After the long Olympic break, the Damallsvenskan started by completing rounds 11 and 12. Two matches that were postponed, because both LdB FC Malmö and AIK had several players in the U19 European Championships that were played in Turkey in July – and that Sweden won by beating Spain 1-0 after extra time.
Djurgården vs LdB FC Malmö 1-2
Attendance: 318
Djurgården: Mia Jalkerud 88′
Malmö: Elin Rubensson 73′, Ramona Bachmann 84′
Malmö without Anja Mittag who stayed at home due to a minor injury did not convince against Djurgården. Late goals by Rubensson and Bachmann though gave them three important points which gave them the lead in the league again. Djurgården’s goalkeeper Gudbjörg Gunnarsdottir got injured in a collision between her and Malmö’s Sara Björk Gunnarsdottir, but played on in the second half.
Umeå IK vs AIK 3-1
Attendance: 560
Umeå: Tuija Hyyrynen 36′, Lina Hurtig 47′, Emma Åberg Zingmark 87′
AIK: Susan Varli 87′
Umeå totally dominated this game and AIK disappointed with its four U19-champions. UIK was able to enhance the difference between them and the downsides AIK and Djurgården up to nine points.
Round 13
Jitex BK vs Linköpings FC 0-0
Attendance: 213
For Jitex this was their first point after four consecutive losses. Linköping with their new coach Martin Sjögren (the man who took LdB FC Malmö to two championships 2010 & 2011) had to play without Nilla Fischer who has become one of the most important members of her new team, especially since team captain Charlotte Rohlin is away due to an ACL. Only 213 spectators keep Jitex down on the attendance list – they went home without seeing a goal.
LdB FC Malmö vs Djurgården 4-0
Attendance: 676
Malmö: Sara Björk Gunnarsdottir 2′, Katrin Schmidt 13′, Anja Mittag 19′, Katrine Veje 85′
Several interviews of Malmö’s club director Niclas Carlnén were published this week. Carlnén stated that the club has money until the end of October 2012. Then it could happen that the champions went bankrupt. Less attendance than expected and less sponsor money than hoped for are the reasons according to Carlnén.
That did not stop the team from winning easily against downside Djurgården which they had met four days before. This time though with goalkeeper Tove Engblom, only 17 years old. After 20 minutes the match was more or less over and Malmö played it home without the slightest problem.
Örebro’s season is the worst in many years. Apart from the fact that Örebro lies in 10th position and soon has to fight against relegation, the club has big economic problems. The city of Örebro gave the club an unconditional loan of $150,000 last year, but today it became public that KIF needs another $60,000 this week in order to avoid bancruptcy. This money was guaranteed yesterday by the city again, but it will be connected with demands on the club to restructure its economy. The game in Kristianstad left them with no chance although Kristianstad lost their Swedish WNT striker Kosovare Asllani already after 15 minutes.
AIK vs Göteborg 1:0
AIK: Susan Varli (PK) 41′
AIK’s second victory of the season takes them as close as a single point behind Örebro. In a game where Göteborg had loads of chances in the first half in which Christen Press was steadily threatening the home defense and in which AIK’s goalkeeper Susanne Nilsson probably played one of her best games in her career. Lori Chalupny played her debut for AIK, as did Yael Averbuch for Göteborg. When Stina Segerström and Susan Varli had a collision the ref gave a penalty to AIK. Susan Varli scored the winning goal. In the second half AIK succeeded in winning many balls before they even got through to Press who did not get the ball much. A big fighting AIK against Göteborg which played without heart according to their coach Torbjörn Nilsson.
Tyresö FF vs Vittsjö GIK 5-1
Attendance: 2357
Tyresö: Linda Sembrant 14′, Marta 19′, Madelaine Edlund 35′, Kirsten van de Ven 57′, Vero Boquete 71′
Vittsjö: Kirsty Yallop
Round 13’s top game was live ton TV and was decided after half an hour. Marta gave two assists to headers by Sembrant and Edlund and scored the 2nd goal herself after a run through Vittsjös defense that only she can perform.
I spoke to Vittsjö’s centre back Kendall Fletcher after the game. Fletcher played a terrific first part of the season with Scottish international Ifeoma Dieke and the two were often mentioned as one of the best central defender pairs in the league. How do you summarize the match?
– Well, it was the first game after the break and we lost to one of the very best teams of the league. They have three world class players in midfield and even if you make no mistakes against them, it still is difficult to play them. We have to learn from this game, get motivation. Our next important match is already on Thursday (against Kristianstad).
AIK vs Göteborg 1:0
Tyresö FF vs Vittsjö GIK 5-1