A ton of things have happened with AaB since the last update in September. To sum it all up VERY VERY briefly, we are currently 5th in the league in the winterbreak period. Current leaders of the Superleague are Herfølge, followed by Brøndby. We are not too many points behind either team and so it shouldn't be a problem to latch on the top 3 teams again, provided that we get a decent start to the new season. AaB has only lost 4 of the 18 matches played, but 7 have been drawn and 7 won. The many draw-matches is quite a problem, many of them coming in the dying minutes - e.g. in the last game before the winterbreak against AB. These were the games where we clinched all 3 points last season, but we are not consistent enough at the moment. Also, we only have one teeny-weeny win away from home - at FC Copenhagen. On the other hand, the homewins have included two 3-1 thrashings of Brøndby, so at least that's something. As you probably know by now, AaB were unlucky to lose to Dynamo Kiev in the qualification for the Champions League, following that AaB lost to Udinese of Italy in the UEFA-Cup - how come we're just SO great at these lottery-things?? Kiev twice for the CL, and the past couple of appearances in the UEFA-Cup has brought us Udinese, Deportivo La Coruna (1993) and Hajduk Split (1987)....
Playerwise, AaB will lose Jens Jessen this summer - he is moving back to the city where he originally came from, if he will continue his football career or not it yet unknown. AaB haven't sold or bought any new players in the autumn-season or during the break. Søren Frederiksen has had testmatches with Leicester and Ipswich in England, but to no avail. Injurywise, Staale Solbakken and Frank Strandli's play suffered from minor, but nagging, injuries all through the autumn. Lars Thomsen is out indefinitely with an injury that needs surgery, and unlucky Dan Sahlin will most likely end his career after 1½ years of trying to get back to the game after surgery and an infection of the foot. How sad he only got three games for AaB in all. Brian Priske has also been nagged by injury, but he should be ok for now
Stadiumwise, something has FINALLY happened (again it got prolonged another 6 months by the babbling idiots that live around the stadium - are those people on crack or do they just get a kick from annoying footballfans???) This past week the Aalborg City Council decided to expand Aalborg Stadium to a capacity of 16.000, an expansion that also involves a TOTAL makeover for the stadium (maybe then it too will be Y2k-compliant...) and the architect's drawings are reallly mouthwatering stuff - check out the piccies at Super-AaB and drool for yourself!
This has just been a very brief update, but I had to change something here before the site complete disappeared in dust and cobwebs ;-) I will do a proper job of bringing more news as it happens!
Anyway, the situation for AaB right now is as follows:
AaB drew Dynamo Kiev in qualification matches for the UEFA Champions League. AaB lost the first game 1-2 at home, but in the return-leg AaB went 2-0 up and were in full control of the game with 15 minutes to go. Nevertheless, Kiev managed to score twice, the second goal coming in injurytime, and thus Kiev advanced to the Champions League, and AaB were sent on to the UEFA Cup instead. The draw for this tournament came out just as "great" as the previous draw - AaB will be playing against Udinese of Italy, not exactly a dream-opponent, but if nothing else I'm sure it'll draw a capacity crowd.
In the league, AaB haven't lost a match since the opener at Herfoelge. The following game at home to Viborg was won 2-0, followed by a 2-0 win at FC Copenhagen, a 1-0 win over AGF and a 2-1 win against Silkeborg with 10 men. The most recent game ended with a 2-2 draw at OB, despite AaB missing several big chances and being 2-1 ahead. These results mean that we are currently in 3rd position, just behind Broendby and AB. This weekend no gmaes will be played in the Superleague, as a result of the national games taking place. It has not yet been definitely decided when the two games against Udinese will take place, but it is a certainty that AaB will play away in the first leg, and at home in the second - that should be an advantage for us. As for news on the squad, then Staale Solbakken is still troubled by a minor injury to his knee, but Torben Boye and Brian Priske have both returned from injuries to strenghten the squad.
