed to be Belgian journalists.
