Houston, we have Champions

April 25th, 2011 | by: Cerberus | Comments Off

So, after going undefeated in the entire first half of the season, only losing a solitary match so far, and maintaining a lead of double digits for months now, FC København has managed to make it official.

FC København are this year’s Superliga champions. A victory well-deserved, seeing as they have a goal differential of 43, 70 points with 6 games to go (they’ve already surpassed their point total from last year) and the officially best team in Danish history with their run into the Champion’s League knockouts.

In the rest of the table, this month has mostly been a disappointment. This month was the month where most of the teams in the league decided that they were really very equal and change was scary so ties were the new fashion. And so we got them constantly.

Game 23 saw nothing but ties, except for a 1-0 victory of Odense over Aalborg.

Game 24 was slightly better with some dramatic upsets with Silkeborg going 1-0 over Midtjylland, Nordsjælland going 2-0 over Sønderjysk and bottom-leaguers Esbjerg going 2-1 over Lyngby. København had a 3-1 game over Randers, but Aalborg and Horsens and Odense and Brøndby kept the spirit of ties alive.

Until Game 25 where Aalborg tried to rescue their season by dramatically showing up Brøndby 2-1 in København and København continued their dominance by thrashing Nordsjælland 3-1 were mere diversions from a week that saw 5 1-1 ties.

The last two games played last Wednesday/Thursday and this weekend must have woken people up that the season is running out and so we got a bit of life out of everyone.

Brøndby and Midtjylland broke out of their slumps to go 3-0 over Esbjerg and 1-0 over Horsens respectively. Silkeborg tried to keep pressure on for that last Europa League spot by beating Silkeborg 1-0. Aalborg continued to fight their way out of relegation by trouncing relegation rivals Randers 4-1. And København won their title 2-1 over Lyngby while Odense went down to mid-tablers Nordsjælland 2-1.

This weekend, København has continued their climb with a 2-0 win against Lyngby. Brøndby, Midtjylland and Odense continued their battle for the europe spots with a 4-0 victory over Randers, a 1-0 victory over Esbjerg and a 2-0 victory over Sønderjysk. Aalborg had a setback on their attempt to crawl out of relegation by tying Nordsjælland 3-3 and Horsens kept themselves safely midtable with a 2-0 win over now slumping Lyngby.

So what’s this all mean for the league?

Well, for starters, København has proved their dominance. With a guaranteed championship and no Danish cup to look forward to, they are just playing for fun. Dame N’Doye looks set to win the topscorers table with 19 goals so far, his only real competition is teammate Cesar Santin with 15. Together these two players alone have scored more goals than over half the teams in the league. If there ever was a year that outlined the difference between København and the league as a whole, it is sadly this year, which is a shame for those of us who liked the closer battles for first the last few seasons have been.

With regards to what’s left to fight for, here’s the table so far:

FC København 70
Odense 44
Brøndby 42
Midtjylland 41
Silkeborg 35
Horsens 34
Nordsjælland 31
Sønderjysk 30
Lyngby 29
Randers 28
Aalborg 28
Esbjerg 25

Second place gets Champion’s League, Third and Fourth get Europa League. Bottom two get relegated.

Technically, the top four aren’t locked down at all, but with 6 games left and a 6 point lead (that holds a rather dramatic difference in goal differential, +11 to -6 and -8 for the top two challengers, -11 for those underneath), I’d expect the european spots will go to Odense, Brøndby, and Midtjylland. If Midtjylland manage to win the cup as well, there might be some fighting over that #5 spot and Silkeborg and Horsens will be flying black flags during the Cup games, but breaking into 4th will be difficult without a collapse and with the 2-4 teams playing well again, it just seems unlikely.

Speaking of those 2-4 spots, who is going to the Champion’s League is still very much up in the air. A total of 3 points separates 2nd from 4th and they are currently all level on GD. One or two misplaced losses or ties could shuffle things rather dramatically. I suspect that Odense will still take it seeing as they’ve been holding that #2 spot for months, but this will likely be a very exciting battle that will see all 3 teams step up their game.

As was true earlier, the real interesting battle is shaping up to be the relegation battle. Aalborg has literally been playing for their lives and the honor of their club who are one of the longest survivors in the Superliga. They haven’t lost in 4 games and are now in relegation spots only due to GD. I’d expect them to break out or at least make a damn good run of it, which has to be worrying for most of the middle of the table. Thanks to tie-a-palooza, the difference between relegation spot and 7th is also 3 points. And if Esbjerg manage to turn things around, there could be two spots switching. Early underdogs like Lyngby and Sønderjysk need to tread carefully here to avoid paying for late collapses and Randers, especially needs to step up their game to match Aalborg’s streak.

The question of who will be playing in the First Division next year is going to have a lot of teams playing their heart out in the final matches, which is always a joy to see.

The next league games are this weekend, with Midtjylland facing against newly fired up Aalborg in what should be the best match of the weekend. Silkeborg will play Randers which may see a relegation swap depending on outcomes. Midtablers Lyngby and Nordsjælland will try and put distance between them and relegation, København will continue to toy with other teams by hosting Sønderjysk. And Brøndby and Odense will try and make fight each other by playing Horsens and Esbjerg respectively.

Also this week, we have the first league of the Danish Cup semifinals.

Nordsjælland will host Randers for their only realistic chances at seeing European football this year. Though Randers may be slightly distracted by their struggle to stay in the Superliga.

Additionally, Midtjylland will be hosting Esbjerg. Esbjerg will be looking to salvage something from their season by having the ever humorous European run while in First Division whereas Midtjylland will be looking for some silverware to decorate the stadium and lock in a guarantee of European football next year.

Both these games will be played on April 28th.