Allsvenskan Round 16 Review plus Semi-Final of Women´s World Cup!

July 13th, 2011 | by: aron | Comments Off

Maybe the biggest story of the 16th round was the comeback of the captain in Gothenburg. I start there then on the ninth of July with IFK Göteborg taking on Syrianska. Team captain and IFK heavyweight Stefan Selakovic has been out at least a month due to injuries. He starts the game on the bench and what does IFK do against the third worst team in the league? They struggle and make a show out of it. It’s the odd thing in watching the Allsvenskan: the way the big clubs can play like a well oiled clockwork one week and fall apart at the seams the next. Thank God that IFK had a Selakovic on the bench. Dwayne Miller the Syrianska keeper, gets a red card and then with Selakovic on the field the game ends 3-0 for IFK. The man of the hour scores himself a hat trick in his comeback. Not bad at all. Do I really need to even comment on the pitiful excuse of a football team that is Syrianska? I didn’t think so.

Speaking of bad bottom dwellers, ever since Mjällby sold El Kabir they’ve been a clueless group of preteens wondering how to get some action in front of the net. That didn’t change in the slightest against Häcken even if they did have a solid claim for a penalty denied. Ranegie scored for Häcken of course and if he isn’t gone by summers end then something has gone wrong in this world we live in. Mjällby lost 2-1 and the goal they did score was an own goal that Häcken gave them.

In the second time that Elfsborg and Örebro met this year, history decided that it didn’t care for any new twists and turns and that the old and established should remain so. That is to say that Elfsborg crushed Örebro again with a final score of 3-0. What has turned around Elfsborgs season so much? The return and form and Stefan Ishizaki: The man is on fire. Örebro seem like they need a little vacation time to get their heads straight and figure out how to start winning again. Niklas Hult has everyone talking about him again, but I am still unsure that he has what it takes for a bigger league.

For the last couple of rounds, Gefle has been this unstoppable beast of a team that fought their way through every kind of rough spot and could beat almost anyone. So that would stay true then against GAIS right? Especially since it was a home game right? I mean Mikael Dahlberg is bound to score a goal or two and GAIS will just roll over and die? Well Dahlberg did score, but what does that help if the other team scores three. 3-1 for GAIS then and the return of the injured Mervan Celik who now has a host of rumors swirling about him as he put away a penalty to add to his goal tally of the season.

Norrköping haven’t been able to win a game since a few rounds back. Then Malmö came to town. Malmö are now a team in the middle of a rebuilding period, as they seem to have lost whatever it was that they had going for them last year. The coach, Mr. Norling is desperately searching for some answers to the questions that everyone is posing both on the field and off of it as well. The good news is that Malmö didn’t lose, but the bad news is that they didn’t win either. A 0-0 draw and a yawn sum this game up pretty well. The good news for Malmö is that Jiloan Hamad is on the way back to full fitness and that Ivo Pekalski seems to be over his super injury period.

To continue this reversal of fortune thing that a couple of teams went through this round, I give you the case of Trelleborg. They were pretty solid there at the beginning of the season, only to run out of gas somewhere and end up bruised and beaten. They had whipping dogs written all over them until Kalmar came to town. It was a high scorer as well with Kalmar fighting for the points. Legendary keeper Petter Wastå even made his first appearance this season, only to get a red card and have the game end 3-2 for Trelleborg. Henrik Rydström scored a penalty somewhere in the middle of things, but it wasn’t enough.

AIK played at home which means…wait for it…they won. Of course the opponent was none other than Halmstad who since firing their coach have guaranteed they will be playing second league next year. I take it back. AIK didn´t win. It was the Banguras. Banguras 4 Halmstad 0. The rest of the team was just a supporting act to let Teteh Bangura score his 4 goals. What is AIK going to do without the two of them? The thought is scary and very soon it may be reality.

If the rumor mill is on overdrive in the Allsvenskan at the moment then it is because of none other then Alexander Gerndt. Is he going to Copenhagen? Is he going to Holland? What team where is interested in him now? What scouts were watching him this time? To be fair, Gerndt is starting to look like the real deal again and when Helsingborg took on Djurgården, he opened the scoring. After he did, Helsingborg didn’t bother looking back and while Djurgården certainly didn’t do all that bad, they proved once again that they aren’t in the running this year for a spot in Europe or for the title. The final score was 3-0. Where is Gerndt going? Who knows, but I hope he chooses wisely, as his spot in the national team depends on it.

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The Women´s World Cup continues this evening with Sweden taking on Japan in the semi final. I watched what Japan did to Germany and I can’t say that I am feeling so positive about this game. It seems like the Swedish media is just finally warming up to this team and now they might only be playing for the bronze in a couple of hours. That of course is the dilemma of watching football and nothing is a sure bet (even Germany in the final wasn’t). Heja Sverige! Kom igen nu Schelin! Gör Mål!