AB Gladsaxe will play the 1st quarter-final in the Oddset Cup on Wednesday 6 December 2023 at 18:00, when FC Nordsjælland welcomes at Right to Dream Park.Of course, it will be a big mouthful for AB to meet a 3F superliga team – but as long as the ball is round and all that!!AB last played on Saturday 18 November 2023, where it was a 3-2 victory over FA2000 at Gladsaxe Stadium.FC Nordsjælland has been busier. The team played a big game last week in the Europa Conference League, where Fenerbahce were sent home from Right to Dream Park with a 6-1 defeat. Last weekend, FC Nordsjælland played 1-1 in Odense against OB in the 3F Superliga AB has reached the quarter-finals after most recently sending Vejle, which is also a 3F Superliga team, out of the cup with a 4-3 victory after penalties. FC Nordsjælland knocked Viborg FF out of the cup with a 3-2 win in Viborg.AB’s coaching staff really needs to make a tactically good plan so that FC Nordsjælland does not overrun AB in their lightning-fast transition play, quick combinations in small spaces and direct play.If it succeeds – well, then anything can happen. It will also be exciting to see how FC Nordsjælland’s head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup, who as a coach has been past AB’s youth department, approaches the match and sets his team. After today’s training, Rasmus Brodersen says: “We are really looking forward to the match. We have waited a long time and we are prepared. We look forward to coming out and surprising and delivering a good performance. It will be a great experience to play against FC Nordsjælland. They are the second best team in the Superliga from last season and we hope that we can invite them to dance.We look forward to getting out and testing ourselves against a team from a higher shelf – it gives butterflies in the stomach. They are used to playing at a higher pace and on artificial turf, so it will probably make a difference.” Head coach David Roufpanah gives the match these words on the way: “We have to play against a team that is very strong. FC Nordsjælland played at home last week and won 6-1 against Fenerbahce, who are also a very strong team. So it is a big challenge that we have prepared a lot for. But we have also looked at our own game and looked at how we can defend against them. We have prepared for the different scenarios it can happen in the match and of course how we can create scoring chances.It’s football, it’s cup games – anything can happen. We shouldn’t go in and think that this is impossible, because it’s not – anything can happen in a cup match. Of course, we know that it will be a big task. We must not just stand back on the field. But when we play against a team that is so quick on the ball, then of course we don’t get as many chances as we usually play our way to. So when we get a good chance, we have to go for it.It will be a nice match and very exciting. We are looking forward to it and it suits us well that here in November/December, when it is dark and cold and we have to train, we have had these two cup matches to look forward to”. The coaching staff can be the starting line-up among these players. 1 Indy Groothuizen 3 Erik Lindell 4 Adrien Koudelka 5 Rasmus Brodersen 6 Daniel A. Pedersen 8 Darren Sidoel10 Layton Ndukwu11 Killian van Mil15 Søren Ilsøe16 Albert Gaub-Jacobsen21 Ilias Namli22 Tim Freriks24 Mark Garly Pedersen28 Emiliano Gomez30 Julius Lind29 Ibrahim Doumbia33 Hakim Sighaoui35 Pachanga Kristensen37 Frederik Lindgaard40 Hard Askham
Gladsaxe Stadium has not been ready for the match, so the second leg between AB and Nordsjælland will also be played at Right to Dream Park – it is on Saturday 9 December 2023 at 15:30.
