Allsvenskan Round Three Round Up!

April 20th, 2011 | by: aron | Comments Off

Starting things of on Friday the 15^th of April it was the clash of the titans, or maybe one titan and a has-been titan? Djurgårdens IF played hosts to reigning champions Malmö FF at the old Olympic Stadium in Stockholm. Djurgården used to be one of the top teams in Sweden and I don’t think it’s a stretch to imagine that in the near future they could reach such heights again. This year though they have started out like the last couple of years: at the bottom. Djurgården played a tough and even game with MFF until notorious DIF goalkeeper Pa Dembo Touray (butterfingers!) made a wise decision to handle the ball outside the box. For this he was awarded a straight red and shown the way to the dressing rooms. This wasn’t exactly what Malmö had been hoping for, as it is often harder to play a team with only ten men. This cliche proved true as Malmö had to wait almost till stoppage time to finish the game 1-0 via a volley cannon from Jimmy Durmaz. The titan marches on.

How about some highlights?

Saturday saw Halmstads BK continue its bad run under current coach Pep Ruiz as GAIS beat them 2-0 at home. To be fair GAIS has been one of the strongest clubs in the first three rounds and with Wanderson Da Carmo there until at least the summer, it’s going to be hard for other clubs to beat them. The other Saturday action saw a struggling Mjällby overcome their willingness to miss every chance in the book when their soon-to-be-playing-in-Italy striker Moestapha El Kabir scored off a corner against Kalmar FF.

On Sunday bottom feeders Syrianska took a 5-1 beating at home in the hands of Häcken. Mattias Ranegie scored a hat trick and is at the moment the top scorer in the league. What does that say about the other strikers in Sweden right now? Not a whole lot is the right answer. AIK tied Elfsborg 2-2 in Borås and both teams were sort of happy and yet not with the tie. Then to round off the weekend, Norrköping proved they can win by knocking fellow relegation contenders Trelleborg (who have yet to win a game this season).

Monday saw the crises stamp descend on IFK Göteborg as they officially have their worst season start in thirty years (note that the last time this happened, the coach was none other than Sven Göran Eriksson and they went on to win the UEFA Cup, but that was another time and age) and lost to Helsingborg. Sweden International Alexander Gerndt opened his goal account this season with his last and only good touch of the game to win it 2-1. Big timers Örebro had a surprise loss to bottom tipped Gefle (who aren’t playing all that bad actually given their roster quality) in a game that ended 3-2.

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Its only the third round but two clubs have shown they have big problems and are currently the two most likely to fire their coaches: IFK Göteborg and Djurgården. Stay tuned for the developing situations in those clubs. The word on the street is that Malmö FF’s trainer Roland Nilsson is on his way to FC Copenhagen any day now. This blog will try to keep you informed as that situation develops. Also with the coming summer transfer window, I will keep you up to date with all the rumors and actual transfers that are going to go down. Round four started on Tuesday night and I will have a post up on Friday to summarize it.

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The big question for me this year is who wants to be the next big thing in the Swedish National Team. I see a lot of average players and I am still wondering who will be the one who steps up and grabs a spot from someone who was otherwise considered a regular. I want attitude and action.  Most of all I want results and I want to see Sweden at Euro 2012! Who is going to get me there?

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Tonight Ibrahimovic makes his second comeback of the month for AC Milan in a cup game. The big question is whether or not he is as burned out and out of balance as he seems to be? I am hoping for at least a solid performance in Pato’s absence.