Category Archives: danish superliga

EXCLUSIVE: chris rolfe on the move again

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The last time I began a post by claiming to have “exclusive access” to breaking news, I didn’t exactly have the exclusive access I believed I did. While I was privy to the news that Chris Rolfe would be leaving MLS to join Danish side Aalborg BK before the public announcement, the news was actually broken first through another media outlet. Which is understandable, considering nobody in their right mind should exclusively announce something so monumental on a site that was only averaging 10 visits per day at the time.

chris rolfe aalborg

rolfe’s contract with aalborg expires at the end of the danish season. a new adventure awaits him, but where?

Flash forward to today, and after two successful years abroad — and WSOTP now receiving moderately higher traffic — we again find Mr. Rolfe at a crossroads. With his AaB contract due to expire in December, the Kettering, Ohio native has a decision to make once more… and this time, I actually do have the exclusive.

On the edge of your seat yet? Good.

Speculation on the interwebs over the last few months has centered around whether or not Rolfe would extend his stay with Aalborg, get snapped up by Danish rivals Brøndby, or wind up with another European side, among other various predictions. In a recent interview with MLS, Rolfe was clearly keeping his options open:

“I don’t really have a plan,” he admitted. “It’s more about the opportunities that come up and evaluating them. I’m up for anything, really. I wouldn’t rule out MLS at all.”

And it’s that last sentence which has had fans of the Chicago Fire in a frenzy ever since. Long a favorite of Fire supporters — dating back to his days playing for the Fire Reserves in the PDL — there’s been a large contingent calling for Rolfe’s return pretty much since the day he departed for pastures anew. A return from Europe to Chicago for their former hero would be akin to the second coming to many of the devoted followers in the Church of the Fire.

Well ready your flares Section 8, and dust off that old #17 kit while you’re at it…

It’s with great pleasure that I can exclusively announce that Chris Rolfe is returning to the Chicago Fire.

the best part? i didn’t even have to photoshop rolfe into a fire uniform.

Rolfe informed me by email that he’ll be rejoining his former club effective April 15th, meaning he will be joining up with the team on the last day of the MLS transfer window.

There had been concerns that Chris wouldn’t even be able to rejoin the Fire even if he did return stateside, as it was expected that he’d be subject to the league’s allocation process for returning American internationals. With Chicago currently sitting eight back in the MLS Allocation Rankings, the outcome would likely be that a returning Rolfe would end up in the hands of another club. But taking a closer look at the MLS Roster Rules, there’s a nice loophole that left the Fire in pole position to re-acquire their former star.

Thanks to Rule IV: Right of First Refusal, Chicago maintained first right to add Rolfe to their roster for two reasons:

  1. In the event an out-of-contract player signs with MLS, “a team retains the right of first refusal to the player indefinitely only if attempts were made to re-sign the player”. So since the Fire offered a contract extension to Rolfe before he signed with AaB, they still have first dibs on him, but only because…
  2. If a team receives allocation money as a result of a player’s transfer outside of MLS, “the team does not retain a right of first refusal.” Luckily, the Fire did not receive any compensation from MLS for Rolfe’s departure.

And thanks to that loophole, Rolfe will be returning to the side where he’s already made a significant mark. He tallied 36 times and registered 18 assists in 123 regular season appearances during his first stint in Chicago. That’s not to mention his knack for contributing when it really counts, such as his 4 goals and 3 assists in 13 playoff matches. With all of that in mind, you can see why the fans have wanted him back for so long.

Chris, it seems, is also looking forward to his homecoming, and had this to say about his time in Denmark coming to a close, and the upcoming return to his old stomping grounds at Toyota Park:

“The past two years have provided a great life experience for me, but I couldn’t be more excited to be coming back to Chicago. My heart is with this club. I want to help this team win and accomplish our goals and give something back to our fans who have continued to support me even while I’ve been away.”

I think it’s fair to say that we’re all glad to have him back too.

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how about a brace?

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A second post in one day? This may seem impossible for wrong side of the pond, especially considering that it’s sometimes a struggle for me to pop out two in a week. But my regular readers know this kind of event can mean only one thing: Chris Rolfe must have done something special.

chris rolfe of aalborg bk

hey klinsmann... we need need a goalscorer or two in the USMNT ranks. i think this guy will do just fine.

And special is exactly what the native Daytonian did this past Sunday at the Energi Nord Arena in Aalborg, Denmark.

Squaring off against Odense BK, the side just north of them in the table, Rolfe’s AaB were in desperate need of a win. Having taken just one point from their last five matches, the club were on a dangerous slide of form with the winter break just over a month away. If they harbored any hope of pushing for European places in the spring, a reversal of fortunes would be needed to help lift the team’s spirits.

Perhaps it was this that drove Mr. Rolfe to put in such an impressive performance, as after the final whistle was blown, the scoresheet credited two goal scoring tallies to the American winger. The following is a recount in typical ESPN Soccernet fashion; if you’d like to skip the formalities, jump to the bottom for the video highlights.

His first came through a coolly finished 14th minute penalty, after Rolfe was brought down in the box by OB’s Hans Andreason. But Odense BK levelled just five minutes later through a penalty of their own, finished off by former Danish international Chris Sørensen.

Rolfe came out of the break looking to settle the affair quickly, lofting a through ball pass just over the bar in the 57th minute. But OB weren’t about to let the northerners walk away with all of three points that easy, and the teams traded chances several times throughout the match.

But in the 84th minute, Rolfe received a pass from Rasmus Würtz at the top of left corner box. He took a strong touch towards the edge of the box, and fired a left footed shot just inside the far post. AaB managed to keep OB at bay until the final whistle, giving the American the game winner and all of the glory.

And now the video that most of you likely just skipped down to:

The bonus for this video? A post-game soundbite from Chris… in English. For those of you who have tried to follow Rolfe’s career with AaB, you’ll know this is a complete rarity for anything coming out of Denmark.

The bigger picture here is that Rolfe’s brace this past weekend will hopefully be enough to catch the eye of new National Team coach Jürgen Klinsmann. Considering the USMNT has had a bit of a problem producing of late, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to bring in someone with some goal-scoring form. The November friendlies are just around the corner, and with MLS teams knee deep in the playoffs, how many clubs will be willing to give up their top strikers for friendly international duty at such a critical time? To me, it seems like the perfect time for the new gaffer to recall Rolfe to camp.

And while the pair of goals goes a long way to make it hard for the Jürgs (or anyone else for that matter) to ignore the former UD Flyer,he’s just happy to have helped AaB get back on the right track. As the interview showed, he’s just a humble lad.

an interview with professional goal-scorer chris rolfe

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Sometimes, it’s all about who you know. Personal connections are the engine that drives the planet: from the business world to the world of sports. Many a successful career have been launched off the backs of people’s relationships with existing big achievers.

chris rolfe on skype

chris and i didn’t actually talk face to face for this interview, so i stole this picture from the internet.

And in the case of my blog, it’s probably all about who I know.

Since the very early days of the blog, I’ve been piggybacking off the success of Dayton-native Chris Rolfe’s professional career. In fact, a major wave of the early traffic on the site can be attributed to my posts about the former Chicago Fire star. Few stateside were writing about Chris at the time, and by offering his fans a non-Danish option to keep tabs on his career at Aalborg BK, I reaped the rewards of the Google gods, receiving a plethora of page hits and new subscriptions.

Of course, none of that would have been possible if life wasn’t all about “who you know.”

Continue reading →

dude from dayton doing work again

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chris rolfe of aalborg bk

rolfe continues to elevate his play since his injury lay off.

unlike most of us good folk here in the states that spent all of friday preparing for today’s coming rapture, the pagans over in denmark decided it was still okay to play some footie. so you could be forgiven if you missed the solid performance put in by chris rolfe for aalborg against silkeborg yesterday.

when we last checked in on rolfe, AaB were in the middle of a relegation scrap in the danish superliga. since, they’ve pulled themselves up out of the drop zone by taking seven of the next nine available points before yesterday’s 3-4 loss to silkeborg. the loss makes survival a little more tricky, but if they manage to take three points from their remaining two fixtures, rolfe and aalborg will avoid the drop out of the topflight.

anyway, back to the kid from dayton.

despite the loss, chris made his third start of the season as he continues his comeback from the long injury-induced spell on the sidelines. video of the highlights of the loss can be seen below, but you’ll want to make sure you don’t miss two moments from the video in particular:

  1. @ 0:43 – rolfe chases down a long ball played by centerback kjetil waehler, strips the silkeborg defender, and lays off a quick pass to rodrigues kayke, and kayke netted with sweet one touch flick for his second goal of the match. this assist for rolfe to put aalborg up 2-1 over the home side in the 18th minute.
  2. @ 3:33 – now down 3-4 in the 91st minute, aalborg surge forward for what would be one of the last plays of the game. a cross from substitute mathias wichmann was poorly cleared by the silkeborg defense to the top of the box… just where rolfe happened to be rushing to. i can’t really do the volley linguistic justice, so go watch the video. unfortunately, the shot went just wide in the waning seconds of the match.

and now for the much anticipated video:

another strong performance for the american, and one that displays that he’s also well on the road to making a full recovery… assuming he isn’t whisked away in this evenings apocalypse.

rolfe’s still got it!

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chris rolfe celebrates for AaB

don't worry flyer faithful: rolfey's still got the magic touch.

i have to say that one of the main (and many) reasons  i plan to never live in the outer suburbs of ft. wayne, indiana, is the crummy internet infrastructure. my parent’s live outside the city limits in a tiny, amish-dominated town, and around 75% of the time i spend there their web is either down or running at levels slightly slower than dial-up. having just spent (a lovely and enjoyable) easter weekend at my parent’s house, that drastically reduces my capicity to watch and follow my beloved world of footie.

so it wasn’t until last night, when we got home and finally settled back in, that i rolled across this web gem (skip to about 1:50 in the video):

oh yeah… rolfe’s still got it.

having just come on as a 60th minute substitute, rolfe’s goal was the second between a pair from morten rasmussen in aalborg’s 3-3 tie away at 7th placed fc nordsjælland. a great run from the ohioan, a nice little juke, and a great long distrance strike… it’s like times of old.

just in case you’ve been living under a rock, or at least not the rock that is dayton, ohio, chris’ season in denmark is just getting underway after a long, injury-induced spell on the sidelines. his absence has been undfortunate for AaB, as they’ve been fighting to avoid relegation all season.

the weight of the kettering native’s quick contribution can’t really be underestimated. currently, Aab sit 11th place in the 12 team danish SAS-ligaen, and the bottom two are relegated at the end of each season. the good news is that the tie pulls them even on points (28) with 10th place randers fc, and just two points shy of 6th place.

a tightly packed bottom of the table may help to keep AaB up, assuming they can earn some points in their remaining six fixtures. and a somewhat favorable remaining schedule could help them in their efforts:

date location opponent current position points / goal differential
4/30 home fc midtjylland 2nd 41 pts / +11
5/8 home lyngby 9th 29 pts / -9
5/15 away esjberg 12th 25 pts / -14
5/19 away silkeborg if 5th 35 pts / -4
5/25 home sonderjyske 8th 30 pts / -9
5/29 away fc coppenhagen 1st 67 pts / +41

while it won’t be an easy task for aalborg, it’s definitely one that is more achievable than not. (ignoring coppenhagen, of course, as they have been taking it easy since wrapping up the league title ages ago). and just in case you wanted to watch any of the remaining matches, take a look at the instructions that i posted in one my articles from last season.

here’s hoping that rolfey’s timely return to action may give the danish side the boost they need to acheive survival.

wanna watch rolfe play live?

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you can now watch this nerd play again from the comfort of your own home.

if you’re like me, you’ve become frustrated with attempting to follow dayton, ohio’s favorite soccer player since chris rolfe made his move to denmark’s aalborg in january.

it would be one thing if he had made a move to the premier league or the italian serie a, since the prevalent fox soccer channel would have no problem showing a few of his new club’s games a season. or maybe if he would have gone to germany or spain i could have watched him on setanta or gol tv, but only if i was rich enough to pay directv’s extravagant rates.

but noooooo… he had to go to denmark. a country that probably two-thirds of americans don’t even know exists, let alone that it has a top flight professional soccer league. i mean if it weren’t for nicklas bendtner or daniel agger, i would even venture to say that most younger american soccer fans wouldn’t know a pro from that country (my apologies to any older readers, as i’m sure you’re all screaming peter schmeichel and michael laudrup at your computer screens right now).

as a seasoned computer nerd, i’ve never really struggled to watch the matches i want to watch over the web. often times i settle for streaming video feeds to watch tottenham games, real madrid games and even euro 2008 and this winter’s african cup of nations. finding games to watch of the big leagues (EPL, la liga, serie a, ligue 1, and the bundesliga) isn’t too hard of a challenge if you put in some elbow grease. but being able to watch more obscure leagues (english championship and lower, belgian superliga, etc.) can be frustrating as hell.

well, be frustrated no longer my friends, as a solution has been found. after endless searching of the tubes to find a viable way to watch live danish games, courtesy of chris’ brother jon, i’m going to deliver you several easy steps so that you too can watch rolfe play live on your computer screen.

a quick warning: this method of watching games requires you to download third party software. wrong side of the pond and d.j. are not responsible for any malware that may or may not be included in the download link i provide you. as a caveat, i use a mac for all of my personal computing needs, so viruses are not really an issue for me. but for all of you unlucky windows users, that may not be the case. however, jon uses windows and has yet to experience any trouble. but just in case, you’ve been warned.

so follow these quick and easy steps, and you can be enjoying chris’ games in no time flat.

  1. download and install “TVU Player”
    the nice part about this solution is it’s available to both mac and pc users, so we’re leaving a relatively small number of people out in the dark (sorry linux users). download the mac version with this link (mac – click here), or the windows version with this link (pc – click here).
  2. navigate to the channel called “danish delight”
    once you have installed the TVU player, open it up and look for the search pane on the left side of the window. (it’s imperative that you use the one on the left, and not the one on the right. the one on the right seems to exist only to drive you insane, as it rarely returns search results that have any relevance to what your seeking.) in the search bar, type “danish delight” and the matching channels will show up below. there might be a “danish delight 1″ and “danish delight 2″… either one could show the game, so if one doesn’t have it, the other probably will.
  3. press mute
    this one isn’t really a necessity so much as it is a strong suggestion. if you don’t speak danish (and let’s be honest, who does?), then the constant drone of scandanavian gibberish pouring from your speakers can quickly cause a migraine. the only thing i ever leave it on for is in case chris doesn’t start a game, i will leave it on just above silent so i can hear his name squeezed in between the danish mumo jumbo to let me know he will be making an appearance in the match.
  4. enjoy the show
    the other great part about the TVU player, aside from watching aalborg games of course, is that you can use it to watch just about any single game your heart desires. it’s a lot more consistent than relying on normal streaming options online (ex: http://www.justin.tv, http://www.eplsite.com, etc.).

easy as pie, right? well, the only hold up you might come across is figuring out when aalborg is actually playing. fear not again, as i’ve done my homework for you here too. below is AaB’s remaining schedule for the 2009-2010 season:

4/10 – away to AGF aarhus @ 11:00 am EST
4/14 – home against odense bk @ 12:00 pm EST
4/19 – home against esbjerg @ 3:00 pm EST
4/25 – away to københavn @ 10:00 am EST
5/2 – home against fc midtjylland @ 10:00 am EST
5/5 – away to randers fc @ 2:00 pm EST
5/9 – away to brøndby @ 9:00 am EST
5/16 – home against HB køge @ 9:00 am EST

there you have it, i can’t really do anything else for you on this front. don’t call yourself a real fan of chris’ now unless you at least watch one game.

rolfe update: on the mark in friendly win

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so i’m a little late getting this posted, as i’ve been a little busy as of late: shoveling snow, watching the olympics, and pulling my hair out due to real madrid’s ineptitude in the champions league. but i figured better late than never, right?

chris rolfe for AaB

rolfe impressed in his debut for aalborg, featuring prominently in a friendly against agf aarhaus.

for those of you who follow former chicago fire striker chris rolfe, you know that his move to danish side aalborg bk (AaB for short) has made it difficult to keep tabs on him. the club’s official website features only in danish, which i think about 30 total people speak outside of denmark. chris hasn’t updated his personal website in a while either, so you’re not going to be getting news from him unless he cares to share it with you personally.

and seeing as how the danish superliga is currently on winter break, updates have been more sparse than normal. i’m guessing that once the league resumes play that i’ll still find it difficult to find much news about AaB… let alone a live feed to watch any of their matches (trust that i’ll share if i do find one, and do the same for me if you find one).  hell, goal.com doesn’t even have a page dedicated to the league or club. and they tend to cover relatively everything, especially as it pertains to americans.

lucky for you, i’ve been keeping tabs on the kettering, ohio, native and am willing to share. dilligence and google translation are my best friends in pursuit of news about the american international.

anyway, the whole point of this post is to let you know that chris has settled in nicely with aalborg despite the hellish winter conditions on the tip of the danish peninsula. through facebook conversations, he’s told me that he’s found an apartment and car, as well as started full-time training with AaB. the team is preparing to escape winter’s icy grips, leaving this weekend for a lengthy training spell in spain.

and in the build up to this trip they recently played a friendly against danish superliga side agf aarhaus. the good news to share? chris logged a full 90 and was arguably the star man in AaB’s 4-1 win. according to the team website (worry not, the link is translated), rolfe was dangerous throughout the match and contributed two assists and a goal.

however, i will give credit where credit is due, as i missed this latest tidbit on rolfe’s progress in europe. so many thanks to friend and fellow football enthusiast elliott tomes (@charliefiction) for tweeting this update to me.

obviously, this is a fantastic step forward for rolfe’s bold move to europe, as it’s the type of flying start we had all hoped for. and while it was only a friendly, it shows that he’s more than capable of competing at this level. hopefully this means we’ll be seeing chris get regular starts in the aalborg first team, especially if he can avoid the injury buy that often plagued his successful five year stint in MLS.

so keep up the hard work across the pond young rolfe, and know that we’re pulling for you back home. hopefuly i’ll be reading your name on the AaB website more in the near future… which would be nice because it’s one of the few words i recognize out of all of that danish gibberish.