by Rainer Fussgänger
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.’