Allsvenskan Round Five Review and a Scandal!

April 26th, 2011 | by: aron | Comments Off

Well, well, the fifth round of play is over in the Allsvenskan and we had two big things happen: the champions lost their first game of the season and there was a scandal. Let me rephrase that: there were two things that happened one major and the other while interesting, less important.

I will start with the scandal (obviously the big thing) first. It was during the Syrianska-AIK Monday evening game. Syrianska had scored a goal (quite a feat in itself) and was leading, an AIK player (one of the Banguras) had been sent off for leaving his studs in the keepers leg, and then a fan threw a firecracker onto the field that hit one of the line judges near his ear. That was enough and the game was halted leading to more chaos as all the fans left the stadium amid further fireworks and a strong police presence. At least one of the clubs will be punished, and if there is enough footage of who threw the damn thing then there might even be a court case against said fan. Personally I would love a conviction. It would send a really strong message that this kind of stupid behavior is not acceptable. I am not going to guess from which team the fan was but I am going to say that the home team was up a man and a goal so I find it hard to believe one of their own was irritated with the referees.

Highlights below:

Malmö FF played in Borås in an early clash of titans. Elfsborg had, up till this game, failed to impress: especially when considering that they are a club expected to compete for the number one spot every year. Well, bad run vanished in the second half as they managed to trounce the reigning champions 3-0. My guess is that Malmö is sitting at home licking their wounds as I write this, and that the wounds are more than the flesh kind. They did open strong and then after a bit of having their way but not scoring, seemed to let the home team take over. For a team that usually dominates games, that is always a mistake. The good news for MFF is that midfield-driving force Ivo Pekalski should be available for the next match. Elfsborg on the other hand seems to finally have shaken off the cobwebs of the season start and are ready to show they mean business, or was this just a one off occurrence?

Another team that managed to shake off the early round cobwebs was IFK Göteborg as they beat Kalmar FF 2-0 at Gamla Ullevi (or is it Ny-gamla Ullevi?). Hysen scored of course, as did Nicklas Bärkroth (from whom much is expected this year). The game was closer than the score line says, but every club is expected to win their home games and while Kalmar has done that so far, they have been pretty weak away. It’s troubling that former talent Robin Söder sat the whole game on the bench. I was expecting this to be his year.

In another clash of titans, or current titans, Örebro took on HIF. This one ended a 1-1 tie and that is annoying for any fan. The big story here is really that HIF striker Alexander Gerndt seems to have let his private life (a big fat messy divorce that his ex-wife has been writing about on her blog) follow him on to the field. What has this meant? The big, dominating striker of last year that many (I include myself here) are expecting to take the big step up to the national team seems to have lost his head and with it his goal lust. Please get it back!

Norrköping took Djurgården apart (though at this point that isn’t so surprising) 3-1. Note here that Djurgården were the home team in this clash. That means that my money is on Djurgården to be the first team to fire their coach this season. They are having a disaster season by any standard and I could understand them asking Mr. Banda to leave.

Mjällby and GAIS drew 1-1. My only comment on that game is a yawn. Häcken-Gefle ended 0-0 in another yawn provoker. Halmstad managed not to lose in their 1-1 tie against Trelleborg. I can only imagine that both teams were probably ok with that result.

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In other news, there has been a significant amount of speculation about where Oscar Wendt is going to go next in his career now that his time at FC Copenhagen is drawing to a close. Copenhagen have also acquired the services of former Sweden U21 player Pierre Bengtsson as a backup. Everything is pointing to an exit for the left back but the question remains where? Rumors have abounded and even such outlandish places as Barcelona have been suggested.

Personally I don’t foresee Mr. Wendt taking Dani Alves spot any time soon so I would suggest that for his own sake he consider a good league like the Bundesliga to ply his trade. I suggest a move that wouldn’t have him riding the bench and then being sold back to Norway, as is often the case with over hyped Swedish talent who chase football dreams beyond their abilities.