[ad_1]
The “Club of the Year” is three victories away from a completely unexpected promotion, but the high number of games after covid-19 in the squad is worrying.
A hesitant sprint of the season is coming to an end, also for teams that still have a chance to move up from the Obosliga.
Among them is Åsane, the club that has been named club of the year at level two by Norsk Toppfotball and the league sponsor, Obos. The league’s top scorer, Henrik Udahl, belongs to the same club and has been awarded the award as this year’s breakthrough from the Norwegian Football Association and Eurosport. In addition, Åsane’s coach Morten Røssland has been named Coach of the Year.
Saturday 13.00: Follow the Ranheim – Åsane qualifying drama directly
Despite various awards and tributes, it is largely Åsane’s team machinery that has led them to just three games of a second consecutive promotion. Elite series games in 2021 are still possible.
Erik Huseklepp, TV 2 soccer expert and former Åsane player, describes the team as follows:
– What they have achieved this year is enormously impressive. And what has impressed the most is the way they have done it. Åsane has a style of play to which all players are extremely loyal. They are extremely ball-oriented, and it is not the individual players but the collective that is decisive for the good results they achieve, Huseklepp tells Nettavisen.
Also read: The rumor spread quickly online. Now Kurtovic strikes back
– Abnormal in Norway
The former Fire and Norway player also played for several foreign clubs in 2011 and 2012. Huseklepp believes that Åsane is the only one who plays with such a clear and successful style in top-level football in this country.
The 36-year-old believes Ranheim is a clear favorite in Saturday’s battle at Trondheim, especially given the extremely difficult setup Åsane has been through lately.
But he doesn’t want to rule out Bergen’s chances of going one step further in the qualifying game.
Huseklepp believes that Åsane has the potential to be even better, if the team manages to use the big rooms behind rival teams who are constantly tempted to push them too high.
– Does Åsane have something to do at the Eliteserien if he wins the next matches?
– If they had recovered, they would at least have backed down other Norwegian teams. They play football that is abnormal in Norway, they are extreme in relationships, and they consistently play from their own half. It almost seems as if they want opponents to push them as high as possible, Huseklepp notes.
If you want to highlight a player from Åsane who you consider particularly important, the choice falls on midfielder Kristoffer Valsvik (25). Sogningen is the younger brother of the somewhat better known Rosenborg midfielder Gustav Valsvik (27), who is currently on loan to Stabæk.
Also read: Ravages for Åsane in the Obosligaen: – I had to call to test myself in training
Big differences
As types of players, it may seem like Vik’s bread duo couldn’t have been more different. Åsane’s midfield profile is an expert in many other things besides brother RBK’s air force, ball recovery and punts in front of his own goal.
Coach Morten Røssland gives an explanation of the team’s most used constellation in central midfield:
– We have a block there that complements very well. We have an eminent football brain in Simen Lassen, about whom Eurosport has talked a lot. In many ways, it is part of the brain of the team and controls the game of the press. And then you have the typical, feel free to call it “Åsane’s DNA”, ie Kristoffer Valsvik, describes Røssland in a conversation with Nettavisen.
Åsane’s successful coach explains:
– He is incredibly good at establishing the terms of our attacking game. He’s the one who drops and takes the pressure off, keeps his composure and is the one who turns the game around. He is the player who hits the passes and the one who scores 2-2 with a long shot. A player who sets the important 2-1 penalty. Valsvik is a completely raw winner, and he’s a great fit with Åsane because he’s incredibly risk-averse. We too, points out this year’s coach in the Obosligaen.
Røssland says Valsvik gave away three balls that led to goals against when Åsane lost to Tromsø earlier this year. But according to the coach, the 25-year-old again seemed absolutely crucial for Åsane to win the next match after the loss to TIL.
– First of all, he is a very nice person. He takes on a lot of responsibility both on and off the field. A man who is whole wood. You go to work and there is never nonsense. But it is demanding in the sense that it is a winner, and we like that, continues the Åsane coach.
Decided on Christmas Eve
Three clubs are still in the running for the promotion final at Christmas, where the team that finishes 14th in the Elite Series will be the rival. The surprise Åsane must be said that he has had it a bit tougher than other clubs in level two lately.
On Wednesday, the Bergen team went from 0-1 to 3-1 in a difficult qualifying match with unknown playing conditions against Raufoss. A home win at Vestlandshallen ensured Åsane the chance to play one more step in the away standings against Ranheim.
Also read: The captain has played his last game with Rosenborg
Like Erik Huseklepp, coach Røssland has left the match schedule that Åsane has had to complete recently. He fears that the stress could deprive them of the opportunity to play their best.
– If our bodies are not so degraded due to the fight against stress and disease, I think we will coincide with Sogndal and Ranheim. But it is a big question about the physical. Mentally we are quite well, there I am not worried at all. But physically, we must be so honest to say that we are not in full control now after four games in a week, Åsane’s coach tells Nettavisen.
The game against Raufoss was the team’s fourth in nine days. Two rounds of the obosliga, which were scheduled for November 21 and 28, were postponed until December 7 and 10. This is because the pandemic and Covid-19 during this period hit Åsane’s team hard.
– It’s been a surreal week. I don’t think everyone understands the difference between being quarantined and being isolated. In the case of quarantine, there is usually one who is sick, while the rest of the team is in quarantine. So you often train, recover and rest, says Røssland.
Also read: (+) Riise opens for coaching job at Kvik Halden
The isolation, to which Åsane had to send a large part of the barn when the infection was a fact, is something much more extensive for a football club.
– Then you’re sick. That’s a bit, plus you can’t go out to exercise. What happens in ten to twelve days, depending slightly on how long you have symptoms, is body breakdown rather than recovery.
Eight straight from sickness to battle
That a significant amount of days in isolation is difficult in a hectic season, at least Åsane’s players have experienced, the coach emphasizes. Up to 14 of them were sick with covid-19 at the end of November and the first week of December.
On December 7, a reduced Åsane lost 1-4 at home against Strømmen. An agreement that the club felt obliged to carry out with players who were still affected after the outbreak. The entire Obosligaen must have been postponed again if they didn’t line up for that match.
Also read: The starting player coincides with another club in the Eliteserien
– We felt a bit of that at the time. If we hadn’t played, maybe everything would have smoked. I felt a little like there was an inhuman pressure on us. For us to go out onto the field with eight players who had been ill was in the name of hindsight a terribly bad decision, says Røssland.
However, Åsane has seen an increase in performance and results during the intense past week, where matches have come close to hail.
Three days after the defeat to Strømmen, the team from Bergen’s northernmost district claimed a 2-0 win on three points in the away game against Jerv. It certainly happened after many ups and downs, a postponement and a switch from Levermyr in Grimstad, with a lot of rain, to artificial turf at Sør Arena in Kristiansand.
They then finished the Obosligaen counterattacking after trailing by two goals against Sogndal on the road, and scoring a point at home. He ensured Åsane took his 23rd point of the season, one more than they got on his own artificial turf.
Better to leave?
According to coach Røssland, the explanation for the biggest points caught away from home is very natural. He experiences that opposing teams take much more into account the way Åsane plays when they visit Myrdal.
– They are low, we have to play established, and then they execute the transitions. And it’s hard to defend yourself. Whereas when we find them out, they want to dominate the games. Then we have open games that dress us very, very well.
– It is much easier to play Åsane football when teams emerge and want to stand their ground, or push and take the initiative in matches, Røssland points out.
Also read: (+) When Ståle Solbakken called his new assistant, he only said three things
As an example, Røssland points to the away deals against Sogndal and Tromsø, where he has noticed that Åsane finished with around 70 percent of ball possession.
The orange jerseys have the ball even more in the team this year than last season at level three in Norwegian football, the coach notes. Another difference is that rival teams are better trained tactically and are better at neutralizing Åsane, especially when they pay more attention to visits to Bergen.
The almost historically dense series of games in December still means that the Bergen team would prefer to play the next games at home. A position as number five in the Obosligaen still means that the team now has to go to Trondheim to face Ranheim. If they win Saturday’s deal there, they must also play a new away game in Sogndal for the right to face the club that finishes third-last in the Eliteserien.
Travel burden aside, it doesn’t have to be a bad thing for an Åsane team that thrives away from home.
The promotion of the PostNord league last year was also secured through qualifying games. Then Røssland’s team won both away games, against Kvik Halden and Notodden respectively.
The sea
Media: Zlatan will be out the rest of the year
The sea
Solbakken had Lewandowski ahead of Messi and Ramos in the FIFA national team
Advertising
They must call at least 40 Lotto millionaires on Saturday
