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Thomas Sørensen

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For the defender, see Thomas Sørensen (footballer born 1984).
Thomas Sørensen
Personal information
Full name Thomas Løvendahl Sørensen
Height 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) [1]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
 Stoke City
Number 29
Youth career
Erritsø
Assens
Odense BK
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–1998 Odense BK 0 (0)
1995–1997 → Vejle Boldklub (loan) 6 (0)
1997–1998 → Svendborg (loan) 45 (0)
1998–2003 Sunderland 171 (0)
2003–2008 Aston Villa 139 (0)
2008– Stoke City 78 (0)
International career‡
1993–1997 Denmark U21 24 (0)
1999– Denmark 92 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15:55, 24 October 2010 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 8 October 2010

Thomas Løvendahl Sørensen (born 12 June 1976) is a Danish professional football goalkeeper, who plays for Stoke City of the English Premiership. He has previously represented Premiership teams Sunderland and Aston Villa.

He is the starting goalkeeper for the Denmark national football team, the successor to the legendary Peter Schmeichel, and he has played more than 80 matches for his country. He has no major honours to his name but did start for his country at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2004, and 2010 FIFA World Cup tournaments.

Club career

Early career

Born in Fredericia, Sørensen started playing youth football with local clubs in Erritsø and Assens.[2] He then moved to the youth team of local top-flight club Odense Boldklub. He played in training matches against FC St. Pauli and Werder Bremen in February 1993, and signed a trainee contract with the club.[3] He was soon a professional with Odense BK's first team squad in the Danish Superliga championship. Sørensen served as an understudy to club legend goalkeeper Lars Høgh, and did not play any league games for the club.

During the 1995–96 season, he was loaned out to league rivals Vejle BK in December 1995.[4] Initially an understudy to Erik Boye, he made his Superliga debut in March 1996. Sørensen played three thoroughly impressive games in a row, and the press dubbed him the new Peter Schmeichel.[5] He played six league matches in all for Vejle, including a 0–6 defeat to Brøndby IF, before being dropped by coach Ole Fritsen following a 0–1 defeat to Viborg FF, in which Viborg's Ralf Pedersen headed the ball from Sørensen's hands to score the goal.[6] Sørensen broke his arm in the summer 1996,[7] but continued his loan deal with Vejle until the summer 1997, without playing any more games for the club. Odense then loaned him out again, this time to FC Svendborg in the second-tier Danish 1st Division league,[8] where he played the full 1997–98 season.

Sunderland

In the summer 1998, Sørensen moved abroad to play for English club Sunderland in the Football League First Division, the then second level league of English football. Hardly anyone outside of Denmark had even heard of the tall and athletic keeper,[9] when English manager Peter Reid bought the 22-year old from Odense for about £510,000 in July 1998.[10] Sørensen was bought to replace fan favourite Lionel Pérez who left on a free transfer. This move helped Sunderland to promotion for the top flight English Premiership, when Sørensen and his team grabbed the League Championship title in 1999. Sørensen smashed the club's clean sheet record with 29 clean sheets in the process.[9]

Sørensen established himself as Sunderland's starting goalkeeper in the Premiership, and helped the club finish 7th in both of their two first Premiership seasons. He gained legendary status with Sunderland fans in 2001, when he saved a penalty kick from Alan Shearer in the dying moments of a November 2000 game, to preserve a valuable win over arch rivals and neighbouring club Newcastle United.[11] In the 2002–03 season, Sørensen was injured from October 2002 to January 2003, and only played 21 of 38 games. Sunderland were struggling both on and off the pitch and Sørensen could not save the club from relegation at the end of the season.

Reid had already been sacked, and as a result of the club's mounting financial worries, Sunderland sold Sørensen for £2 million to Aston Villa,[10] who had held off interest from a handful of other clubs, including Manchester United and Arsenal. He played nearly 200 games on Wearside for Sunderland and remains a fan favourite.

Aston Villa

At Aston Villa, Sørensen developed his reputation as a good goalkeeper. Sørensen's ability as a shot stopper allowed him to retain his place as Villa's number one under both managers David O'Leary and Martin O'Neill, ahead of the likes of Stefan Postma and Stuart Taylor. In his first three seasons at Aston Villa, he only missed four games. In a November 2003 game against Newcastle, he once again saved an Alan Shearer penalty kick.[12] He suffered a knee injury during the 2006–07 season,[13] but still played 29 games that term.

During the 2007–08 season he fell out of favour at Villa. Sørensen had suffered an injury during the pre-season, and Villa decided to loan in goalkeeper Scott Carson from Liverpool.[14] Carson went on to become the starting goalkeeper, and Sørensen stated that he wanted to leave the club in December 2007.[15] In January 2008, Sørensen was linked with a £500,000 transfer to Derby County,[16] but nothing came of this deal. At the end of the 2007–08 season, Sørensen's contract at Villa expired and he left the club on a free transfer.[17] He failed to make a single appearance for the club in his final season as by then he had slipped down to third place in the pecking order behind both Scott Carson and Stuart Taylor.

Stoke City

After leaving Aston Villa, Sørensen received a contract offer from Championship club Ipswich Town, but he rejected it as he wanted to play top-flight football.[18] On 28 July 2008, Sørensen started a trial with newly promoted Premiership club Stoke City, and two days later, he signed a three-year contract with the club. Sørensen became City's main goalkeeper for the 2008–09 season replacing Steve Simonsen. He made a number of great performances as Stoke achieved a 12th place finish in the Premiership.

He continued to be Stoke's first choice 'keeper in 2009–10 and signed a contract extension in November 2009, to keep him at the Britannia Stadium until 2011.[19] During the 2009–10 season he continued his good form in goal. He saved penalties during games against Portsmouth, Arsenal and Wigan Athletic, and played an important part in Stoke's good run in the Premier League, which brought them to 10th place in December.[20] On December 12 Sørensen saved yet another penalty, meaning he had by then saved five out of the last six penalty kicks against him.[21] Sørensen got extra competition for the spot as Stoke's first-choice goalkeeper, following the signing of Asmir Begović from Portsmouth in February 2010.[22] He dislocated his elbow in a game against Chelsea on 25 April.[23] The elbow was put back in place without the need for surgery, but Sørensen missed the last three games of the 2009–10 season.

After starting the first nine matches of the 2010–11 season Sørensen lost his place to Begović.[24] But he has played in all the club's FA Cup games, including the FA Cup Final against Manchester City.

International career

Sørensen made his international debut with the Danish under-19 national team in April 1993, and was moved into the Danish under-21 national team in September 1993, making his under-21 debut at 17 years of age. He went on to play 24 games for the Denmark under-21s until October 1997. Following his initial impressive form for Vejle, he was called up for an unofficial national team game in April 1996, and replaced Lars Høgh at half-time.[25]

After his move to Sunderland, Sørensen made his debut for the senior Danish national team in November 1999, coming on to replace an injured Peter Schmeichel. He was a reserve keeper for Denmark at Euro 2000, when Peter Schmeichel was at the end of his career. For the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign in 2001, he took over the job as goalkeeper and helped Denmark qualify. Sørensen was then instrumental, as Denmark won their first round group ahead of Senegal, Uruguay and defending World Cup champions France to book a second round clash against England. However, in the pouring rain at the Niigata Stadium, Sørensen conceded three goals, one of them a mistake by Sørensen,[10] as he bundled the ball into his own goal from a Rio Ferdinand header in the fifth minute. England went on to win the match 3–0.

Once again representing his country in an international tournament, Sørensen played in all his country's games at Euro 2004, gathering the official man of the match award after both the 0–0 draw with Italy and the 2–0 victory against Bulgaria. Despite his efforts, Denmark was once more eliminated in a 3–0 loss, this time to the Czech Republic in the quarter finals.

During the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, Denmark faced Sweden at Råsunda Stadium in Stockholm. Sweden was awarded a penalty in the tenth minute, which Sørensen saved as Denmark went on to win the game 1–0. Sørensen missed three qualification matches through injury, yet Denmark still qualified for the 2010 World Cup with one match to go. Sørensen's elbow injury put his chance of appearing in his second World Cup in doubt,[23] but Denmark coach Morten Olsen included him in the final squad, and on regaining full fitness Sørensen was named the starting goalkeeper for his second World Cup campaign, and played full time in Denmark's three games at the tournament.

Career statistics

Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Odense BK 1994–95 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1995–96 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Vejle (loan) 1995–96 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
1996–97 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
Svendborg (loan) 1997–98 45 0 0 0 0 0 45 0
Total 45 0 0 0 0 0 45 0
Sunderland 1998–99 45 0 2 0 9 0 56 0
1999–2000 37 0 2 0 0 0 39 0
2000–01 34 0 4 0 4 0 42 0
2001–02 34 0 1 0 0 0 35 0
2002–03 21 0 4 0 0 0 25 0
Total 171 0 13 0 13 0 197 0
Aston Villa 2003–04 38 0 1 0 6 0 45 0
2004–05 36 0 1 0 2 0 39 0
2005–06 36 0 4 0 3 0 43 0
2006–07 29 0 0 0 2 0 31 0
2007–08 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 139 0 6 0 13 0 158 0
Stoke City 2008–09 36 0 0 0 0 0 36 0
2009–10 33 0 5 0 0 0 38 0
2010–11 9 0 6 0 0 0 15 0
Total 78 0 11 0 0 0 89 0
Career total 439 0 30 0 26 0 495 0

Honours

Sunderland

References

  1. ^ "Premier League Player Profile". Premier League. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
  2. ^ Jan B. Jensen, "Sørensen ud af skyggen", Jyllands-Posten, November 18, 1999.
  3. ^ Allan Pedersen, "Senegal bedre end Brande", Ekstra Bladet, February 3, 1993
  4. ^ Allan Pedersen, "Talent ud af Høghs skygge", Ekstra Bladet, December 10, 1995
  5. ^ Ib Pilegaard, "Thomas bliver den ny Schmeichel", B.T., April 14, 1996.
  6. ^ Søren Olsen, "Håb om ufortjent sejr", Politiken, May 5, 1996, p.24
  7. ^ Lars Hendel, "Brud på brud", B.T., July 12, 1996.
  8. ^ Søren Olsen, "Svendborg-målmandens mareridt", Politiken, August 20, 1997, p.19.
  9. ^ a b EURO 2008 profile, UEFA, 2006
  10. ^ a b c Ronald Atkin, Why Sorensen is keeping to the Schmeichel strut holds, The Independent on Sunday, November 16, 2003
  11. ^ "Quinn brings tears to the Toon". BBC News. 18 November 2000.
  12. ^ Turnbull, Simon (2 November 2003). "Sorensen foils Shearer again as 10-man Villa stand firm". The Independent. London.
  13. ^ http://tipsbladet.dk/nyhed/generelle/thomas-soerensen-faar-comeback
  14. ^ http://tipsbladet.dk/nyhed/generelle/alvorlig-konkurrence-til-thomas-soerensen
  15. ^ Sorensen resigned to Villa exit, BBC Sport, 18 December 2007, accessed 5 January 2008
  16. ^ http://www.sportinglife.com/football/premiership/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/08/01/07/manual_090244.html
  17. ^ "Villa release Sørensen and Berger". BBC Sport. 2008-05-15. Retrieved 2008-05-15. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ http://www.dr.dk/Sporten/Fodbold/Int.fodbold/2008/05/18/112552.htm?wbc_purpose=update
  19. ^ "Sorensen's Future In Safe Hands". Stoke City FC. Stoke City. 2009-11-12. Retrieved 2009-11-12.
  20. ^ "Review of Arsenal-Stoke". Goal.com. Goal.com. 2009-12-05. Retrieved 2009-12-05.
  21. ^ "Review of Stoke-Wigan". Goal.com. RTÉ Sport. 2009-12-12. Retrieved 2009-12-12.
  22. ^ "Stoke sign Portsmouth keeper Asmir Begovic". BBC News. 2010-02-01. Retrieved 2010-05-25..
  23. ^ a b "Injured Sørensen in World Cup Doubt". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 25 April 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  24. ^ "Sorensen Eager To Progress". stokecityfc.com. 27 January 2011.
  25. ^ http://www.dbu.dk/landshold/Landsholdsdatabasen/LBaseMatchInfo.aspx?matchid=4070

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