Christen Press (left) and Faith Ikidi in Wednesday’s match at Tyresö
Nigerian international Faith Ikidi is currently playing her ninth season in the Damallsvenskan. She started out for QBIK in 2005, won the Swedish championship title with Linköping in 2009 and has now made the little northern town of Piteå her home since 2011. After Piteå lost 1-2 to champions Tyresö on Wednesday evening, I had the opportunity to talk to Faith. A couple of minutes before the match ended, she was lying on the pitch in pain and signalled to the bench that she had to be changed – then, after a short treatment she would carry on. Read more
Three rounds have been played in the Damallsvenskan of 2013. Last year’s champions Tyresö FF are the only team that has won all their three games – 1:0 against Umeå, 2:0 at Vittsjö and again, 2:0 at home against Linköping. Read more
The Swedish Super Cup, is a one-game championship played between the Damallsvenskan champions and the winners of the Swedish Cup.
For the third time, Tyresö lost a cup final to Göteborg. This time as the reigning Swedish champions and at home. However, once again and for the third time, the decision came after penalties. Read more
Tyresö FF are the Swedish champions for 2012. They won the big game in Malmö against the homeside LdB FC with 1:0 score after a header from Madelaine Edlund. Read more
Sweden has finally gotten its thrilling final. The championship will be decided in Malmö next Saturday when defending champions Malmö will play challenger Tyresö FF in what is already regarded as the most exciting finish of Damallsvenskan in many years. On the other side of the table AIK is definitely leaving the league after losing at home against Linköping while Djurgården has a tiny little chance to continue playing DA in 2013. Read more
For Kopparberg/Göteborgs FC it has been quite a diappointing season so far. I remember well how coach Torbjörn Nilsson told us in April at the pre-season press meeting in Göteborg that his team would try everything to win the championship this year and that they would have a fair chance to win the gold medals. Months later, Göteborg is much more than 10 points behind the leading teams of Malmö and Tyresö. Read more
Both LdB FC Malmö and Kopparberg/Göteborgs FC had no problems taking another step in the UEFA Champions League defeating their Hungarian and Serbian opponents in easy home games a second time. Read more
This is the summary of two rounds of the Damallsvenskan which slowly moves to its final decision. Malmö and Tyresö continue to play in their own league it seems and only they can stop each other.
The last week was a lot about ACL injuries. Unfortunately. The first victim was Swedish WNT goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl who was injured in the game in Göteborg a week ago and who got the diagnose a few days later. It is uncertain if she can be back when Sweden plays the EURO 2013 next year. However, she is willing to try.
Her team Kristianstad lost another national team player as striker Kosovare Asllani was picked from ambitious Paris SG to play in the French league immediately. Asllani was recruited during the last days of the French transfer window and president Nasser Al-Khelaifi wants to establish his club as one of the best in both men’s and women’s soccer. Aslanni’s famous countryman Zlatan Ibrahimovic joined the men’s side right before the season started and Mr Al-Khelaifi reportedly said that they now had even recruited the “female Zlatan”.
Another ACL injury occurred in Malmö where midfielder Lisa Ek suffered this injury in the last practice before the Champions League game in Budapest which LdB FC Malmö easily won by 4:0. Thirty-year-old Ek had just recently signed a two year contract with the Swedish champions and will now soon face surgery for the third ACL of her career.
Pia Sundhage will coach the Swedish WNT for the first time on October when they will meet Switzerland in Växjö, one of the towns to host next year’s EURO.
Round 17
Kopparberg/Göteborgs FC vs Kristianstads DFF 3:0
Attendance: 312
Göteborg: Anna Ahlstrand 26’, Christen Press 72’, Yael Averbuch 89’
KIF Örebro vs Linköpings FC 2:3 Attendance: 302 Örebro: Linda Fransson 30’, Linda Hallin 68’ Linköping: Louise Fors 35’, Manon Melis 38’, Marianne Gajhede Knudsen 75’
Piteå IF vs Jitex BK 0:1 Attendance: 1012 Jitex: Mimmi Löfwenius 18’
Vittsjö GIK vs LdB FC Malmö 2:3 Attendance: 1195 Vittsjö: Emma Sjödahl 75’, Kirsti Yallop 87’ Malmö: Katrina Veje 41’, Ramona Bachmann 45+1’, Anja Mittag 90’
Umeå IK vs Djurgården 2:0 Attendance: 611 Umeå: Rita Chikwelu 21’, Jenny Hjohlman 80’
AIK vs Tyresö FF 0:4 Attendance: 832 Tyresö: Marta 53’, Madelaine Edlund 59’, Marta 66’, Madelaine Edlund 73’
Round 18
Tyresö FF vs Umeå IK 6:0
Attendance: 2428
Tyresö: own goal 24’, Line Röddik Hansen 36’, Kirsten van de Ven 40’, Madelaine Edlund 47’, Kirsten van de Ven 58’, Caroline Seger 61’
With only 60 minutes played Tyresö led with 6:0 against the former champions from Umeå. Their coach, Joakim Blomqvist, let Umeå start with a 3-4-3 formation which was not a good idea against Tyresö’s midfield which would be a tough challenge to most teams in the world. Or what do you say about Swedish internationals Lisa Dahlkvist and Caroline Seger in combination with Dutch Kirsten van de Ven and the samba duo of Marta and Vero Boquete?
Tyresö outplayed their opponents and if they just had wanted they could have scored far more goals, but the last 30 minutes they were already relaxing for the next game to come. Possible, that center back and Swedish WNT player Linda Sembrant has injured her knee after a collision with an Umeå player.
Kristianstads DFF vs AIK 3:0
Attendance: 467
Kristianstad: Susanne Moberg 23’, Margrét Lara Vidarsdottir (PK) 60’, Johanna Rasmussen 77’
It is very likely that AIK has burned their last chance to avoid relegation. Kristianstad was highly motivated after they lost goalkeeper Lindahl because of an ACL a week ago, Asllanni and finally discovering that the club had “forgotten” that the season ends first on November 3 while most players are out of contract by the end of October. But the players have promised to play the last game in spite of the fact that some of them will seek new clubs next year.
Djurgården vs KIF Örebro 3:1
Attendance: 157
Djurgården: Jessica Landström 7’, Susan Varli 38’, Matilda Rosqvist 77’
Örebro: Sarah Michael 22’
A defeat would have erased all of Djurgårdens hopes to avoid relegation. Now they have at least a little chance, closing the gap to Örebro and a safe spot to “only” four points with four matches to go. The next Djurgården game will be played at home, but the visiting side is Marta’s Tyresö…
LdB FC Malmö vs Piteå IF 3:1
Attendance: 876
Malmö: Katrin Schmidt 45+2’, Sara Björk Gunnarsdottir 56’, Anja Mittag 78’
Piteå: Anna Westerlund 52’
While Tyresö performs the free dance to use metaphors from figure skating Malmö delivers the short program right now. The champions win their games, but they do miss the kind of magic that surrounds Tyresö when they score their goals mostly within half an hour of the game.
Malmö defeats Tyresö and we all hope for that big game in the beginning of November on Malmö IP.
Jitex vs Göteborg 1:3
Attendance: 1153
Jitex: Kristine Lindblom 9’
Göteborg: Yael Averbuch 1’, Yael Averbuch 61’, Anita Asante 66’
Göteborg confirms their 3rd place behind the leading two. Torbjörn Nilsson’s squad is 16 points behind Malmö and 14 behind Tyresö. Anyway, Yael Averbuch gets better and better, scoring two out of three in that Sunday game. Nilsson commented Averbuch’s second goal with: ‘She really has a good shot. Her shot is like the kick of a horse.’
Vittsjö GIK vs Umeå IK 2-3
Attendance: 628
Vittsjö: Emma Sjödahl 26′, Sandra Adolfsson 35′
Umeå: Maria Nordbrandt 14′, Rita Chikwelu 29′, Emma Berglund 57′
The fairy tale seems to slowly come to an end. Vittsjö lost their first home game in almost two years to Umeå. Three times the former champions from Northern Sweden took the lead and Vittsjö could equalize, but when Emma Berglund scored 3-2 to Umeå with a header after a corner off assist queen Tuija Hyyrynen Vittsjö could not rise up again. Vittsjö remains in third position – no one had expected them to be there after 16 games played.
LdB FC Malmö vs Jitex BK 2-0 Attendance: 836 Malmö: Sofia Anker-Kofoed 29′, Ramona Bachmann 90+4′
The champions are still in 1st place in 2012. However, the 2-0 win against Jitex was everything but a convincing performance for LdB FC Malmö. Jitex plays a very physical game and Malmö had respect for that while missing midfielders Katrine Veje and Elin Rubensson. Only once Malmö showed their class – Al Riley reached a ball on the left side and her cross was met perfectly well by Sofia Anker-Kofoed and the 17-year-old who played for Katrine Veje scored a perfect goal. Jitex had opportunities to equalize, the best one by Leena Puranen who hit the cross bar. Malmö though could have scored a second goal during overtime when everybody had settled for a 1-0 win. Ramona Bachmann’s shot went through Minna Meriluoto’s gloves and the Finnish goalkeeper was pretty unhappy, but she had saved her side miraculously before when she put away a Lisa Ek header.
Piteå IF vs AIK 3-0
Attendance: 1015
June Pedersen 9′, Jennifer Nobis 80′, Hanna Pettersson 88′
Sunday was not a good day for the Stockholm teams. First out was AIK in Piteå and they didn’t have a g chance against Piteå which took three very important points in order to secure play in the Damallsvenskan in 2013. AIK had very few shots and Piteå was the better side.
Djurgården vs Kopparberg/Göteborgs FC 0-2
Attendance: 285
Göteborg: Christen Press 44′, Yael Averbuch 61′
Two American goals brought three more points for Göteborg which has no more but only 15 players left for the rest of the season since striker Linnéa Liljegärd left for Russian side Rossiyanka, a club that Yael Averbuch played for earlier this year.
Djurgården cannot score again with a sick Jessica Landström (fever) on the bench. Christen Press was very much invisible, but suddenly appeared scoring one minute before halftime. And that is surely what a forward is supposed to do. Averbuch who has convinced in every single match since she came to Swedenm scored her first goal and secured the victory for Göteborg and made Djurgårdens situation a little more hopeless as it was last week.
Linköpings FC vs Kristianstads DFF 1-1
Attendance: 542′
Linköping: Emma Lundh 79′
Kristianstad: Kosovare Asllani 40′
The first half was Kristianstad’s and they used only one of their opportunities to take the lead. But by high pressing, they were using a lot of energy and in the last 30 minutes it was all Linköping which could equalize through Lundh. Lisa DeVanna sat on the bench during the last two games, because she and Manon Melis do not harmonize too well on the pitch, but when the Australian came in in this game she had some very impressive action.
KIF Örebro vs Tyresö FF 0-5
Attendance: 2012
Tyresö: Caroline Seger 43′, Marta 47′, Madelaine Edlund 68′, Meghan Klingenberg 77′, Marta 81′
Another impressive win for Tyresö. The second half was marvellous and Marta gets better and better. The first half though was maybe the worst that Tyresö has played after the Olympic break. Örebro which lies ahead of only AIK and Djurgården created a couple of good chances and after 36 minutes everybody was shocked when Sarah Michael was taken down by Emilia Appelquist in a 1:1 situation on her way to the goal. The referee consulted her linesman and after a long discussion she showed yellow to Appelquist where dark red had been her only choice if she had followed the rules. That situation was decisive for the first half and Seger scored the first Tyresö goal after Marta’s assist. The second half was only Tyresö’s.
The talk of the weekend in Sweden was not the ongoing struggle between Malmö and Tyresö, but the fact that US Soccer first released the news that Pia will not continue as coach for the USWNT and some hours later (midnight local time) the press release of the Swedish soccer federation that Pia Sundhage has agreed to sign a contract as the new head coach for the Swedish WNT until Dec, 31, 2016.
Pia Sundhage arrived in Stockholm on Monday and almost directly after landing she continued to Råsunda soccer stadium to meet media people. – A dream has come true, she said and referred to the fact that about 40 years ago she was not allowed to play soccer, just because she was a girl and that now many people would ask her for interviews and that she was actually standing on the green grass of the national soccer arena just outside Stockholm.
Pia Sundhage officially starts her engagement as head coach on Dec 1 this year and it is still open who will be her assistants.
Round 15 did not deliver bigger surprises. Anja Mittag scored goal #18 and is five goals ahead of Christen Press.
Jitex BK vs Djurgården 3-0 Attendance: 173 Jitex: Fridolina Rolfö 19′, Elin Karlsson 56′, Fridolina Rolfö 70′
Djurgården knew how important this match was, even Jitex knew it. It was Djurgårdens last chance to come closer to Jitex and Örebro in the overall standings and regarding the fact that Jitex had lost their goalgetter Annica Sjölund due to an ACL-injury a week ago, the Stockholm side surely had some great expectations.
How disappointing it then was that it was all about Jitex. 22:6 shots on goal showed that Jitex clearly was and is a much better team than Djurgården which remains last after this with Göteborg coming to Stockholm next Sunday and another last chance. Jitex has 16 points now, Djurgården 9.
AIK vs Vittsjö GIK 1-1 Attendance: 153 AIK: Maija Saari 36′ Vittsjö: Danesha Adams 5′
One point is not enough for AIK. It should have been three, the team had a very good period in the beginning of the second half, but they have no goal scorer. During the week they actually lost striker Susan Varli to Djurgården. Varli had scored five of AIK’s in total eleven goals. Rumour has it that she was suspended and the club did not want her anymore. Danesha Adams scored for Vittsjö after their third corner and Maija Saari equalized with a header.
Umeå IK vs KIF Örebro 0-1 Attendance: 425 Örebro: Linda Fransson 80′
With six points within a week Örebro has done a lot to avoid relegation this year. They were the sliglty better of two teams in Umeå and while Umeå had to play without their captain Emma Berglund (red card), Örebro went for a win and finally got it after a goal from last years top scorer in div 1, Linda Fransson.
Kristianstads DFF vs LdB FC Malmö 0-3 Attendance: 1026 Malmö: Ramona Bachmann 18′, 65′, Anja Mittag 70′
The Swiss and the German continue to take Malmö to victories. After they scored all five goals in Linköping last week they scored all three goals in Kristianstad in what was supposed to be a difficult away game. However, it turned out to be a demonstration of Malmö’s class.
Kopparberg/Göteborgs FC vs Piteå IF 2-1 Attendance: 312 Göteborg: Christen Press 36′, Linnéa Liljegärd 46′ Piteå: Jennifer Nobis 94′
Göteborg’s coach Torbjörn Nilsson had used all three subs after 75′ and Göteborg was leading 2:0. Five minutes later the trouble began. First goalkeeper Kristin Hammarström had to leave the pitch after a concussion. Midfielder Johanna Almgren has played handball as a girl and she was a goalkeeper in that sport before she decided to be a soccer player. Of course, Johanna had to change into a keeper jersey. Two minutes after that striker Sara Lindén had to leave due to a knee injury which unfortuntely on Wednesday turned out to be another ACL. Göteborg finished the match with only nine players.
Tyresö FF vs Linköpings FC 3-0 Attendance: 2063 Tyresö: Line Röddik Hansen 25′, Marta 31′, Caroline Seger 40′
Tyresö gave another performance of extra class. Loads of chances in the first half, the second half was a bit boring, because Linköping tried to give a better impression while Tyresö only did what was necessary to come out as the winning side – and that was not much. Linköping disappointed another time and when I spoke to Linköping’s coach Martin Sjögren after the game he seemed to be quite frustrated. “We played a disastrous first half. Malmö and Tyresö seem to play in their own division right now.”
