A new football-season has kicked off in sweden. 4 rounds has been played and
it is now possible to do
a kind of "prediction" how the race for the swedish "allsvenskan"
championship will evolve.
Please bear in mind that the following "analysis" is based on what i've read
and seen in media,
plus a little bit of guessing and personal feelings and that does not make
me a professional columnist.
I'm nor any journalist.
But hey, how many "professional" columnists had right about the title last
year?
(Hammarby won last season and I had infact 10 of 14 first placed teams in
right order).
So maybe I am a "professional columnist"?
You're free to give me comments about this column, although I will not
answer to any rudiness from
fanatic-fans. It is just a game, not war, but if you think football = war,
don't read this column and
move on and watch a cricket-game then.
sincerely
Your "columnist" Sami.
1. Örgryte:
This Gothenburg-team has always been number 2 in Gothenburg after the
self-claimed rivals IFK Gothenburg.
But this season will be a exception. With no losses of key-players, Örgryte
will challenge for the title.
The former Udinese player Patrik Fredholm has grown to a senior squad-player
and will line up at the top
with the super talented striker Christian Hemberg. Two players who can score
and a very secure defence and midfield
means hard times for the opponents and rivals IFK Gothenburg. That makes
them champions of Allsvenskan 2002!
Keyplayers: Magnus Källander (Mid), Jeffrey Aubynn (Mid, formerly Bayern
München) and Christian Hemberg (F).
Prediction: 1st-3rd
2. Djurgården:
"The battle of Stockholm" between Djurgården, AIK & Hammarby is a well-known
term in swedish media.
The games between these clubs attracts 30000-40000 spectators and are framed
with high security arrangements.
The matches are always high-risk games. This year Djurgården accomplished to
sign the most spectacular
and talented player in sweden for the moment: Kim Källström. At 19,
Källström is chased by all the big clubs in europe.
AC Milan, Juventus etc. The 19 yrs old youth decided to stay for one more
season in sweden and will surely leave sweden
after this season. Djurgården playes an very offensive football and they
expect to reach the european cups. An outsider
for the allsvenskan title. The teams only downside is their defence which
lacks both players and experience.
A failure if they miss the top 5.
Keyplayers: Andreas Isaksson (GK), Kim Källström (mid), Abgar Barsom (mid).
Prediction: 1st-5th
3. Helsingborg:
Helsingborg is always among the top 5 and are every year predicted and
expected to win a swedish title.
With a good mixture of youth & experience the team will certainly fight for
the swedish championships.
9 players has represented the swedish national side. Christoffer Andersson
(defender and playing in the swedish
world cup-team in japan), Jesper Jansson & Alvaro Santos will be in the key
roles for the team.
Some good results in pre-season has impressed and the first rounds in
allsvenskan will prove if the team really
is up to the title. Keyplayers. Christoffer Andersson (D), Jesper Jansson
(Mid), Hans Eklund (F), Alvaro Santos (F).
Prediction: 1st-3rd
4. Hammarby:
My own favourite team in sweden. "The people's team". A very popular
underdog club in sweden. Always hugely popular,
but hasn't delivered anything special to the fans, until last season.
Hammarby won the allsvenskan trophy for the first
time in the clubs history. The win last year was totally unexpected, but
with a great first line-up and small
number of injuries they made it and took the title. This year will be
harder. Although Hammarby has signed good players
and strengthened the squad, this season gets tougher. The signing of
norwegian national side and midfielder Fredrik Winsnes
from Rosenborg and the talented Kennedy Bakircioglu (wanted by Man U &
Fenerbahce) could empower Hammarby to another year
of victory, but it depends on, if and when their most creative member
Bakircioglu will move to a bigger club in europe.
Keyplaers: Johan Andersson (Def), Kennedy Bakircioglu (Mid), Andreas
Hermansson (F).
Prediction: 4th-6th
5. Elfsborg:
Elfsborg has signed 10-12 of swedens most talented 16-21 yrs old players. In
the opening games the youngsters has showed
a very mature attitude and it will be interesting to see how this team
manages to play this season.
The only insecure bit is the young players. Elfsborg lacks experience and it
will show after 20 games.
If they can keep their talented youngsters and don't sell-out, the yellow
and black-dressed team will see bright
in the future. Keyplayers: The whole team. A few exceptional talents as
Fredrik Stenman 18 yrs (D), Andreas Drugge 19 yrs (F)
and Lars Nilsson 20 yrs (F) could make the difference between success and
failure.
Prediction 5th-10th
6. IFK Göteborg
The club is building a new team which should win titles in a few years. In
the meanwhile they should be happy
if they could reach top 5. This year IFK will see their hometown rivals
Örgryte be higher placed in the results list.
Lots of interesting players to watch for. Fredrik Risp (Def), Martin
Ericsson (Mid) are future national team players.
Hopefully Daniel Westlin blooms to a allsvenskan player. He's a attacker who
has "smashed" in lots of goals in the
lower leagues but didn't manage in his first season to play in the first
line-up. Keyplayers: Fredrik Risp (Def)&
Gustaf Andersson (F).
Prediction: 4th-7th
7. AIK:
Poor results & turbulence at pre-season could influence AIK's whole season.
AIK has a impressive player material.
The team will get better as they get to play a few games. Many experts had
AIK as favouritesboth last year and this year,
but that was until problems with injuries and other internal quarrels came
in the picture. The coach Olle Nordin has handed
over the responsibility due to personal problems to his assistant Peter
Larsson for the rest of the season. Peter Larsson,
a former Ajax-player (1987-1991) can be the man who will lead AIK for
further glory, maybe not this season, more probably
the following season. Watch out for AIK the coming seasons.
Keyplayer: Andreas Alm, Andreas Andersson
Prediction: 5th-8th
8. Landskrona:
The newly promoted team that has some chance to get a respectable place in
the league. Almost every expert has appointed
Landskrona to be relegated after only one season in allsvenskan. But his
team will prove them wrong. Although it is a
club with small economical resources there is a genuine club feeling in
Landskrona, almost like Chievo in Italy.
Lots of technical, probably even the best players in allsvenskan will
provide lots of upsets to the bigger clubs.
Talent and experience goes hand in hand in Landskrona. Keyplayers: The whole
team, the teamplay is their key for survival
in allsvenskan. Prediction: 6th-10th
9. Örebro SK:
The club went almost bankrupt and with no fundings to this year, they had to
sell their best players Johan Paulsson
(13 goals last season) and Niklas Skoog. But the sellings doesn't seem to
bother them. Instead a promising youngster
Jon Lundblad has showed exceptional good form in pre-season. Örebro is a
team with experience and youth mended together
in a beautiful symbiosis. It's a team which is hard to predict, as they can
play terrificly good football 1 or 3 games
in a row, and play horribly the next 2 games. This year they seem much more
stable. Keyplayers: Jon Lundblad (F),
the kenyans Maruti and Oyuga (F), Per Gawelin (Mid & playmaker) and Thomas
Andersson (Def).
Prediction: 7th-10th
10. IFK Norrköping:
Norrköping, nicknamed "Peking", were very close to be relegated last season.
This classic allsvenskan-team saved themselves
by beating the smalltown club Mjällby in the relegation/promotion playoffs.
This year they've learned the lesson and
have signed 4 very interesting players. Issa Mohammed, a irrational striker
from Ghana will bring some scoring power and
the defender Filip Apelstav will make the defence more secure. Unfortunately
the defence is a bit slow. Norrköping is a team
which could be challenging the top 3 or could failure horribly. I believe in
Norrköping this year. A 7th place isn't
impossible for them to reach, but a 10th place is more likely. Keyplayers:
Balazs Raboczki (GK), Thomas Olsson (Mid),
Jonas Wallerstedt (F) Prediction: 6th-8th
11. Malmö FF:
There are high-hopes for Malmö already this year. I feel that all Malmö-fans
will have to wait for the glory for further
2-3 years. After Malmö sold Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Ajax for approx £ 7,000
000 they signed the well-merited Niklas Skoog
to "deliver the goods". Skoog has played well, but he's not any Zlatan.
Malmö's players needs a few more years to develop
before they can talk about winning any titles. Malmö is the richest club in
sweden.
Prediction: 8th-12th
12. Kalmar FF:
Kalmar will just stay clear of relegation. A good team, but their lacking
quality in the defence.
At home Kalmar will snatch points from the other teams, but will have hard
to keep up with the high pace at away
games. Keyplayers: Petter Wastå (GK), Lasse Johansson (Mid) and Daniel
Mobaeck (F).
Prediction: 10th-14th
13. Halmstad:
New coach (Jonas Thern, swedish ´94 world cup-member) has a tough challenge.
After Halmstad lost striker Stefan Selakovic
to Heerenveen (Holland) there is no natural striker in the troop. Instead
Jonas brought with him two players from swedish
division 2 (3rd league in sweden after Allsvenskan and Superallsvenskan).
That don't impress on anyone!
Keyplayers: Petter Hansson (allrounder, d, m and f)
Prediction: 10th-13th
14. GIF Sundsvall:
2nd straight year in allsvenskan. No spectacular or big signings means that
this
northly situated team has to struggle for not being relegated. It's positive
that not all swedish
clubs come from Stockholm or the Gothenburg -area. Sundsvall will get a lot
of sympathy for making
an effort for the football in the northern regions of sweden. Unfortunately,
I don't believe that's enough
for them to stay in allsvenskan. But I still hope that i'm wrong with this
prediction. The bad results at away last
year shouldn't be repeated this season (only 1 win away) if they want to
play further in allsvenskan.
Keyplayers: Fredik Sundfors (GK), Cain Dotson (F).
Prediction: 13th-14th