Copenhagen contest called off

When I said the Scandinavian truce was to take a pause, the Danes just had to go and take it too far. Sweden took a 3-0 lead in the first 25 minutes, only to see their lead slowly chipped away by the Danes. In the 89th minute, Poulsen of Denmark took a cheap shot at Rosenberg, reminiscent of the Zindane head butt of the 2006 World Cup. The Dane received a direct red card for the kidney punch and the Swedes were awarded a penalty kick. After the call, all hell broke loose in Parken (the stadium in Copenhagen), and a disgruntled Dane charged the field on a mission and attempted to attack the referee. The ref called the match off, and the pitch was cleared as fans pelted the field with flares/debris. After deliberation, UEFA took away the goals of Denmark, and the final score will go in the books as 3-0 Sweden.

Needless to say, I can't wait to go to Copenhagen tomorrow to see what kind of destruction the Danes unleash in their drunken fury!

The Hand Holding is Over

Scandinavian cooperation takes a pause today, as Sverige takes on Danmark tonight in qualifying for the 2008 Euro Cup. Tickets are going for 500 Euro ($675 USD), so I'm going to sit this one out to join my Dansk rivals here in Sonderborg for a night of drinking and watching good 'ole fashioned Scandinavian football. I'm predicting a 2-1 Sverige victory.

This was the scene at the 2004 UEFA Euro Cup when Swedes and Danes swapped jerseys after a 2-2 draw ensured they both would move on... to the demise of Italy, who needed anything but a draw... there's nothing like Scandinavians working together!

Sweden's Response to Football Brawls

In response to Kristin's experiences with football in Chile, I bring this article from Sweden. We take our football seriously here:

Mass brawl at Swedish girls' football match

A row between a parent and a referee at a girls' football match escalated into a brawl on Sunday.

The match, between two teams of 14-year-old girls, was being played at Möllevallen in Skurup. An exchange of words between the father of one of the players and the referee ended with the ref whacking a ball at the spectator.

"That's one version. The referee's version is that the parent threatened him with a corner flag," said Stellan Andersson.

The father went and got into his car while the referee called for reinforcements. Shortly afterwards, several cars full of people - including the referee's father - arrived.

Accoring to unconfirmed witness reports, they are said to have circled the father's car and tried to smash in the windows.

The father managed to drive away from the scene but two cars set off in pursuit.

"We went down there with four units. The atmosphere was very threatening at first. Nobody has been arrested but the matter has been reported.

China vs. The Rest of the World

It's 40 degrees and raining, what would you do? Well we at SDU decided to play a match on the soggy pitch of Amtsgymnasiet. The teams were divided based upon if you were Chinese or not. Since there are so many Chinese students here, they decided they wanted to take on the world in a match of football (that's soccer for all of my American readers.) We had enough for 10 man teams, and enough sludge and mud for about 500. Long story short, it helps to have an average of one foot on the Chinese players, and the internationals were just to much for the Chinese to handle. By the end of the match, everyone had fallen into the enormous mud puddle at midfield, and shared not only the same coat of mud but the same satisfaction of having represented our respective countries.

Sweden v Denmark

June 2 2007 20:00 Parken Stadium - Copenhagen
Yes I will be there... quite the atmosphere! I ran through the streets of Milwaukee wearing my Swedish flag when Larsson scored the tying goal in the 90th minute vs. England in The World Cup...
I still tingle when I see that goal. I can't wait to join my countrymen (and women) in an amazing Scandinavian showdown.