UEFA Champions League - 1st qualifying round - 1st leg
02 July - Estadi Comunal - Andorra la Vella
F.C. Lusitans (And) - EB/Streymur 2-2 (2-0)
1-0 24' Cristian Martinez (pen)
2-0 29' Cristian Martinez
2-1 67' Arnbjørn Hansen
2-2 69' Levi Hanssen (pen)
Being two goals down, EB/Streymur looked to be on their way out of the Champions League when right back Gert Hansen was sent off just after the hour-mark and Lusitans were awarded a penalty. But the penalty was missed, and seven minutes later, EB/Streymur had equalized.
Lusitans dominated the first half and took the lead with a brace from midfielder Cristian Martinez after 24 and 29 minutes - the second from the penalty spot.
And after 62 minutes Lusitans were awarded yet another penalty with the chance to make it 3-0 while Gert Hansen was sent off after a second bookable offence. But instead of letting Martinez completing his hat trick, they chose to let Bruninho to take the penalty this time (we can only guess the foul had been committed against Martinez), but the Portuguese missed from the spot.
Just five minutes later, striker Arnbjørn Hansen, who had come off the bench from the start of the second half, pulled a goal back from Hans Pauli Samuelsen’s corner.
And two minutes later, defender Oscar Sonejee brought down Hansen in the danger area which awarded EB/Streymur a penalty which Levi Hanssen safely converted to square the match.
With two away-goals in the bag, EB/Streymur will have a great chance to go through to the second qualifying round. The second leg will be played at Tórsvøllur in Tórshavn in a week, on 9 July.
Video highlights below:
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UEFA Champions League - 1st qualifying round - 2nd leg
09 July: - Tórsvøllur Stadium, Tórshavn
EB/Streymur vs F.C. Lusitans (And) 5-1 (2-0)
1-0 03' Arnbjørn Hansen
2-0 37' Levi Hanssen
2-1 66' Louis dos Reis
3-1 72' Gunnar Zachariasen
4-1 85' Levi Hanssen
5-1 93' Leif Niclasen
EB/Streymur got a dream-start in the second leg against Lusitans with a goal within three minutes, but having missed a sitter to 3-0 in the second half, 10-men Lusitans pulled a goal back to bring back excitement into the game as they kept threatening for about ten minutes before EB/Streymur restored their two-goal cushion with twenty minutes remaining to go on and win 5-1.
EB/Streymur took the lead just before the hour hand had made three rounds when striker Arnbjørn Hansen headed home from a corner.
EB/Streymur continued to dominate, but took a breather after 20 minutes and allowed the visitors to seize the initiative. But although Lusitans had the majority of possession during that period, they never managed to put the home-team under any pressure and Réne Tórgarð, who was back in the EB/Streymur goal after having been absent in the first leg, never had to make any save.
But EB/Streymur seemed to have settled any nerves when they doubled their lead in the 38th minute when Hansen was quicker than the goalkeeper and timed his square-ball to Levi Hanssen to perfection to tap-in from close range.
And when Lusitans had forward Manuel Machado sent off ten minutes after the break, the road for the second qualifying round seemed clear for EB/Streymur.
EB/Streymur were close to 3-0 on the hour-mark when Arnbjørn Hanssen was released and got clear on goal, but the Lusitans goalkeeper just managed to make the block before Hansen go past him.
And five minutes later, Levi Hanssen should have decided matters when he was played completely clear, but somehow he managed to hit the post when he had the goal at his mercy.
Instead it was Lusitans who got back into the match a couple of minutes later directly on a free kick from 20 metres a bit to the left where Louis dos Reis with his left foot caught Tórgarð on his wrong foot as he had just moved from the far side of the goal where the shot went.
For a while EB/Streymur seemed nervous while Lusitans managed to sustain the pressure, and Tórgarð was stretched to make a diving save to deny the Andorran team the equalizer.
But after ten minutes, the pressure wore off again, and after 72 minutes the tie was effectively decided when Gunnar Zachariasen made it 3-1 just three minutes after he had come on, finishing from a rebound off the goalkeeper after Leif Niclasen had made the initial shot from the attack that Zachariasen had been the architect behind.
Levi Hanssen then had a penalty saved by goalkeeper Ferran Pol, but Hansen repaired the damage himself a minute later when he scored from twice the distance of the penalty spot.
In added time Leif Niclasen added salt to the wounds of Lusitans as he got clear to make it 5-1 which is the biggest win of any Faroese team in European competition.
The reward for the win is a tie against Georgian champions Dinamo Tbilisi where the 1st leg is played in Georgia in just a week with the return leg taking place a week later.
UEFA Europa League - 1st qualifying round - 1st leg
03 July, Tórsvøllur Stadium, Tórshavn:
ÍF Fuglafjørður - F.C. Linfield (N. Ire) 0-2 (0-0)
0-1 68' Andy Waterworth
0-2 74' Philip Lowry
ÍF should have gotten more from the match than a 2-0 defeat against an average-looking Linfield team, and who knows what it could have been, had half of the ÍF team not been away on vacation.
ÍF had the edge for most of the first half, and were close to taking the lead after ten minutes when left back Jan Ellingsgaard got clear on the left, although from an acute angle, but Linfield’s goalkeeper Jonathan Tuffey blocked the effort.
Although ÍF for the most had more of the posession, the scoring opportunities were evenly spread, and Linfield had their best opportunity of the first half after 23 minutes with a free header at the far post, but it went straight on ÍF goalkeeper Haldgrímur Hansen; the 18-year old who replaced Jákup Mikkelsen who is on vacation.
Hansen had to be at his best to keep Linfield at bay ten minutes through the second half with an outstanding save from Linfield’s best opportunity of the match so far.
ÍF then dominated for the minutes of an hour, and Ellingsgaard was extremely close to scoring from close range, but instead ÍF had a laps of concentration for the next ten minutes which cost them two goals, and likely progress fro the second round.
On 68 minutes Andy Waterworth got clear after a long pass forward to make it 1-0 for the visitors, and six minutes later, Philip Lowry, who had replaced goalscorer Waterworth, made it 2-0 three minutes after coming off the bench.
In the dying minutes, Høgni Madsen was close to pulling a goal back for ÍF with a header on the post.
It will now take a miracle for ÍF to go through to the next stage.
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UEFA Europa League - 1st qualifying round - 2nd leg
10 July - Windsor Park
Linfield F.C. (N. Ire) vs ÍF Fuglafjørður 3-0 (1-0)
1-0 40' Michael Gault
2-0 55' Jamie Mulgrew
3-0 60' Philip Lowry
ÍF were never near of making any comeback after their 2-0 defeat at home and in fact failed to create any decent scoring opportunity throughout the 90 minutes where Linfield didn’t have to work that hard to comfortably win 3-0 on the night and 5-0 on aggregate.
Linfield took the lead after 40 minutes when centre-back and captain Michael Gault headed over Jákup Mikklelsen (who was back in the ÍF goal) from a free kick.
Ten minutes after the re-start, Jamie Mulgrew netted to double the score after a through-ball from Peter Thompson. Just five minutes later, Philip Lowry made it 3-0 to the home-team, scoring at the near-post from a tight angle.
Linfield will now go on to meet Greek team Skoda Xanthi FC in the second qualifying round.
- As one Linfield supporter said: "it will be lada fun..."
UEFA Europa League - 1st qualifying round - 1st leg
04 July - Hásteinsvøllur, Vestmannaeyjar
ÍBV Vestmannaeyjar - HB Tórshavn 1-1 (1-0)
1-0 16' Gunnar Már Guðmundsson
1-1 65' Johan Troest Davidsen
With a 1-1 draw away to ÍBV, HB now have a great chance to go through to the second qualifying round of the Europa League.
The home-team were close to taking the lead after eight minutes when a shot hit HB-defender Alex do Santos in the stomach and bounced on the post.
Five minutes later, HB thought they had scored on Fróði Benjaminsen's header from a corner, but the referee decided to give goalkeeper David James a free kick.
Instead it was ÍBV who took the lead just three minutes later when Gunnar Már Guðmundsson turned to fire past Teitur Gestsson after a pass from Ian Jeffs.
ÍBV had more of the possession in the first half, but without creating many clear-cut chances.
ÍBV also kept majority of possession in the second half and it was against the run of play when central defender Johan Trioest Davidsen equalized for HB with a header from Christian Mouritsen’s free kick after 65 minutes.
HB fought hard and for the most kept ÍBV from scoring opportunities in the remaining 25 minutes to escape with a valuable draw and an away-goal and a real opportunity to qualify for the next round of the competition.
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UEFA Europa League - 1st qualifying round - 2nd leg
11 July - Tórsvøllur stadium, Tórshavn
HB Tórshavn - ÍBV Vestmannaeyjar (Ice) 0-1 (0-0)
0-1 90' Arnar Bragi Bergsson (pen)
HB Tórshavn on fire in the first thirty minutes of the game rue missed chances as they crash out of the Europa League after an 89th minute penalty for ÍBV Vestmannaeyjar.
HB fired on all cylinders in the first half an hour and outplayed their opponents and created a whole host of scoring opportunities and could so easily have been in front at half time with maybe several goals, although only an outstanding double-save from HB goalkeeper Teitur Gestsson kept ÍBV at bay a couple of minutes before the half-time whistle.
But as mentioned, it was in the first 30 minutes that HB could and should have decided the match where Bárður Olsen had the first go with a low drive after six minutes that didn´t bother David James in the ÍBV goal too much, however.
Shortly after, right back Jógvan Rói Davidsen speeded down the right flank and put in a flat cross in front of goal where Fróði Benjaminsen fired just wide from the edge of the goal area, and moments later Benjaminsen again was in a position to shoot from around the penalty spot, but just wide again.
After twenty minutes, Christian R. Mouritsen had a clear header from close range, but headed over the crossbar.
Also Símun Samulesen went close with an angled shot, but James made an outstanding save to deny HB.
Some of those chances had been really big.
But after half an hour, HB’s pressure wore off and ÍBV started to put HB under some pressure. Maybe HB was feeling some fatigue, as they had played in an unusually high tempo.
However, HB still had more to offer up front, and Bárður Heinesen took advantage of a slip in the ÍBV defence to get clear, although from a wide angle, which resulted in a shot into the side-netting.
And then a few minutes later, just before the interval, HB goalkeeper Gestsson made that double save from Víðir Þorvarðarson and Tonny Mawejje to keep the score line at 0-0 at half-time.
The second half was quite different, where it were the visitors who had the majority of the possession, but without seeming to pose any real threat up front.
But some half-chances were create however, and also a really good one around the hour-mark when a clear Þorvarðarson headed over from close range.
A quarter of an hour befoore the end of normal time, HB nearly made an owngoal when Alex dos Santos headed on his own crossbar from a corner.
HB had a couple of attempts on counter attacks, and in one incident James just managed to intercept the square ball from Samuelsen from the left, and in another attempt Heini Vatnsdal was just too short to slide the inviting flat pass into the goal.
But just as it was looking like a famous night for HB – the clock was showing 88:30 – HB failed to clear the ball from the danger area, and an ÍBV player is allowed to cut through the HB defence and goes down in the penalty area and was awarded a penalty. – It looked cheap! (Really )-:
The clock was showing 90 minutes when Arnar Bragi Bergsson scored from the spot.
HB never really managed to put any pressure on ÍBV in the three minutes of added time.
It could and should have been a memorable night for HB in what was one of the most entertaining Europa Cup matches ever in the Faroes, but it ended in agony instead.
UEFA Europa League - 1st qualifying round - 1st leg
04 July - Svangaskarð, Toftir
Víkingur - F.C. Inter Turku 1-1 (0-1)
0-1 20' Ville Nikkari
1-1 75' Finnur Justinussen
Víkingur are still alive in the Europa League after a 1-1 draw against Finnish opposition Inter Turku, although the Víkingur-players will have to play they match of their lives to get the necessary result away from home in a week.
As a whole, it was an even match where Víkingur succeeded well from keeping the visitors from creating scoring opportunities, but Turku took the lead after 20 minutes when Ville Nikkari headed home from a corner.
Víkingur were close to the equalizer a couple of minutes before the halfhour-mark, but Finnur Justinussen headed over from the great opportunity.
Víkingur had the upper hand in the first quarter of an hour of the second half before a dull period, but with 20 minutes remaining, Víkingur turned on the pressure which paid dividend after 75 minutes when Justinussen equalized with a header from Bárður Hansen’s cross.
With ten minutes remaining, Sølvi Vatnhamar was sent off for Víkingur, but they hung on to the draw, surviving a couple of close scares in the dying minutes.
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UEFA Europa League - 1st qualifying round - 2nd leg
11 July - Turku Stadium, Turku
F.C. Inter Turku (Fin) vs Víkingur 0-1 (0-0)
0-1 78' Hanus Jacobsen (pen)
We said last week that Víkingur had to play the match of their lives to go through to the second qualifying round of the Europa League, and that’s exactly what they did in the 1-0 win against Inter Turku away from home which is arguably the best result for a Faroese club in Europe.
When B36 Tórshavn made progress in 2005 and 2006, it was against much lesser teams. But the coach every time a Faroese team has progressed (except from HB’s technical advancement in 1993) has been Sigfríður Clementsen who took over from Jógvan Martin Olsen about ten days ago. And EB/Streymur’s win against Lusitans on Tuesday was so ridiculously easy, that it never really could go wrong.
After the home-team had started better in the match today, Víkingur gradually took over, and then the game went back and forth. But Víkingur had the better scoring opportunities in the first half, and especially Finnur Justinussen was close twice.
Víkingur got the winning goal on a penalty 12 minutes from time after the referee deemed that Hans Jørgen Djurhuus had been pulled down in connection with a corner. Hanus Jacobsen converted safely from the spot.
However, Turku had a glorious opportunity to equalize a minute later when they were awarded a penalty for hands against Atli Gregersen, but the shot from the spot smashed against the crossbar.
Turku rallied in the last 10 minutes, and Gezza Turi had to be at his best to deny the equalizer, but the pressure also gave opportunities at the other end where Víkingur went close twice as the match was drawing to a close.
Víkingur will now meet Rumanian side FC Petrolul Ploiesti on 18 July (away) and 25 July (home).
UEFA Champions League - 2nd qualifying round - 1st leg
16 July - Boris Paichadze National Stadium - Tbilisi
After EB/Streymur had missed a sitter to 2-2 on the hour-mark, it was as they succumbed to fatigue in the humid conditions and the floodgates opened to allow Dinamo Tibilisi to score four goals in nine minutes to go on and to win 6-1 and virtually book their place in the third qualification round of the Champions League.
Dinamo Tibilisi (Geo) - EB/Streymur 6-1 (2-1)
40' 1 - 0 Ustaritz
42' 1 - 1 Glisic (owngoal)
43' 2 - 1 J. Dvali
72' 3 - 1 E. Grigalashvili
75' 4 - 1 Xisco
77' 5 - 1 Vouho
81' 6 - 1 Vouho
EB/Streymur were eying a 0-0 score-line at halftime when Dinamo Tbilisi spoiled the optimism five minute from the break when a cross from the left was headed downwards to beat EB/Streymur goalkeeper Réne Tórgarð who was a bit slow to react.
But EB/Streymur restored parity just a couple of minutes later with a fortunate owngoal when defender Glisic headed into his owngoal from Levi Hanssen’s cross from the left.
However, EB/Streymur’s joy was extremely short-lived as Dinamo re-established their lead within a minute, attacking down he right hand side through Xisco who got into the penalty area to square the ball to J. Dvali to slot home from close range.
Dinamo had most of the possession in the second half and went close after 58 minutes when Dvali volleyed just over from close range.
Two minutes later, EB/Streymur should have equalized as Arnbjørn Hansen was released with a brilliant through-ball, but completely clear with the goalkeeper, Hansen shot just wide of the left post. Opportunities don’t come bigger than that one.
After this, it appeared like EB/Streymur succumbed to fatigue in humid conditions and Dinamo had three big opportunities to score before they made one count on 73 minutes when E. Grigalashvili carved through the EB/Streymur defence and wrong-footed two defenders before he fired the ball into the back of the net from close range to make it 3-1.
Three minutes later, goalscorer Grigalashvili turned provider as he got clear on the right hand side of the penalty area where he served the ball to the feet of Xisco at the far post for an easy tap-in.
And another two minutes later it became 5-1 when Khmaladze won the arial duel just outside the goal area, and the ball fell to a clear Vouho who had an easy task of finding the back of the net from close range.
And after 81 minutes, Vouho was at tit again, when Dinamo attacked with four against three and played Vouho clear to finish the rout and make it 6-1 from close range with an even easier goal than his previous.
A shame that the tie should be decided before the return leg as it look quite good for EB/Streymur at half-time, but would it have changed anything had Hansen scored on the hour-mark?
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UEFA Champions League - 2nd qualifying round - 2nd leg
23 July: - Tórsvøllur Stadium, Tórshavn
EB/Streymur - Dinamo Tibilisi (Geo) 1-3 (1-2)
0-1 07' Xisco (pen)
0-2 12' Jaba Dvali
1-2 27' Niels Pauli Danielsen
1-3 84' Darko Glisic
EB/Streymur only needed to win 5-0 to overcome the 6-1 loss from the first leg in order to qualify for the third qualifying round of the Champions League… Duh!
Well, not that it was ever going to happen, but after 12 minutes the visitors had already score twice. Spaniard Xisco made it 1-0 from the penalty spot after 7 minutes, after EB/Streymur goalkeeper René Tórgarð had brought down Elguja Grigalashvili.
Grigalashvili was involved again when Dinamo doubled their lead just 5 minutes later, this time providing the cross for forward Jaba Dvali to head past Tórgarð.
EB/Streymur pulled a goal back after 27 minutes as midfielder Niels Pauli Danielsen took full advantage of a defensive mistake.
However, Dinamo kept dominating although EB/Streymur weren’t shy of coming forward, but at the same time looked vulnerable at the back as centre-back duo of Egil á Bø and Marni Djurhuus were missing.
Dinamo decided the match after 84 minutes when substitute Darko Glisic found the top corner from long range to make it 3-1.
EB/Streymur had some opportunities in the closing stages where Leif Niclasen went closest by hitting the crossbar.
UEFA Europa League - 2nd qualifying round - 1st leg
18 July - Ilie Oana, Ploiesti
FC Petrolul Ploiesti (Rum) - Víkingur 3-0 (1-0)
1-0 26' Pablo De Lucas
2-0 49' Gheorghe Grozav
3-0 67' Gheorghe Grozav
Víkingur did quite well in the first quarter of an hour as they mostly managed to force Petrolul to finish from long distance, although Hans Jørgen Djurhuus in one incident after five minutes just managed to swipe the ball away in front of a forward at close range.
Víkingur goalkeeper Geza Turi was asked to make his first real save after 20 minutes when he dived to block from a free kick from 20 metres, and was lucky that no Rumanian player was ready for the rebound.
But five minutes later Petrolul took the lead following a corner that went to the far side of the penalty area before it was played across to Pablo De Lucas who scored with low simple shot between friends and foe and into the back of the net.
Petrolul kept dominating, but without threatening much in the next ten minutes were Víkingur did well to drag the tempo out of the match and often got breaks while they were lying “injured” on the pitch.
On 39 minutes Hungarian Turi made an unbelievable save to deny Tunisian Hamza Younes header from five metres to go half-time with just one gaol in deficit.
But it took only three minutes of the second half for that deficit to doubled as Gheorghe Grozav from the left dribbled his way diagonally into the penalty area and just continued his run through a bunch of defenders to beat the advancing goalkeeper at the near post. It was just too easy.
Víkingur were lucky not to go down 3-0 five minutes later when the referee gave a penalty for hands against Djurhuus, but Hamza Younes struck the upright.
Turi pulled another save from the top-drawer after 64 minutes when he tipped a powerful header over the bar, but there was nothing the goalkeeper could do three minutes later when Grozav scored his second of the night, steering his header on the top of the far post and into the goal.
Petrolul went close again on 75 minutes, but Víkingur cleared off the line before Turi dived to block from the rebound and few minutes later he saw a diagonal shot go just wide of his right post when well beaten.
Víkingur had no effort on the visitors goal and really never were part of the contest. To have any chance at all in the tie, Víkingur would have had to minimize their loss to one goal in tonight’s match, as the home-leg will now be only a question of formalities.
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UEFA Europa League - 2nd qualifying round - 2nd leg
25 July -Svangaskarð, Toftir
Víkingur - FC Petrolul Ploiesti (Rum) 0-4 (0-2)
0-1 05' Owngoal (Atli Gregersen)
0-2 11' Hamza Younes
0-3 63' Hamza Younes
0-4 77' Gheorghe Grozav
Clinical FC Petrolul Piolest show no mercy as they beat Víkingur 4-0 and 7-0 on aggregate.
The visitors started ruthlessly and took a 2-0 lead after only ten minutes, albeit with some help from Víkingur captain Atli Gregersen who was noted for an owngoal after five minutes, as the ball rebounded off his chest after goalkeeper Geza Turi’s punch.
Six minutes later Petrolul doubled their lead with a cracking long range effort from Hamza Younes who scored his second on the night midway through the second half, this time directly from a free kick.
After 77 minutes, Gheorghe Grozav who had released Younes twelve minutes earlier sealed the victory after sneaking the ball in off the post to make it 4-0 on the night and 7-0 on aggregate.