Faroe Islands record goalscorer Rógvi Jacobsen retires
32 year old striker Rógvi Jacobsen has announced his retirement from football. The decision comes after unsuccessfully having fought against an injury which has kept Jacobsen sidelined for the most of the last couple of seasons.
Jacobsen was the record goalscorer for the Faroe Islands with 10 goals in 55 internationals.
Jacobsen was originally from KÍ Klaksvík where he played until he joined HB Tórshavn in 2001. He later played for KR Reykjavík (Ice), SønderjyskE (DK), IL Hødd (Nor) and ÍF Fuglafjørður where he ended his career.
However, not all hope was lost for Jacobsen as he didn’t categorically rule out a comeback should he get rid of his injury.
Here’s a Rógvi Jacobsen goal compilation – amongst them, two against Italy:
--------
B71 Sandoy’s Høgni Midjord given 4-day suspension
The Football Association has given B71 player Høgni Midjord a 4-day suspension for pushing the referee in the final match of last season. He will therefore be suspended in the Cup match against NSÍ Runavík on 4 April and in the first three league matches against KÍ Klaksvík, B36 Tórshavn and HB Tórshavn. It’s a bitter blow to B71 who have a don’t have much player material to work with in the first place.
As B71 finally have started shifting their old artificial surface, which they have played on since they reached the top division 1989, to a new one, B71 have had much of their training in the past weeks in the capital, Tórshavn.
12 March, 2011
Nigerian striker to ÍF Fuglafjørður ÍF Fuglaførður have signed 23-year old Nigerian striker Christian Muomaife from Danish 1st Division club Viborg FF where he made 83 appearances and scored 17 goals in a 4 and a half year period from 2006 before he went to another Danish 1st division club, Hobro, in 2010 on loan for half a year, but had his spell ruined by injury. Neither of the Danish clubs had interest in holding on to the player anymore.
When Muomaife joined Viborg in 2006, they were playing in the top division, but were relegated after the 2007/2008 season. In those two seasons in the top flight, the striker scored 5 goals.
----
Winger Andy Olsen out for the season ÍF have been hit by a major blow as winger Andy Olsen has been ruled out for most of the season after tearing his Achilles’ tendon in the preseason Eysturoy-tournament a week ago. At best, Olsen will get the last five matches of the season.
Olsen has really been thriving since he joined ÍF from NSÍ Runavík in 2008.
----
Also ÍF on training camp in Iceland Just like B68 Toftir and Víkingur, also ÍF are heading north west to Iceland on a training camp where they’ll play two matches against Icelandic teams.
On Saturday, ÍF face top division club HK Kópavogur, and on Sunday 13 March, ÍF take on 2nd tier club ÍR Reykjavík, who celebrated their 104th birthday on Friday. Both matches will be played in the Kórinn indoor hall.
--------
Two more Africans for 07 Vestur Newly promoted 07 Vestur have acquired two more Africans. One of them is 26-year old attacking midfielder Tamba Yarah from Sierra Leone, who also played for Vestur in the second half of the 2009 season, when they were relegated.
The other one is 24-year old Senegalese defender/midfielder Badara Diedhiou who played for B68 Toftir in 2009.
Thereby 07 Vestur will have 5 foreigners in all. In addition two the aforementioned, they also have Brazilian striker Clayton Soares, Ivorian defender Tehe Aristide and Serbian midfielder Jovan Radinovic-Panic.
A team can use 4 foreign players at the same time, but a foreign player who has played for 3 straight years in the Faroes is not treated as a foreigner in football terms, and as Radinovic-Panic has played in the Faroes from 2006, when he joined HB Tórshavn, he does not count as a foreign player, and 07 Vestur can therefore use all of their 5 foreigners at the same time. The situation is similar at B68 Toftir.
--------
B36 Tórshavn trialist Rógvi Baldvinsson returns to Norway 21 year old defender Rógvi Baldvinsson, who plays for Norwegian 3rd level club Ålgård and who has been on a trial at B36, has returned to Norway and will not join B36 this time around.
Faroese newspaper Sosialurin reports that Baldvinsson will try to get a contract with Viking Stavanger in Norway’s top division. But should he not succeed there, his Norwegian club Ålgård asks for more money from B36 than they are willing to pay.
Baldvinsson has played for the Faroese U-21 team and is also part of the senior team that is on the training camp in Spain these days.
At the end of last season, Baldvinsson was select for “team of the year” in the Norwegian 2nd division at the “Local Football Gala” awards. – Whatever that is :-)
Baldvinsson’s team-mate from Ålgård, Kenneth Monsen, who has also been on trial at B36, did not persuade B36 to write a contract.
--------
AB defender Rói Danielsen to HB Tórshavn 22 year old AB defender Rói Danielsen, who has been an integral part of AB’s first team since 2008 (he only played 4 matches last season, however) has moved to HB on a 1-year contract. He might find it tough to get much 1st team action at HB, however.
--------
Update on Gunnar Nielsen’s injury – sidelined for up to a year In last month’s round-up we wrote that goalkeeper Gunnar Nielsen suspectedly had sustained a leg fracture. In the end it turned out his leg wasn’t broken, but that he had ruptured knee ligaments. That’s almost as bad as a broken leg, and the consequence is that Nielsen could be out for up to a year.
Jakup Mikkelsen not replacing Nielsen again Last year former Faroe Islands goalkeeper Jákup Mikkelsen was persuaded out of retirement to replace an injured Gunnar Nielsen in the last two qualifiers of the campaign, but that is not likely to happen again this time according to Jákup Mikkelsen who said last month that he had not spoke with Faroe Islands coach Brian Kerr yet, but that his role in the national team now was to solely be goalkeeping coach. However, there seemed to be some “manoeuvring space” between the lines as Mikkelsen not categorically ruled out yet another comeback. We’ll see what Brian Kerr will do now; not least after the 3-0 defeat to Gibraltar on Friday.
Goalkeepers in the training camp in Spain were B36 goalkeeper Meinhardt Joensen and B68 goalkeeper Tórður Joensen who was drafted in when Gunnar Nielsen became injured. Another possibility for the goalkeeper spot is EB/Streymur’s René Tórgarð who strangely seems to be forgotten by the national coach and goalkeeper coach.
----
Well, that's the end of the show, but not the snow as the Faroes are still covered with snow and probably will be until Monday when the temperature rises to 5 degrees again. No training matches will therefore be played this weekend.
11 March, 2011
Shocking 3-0 win for Gibraltar against the Faroe Islands
Gibraltar have this evening beaten the Faroe Islands 3-0. Gibraltar broke the deadlock on the hour-mark directly on free kick. There was some controversy involved, as Gibraltar took the free kick while the Faroese team organized the wall. But the referee allowed the goal.
Gibraltar added two goals to their tally inside the last 10 minutes of the match; the first with a header from a corner and the second with a fine volley.
A truly embarrassing result for the Faroe Islands. Excuses like “oh, it was only a training match” or “well, we were missing some of our best players” are not valid. It was against Gibraltar that the Faroes should prove that there is a reason why the Faroes don't take part in the Island Games anymore. The reason has been that they have though they were too good for that tournament. In the last Island Games tournament in 2009, Gibraltar became no. 9.
--------
Transfer window closed on 10 March at midnight Although the transfer window closed on Thursday, there were no frantic last gasp signings. There were some rumours about one or two high profile signings as the deadline approached, but in the end it didn't materialized.
--------
Faroe Islands lose twice to Finish champions HJK Helsinki on their training camp in Marbella, the Faroe Islands have played two training matches against the Finnish champions HJK Helsinki. The Finns won both matches 3-1:
08 March: Faroe Islands - HJK Helsinki 1-3 (0-2) 05' Akseli Pelvas 16' Teemu Pukki (pen) 76' Arnbjørn Hansen 83' Berat Sadik
The Faroese starting eleven were: Meinhardt Joensen (GK), Erling Jacobsen, Jóhan T. Davidsen, Pól Jóhannus Justinussen, Jónas Tór Næs, Rógvi Poulsen, Levi Hanssen, Justinus R. Hansen, Símun Samuelsen, Christian R. Mouritsen, Arnbjørn Hansen.
These substitutes came on during the match: Bogi Løkin, Hjalgrím Elttør, Hallur Hansson and Øssur Dalbúð.
--------
The plan was then to play against Malaga on Wednesday, but that match was cancelled because of heavy rain.
Instead the Faroes had another encounter with Helsinki on Thursday:
Elttør's goal for the Faroes was directly on free kick. Note also that is was no other than the great, now 40- year old, Jari Litmanen who scored the Finn’s 3rd goal. Litmanen is training with Helsinki at the moment, but it’s not clear yet whether a contract will be signed by the parties.
These substitutes came on during the match: Levi Hanssen, Símun Samuelsen, Rógvi Poulsen, Jústinus R. Hansen, Christian R. Mouritsen.
----
Chelsea beat Faroe Islands 3-1, but is Google drunk? If you do a Google translation of the match report from the first match on HJK’s website, it will translate HJK Helsinki to Chelsea! - Cheers. The headlines sound: “Chelsea defeated the Faroe Islands in figures 3-1”.
But ok, maybe it's not so strange that Google gets drunk by reading Finish. It surely sounds like a drunk language:-)
(Just for the record: The Faroe Islands have not played against chelsea!)
----
On Friday, the Faroes play against Gibraltar at 7 PM Gibraltar time.
The training camp ends on 12 March. They surely picked the right date to go to Marbella as the Faroes are covered with snow these days.
Three players from the announced squad in February’s round-up withdrew from the training camp. Those were Einar Hansen, Atli Gregersen and Fróði Benjaminsen. To replace them coach Brian Kerr have selected Pætur Jørgensen (HB Tórshavn), Viljormur Davidsen (FC Fyn) and Levi Hanssen (EB/Streymur).
In addition, B68 Toftir goalkeeper was drafted in as Gunnar Nielsen is long-time injured. And a correction: In Ferbruary’s round-up we claimed that defender Pól Johannus Justinussen had not made his debut for the Faroe Islands, but that is not correct as he came on for his first senior international in the Friendly match away to Scotland on 16 November last year.
That's all there was time for for now, but there will be another update sometime during the weekend. Stay tuned!