Quick Update and the U21

March 21st, 2011 | by: aron |

It’s my birthday today, but I figured I owed the faithful readers of this blog a little update. So here goes: the Swedish Supercup (which is the winner of the league from last season vs. the Swedish cup winner of last season) was played yesterday and Helsingborg managed to win it 2-1. I am going to stick with my predictions because there are so many things that can happen, but Helsingborg is, without a doubt, going to remain a strong contender.

We have a new away kit, which is currently my new favorite Swedish kit of all time. Since I am not so sure how to use the image legally, I am giving the link to a picture here.

The Euro 2012 qualifier against Moldova is on the 29th of March and I will write a preview of the game on Friday of this week. Before that becomes something worth giving too much thought too, the new U21 team is going to play their second game under Håkan Ericson and Tommy Söderberg against Italy on the 24th of March. The big drama with this game was that the coaches decided to drop John Guidetti (Man City) from the squad completely using the argument that they wanted to give Samuel Armenteros (Heracles Almelo) the chance to show what he is all about. While I like both of them and think they have a future in the national team, I think its ridiculous to not take Guidetti along for the ride but at the same time that Armenteros has been having some amazing games of late and really deserves this chance.

The other U21 news was that Ivo Pekalski had to be excused because of injury again. Why is it that the hot prospects in Swedish football always seemed to be made out of glass? I am hoping Pekalski blows away the competition in Allsvenskan this year and is soon on his way to greener pastures. Another name to keep an eye on at the moment is Oscar Lewicki from Bayern Munich, he’s made it this far and I am hoping he can take another step next season.

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Comments

By Alfred Ko | March 24th, 2011 at 5:29 pm

Happy birthday. In addition I really want to ask why why why the Sweden U21 team was so good when they were not playing for a place in Olympic? With their performance in 2009, they would gained a place in the Olympic if there was any. However the U21 team was eliminated in 2010. Why we just cannot see Sweden play in the Olympic?

Posted from New Zealand

By aron | March 25th, 2011 at 12:46 pm

Well to be honest Sweden did really well in the qualifications for the U21 Euro 2011, but only seven teams from all of Europe get a chance (excluding hosts Denmark). We made it to the play-offs and were eliminated by a vastly superior Switzerland (who I am tipping to win the up-coming tournament by the way). The better team won and thats why we won´t be seeing Sweden at the coming Olympic Games in 2012. Also in 2009 two things were behind that fantastic tournament: first we were the home team (this was a big part of it) and secondly Marcus Berg peaked as a striker. Since then we haven´t had as good strikers and a much poorer midfield. I am however hopeful that the next squad will make it to the tournament in Israel. So much depends on squad form and with young players that goes up and down too often to remain a serious threat. Germany, the current title holders, also didn´t make it to Denmark so there was some stiff competition in the field.

Posted from Spain