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Oscar Melander

November 24, 2015 Email

Oscar Melander



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@OscarAMelander

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Rosenborg, who won Tippeligan 13 years in a row from 92-04, took their first Tippeligan title in five years. And it was no doubt that they were the best team, as they won the league 12 points clear of Strømsgodset. Stabæk, with Bob Bradley as head coach, ended up in 3rd place. Sandefjord and HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mj%C3%B8ndalen_IF" \h Mjøndalen were relegated. Molde, who won last year and had a really successful run in Europa League this fall, came in 6th place. They were also eliminated from the cup and will therefore not play in either Champions League or Europa League next year. Lars Hirschfeld, Vålerenga Fotball



Lars Hirschfeld has been at Vålerenga since 2010, he was also their first choice keeper for his first three seasons. But the relationship has not been rosy since then, and it has actually been a disgrace from my perspective. It all started in 2012 when he signed a new three-year contract. During the next season, the financial situation in Vålerenga started to be a bit worrying to say the least. VIF had to cut a lot of costs the next couple of seasons to avoid bankruptcy. Hirschfeld, who was one of the highest paid players, got less and less games with the first team. He only played eight games for the first team during the 2013 season. His final match for Vålerenga in Tippeligan was actually against Sandnes Ulf in November that year. Hirschfeld has spent the last two seasons in Vålerenga playing for their second team except for one cup game in 2015 against Lokomotiv Oslo, which he played for their first team. But the worst part in this story is, according to me, is not that he hasn’t played so much for their first team. It is that Vålerenga has tried to break his contract for two years now, and Hirschfeld has been portrayed in a bad way in the media (not by the club). The question is, how responsible should an employee be when a company gives him a fat check every month? And in this case, why should Hirschfeld be the hero for Vålerenga for multiple seasons, then turn down an agreed upon contract? His contract with Vålerenga ends after this season and the question is of course if he will end his career now, or if he can find a club and sign what most likely would be his last contract? Olivier Occéan, Odds BK



Occéan left North American soccer about 10 years ago when he signed for the Norwegian club Odds BK. It appears as though Occeán has closed the circle when he is now, 10 years later he left German soccer and came back to Norway and signed for Odd. Odds BK ended up in 4th place in the league and just missed the qualification for a Europa League spot. The finest moment this season was probably when they had a 3-0 lead after 22’ in the home game against Borussia Dortmund in Europa League, but Dortmund made a strong comeback and managed to win that game with 4-3. The classic scenario when a player returns to a club is that the result is not even close to how it was during the first sejour. But Olivier Occéan isn’t one of those… He played 29 games (league + cup) for Odds BK this season and scored 16 goals. It might be just a coincidence, but he had it quite difficult time scoring goals for a while after Floro released the squad to the world cup qualification. His season for Odds BK was impressive anyway. Occéan did also play in the qualification games to Europa League where he scored 4 goals in 8 games. Olivier Occéan’s contract with Odds BK ends after the 2017 season, and it’s going to be interesting to see if he manages to keep up the capacity to score goals for 2 more years. OBOS-ligaen (2nd div.)

No less than 3 former Whitecaps player played in OBOS-ligaen this season, unfortunately none of them played for a top team. It was Sogndal who won OBOS-ligaen this season, 9 points ahead of Brann. Sogndal and Brann were two of the relegated teams from Tippeligaen last year, and both managed to directly return to the Norwegian top division. John Adam Straith, Fredrikstad FK



Fredrikstad played in OBOS-ligaen for the third consecutive year. FFK, who came in 6th place last season, had a much weaker season this year. They ended up in 12th place just two points from relegation. One of the main reasons for this is probably the amount of conceded goals: 61 conceded goals in 30 games is not exactly great stats. It was actually only Bærum who conceded more goals this season (67). The 25 years old John Adam Straith left German soccer after 6 years to play for Fredrikstad FK. Straith came to be a frequent starting player for his new team, and he participated in 21 of 30 league games and scored 4 goals (3rd best goalscorer in Fredrikstad). Straith played both as a center back and as a defensive midfielder during the season. He has one year left on his contract with Fredrikstad, so I expect to see him back in Fredrikstad next season as well. Simon Thomas, Strømmen IF



Former Whitecaps goalkeeper Simon Thomas signed for Strømmen during the 2015 preseason, and he came to have an important role for his new club. He participated in 28 of 30 league games during the season and had several shutouts. His goalkeeper coach in Strømmen seemed very pleased with his keeper and praised him for his development during the season, especially the positioning. Thomas did also break two records - number of shutouts and fewest conceded goals for Strømmen in OBOS-Ligaen. It is definitely fair to say that he deserved those call ups to the national team. It wasn’t just a good season for Thomas, but for Strømmen in general. Their 8th place was the best position they have had since 2010. It would be surprising if Thomas didn’t get some attention from at least a couple of clubs after the season that he has had. Especially with the combination of the call ups to the national team and the successful season he’s had in Strømmen. The question at the end of the season was whether he should stay or if he should try to sign for a club on a higher level and that question was answered recently as he has moved up to Norway's top flight, signing on with FK Bodo/Glimt. Ethan Gage, Bærum SK



Ethan Gage left Sweden last year after 2 years in Nyköping BIS were he was a very popular and appreciated player. Gage was on a trial for the Swedish Superettan club Jönköping Södra but decided to sign a 1 year contract with the Norwegian club Bærum SK. The former Whitecaps player participated in 11 games for Bærum without scoring any goals, he also played 5 games for their 2nd team and scored 4 goals. One of the s why he didn’t play more was because of some injuries that he had during the season. Bærum, who had a really good season last year (5th place in the league), really struggled this year. Their 15th place resulted in a relegation which isn’t that unusual for Bærum. This was their 4th promotion/relegation the past 5 years. I would like to see Gage move to another 2nd division club either in Norway or perhaps move back to Sweden and play for a team in Superettan. But I hope most of all that he gets the chance to stay healthy and play more often next season. Oddsenligaen (3rd div.)



Jonathan James Dollery Flekkerøy IL



Jonathan Dollery has mostly been around the English soccer system and played for clubs like Brighton Hove Albion & Crawley Town. The 2015 season was Jonathan Dollery’s second season in Nordic soccer. Dollery played last year for the Finnish club PS Kemi where he was a frequent starting player (24 games, all of them from start). Dollery left Finland to play for the Australian club Heidelberg United for a couple months before he came back to Nordic soccer and signed for the Norwegian 3rd division club Flekkerøy IL. Dollery participated in 11 games this season for “Fløy” who ended up on 9th place only 3 points from relegation. Jonathan Dollery has collected a lot of flight miles the past 12 months, he has played for 3 different clubs in 3 different countries in 2 different continents. All that experiences has probably affected him both as a person but also as a soccer player. Who know’s what’s next for the 22 year old defender.