Alf-Inge Haaland

Alf-Inge Haaland
Personnel
Surname	Alf-Inge Rasdal Haaland
birthday	November 23, 1972
place of birth	Bryne ,  Norway
size	186 cm
position	midfield player
Juniors
Years	station
1979-1990	Bryne FK
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1990-1993	Bryne FK	68 (4)
1993-1997	Nottingham Forest	75 (7)
1997-2000	Leeds United	74 (8)
2000-2003	Manchester City	38 (3)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1988	Norway U17	1 (0)
1991-1993	Norway U21	29 (3)
1994-2001	Norway	34 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Alf-Inge Rasdal "Alfie" Haaland ( Anglicized from Håland ; born November 23, 1972 in Bryne ) is a former Norwegian football player . In 2002 he had to end his playing career at the age of 29 due to a serious knee injury.

As a national player of Norway , he took part in the 1994 World Cup in the USA . He is the father of Erling Haaland .

Club career

The early years

Haaland began his career with his hometown club Bryne FK in the Norwegian second division . Initially inconspicuous, from 1991 he developed into the team's leading player at a young age. A promotion to the Tippeligaen was not granted to him despite three strong seasons. In 1992 and 1993 they failed in the relegation round. His calm style of play aroused the desire of various international clubs early on, but Haaland remained loyal to his home club until the winter of 1993.

Change to Nottingham

In December 1993, Bryne finally had to let go of his "jewel". The traditional English club Nottingham Forest , which was relegated after 35 years of membership in the first division, had already advertised him for six months. Frank Clark , who succeeded manager legend Brian Clough , had to compensate for the departures of Roy Keane and Teddy Sheringham after relegation and took this as an opportunity to massively rejuvenate the team. Previously, in the summer he had already brought an old friend, Lars Bohinen, from various Norwegian youth teams, and with the transfers of Colin Cooper and Stan Collymore, he had set the course for an extremely successful comeback in the Premier League . Only in the position of the defensive midfielder had not been found even remotely adequate replacement after Keane. Haaland should now fill this role. But the first half of the year was disappointing. At first, Haaland had severe adjustment problems in the new league and was only used in the reserve team. In March 1993, he made his professional debut in the top game against Crystal Palace . In the next game he found himself in the regular line-up, only to injure his left foot for the first time in the following game. He then dropped out for the rest of the season. Nottingham managed at the end of the season but even without him as runner-up, the immediate promotion and moved back to the Premier League in the 1994/95 season. In this season he made the breakthrough. As a newcomer, Nottingham was sensationally third and Haaland became the undisputed regular player. Before the 1994/95 season, Collymore, the team's superstar, was lost to Liverpool and only found themselves in the midfield of the league with 9th place. Haaland struggled with minor injuries throughout the season and only made seventeen appearances. In the UEFA Cup , however, he was far more convincing. They beat AJ Auxerre and Olympique Lyon , among others, and were only eliminated in the quarter-finals against eventual winners FC Bayern Munich . After these successes, Nottingham experienced disaster season in 1996/97. Despite spectacular new signings like Pierre van Hooijdonk or Dean Saunders , the season was catastrophic and they were the last to be relegated from the Premier League. Only Haaland made a further leap in performance and, in addition to its defensive sustainability, also made people sit up and take notice with six goals this season.

Time at Leeds United

After relegation there was a total sell-out at Nottingham and Haaland moved to Leeds United for the equivalent of around € 2.5 million . Leeds manager George Graham has spent around € 16m this season trying to force their way into the big four of the Premier League. Haaland should be an important part of his luxury team with players like Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink or Harry Kewell . The first year went according to plan. Haaland was a regular from the start and was able to beat his career record with seven goals this season. Leeds finished the season fifth. This was followed by a false start in the 1998/99 season, which Graham cost his job. David O'Leary was hired as the new manager and from then on he systematically rebuilt the team according to his ideas. Graham favorites Martin Hiden and Haaland were to become victims of the renovation. He completed 29 Premier League games in the 1998/99 season, but only made 13 appearances in the following season. O'Leary made a name for himself as an advocate of Art Nouveau at Leeds and pushed the players he brought from the Leeds youth, such as Jonathan Woodgate or Stephen McPhail .

Captain at Manchester City

This was followed by a move to Manchester City for the equivalent of around € 3.7 million . In Manchester he was named captain by manager Joy Royle after the pre-season season. As a result, the mature Haaland advanced to the crowd's favorite and star of the team due to his leadership qualities and consistent duel stance. Since the squad was too weak for Premier League conditions, City only finished 18th in the table at the end of the season and Haaland had to enter the second division for the second time in his career.

Keane fouled and retired

In the 2000/01 season , Haaland had a momentous encounter with Roy Keane . This was preceded by a dispute between the two players in 1997. Keane tried to stop Haaland with a tackle in the game between Manchester United and Leeds . During the attempt, however, he tore himself a cruciate ligament and was then out for nine months due to an injury. Haaland was uninjured in the attack and then leaned on the injured Keane, who was lying on the ground, accusing him of faking an injury in order not to receive punishment for his rude attack.

Thereupon there was no clash between the two players until April 21, 2001. Five minutes before the end of the game in the derby between Manchester City and United , Keane fouled Haaland who hit the ball with a straight foot. For the time being, the foul was considered a revenge foul and Keane was given a 3-game suspension and £ 5,000 fine. In August 2002, Keane published his autobiography, in which he devoted an entire chapter in the book to the arguments between himself and Haaland and openly admitted that he wanted to deliberately hurt him from the beginning:

“I've waited long enough. I hit him bloody hard. The ball was there (I think). Take this you pig. And never stand above me again and scoff at fake injuries. "

As a result, Keane was subsequently suspended from the English Football Association with a further five-game suspension and a £ 150,000 fine.

Haaland had to end his career a short time later due to an injury to his other knee. In an interview with the English Sunday Tribune in 2008, he criticized Keane for disregarding his role model function by exploiting the foul in his book in order to make a profit with this inglorious action. He won't blame him for the foul itself, because something like that happens in football. When asked about the first incident as a Leeds player, he said he didn't think it was possible that Keane would hold this grudge over the years.

National team

In 1989 he caused a stir internationally for the first time when he defeated Norway's U20 team at the Junior World Cup in Saudi Arabia , Spain 4-2. The selection at that time was peppered with his later A-Team colleagues Henning Berg , Lars Bohinen , Øyvind Leonhardsen , Roger Nilsen and Roar Strand , among others .

This was followed by three years in the Norwegian U21s , which he led as captain on the field from 1992.

As an England legionnaire, he made his debut for the senior national team in a friendly against Costa Rica on January 19, 1994 .

At the 1994 World Cup in the USA , he was the unfortunate figure of the Norwegians in the game against Italy . In the 69th minute he was responsible for an unnecessary foul on Giuseppe Signori for a free kick that led to the Italians' winning goal by Dino Baggio . The first game against Mexico could still be won 1-0. In the last group game against Ireland , Norwegian coach Egil Olsen waived him in favor of Kjetil Rekdal and left him on the bench for the entire season. The game ended 0-0 and Norway was eliminated from the tournament due to the poor goal difference.

An injury prevented his nomination for the 1998 World Cup in France . Previously, he was an indispensable support in the defensive midfield in qualifying.

After losing his regular seat at Leeds United , he was not nominated by coach Nils Johan Semb for the 2000 European Championship in Belgium and the Netherlands . As in qualifying for the 98 World Cup, he was a regular in the team in most of the qualifying games in qualifying for the European Championship.

Between 1999 and 2001 he was no longer nominated for the national team in a row, before he celebrated his comeback in the friendly against Bulgaria on April 25, 2001 after strong performances as captain of Manchester City . Due to his sudden end to his career, this game became his last appearance for Norway.

Haaland is only one of six Norwegian national players who have never played in the Norwegian first division . He is also the owner of the "Golden Clock", which is awarded to every deserving Norwegian national player who has completed 25 senior team appearances.

He made a total of 34 international matches between 1994 and 2001.

Web links

• International match statistics from Haaland ( Memento from July 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
• Haaland as a player from Nottingham Forest
• Haaland as a Leeds United player
• Haaland as a Manchester City player

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Brief bio about his time at City
2. ↑ First meeting with Keane on YouTube
3. ↑ The Serious Keane Foul on YouTube
4. ↑ Keane's Haaland call
5. ↑  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) My Two Cent with Alf-Inge Haaland. (English)