Spiga

May 12, 2010

Damallsvenskan 2010, Round 6: Derby Days


No fewer than three derbies this weekend, one in the far south, one in the far north, and one in the Big City. The southern one was well-played, the northern one featured lots of goals, and the Big City was... well...

Kristianstads DFF v. LdB FC Malmö 0 - 2 (0-2)
Goals: 18' Manon Melis (passning Therese Sjögran) 0-1; 37' Pavlina Scasna (passning Manon Melis) 0-2
Warnings: KDFF Therese Björck 12'; LdB Emma Wilhelmsson 67'; LdB Nilla Fischer 78'
Source: damfotboll

Southern Derby: These two teams both hail from Skåne, Sweden's deep south, and more than 1500 people braved the unseasonable chill to watch it; they were treated to a well-executed game by both teams. Last week Kristianstad shocked Umeå with a very quick goal: they nearly did the same against LdB, putting the ball in the net but having it called back for roughing the keeper. Therese Sjögran sent a long ball up the left wing to find Manon Melis, who scored in 18th. LdB's Frida Nordin took a shot that required Kristianstad's new goalkeeper Anna Maria Picarelli of Italy to stretch out her full length (162cm, or 5'4.25") to make the save. LdB's second goal was started by Elin Rubensson in the midfield, who played it up to Melis who in turn found Pavlina Scasna on the right, inside the box. At the start of the second half, KDFF's Susanne Moberg forced a leg save from LdB keeper Thora Helgadotrir, and LdB nearly had an own goal shortly thereafter.

LdB earned a penalty kick when Picarelli and Scasna collided; Sjögran took the shot, which was saved by "a panther's leap" from Picarelli. Picarelli explained afterwards that she recognized Sjögran from previous national team duties, "but I've never seen her take a penalty before."

KDFF coach Elizabeth Gunnarsdottir said that clearly the best team won, while LdB coach Martin Sjögren thought that his team should have scored again after KDFF started pressing forward in the second half.


Umeå IK v. Sunnanå SK 6 - 1 (3-0)
Goals: 6' Anna Westerlund (passning Sofia Jakobsson) 1-0; 30' Anna Westerlund (passning Emmelie Konradsson) 2-0; 44' Emmelie Konradsson (passning Rita Chikwelu) 3-0; 63' Perpetua Nkwocha (passning Linda Fransson) 3-1; 73' Pernilla Nordlund (passning Emmelie Konradsson) 4-1; 77' Maija Saari (passning Therese Kapstad) 5-1; 86' Therese Kapstad (passning Rita Chikwelu) 6-1
Warnings: UIK Frida Östberg 9'
Source: damfotboll

Northern Derby, this one in the far north, as Umeå hosted Sunnanå, which has Skellefteå as its home town. Skellefteå is even farther north than Umeå, and might be remembered by American fans as the town where the USWNT played Sweden in a friendly a while back. Or perhaps not. Anyway, UIK dominated without much difficulty, despite resting its tired defenders Anna Paulson and Emma Berglund; coach Joakim Blomkvist was happy with the team's offensive effort and hopes that this is the point when UIK turns its season around.

SSK's coach Krister Lundgren was not particularly pleased, saying that his team did not follow the game plan of playing a high and aggressive defense. He thought they did better in the second half, when they had reduced to a back line of three. Defender Hanna Marklund sat this one out, due to stomach flu.


Hammarby IF DFF v. AIK 0 - 0
Warning: HIF Tempest-Marie Norlin 69'
Source: damfotboll

Big City Derby: South-siders Hammarby hosted north-siders AIK. These two teams currently lie below the relegation line, and so you might think they would fight like the dickens to beat the other... but instead what happened was a nervous game with much struggling and not a lot of pretty play. Hammarby took 22 shots and vistors AIK took only 5, although both teams came close, banging the ball off the posts. AIK coach Patrik Jidefalk prasied his young team's defensive effort, singling out goalkeeper Maja Åström and defender Linda Sembrandt. Hammarby coach Lasse Pihl said that it's frustrating when one does all one planned to do in the game, except score a goal. Can't argue with that.


Djurgården v. KIF Örebro DFF 4 - 2 (1-0)
Goals: 21' Elin Cederroos 1-0 (corner kick from Emma Lundh); 50' Rebecca Johnson (passning Sarah Michael) 2-0; 72' Marie Hammarström 2-1; 79' Rebecca Johnson (passning Sarah Michael) 3-1; 82' Susanna Lehtinen 3-2; 88' Rebecca Johnson (passning Sarah Michael) 4-2
Source: damfotboll
Video highlights, including the Djurgården song

It was a chilly afternoon at Kristineberg, and at first it looked like it would settle in to defensive trench warfare. The first goal from Elin Cederroos off a corner kick may have last touched the leg of a KIF defender, but no one has called it an own goal yet. The second goal, by DIF's Rebecca Johnsson, fully woke up KIF and the two traded goals thereafter, with Johnsson going on to score a hat-trick.


Linköpings FC v. Jitex BK 0 - 1 (0-1)
Goal: 38' Elin Carlsson (passning Frida Höglund) 0-1
Warnings: LFC Josefine Öqvist 88'; LFC Maria Karlsson 90' ("Kalle," #16, not the other one )
Sources: Jitex, damfotboll

This was a good free-flowing game, with plenty of chances coming from both sides. Newcomers Jitex looked "nonchalent," sharing equally in time of possession, shots, and shots on goal in the home of last year's champions Linköping. LFC were awarded a penalty kick but goalkeeper Jenny Olsson saved Tilda Heimersson's shot in the 42nd minute. Josefine Öqvist apparently put the ball in the net in the 88th, but she was judged to be offsides, a call I will dare to assume that she disputed and thereby got her yellow.

Jitex has now beaten both Umeå and Linköping and have taken 12 points total in the first 6 games, a fabulous start for a newly-promoted team. Jitex coach Hans Prytz credited his team's success to their hard work in both training and games. He mentioned keeper Jenny Olsson and left back Sofia Karlsson in particular as forces in this particular game "but could have named the all 11 on the field."

LFC has scored only one goal in its last four games, and situation that coach Jörgen Pettersson says was "expected" since that is where they lost most of the strength from last year, with the departure of so many offensive players [Jessica Landström, Caroline Seger, and Kosovare Asllani] to the US league. LFC brought defenders Faith Ikidi and Charlotte Rohlin up to the front at the end but to no avail. "We are creating chances, but not taking them," he said.


Results for Tyresö v. Kopparbergs/Göteborg and the long-delayed KIF Örebro games coming up soon...

1 comments:

Jonah said...

Thank you for the excellent coverage.