2008 Alabama ODP Fortuna Trip

Player Interviews are IN

2008-07-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

Players Return to USA!!!!!

2008-07-28T08:46:00.001-07:00

After an all night and day trip back to the states. Players were looking for "American" food. Welcomed by family at Atlanta Hartsfield Airport. The crew was still talking about the many stories and experiences in Denmark.

Coach Berbary was presented with a Dana Cup Soccer Ball as a token of appreciation that all players signed and she reciprocated with team pictures for all players.

We will be posting player interviews within the following week when they are made available.

Stay tuned..........

Finals in Hjorring Stadium

2008-07-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

Fortuna1 Wins Final in Denmark

2008-07-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

Tori Ball scored in the 64th minute to put Fortuna up 2 to 1 during the 2nd OT period.

Fortuna1 Wins 2 to 1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday "Straight from the Touchline"

2008-07-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

In a clash between Fortuna 1 and Fortuna 2, score at halftime was 0-0. End of regulation was still knotted up. 1st OT end still had us locked with 0's on the score sheet. With 45sec. remaining in 2nd OT, Fortuna 1 player ended up with a shot from about 18yd out that resulted in the game winner 1 to 0.

Dana Cup site shows Fortuna 1 playing Stord IL @ 17:45 today (10:45 AM CST) for the Finals in the Fortuna Stadium. Fortuna 1 beat them earlier in the tournament 1-0.

More to come from Denmark as the day goes on.....

Official Quarter Final Report from Amy

2008-07-24T13:24:00.000-07:00

The games...

Fortuna 1 wins 1 - 0

Fortuna controlled almost all of the first half and Mia scored the lone goal midway into the first half. Shanna played the entire first half and had two saves. The post also had a great save off of a corner. The second half was complete opposite of the first. The game turned into kick ball and Fortuna began to panic. Fortunately the final whistle blew and Fortuna came up with a 1-0 victory.

Fortuna 2 came out a bit timid to start the first half. After the first 15 minutes they began to pick up the level and had a few chances. The score at the half was 0-0. The second half was even matched with both teams getting many chances. Then with six minutes remaining Norway hit a free kick from 35 yards out. After a goalkeeping error the ball was in the back of the net and Fortuna was down 1-0. The teams battled and with just 3 minutes remaing Kiki ran on to a ball from midfield and beat 2 defenders to go 1v1 with the keeper. As usual she placed the ball perfectly in the lower left corner. The game ended in a 1-1 tie and went to a shootout.

Jess, Sarah, and Abby all made their attempt in the shootout and Trina the goal keeper made two amazing saves to help the team advance to the Semi Finals to play Fortuna 1. The team was so excited. It was AWESOME!

Stay tuned for match results in the Semi final match.

Fortuna 1 vs Fortuna 2 in Semi Final game on Friday.

Updated Pictures

2008-07-24T07:05:00.000-07:00

Click Here for Amy's Photo Album

Thursday Quarter Finals

2008-07-23T21:15:00.000-07:00

Thursday Games

8:20 PM (1:20 PM central) Fortuna 2 vs Trosvik (Norway)
8:20 PM (1:20 PM central) Fortuna 1 vs Gullvikmoen-Spillum (Norway)

Assuming they both win their games ... they play each other on Friday at 11:30 AM (4:30 AM central)

Go Fortuna!!

Wednesday Game Details

2008-07-23T17:03:00.001-07:00

July 22nd continued...

Fortuna 1 vs Backarnas FF Sweeden (Shanna & Tori)

Fortuna played well and took over the game early. Mia scored the game winner 13 minutes into the game. Sweeden never had a chance.
Fortuna 4 Backarna FF 0

After the game we went to check out the carnival and rides. It was pretty cool. Kiki and Shanna went back to the cabins with the Fortuna girls to get ready for the DISCO! They had a great time and met a bunch of 'interesting' people. Everyone eventually ended up together in Amy's cabin to play a very intense game of catch phrase. We have to play in there becasue it is clean unlike our room. We did manage to mess up her perfectly placed clothes and shoes though. We managed to finished the entire jar of Nutella and box of cookies! By the way...Sarah is seriously addicted to Nutella she puts it on everything.

July 23rd

We woke up this morning and headed to the breakfast tent and then to the bus for game one of the day. I will warn you it was not pretty.

Fortuna 2 vs Rosso IK Sweeden (Abby, Sarah, Kiki, Jess)
The team forgot they had to wake up before they played in a game this morning. It was very ugly and we would rather not talk about it. Sorry...Kiki scored a great goal on a ball that was put behind the defense.
Fortuna 1 Rosso IK 5

Came back to the cabins had lunch and relaxed and took naps. Amy and Shanna destroyed Kiki and Jess in Foozeball.

Fortuna 1 vs Ullensaker-Kisa Norway (Shanna & Tori)

We missed the first half of the game, but the team put away three goals in the first half. The second half was a bit slow, but the damage had been done.
Fortuna 3 Ullensaker-Kisa 0

Went to dinner then headed out to the last game of the day for Fortuna 2. We were ready to redeam ourselves!

Fortuna 2 vs Uraedd FK Norway (Abby, Sarah, Kiki, Jess)

The girls looked like a totally different team than they were this morning. They all fought hard and knew going into the game the only way to advance after the loss this morning was to get a win. Abby hit a bomb from 25 yards out over the goal keepers head...she never had a chance.
Fortuna 1 Uraedd 0

Both teams have advanced to the quarter finals and will play tomorrow night at 8:20 PM!

Opening Ceremony

2008-07-23T09:26:00.000-07:00

Players were amongst "Thousands" of players that were brought into the town square for a concert by "The Dreams". Alabama players joined the procession under the USA banner.

Here is a quick glimpse of the parade.

Tuesday Late Night News!!!!!

2008-07-22T17:53:00.000-07:00

(Fortuna 1) defeated Backarnas FF by a score of 4 - 0.

All 3 matches that the Alabama ODP players have played in have resulted in victories thus far.

Next match to look forward to will be at 9:30am for (Fortuna 2)against Rössö IK.

Stay tuned for match details.......

Early Tuesday notes.....

2008-07-22T09:23:00.000-07:00

We have word from Denmark that (Fortuna 1) won their first match 1-0.
(Fortuna 2) also won 2-0. Details coming later.......

Later.....
but right now we have to go get ready because we're getting put to work so we'll tell you all about our kitchen duties later on tonight!3:30 pm rolled around and it was time for us to do kitchen stuff, there were 4 different stations we were put to work making water cups, spreading plates, giving rice, and also giving chicken soup. We’ve had a bunch of really good meals for the past couple of days. Tori, Jess,and Kiki were put together in the same place, while Shanna, Abby, and Sarah worked with other Fortuna girls. This was quite an experience for us but we got over the ugly white coats and got to work. After our work was done we scurried back to the cabin and got dressed for the parade. We decided we wanted to wear our red shirts and our new pants!

We stood on the side of the road where the parade began and waited while the alphabet got to U. We spotted our American flag and jumped into the parade. We joined many other American teams. Girls teams from Minnesota and South Carolina. Boys teams from Atlanta, Chicago, and New Orleans. We walked and cheered for our country throughout the city all the way to the stadium. When we entered the stadium we all began to try to get camera time when we were announced. It was awesome.

Finally we made our way onto the stadium field where we watched “The Dreams” in concert. We all got in a line and followed Abby as she weaseled her way to the very front. After fighting 10 yr old boys we finally got front row! We didn’t exactly know the words but we were obviously the biggest fans! They played two English songs, summer of 69, and I believe I can fly! They were crazy, it was so much fun! After jammin’ out at the concert we were very hungry! And what you know it?
No no, we didn’t have FRANKDAWGS! We had YUMMY YUMMY pizza! The best pizza we’ve had all trip! (duces)

Tuesday July 22, 2008
The DANA CUP begins. We woke and ate our cornflakes around 8:30 am and then headed to the fields on a bus for Fortuna 1 game. Amy, Jess, Sarah, Kiki, and Abby we the best cheerleaders in the whole park. We actually did a pyramid on the sideline! Here are the recaps of the games from Amy… We made her take notes J

Fortuna 1 vs Storid IL Norway (Tori & Shanna)
The game started out very slow with both teams having a few good chances in the first half. The halves are only 25 minutes long so the team struggled to get in a rhythm. The second half began with Shanna in goal and Tori on the left flank. About three minutes into the half a ball was played to Tori on the Left flank. She took a great first touch forward and beat not one, not two, but three people to get to the end line. She whipped a driven ball into the box and Mia hit a sliding volley out of the air for the games lone goal. Shanna was pretty bored back in goal, but did manage to make one great save.
Fortuna 1 Storid IL 0.

Fortuna 2 vs Byasen IL Norway (Kiki, Abby, Jess, Sarah)
All four ODP players started the game and played a significant role on the team. Fortuna came out on fire taking 5 shots on goal in the first 10 minutes. The first goal was scored by Deana on a 25 yard blast over the keepers head. Shortly after that goal Kiki came flying through the middle of the field and took the ball out of the air and headed it to her own feet. She then turned on the jets and blew by the back four and hit a bomb in the lower right corner to put Fortuna up 2-0. Jess (CB)and Sarah (OB) keep the back four organized and shut down Norway’s best player number 8. Abby controlled the midfield in the 2nd half and had a few chances herself.
The game ended Fortuna 2 Byasen IL 0.

Fortuna 1 vs Backarnas FF
Coming soon!

Monday Report

2008-07-22T08:07:00.000-07:00

Monday July 21, 2008

This morning we woke up early so we could go to practice with the
professional Fortuna team- it was a technical session where we got lots of touches and did some long range shooting! Tori, Abby, and Jess got stuck with taking left footed, long range shots the entire time! enough said. when training was over we headed to the tent and had some amazing breakfast- which consisted of corn flakes, freshly baked rolls to make ham & cheese sandwiches... wouldn't you know it? that Kiki had salami, again.

We found a cat and named him Chester Copper Pot, he's black and white
and has 5 toes on each paw. (that's gotta be a Danish cat)

but right now we have to go get ready because we're getting put to work
so we'll tell you all about out kitchen duties later on tonight!

Monday Morning "bytes"

2008-07-21T05:03:00.000-07:00

After our game we were starving! So we all immediately went to the food tent and bought… guess what? FRANK DAWGSS and fantas! We had a lot of time to kill, so some of us spent time talking to our parents and friends, while others took showers and took naps. Meanwhile, Amy, Tori, and Abby went to perfect their skills at foozball- they are totally going pro when we get back to the states!

Around 615 we went to dinner.. and it was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! They cooked roastbeef, potatoes, and steamed vegetables! We were very surprised because we haven't eaten our greens in 5 days! After dinner we went back to the cabins' and met our new neighbors and also brought our friends from the U-17's Mia, and Julie: they were so nice and it was aweseome to get to meet them! But we couldn't do anything fun because it was of course it was still raining! So we stayed inside and taught them how to play catch phrase. TBALL, was the worst player (by far) and now.. SHE'S 2nd best.. (amy of course is 1st.)

[for those of you that don't know what this game is it's when you hold the game in your hand and describe the word that is on the screen to your team. You can't use your hands- just words. You can imagine how hard this was for our Danish friends, especially with our English/slang/southern accents.]

The stories behind this game are just to much to type because our abs hurt so bad because we laugh so much! We're all getting along great, and becoming very close- we've only been here for 5 days but it seems like we've been here for months!

Looking forward to Mondays tournament events!

Sunday News from Denmark!!!!

2008-07-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

Saturday-

After we had practice we wanted to go around and take pictures for all of ya'll to see, so we got dressed and looked nice! Shanna wore her knickers (of course) and the rest of us were in casual american clothes but we all looked good! Just as we were about to walk out the door--- "NO" we're not kidding'! it started to rain :( so we all had to go inside and change because of course ya'll know us we're always hungry and we went to the tent to eat some new food... TUNA! They all looked at us funny because we put mayo in or tuna! but actually it was really yummy!

After lunch, our friend Tina came to pick us up and helped us move into the new cabins! Yeah!! We love the cabins. After she helped us move she took us downtown and when we were there we ate at Bambinos once again we all ordered the yummy pepperoni pizzas. After the pizza trip we went to the grocery store to buy lots of chocolate and Tball and Abby bought some oranges. Tina took us back to the cabins where we played some very intense games of foozball. The teams were:

The BA's ( Abby and Tball)
The Hot Handles (Amy and Sarah with a sub- Kiki)
The Knickers (Shanna and Jess)

It's time to go to sleep because we have a big game tomorrow!

Sunday-

Good morning all! So we woke up this morning refreshed and ready to play our game. We went to breakfast and hung out till game time. The team met in the locker room which was also where we received our jerseys, they are green tops with white shorts and white socks. As we headed out to the field it started to rain again! but this time it was raining very hard! The warm up was difficult to understand because we didn't speak the same language. We improvised in partners and warmed each other up. The girls that could speak english told us what to do and we followed.

Before we knew it it was game time. The game began and we started to play, Kiki scored 3 goals which were all assisted by Tball. Tball scored a goal assisted by Abby and Abby scored a goal assisted by Sarah. Sarah scored the game winner on a blast from 20 yards with the inside of her foot! We all did very well and got many compliments.

More to come soon!!!!!

Saturday morning Updated....

2008-07-19T04:09:00.000-07:00

Friday July 18, 2008
Good Morning!
We woke up this morning and went to breakfast, and it’s funny every time we turn around Kiki always eating salami! We all had the usual, poppy seed rolls with jam and told our favorite lady “Tak fo Monath” (thanks for breakfast) After breakfast the jetlag really started to kick in so we decided to take a nap; not knowing that we’d sleep for half the day. Well only till Amy banged on our door “We are not wasting the day sleeping! GET DRESSED! Lets go!!”

We got out our handy dandy map and started walking toward Hjorring. Once we made it downtown we found yet again, another pizza place- but instead it was a Mexican-Italian restaurant. Sarah was the bravest one because she ordered what she thought was grilled chicken but instead she got half of a fried chicken and fries. We finished eating and the shopping began.

Our meeting place was the “golden ring” don’t worry we took pictures- Shanna, Kiki, and Tori decided to play on the ring while the rest of us went shopping at the local stores. We all got these really cool red and white hats that said “DANMARK” we wore them around the town so it was easy to find us. Amy says… “I don’t think anyone thinks we’re from this country based on our behavior in social settings- we’re just too giggly” Shanna FINALLY found some knickers- she’s been wanting a pair every since we got on the plane and she still wants another pair! After all of our adventures in the city we took home bags of clothes from H&M, Tiger, and Jeff’s.

The club always gives us dinner and tonight we moved over to the eating tents, and guess what…We had the same yummy mystery meat for the third night! We’re getting really excited, there are more tents popping up and more teams coming in- we met teams from Norway and Haiti. After meeting everyone we went out and played 3v3. We went out to have fun, but Amy got too intense so it wasn’t fun anymore. Just kiddin… ( : She took it to another level (she’s really competitive.) After we finished playing we went to the Danish McDonalds & bought 50 dollar hamburgers! Sarah got some ice cream, Abby got a kids meal, Shanna and the rest of the girls bought some yummy dinner.

Headed back to the club house and sat outside and all checked our facebook. The sun does not go down here till about 11:00 pm and rises at 4:30 AM. The reason we know when it rises is because we were still awake last night till then playing dress up!!

Saturday July 19, 2008
Woke up this morning and headed to the eating tent to have a new breakfast item. Very excited to eat corn flakes! We will be training with the Fortuna 1st team at 9:15. We were a little nervous, but turns out we had a GREAT practice. It was kinda intimidating because all of them show up wearing all black and there were 15 of them! Heidi, the goalie was legit- she’s the third best in Europe. Practice was awesome, we played possession and other field games while Shanna trained with the goal keepers.

Friday evening post from Denmark!!!!

2008-07-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

The Alabama players practiced yesterday with their teams, YES TEAMS. The assignments were made by positional needs of those two groups. The Fortuna girls were extremely receptive to our Alabama girls. One coach walked up during practice and said, "Wow you all are good. Do you play pro?" Players commented that the coaches are so nice!

They are very tired. The girls got up at 8:30am to have breakfast, since
the Fortuna club cooked it for them. They immediately went back to bed and slept to 1:00 pm! Travel is catching up to them!

After waking up they played a few games in the dorm's (catch phrase) and were heading down to town to buy fruit. The weather was great today and they were going to go out and knock a ball around early evening. They are doing very well and looking forward to the tournament start this weekend.

Amys Pictures from Trip

2008-07-18T06:17:00.000-07:00

Amy's Pictures CLICK HERE

Day 4- Player Journals Hits Blog

2008-07-18T06:06:00.000-07:00

As recounted by players.....

Trip to Denmark 2008

Tuesday July 15, 2008
The fun began when Sarah made a “wrong turn” and was late to the airport. With all of our bags checked into the LUFTANSA airline we met Amy, took pictures and said good bye to our parents… THAT’S WHEN THE FUN REALLY BEGAN!!!!

After we passed through security we went to the food court. Amy didn’t want Qdoba so we had to go get the princess pizza- but the rest of us had yummy Burritos. So anyways- we’re all getting on the plane and Abby can’t get on because she hasn’t signed her passport yet. Amy’s already freaking out.

On the plane we are all spread out and now having to meet strangers. We all sat next to THE RANDOMEST people- but all were very nice. Tori’s people from mobile, Amy’s people from Auburn, Abby’s people from Denmark- flying back to see their family, Sarah---- SOME lady who slept and reached out and touched her. And the rest well, we’ll let you know when we land in Germany in EIGHT hours.

Wednesday July 16, 2008
No one slept. We arrived in Germany 9:00 AM (but really 2:00AM our time!!) so we’re all exhausted and can barely keep our eyes open. The first thing we do is go through customs, where we stood in an area for a while that smelled like a zoo. After we got through there we went to go buy water and a quick snack! We payed our first big bucks for American food. Now it is nappy time- when we decided to spread out a blanket and make a bed for 6. All of us slept in a 6’ by 6’ area while Amy watched Heros & watched our stuff. After waking up Jess had messy MESSY hair… Amy thought it was alive and asked “does anyone have a leash for it?” Time to board the plane in Copenhagen.

So now, we’re here waiting in Copenhagen. TBall just got a icecream and we’re sitting in these really cool chairs taking over the entire airport, listening to music off of a phone- we’re so tired, and so hungry, and much more delirious than we were in Germany. Now we’re boarding our FINAL plane to Aalborg.

We got our luggage and met “SCOTTY BOY” he picked us up in a black mini-bus (we named it Charlie) He takes us to the Fortuna club, we get 2 rooms. We look into Amy’s room first and see one bunk bed. Then go down a hall to look into our room that all 6 of us are supposed to sleep in. There are 3 sets of bunk beds and an area the size of a closet to put 12 bags. It was quite 'odiferous' & with all of our stuff in there didn’t make it any better! BUT don’t worry we’re so excited to be here we sprayed good smellin’ stuff all over!

Now it’s time for dinner… as we walk in we see mystery meat patties and a pot of carrots and peas plus a pot of potatoes. We fill our plates because it’s the only thing we’ve eaten all day (besides the ice cream) After dinner we journeyed to the Danish grocery store where we bought 15.00 water just kiddin’ it was like 3 but everyone thought Amy was serious so none of us got any. We are still learning her sarcasm. But anyways… at the store Tori and Jess bought some Fransk hotdogs (FRANK-DAWG.) and Kiki bought THE BEST chocolate. We walk back to the dorm and went to bed-- we’re tired so we’ll write you in the morning.

Thursday July 17, 2008
We were told that practice would be at 10:00 AM so we casually walk down to breakfast where they tell us that we are practicing with the FIRST TEAM!! (@ 8:30) this was the professional team, they were ballers. Fleming the head coach is new to the club, he was very nice. We met some girls that play at the club, and are also on the National Team. Then we came back in and had breakfast which was poppy seed rolls, cheese and jelly, and some lunch meat. Kiki loves the lunch meat she eats it everyday!

Now it’s time for Skagen! We were lucky enough to have Tina (a former player for the club who attends Northeastern in Boston now) who is home for the summer drive us there. We all piled into “Charlie” and headed to the most Northern part of the country. We arrived in the town only to hear Jess and Tori keep repeating “we want crepes, lets find the crepes place”. So before any shopping could be done we had to eat. The crepes were delicious! We spend the next couple of hours shopping and converting the Kroner ( we like to call them crowns)to the American Dollar. We then stopped in the middle of the town to buy … a Frank-dawg ! Tori had to buy two because Amy was afraid to order it . (what a baby!)

After playing in the town we got in Charlie and went to the tip of Denmark, where the North Sea and the Baltic Sea collide (everyone had our aviators except for Sarah and Shanna.) we were stylin’ and profylin’. We splashed around in the FREEZING COLD water a little and then went back to the dorms.

We got there and had dinner, then we went to practice with our teams & we met some really cool Denmark girls- Tori and Jess knew some of them from last year. So now it’s time to go to sleep- talk to you tomorrow!

Day 3- Training Begins

2008-07-17T07:11:00.000-07:00

The morning was started by attending the Fortuna training session. A light warmup of some 5 v 2 followed by some 6 v 5 against some "full" team players. The players experienced a great level with sincere appreciation for their abilities. They will train with the U17 team later today.

After the session, quite the appetite had been worked up so the players proceeded over to a local "crepe" shop where they are starting to delve into the Danish cuisine. Crepes followed by "Danish Hot Dogs" were the main attraction.

As it was recounted, a "kodak" moment occurred after morning training. The players traveled to a nearby village where they took many photos of where the Baltic Sea and North Sea meet. The players were to try and tackle some technology later and try to get online at their dormatories for the forwarding of pictures and obvious facebook updates.

Katy Frierson's pictures are on all of the Dana Cups primary advertising. A poster will be brought back to Katy for autograph, of course.

As the dormatories were described, "its like region camp in Montevallo". {bet they dont have sweet tea!}

Stay tuned for more updates!

Day 2- Arrival

2008-07-16T13:34:00.000-07:00

We have received word that the players have arrived and are now at Fortuna camp.
While a bit "jet lagged" they still managed to get a little shopping in locally before officially
passing out for the night.

Training begins in the morning.

Day 1- The trip begins

2008-07-16T08:48:00.001-07:00

Off to a great start on their way to Denmark for the 2008 Danacup and training with Fortuna professional womens team.

From Atlanta to Frankfurt, pitstop in Copenhagen and onto Aalborg a long trip indeed.

Denmark Here we come!

2008-07-16T08:12:00.000-07:00