Latest news with #Molde
GMA Network
28-06-2025
- Sport
- GMA Network
Choco Mucho flaunts depth to overcome Galeries in four sets
A depleted Choco Mucho side dug deep to overcome a lopsided second set glitch against Galeries and eke out a 25-19, 13-25, 25-22, 25-20 win to hit the ground running in its 2025 PVL On Tour campaign on Saturday in Batangas City. Without several key players in Sisi Rondina, Dindin Santiago-Manabat, and Kat Tolentino, veterans Isa Molde and Des Cheng presided over the four-set escape as they went 1-0 in Pool A. Molde top-scored with 20 points together with 12 receptions while Cheng chipped in 13 markers, 11 digs, and five receptions. But it was the contribution from other cast that may have spelled the difference for the Flying Titans. Jen Villegas, the 19th overall pick in the recent rookie draft, proved her worth by shining off the bench and providing the spark in third and four sets, unleashing a single block on fellow rookie Jean Asis to give Choco Mucho a huge 18-11 lead in the fourth. But Galeries reorganized its offense and unleashed a quick 3-0 run to cut the deficit to four before Molde converted back-to-back attacks that extended Choco Mucho's lead to six at 21-15. Another rookie in Ayesha Juegos, who was picked up by the Flying Titans from the free agency market recently, supplied the finishing blow by completing two opposite kills in a row to close out the match. Villegas and Juegos, both formerly with the Adamson University Lady Falcons in the UAAP, finished with seven points each while Honey Royse Tubino churned out eight markers. Asis, meanwhile, had herself a debut after pouring in 16 points in her first game in the PVL while Jewel Encarnacion and Ysa Jimenez chimed in with 14 and 13 markers each. —JKC, GMA Integrated News
Hindustan Times
07-06-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Erling Haaland — the miracle of Bryne
Stavanger : The indoor football turf at Bryne FK greets you with a massive picture pasted right behind the goal. Two retired school teachers point to the white text printed in bold in Norwegian. 'Me ska så fotballglede, dryka talent, og hausta mirakler.' The teachers take turns translating it to English, and each voice carries unmistakable heft. 'We will sow joy of football, nurture talent, harvest miracles.' Erling Haaland, the face screaming out of that picture, is the miracle of Bryne. They may not have seen it coming then, but they talk of visual evidence now. Espen Undheim, coach at Bryne FK for 25 years who worked with Haaland from age 8 to 15, brings up two videos saved in his home computer. The first is of a 10-year-old Haaland's run inside the box as 'one of the smallest boys'. Undheim gets flashes of that when he watches some of Haaland's runs now as one of world football's tallest figures and prolific goalscorers. The second is of Undheim speaking to Haaland after a training session that the kid thought did not go well because he could score just one goal. 'But you served your team players,' Undheim recalled the chat. 'He said: that's not good enough. I had to be scoring at least 4-5 goals.' Those two videos encapsulate Undheim's early impressions of a kid who, two decades on, has grown to become among the world's best strikers moving from Bryne to Molde, Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund and now Manchester City. 'The clarity to get in the right position at that age, and the mentality to score goals... I haven't seen it since,' Undheim said. So hasn't anyone else in Bryne. About an hour's drive from Stavanger, this small Norwegian town is home to the club that shaped Haaland and, for a few days in the year when he visits his family, to the man itself. It is also an attractive pitstop for thousands of global tourists that visit Norway and for whom the two teachers turn guides. Edge of Norway, Stavanger region's tourism department, runs an official 'Haaland tour'. Haaland's own journey in Bryne began when his father, Alfie, returned to his hometown after a curtailed Premier League career. Undheim had played youth football with Alfie but Erling, who joined Bryne for their after-school programme, had something different. 'He was small then, but clever in finding ways to get in the right position to score goals,' Undheim said. His speed may have been down to genetics — Erling's mother was an athlete — but the mentality to hunt for goals had been moulded. 'He would remember runs that weren't good — that I have to start earlier, be one metre to the left, one meter below,' he said. 'Only special kids think like that when they are 9, 10, 11 years old.' This kid was special, but equally hardworking. Haaland would take notes during training, and often come in on weekends for solo sessions. The indoor arena that now houses his photo had turned home. 'He lived there,' said Undheim. 'Before training sessions, he would go alone for an hour. Sometimes, he got his friends and would shoot and dribble with them. He'd be here four hours on Saturday, and maybe Sunday. His mom would drop by with some food and water.' After playing for the club's age-group and second team, Haaland was bumped up to Bryne's first team at age 15. The teen was in the company of men, yet hardly intimidated. 'He was a player that you could say had a lot of respect, but also didn't really respect anyone,' said Sondre Norheim, Bryne FK's centre back who played with Haaland in the first team. 'When he was in the locker room with older players, he was respectful. But when he stepped on the field, even if someone was 15 years older, he would play how he wanted to and knew to play. Went in, tackled hard, wanted to go past them, wanted to score goals. No fear.' Haaland did not score a goal in his 16 appearances for Bryne, but the talent was on notice. Molde, then coached by Ole Gunnar Solskaer who knew Alfie, signed him at 16. And off went Haaland, growing at every step along the way from Molde to Salzburg to Dortmund to Manchester City where, in his debut season, he broke the record for most goals in a single season. 'The unreal ability to be at the right place and score goals, you can see he still has that. But now, he also has the power. Combining those two has put him in a place where he is unstoppable in front of the goal,' Norheim said. And unmissable each time he plays, at least in Bryne. Undheim, now the club's U-13 head coach, knows what every kid in his club has in mind. 'They are looking at him when City is playing. They are looking at him when the Norwegian team is playing. All of them have a national jersey, or a City jersey.' Haaland is the kids' icon. Haaland is the club's pride. Haaland is Bryne's miracle.
BBC News
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
The night teenage Haaland 'killed' Lennon's Hibs
There is something rather surreal about looking at a picture of Efe Ambrose attempting to get heavy-handed with a teenage Erling now at English non-league side Workington, and Manchester City's Haaland, arguably the world's top striker, have seen their careers take different paths since they faced off in was the night the Norwegian phenomenon "killed" Hibernian, former manager Neil Lennon Leith side met Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Molde in Europa League qualifying and travelled to Norway with the tie in the balance after a goalless first leg in missed the Easter Road clash because of talks over a £9m move to Red Bull Salzburg, but he started the second leg with his future still in 18-year-old sensation delivered a bullish display against a Hibs defence consisting of Ryan Porteous and the experienced trio of Ambrose, Paul Hanlon and Lewis first goal came from a simple back-post header, before a blistering run in behind - one we've become so accustomed to seeing now - resulted in him turning provider for Fredrik Aursnes. The forward then rounded Adam Bogdan to seal a 3-0 win."Yeah, he killed us," Lennon tells BBC Scotland. "We were going well, 0-0 at home, and when he played in the second leg we were like: 'Who's this guy?'."He was 18 at the time, and funnily enough straight after he went to Salzburg. I said to Solskjaer: 'Could you not have sold him a couple of days earlier?'. He was amazing."Lennon took charge at Easter Road in 2016 and led Hibs out of the Championship in his first season - a feat he is now attempting to repeat with Dunfermline after signing a two-year deal to remain at the Pars, whom he joined on a short-term basis in March."I had a real happy time at Hibs. It was a fabulous couple of years, I loved it and I get the same feeling here although it's a different challenge because that Hibs team had the nucleus of a really good team," Lennon adds."We've got some good players in the building but we need to add a lot more to that, whereas the Hibs team had won the cup so there was still a feelgood effect there around when I came in. And we were more than enough quality to get out of the division once we added a few players to the team already."So that was a very happy time and I want to experience that again but you only do that by doing the work in the background and doing the hard yards."
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Rhys Marshall reflects on career highlights as he hangs up his boots
Rhys Marshall says "a combination of things" has led him to call time on his footballing career. The 30-year-old Glenavon star announced on Thursday that he was retiring after making 299 appearances for the club. Marshall assured supporters there was no issue between himself and current boss Paddy McLaughlin saying it was "the right time" to hang his boots up as he reflected on some of his highlights for the Lurgan Blues. READ MORE: New stained glass window at Belfast City Hall honours pivotal moments in LGBTQ+ history READ MORE: Irish qualified Kiwi leaves Ulster as Richie Murphy signs Wallabies star 'There is no single reason for my decision. It has been in my mind for a while, but I think now is the right time,' Marshall told the Glenavon website. 'I have nothing but respect for Paddy. He has done a great job since he was appointed. However, I stepped back from full time to go part time, and an extra session was added which made things difficult. 'I have had one or two knocks in the last few years which have restricted my availability. Last season it was much harder to recover after training, let alone, games, than it was five or ten years ago. "That is another factor, but, as I have said, it is a combination of things.' Two Irish Cup wins with Glenavon and scoring on a famous night in Europe as they beat a Molde side featuring Erling Haaland are just some of the memories that will stick with Marshall. 'The two cup successes are the highlights of my career,' he explained. 'I was young and probably didn't fully appreciate how special those moments were. "There was also the fact that we were a top side at that time. It wasn't a big surprise when we defeated Linfield. But, looking back, to win two Irish Cups in three years was a great achievement. 'When I scored [against Molde], I didn't imagine that it would be the springboard for us to go on and win the match. It was an amazing performance and result.' Marshall paid a heartfelt tribute to his former boss Gary Hamilton and the late club chairman Adrian Teer and the rest of the board at Mourneview Park as he said his goodbyes. 'Gary gave me my debut. I am grateful to him for that,' he said. 'He worked out very early the type of person I am and how best to get the best out of me. He gave me the freedom to be more than a defender and get forward when I wanted to. That was a big part of my game. 'They were all good to me. I was always made to feel wanted. I am sorry that I cannot continue but I leave with some fabulous memories.'
Irish Independent
03-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
League of Ireland takeaways: Shamrock Rovers' second-half woes as Shels' frailty continues to hurt them
On the eve of the League of Ireland season – in the aftermath of the first leg of his team's Conference League tie with Molde – Stephen Bradley spoke about where Shamrock Rovers went wrong in the league in 2024.
