The Tromso Players Brighton Must Get Past in Norway
There is a face in the Tromso goal that a certain generation of Albion supporter will recognise straight away. Jakob Haugaard was the Wigan goalkeeper on the day Brighton clinched promotion to the Premier League at the Amex. Glenn Murray and Solly March scored the goals. Haugaard headed for the away changing room as supporters flooded the pitch. All this time later, the former Stoke man keeps goal inside the Arctic Circle. He is one of the Tromso players standing between the Seagulls and the Conference League’s league phase.
Brighton travel to the Romssa Arena next Thursday for the away leg of the Conference League play-off round. It is the last hurdle before the league phase. The return at the Amex falls after a home Premier League date with Aston Villa. Tromso are third in Norway’s top flight and in the thick of their season. Hürzeler’s players have not started theirs. That gap in sharpness is what Tromso are counting on.
The Tromso players who could hurt the Albion
Ruben Yttergard Jenssen sets the tempo. The captain is 38, two years older than his own head coach. The Argus frames Jorgen Vik as Tromso’s Hürzeler and Jenssen as his Pascal Groß. He was rested for the home leg against Cluj, having been hugely impressive in the 5-0 first leg.
The greater threat may come from wider. The Argus reports that wing-backs Isak Dahlqvist and Alexander Warneryd have both scored hat-tricks in Tromso’s last three games. That is not a sentence you often get to write about defenders. Haugaard matters to how they build, too: a keeper trusted with the ball at his feet. Vik, a former goalkeeper and futsal international himself, is 36.
In-season, in form, and on plastic
Tromso reached the play-off round by beating Cluj 7-1 across two legs. They closed it out with a 2-1 home win. Leon Hein, a Swedish centre-back on loan from Djurgarden, scored after six minutes on his debut. Isak Vadebu added a second early in the second half. Tromso finished third last season, having come 13th the year before. They visit Molde on Sunday in a fifth-against-third league game. None of that reads like a club bracing for a beating. There have been departures, mind: midfielder Jens Hjerto-Dahl has gone to Hull City, one of several to leave this summer.
Then there is the surface. The Romssa Arena is artificial. Tromso press hard and want the ball. Vik has been happy to say out loud what he is hoping for. He told The Argus that his players believe they can compete with anyone they have faced. Then he went further:
They haven’t started their season yet, and I think facing our style of play on artificial turf could potentially come as a shock to them.
Jorgen Vik, Tromso head coach, speaking to The Argus
Hallvard Myklebust covers Tromso for the town paper Bladet Nordlys. He told The Argus’s guide to the Tromso squad that locals thought Brighton the toughest opponent in the draw. “Tromso people were sceptical about the chances,” he said, “but over two legs a lot can happen.” Tromso are braced for brisk demand for their own home tickets. The Albion’s away section of about 400 is expected to go quickly.
A familiar face, a very different night
Haugaard was on loan from Stoke City on that day at the Amex. He was attached to the club for four years but made only seven appearances. In Tromso he is the goalkeeper, one tie from the league phase, with a full house expected behind him. If the Albion get their football right, none of the above will count for much. Turn up in northern Norway a few days short of their own season, though, and the Tromso players will know exactly what to do about it.
