Ricketts scores on final day of Norwegian season By Steven Sandor Posted on November 19, 2012 Comments Off on Ricketts scores on final day of Norwegian season 0 686 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter It took till the final match of the Norwegian League season, but Edmonton’s Tosaint Ricketts finally got himself back onto a scoresheet in a European match. On this, the final weekend of the season in Norway, Ricketts scored a wonderful opening goal for Valerenga, but the Oslo side could not hold on to the lead, and dropped a 2-1 decision to Viking Stavanger. In the 50th minute, Ricketts was able to control a bouncing ball just outside the penalty area, then darted through two defenders before slotting home a low shot that the keeper was able to get a piece of, but couldn’t keep out. It was only Ricketts’s third appearance of the Norwegian season, after finally being cleared to play last month, ending a long standoff with the Romanian Football Federation. Tosaint Ricketts That standoff prevented him from playing the conclusion of the last Romanian season, and from signing with Bundlesliga 2. side Dynamo Dresden. And, after he signed with Valerenga at the end of August, he had to wait almost two months for the FIFA wheels to finally clear him to play. Now, what we have to wait and see is if Ricketts impressed enough in training and his short playing spell to earn the chance to come back to Valerenga in 2013. Ricketts was in the second of a three-year deal with Romanian side Politehnica TImisoara; but, at the beginning of 2012, the team — which had been forcibly relegated over financial improprieties — stopped paying the Canadian striker. After four months, he left the country, thinking he was free of what had become a voided contract. He impressed in a trial with Dresden, but that team decided not to fight the Romanian federation when that country’s governing soccer body said it still recognized Ricketts as a Timisoara player. Finally, at the end of August, thanks to a recommendation from fellow Edmontonian and national-team keeper Lars Hirschfeld, Ricketts got the chance with Valerenga, but then had to wait two more months before being cleared to play. Valerenga finished the season in a disappointing eighth spot.
