Copenhagen starts its international campaign
Tuesday night F.C. Copenhagen played its first international game this season. It was the first leg of the 2nd qualification round for the UEFA Champions League.
If F.C. Copenhagen is to repeat last season’s participation in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, they first need to overcome Beitar Jerusalem of Israel.
Back in July when the UEFA draw revealed that F.C. Copenhagen were to meet Beitar Jerusalem, everyone knew it would be very hard, as Beitar can field a very strong international side, including 7 national players of Israel, as well as a few other players from national teams.
The first game was played in Copenhagen and resulted in a 1-0 win to F.C. Copenhagen. Copenhagen was the better of the two teams and did have most of the play and most of the chances, but still it ended 1-0 on an early Marcus Allbäck goal.
Before the game Ståle Solbakken, coach for F.C. Copenhagen, said that it would be a close match with very few chances - and he was right.
The only goal came after at mistake from the Beitar keeper. The keeper mistimed a pass from Brede Hangeland, this meant that Morten Nordstrand could pass the ball to Marcus Allbäck who then scored in the empty net.
But the israeli’s showed they are indeed a good team, and also showed that they hadn’t flown all the way to Denmark just to defend. They had some nice attacks, but the Copenhagen defence was ready, and Beitar wasn’t allowed any big chances. They majority of the chances belonged to F.C. Copenhagen, but the Israeli defence and the keeper was more alert than in the 9th minute when Allbäck scored.
Early in the second half Beitar was reduced to 10 men, as Derek Boateng was shown two yellow cards in just two minutes! The early red card meant fewer attacks from Beitar and an increased pressure from the Danish hosts.
The last 10 to 20 minutes of the game showed that both teams were quite satisfied with the result. Beitar would only lose 1-0 away, and F.C. Copenhagen was pleased with a win at home - and a win that included no “away-goals” to the guests from Israel.
So the game ended with a 1-0 win to F.C. Copenhagen. The second leg of the fixture will be played in Jerusalem on Tuesday the 7th August, and everyone in Copenhagen will then hope on another early goal from Aalbäck – or any other F.C. Copenhagen player – a goal that will give FCK the advantage of the famous “away goal” and take F.C. Copenhagen to the 3rd round of qualification, and give us another go at qualifying to the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.
