Hareide on why Denmark fled Sweden and Norway
Malmo. Danish football has moved away from Sweden.
Former Denmark captain Aggie Hared thinks he knows why.
– Because they only have two artificial turf pitches, says the MFF coach succinctly.
The debate about how Danish football originated from Swedish and the class difference between our national teams is not only in the columns, between the Bamba and in the union corridors.
It also found its way to Malmo FFdressing room.
But mostly in the form of incitement and mockery of the Danish quartet on the team: Anders Christiansen, Soren Rex, Lacey Nielsen and Jonas Knudsen.
– Of course there is a little excitement in the dressing room. It’s sad that Sweden fell all the way to Class C (in the Nations League). Rex says you don’t get a lot of good matches there.
– It’s cute, says Christiansen of excitement.
Can you dominate there?
– There too, the MFF captain smiles. No, but that’s part of the locker room humor.
Still gives a sample of how it could look like.
You have twice the population of Denmark. Then you have to be good at soccer twice as well (laughs).
But Denmark is now twice as good.
– Weren’t we there for a long time? It’s nothing new, Christiansen laughs.
“Depends on artificial turf disease”
Why is Denmark so far away then?
We posed the question to FIFA coach Aje Hared, a Norwegian who was captain of the national teams in Denmark and Norway and coached the best teams in the three countries.
– Because they only have two spoons of artificial turf, Hared answers.
Sure, this is a short answer. But the veteran coach returns to artificial turf all the time in his mind.
Jan Andersson was aware that artificial turf might be a reason why Sweden didn’t produce so many good defenders and strong fencers anymore.
Hared also sees this as a major problem with artificial turf.
It is difficult to raise good defensive players on artificial turf. The difference in the distance when you have to go to the press is huge. The attacker heading to the right easily passes the defender on the artificial turf. As a defender, you fear being overrun.
With artificial turf, you get short-footed players who have fast feet and play on their feet. It’s good for a show to have artificial turf but it’s hard to develop good defensive players. that simple. Norway has the same problem. In Denmark, you have quite a variety of types of players. In short, it depends on the artificial turf, on the disease of the artificial turf.
“Problems if Moldova came and bought MFF”
In an interview with Offside, Janne Andersson concluded that fewer teams in the Allsvenskan could offer more challenging and good matches which in turn would develop players and teams. In Denmark, the Superliga consists of twelve teams where the best meet four times during the season.
In the same interview, the Swedish captain also expressed his doubts about the 51 percent rule in Swedish football. It is not available in Denmark.
Here, Hareide is not nearly convinced that in the long run it will result in better players and national teams.
The debate about fewer teams was also present in Norway. One must not forget that it is important to have a geographical spread. We can’t just play in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. This will affect the interest in the Allsvenskan, which today is huge and much better than in Denmark and Norway. For fewer teams at Allsvenskan, Hareide says, you have to take care of that.
He sees a big risk in scrapping the 51% rule.
– I don’t know if it is very good for people from Moldova or the United States to come to buy a Swedish football club. How does this affect interest in the law? I am convinced that there will be problems in Malmö if Moldova comes and buys MFF. Union model and club loyalty is strength.
Instead, Harid highlights that Swedish clubs need to invest more money in their facilities and football pitches in training facilities and invest more in raising young players from their academies.
Denmark can qualify for the World Cup semi-finals
When we ask Rex and Christiansen why Denmark is so good now, they talk above all about the national team.
Rex points out the importance of national team captain Kasper Hjolmand.
– Then we have many players who play regularly in their club teams.
You can’t really say that about the Swedish players.
– We also benefited from EC at home (2021). We succeeded in rallying the nation around the national team. Rex says interest has never been so important to the national team as it is now.
Christiansen:
Yes, this is probably the biggest concern of all. It’s a huge noise now. Now that we are free, we were in Denmark and I went to the playground with my son. Every kid, boy or girl, has been walking around in the national team jersey. I haven’t seen that before.
How far can Denmark go in the restroom?
– We’re an outsider. Christiansen says there is always a team that surprises and it could be Denmark this time.
“I think people trust and expect the semi-finals, and maybe do it themselves within the team, without my knowledge,” says Rex.
