Nordic Football News

Women’s Cup match moved, Brazil match confirmed

Zvezda 2005 from Perm in Russia, Umeå’s opponent in the UEFA Women’s Cup semifinal, has informed the Swedish club that Zvezda’s home leg must be moved. Perm is in the Russian Ural Mountains and it is not possible to play there in March. Zvevda had made arrangement with Kazan, approximately 500 kilometres to the south-west of Perm, to play the match there. It now appears that Zvezda will not be allowed to rent the stadium in Kazan. Another suggested venue was not approved by UEFA. The match is scheduled to be played in only two weeks, 29 March, and Umeå still doesn’t know enough to make travel arrangements. Moscow and St. Petersburg has been mentioned as possible alternatives, while Umeå sits with a couple of hundred thousands worth in useless tickets to Kazan.
Västerbottenskuriren: Zvezda tvingas flytta matchen i Women’s cup

While Zvezda’s match venue fumbling might cost the financially strained Umeå dearly, there was some good news from home. The Umeå city council has offered to buy Umeå’s newly built office building for SEK 2,5 millions, a bid Umeå’s management has accepted. Umeå IK will rent the premises back from the city for some SEK 85,000 a year. Seems like a pretty good deal to me, and Umeå’s general manager Britta Åkerlund was pleased with the outcome: “We will get out of this with no debts and with money in the bank”.

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Algarve Cup: Sweden defeats USA in cup final

Sweden defeated USA in a penalty kick shoot-out after a dramatic 1-1 draw to win their first Algarve Cup trophy since 2001.

Sweden opened well and put USA’s midfield and attack under constant pressure, often winning the ball back in their offensive half. Already after 18 minutes the tactics paid off, as a pressured Shannon Boxx made a back-pass, that Caroline Seger intercepted. With three against one in USA’s penetly area, Lotta Schelin got the ball and had a lot of time to decide how to beat Hope Solo in goal.

Sweden continued to play well and Schelin had at least four more very promising opportunities, but was beat by a an impressingly playing Hope Solo.

Unlike in the match against Germany, where Sweden’s coach Thomas Dennerby kept an as experienced side as possible on the field until the final whistle, he choose to use all his allowed six substitutions, trading some of the best players in the match like Svensson and Sjögran for players, who made their Algarve Cup debut this year. Sweden lost the control of the midfield they had earlier and a more and more desperately attacking USA got closer and closer to an equaliser until they, in the final minuteof the game, succeeded. Rampone tapped it in from a few meters, served by Rapinoe who crossed the ball over the penalty area.

The penalty shoot-out went seven players deep before it was decided. Sweden got the upper hand early on, but had three player in a rows, including Lotta Schelin, missing their opportunities to make it equal again. Then Stina Segerström put Sweden one up and Kristin Hammarström, who came in to this tournament as the third choice for keeper and had caught two of the shots, could see Heather Mitts’ penalty shot hit the post.

Players and coaches were very pleased with the Cup win, even if coach Dennerby thought Sweden performed better against Germany. He singled out three players -  Victoria Svensson, Therese Sjögran and Lotta Schelin. He commented that you can see the difference when they are on the field, the team gets more calm and secure.

Sweden has over just a few days defeated both the current World  (Germany) and Olympic champions (USA). This puts Sweden in a position as one of the big favourites to the European Championship title this fall.

Victoria Svensson played her 158th match for Sweden, one more than Kristin Bengtsson who was the earlier record holder.

Sweden – USA  1 – 1 (1-0)
Sweden: Kristin Hammarstrøm – Anna Paulson, Charlotte Rohlin, Stina Segerström, Sara Thunebro (46 Emelie Ölander) – Caroline Seger (78 Linda Sembrandt), Therese Sjögran (63 Louise Fors), Kosovare Asllani (53 Madelaine Edlund), Nilla Fischer (37 Lisa Dahlkvist) – Victoria Svensson (71 Sara Lindén), Lotta Schelin
Goals: 1-0 Lotta Schelin (18), 1-1 Shannon Boxx (90)
Penalties: 1-0 Louise Fors, 1-1 Shannon Boxx, 2-1 Lisa Dahlkvist, Megan Papinoe (saved), 3-1 Linda Sembrandt, 3-2 Carli Lloyd, Anna Paulson (miss), Christie Rampone (miss), Lotta Schelin (saved), 3-3 Tina di Martino, Emelie Ölander (miss), Angie Woznuk (saved), 4-3 Stina Segerström (goal), Heather Mitts (miss)
SVT: Sverige vann straffrysare (including video)
Dagens Nyheter: Svensk straffseger mot OS-mästarinnorna
Aftonbladet: Sverige straffade USA
US Soccer: Sweden Edges U.S. Women on Penalties in Algarve Final , video (including all the penalty shots)

Algarve Cup: Sweden defeats Germany

Not since the 2002 version of Algarve Cup has Sweden defeated Germany, so it’s easy to understand national team coach Thomas Dennerby’s reaction after Sweden’s 3-2 win today: “Well, what am I going to say. You just gets so happy”. And, he added, you get extra happy when young players comes in and dares to be creative.

The creative youngster was 19 years old Linköping midfielder Kosovare Asllani, who set up both Nilla Fischer for the first and Lotta Schelin for the second goal. Asllani has played and convinced in all three matches so far and looks like she has almost locked in on a spot in the European Championship squad. As has probably also AIK’s young defenders Linda Sembrant and Emelie Ölander.

The match started with some German advantage, but after Nilla Fischers 1-0 Sweden took over against a somewhat lost German side and could with a little bit more luck had both 4-0 and 5-0. Unlike the two earlier Algarve Cup matches, Dennerby held back on substitutions and only made double sub after 70 minutes, letting Asllani and Fischer take a rest and putting in Edlund and Fors. About the same time Germany made a couple of attacking substitutions, bringing in Grings and Mittag. It didn’t take Grings long to reduce to 3-1 and when Kim Kulig got a very lucky shot from distance, that Hedvig Lindahl fumbled into her own goal, it made for an exciting last ten minutes. The German team even brought goalkeeper Nadine Angerer up at a overtime corner kick, but to no avail.

And, without anybody really noticing, Victoria Svensson, who in her trade mark fashion set up Sweden’s 3-0 goal, played her 157th national team match, now sharing the Swedish record in caps with Kristin Bengtsson. But only until the final against USA on Wednesday, I would guess.

Sweden – Germany  3 – 2  (3-0)
Sweden: Hedvig Lindahl – Emelie Ölander, Linda Sembrant, Charlotte Rohlin, Sara Thunebro – Nilla Fischer (70 Madelaine Edlund) - Kosovare Asllani (70 Louise Fors), Caroline Seger, Therese Sjögran – Lotta Schelin, Victoria Svensson
Goals: 1-0 Nilla Fischer (28), 2-0 Lotta Schelin (36), 3-0 Lotta Schelin (38), 3-1 Inka Grings (77), 3-2 Kim Kulig (81)

Svensk Fotboll: Äntligen seger mot Tyskland
Dagens Nyheter: Svensk skrällseger mot Tyskland
SVT: Sverige skrällde mot Tyskland (including 1.40 minutes video)

Damallsvenskan training match report

With national team tournaments in Algarve and Cyprus while Sweden’s U19 playing matches, all Damallsvenskan teams has been more or less severely handicapped by call-ups. This has however not kept them from playing training matches, where a great number of youth team or farm team players has had their chance to impress the coaches. Or rather the assistant coaches, since the head coaches all are in Algarve as part of the Swedish Football Association’s training program for Damallsvenskan coaches.

Kif Örebro found a Norwegian high school team from Kongsvinger to play. A comfortable 8-0 (3-0) victory for Örebro was the result. With six players at Algarve a lot of local youth got their chance, but the goalscorers were all familiar faces: Maria Nordbrandt (4 goals), Hanna Ågren (2), Marie Hammarström and Kim Ekebom.
Nerikes Allehanda: Kif Örebro vann i utklassningsstil

Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC was only missing two, but still had some problems defeating 1st division top side Jitex. After being 1-2 behind at half-time, they managed to turn the match around, wearing down a hard fighting Jitex. Goals by Linnea Liljegärd (2) and youth team player Valeri Obita.
Damfotboll.com: Jitex nära ta poäng mot Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC

Linköping played their former farm team Linköping Kenty, which advanced from the 2nd to the 1st division last year. With seven players away on different national teams, they invited local talents join the team for the match. Josefine Öqvist is starting to find her form after her injury abscence and scored the first goal while guesting Jonna Andersson from Mjölby made the other in the 2-0 win.
Linköping: Jossan pigg i träningsmatch

With four players at Algarve and five on the sick-list, Djurgården struggled against 1st division team Bollstanäs. The pale performance resulted in a 2-4 loss with both goals by guesting youth, the 14 years old Irma Helin, who has impressed in earlier guest appearences for Djurgården,  and a semi-anonymous Lana from Djurgården’s 17 year olds.
Djurgården: Dålig inledning mot Bollstanäs

Kristianstad continues to play boy’s teams to challenge themselves, but it doesn’t really work that well. Lastly, a 6-0 win didn’t test their players like the coaches wanted and now, with four players on national team assignments, they crashed competely against Åsum’s junior team, 0-13. Nigerian international Faith Ikidi made her crucial test match and managed to get a two week extension of ther trial contract. “We have noticed qualities, even if this match wasn’t the best one to show them” commented sport director Ulf Berglund.
Kristianstadsbladet: Brakförlust för KDFF

Newcomers Piteå played 2nd division side Alvik and won comfortably 3-0. Their three Canadians are at Cyprus and will join when the Cyprus Cup tournament is finished later this week and a coiuple of players were on the sick-list. Lina Johansson, Linnea Nilsson Waara and Emma Thall scored.
Piteåtidningen: Enkelt för Piteå

Sunnanå’s women set up a match against their club’s 17 year old boys and lost 0-2. With the exception of internationals Barbara, Tasha St. Louis and Perpetua Nkwocha, they could field their best side and Australian forward Kate Gill impressed most. Unfortunately midfielder Kicki Wiklund got injured and was later diagnosed with a ACL tear.
Norra Västerbotten: Förlust för Sunnanås damer

Stattena once again played a Danish top division side, Skjold. Missing Finnish midfielder Jessica Julin and two injured players, they played up well against the Danish team, but once again showed their problems in attack, losing 1-3. Hanna Pettersson scored for Stattena.
Helsingborgs Dagblad: Ineffektivt Stattena föll

LDB FC Malmö, on a short Danish tour, defeated top side Skovlunde 8-1, in spite of seven players away in algarve and Cyprus. Maria Aronsson scored four goals, Renata Costa and the young talent Michaela Johnson two each.
Sydsvenskan: Maria Aronsson sköt fyra av Malmös åtta mål

And finally Hammarby defeated the 1st division team Danmarks IF. With their three Finnish players in Algarve, Hammarby had some difficulties with the Uppsala team, but finally managed a 3-1 win. Goals by Lena Andersson, Lisa Björkvik and Linda Cedrell.
Damfotboll.com: Hammarby – Danmarks IF 3-1

Algarve Cup: Young Sweden defeats Finland

The youngest team national team coach Thomas Dennerby has ever fielded, averaging 22 years, defeated Finland in the second group match of the Algarve Cup.  But it was the most experienced player of the starters, team captain for the day Nilla Fischer, who finally got the job done after 75 minutes.  She scored the lone goal on a header, converting a corner kick by Louise Fors.

The inexperienced Swedish starters had problems finding the kind of game Sweden showed against China. Finland were more creative and had most of the scoring opportunities in the first half, with Laura Kalmari getting closest. Sweden didn’t really get their attack going until Dennerby did a triple substitution after 55 minutes, getting veterans Victoria Svensson and Therese Sjögran on the pitch as well as 2008 rookie of the year forward Jessica Landström. There was an immediate change of direction and both Svensson and Landström were close before Fischer decided the outcome.

It was obvious that the majority of the Swedish starters lacked international experience. They lost their positions and runs and passes were often mistimed.
“It’s not easy to come in young and new, but it is a learning experience that you will take with you” explained Nilla Fischer.

The already injury-ridden Swedish Algarve Cup team saw another player casualty. Jessica Landström crashed with Finland’s goalkeeper Tinja-Riikka Korpela and had to leave with a knee injury. Fortunately it wasn’t any ligament damage and Landström should be fit to play again in a few weeks. Finland’s and AIK’s Laura Kalmari also had to leave the field with an injury, a broken collarbone. Three weeks on the injury list is expected for her.

Sweden – Finland  1 – 0 (0-0)
Sweden: Kristin Hammarström – Emelie Ölander, Linda Sembrant, Stina Segerström, Alexandra Nilsson (64 Sara Thunebro) – Nilla Fischer – Kosovare Asllani (55 Therese Sjögran), Lisa Dahlkvist (64 Caroline Seger), Louise Fors – Madelaine Edlund (55 Jessica Landström, 80 Anna Paulson), Sara Lindén (55 Victoria Svensson)
Goals: 1-0 Nilla Fischer (75)
Svenska Dagbladet: Fischer matchhjälte mot Finland
Svensk Fotboll: Nilla Fischer avgjorde mot Finland

For more Algarve Cup news, check out UEFA.com, which covers the European sides pretty well.

Algarve Cup: Sweden held goalless by China

How important is Lotta Schelin for Sweden’s goalscoring? A Sweden with Schelin on the sick-list (tooth pains) didn’t manage to break through China’s mostly five players defence. The play was good, particularly in the first half, but Jessica Landström, Victoria Svensson and Therese Sjögran all squandered great scoring chances.

“We really should win a match like this” said a disappointed Linda Sembrandt. With both Sara Larsson and Charlotte Rohlin injured, the young AIK defender started and did 90 impressive minutes. Sembrant showed that she is something as unusual as a Swedish defender who likes to take part in the play and makes precise passes, both long and short.

The lack of edge in the attack was the downside. Assistant coach Lillie Persson counted to eleven missed opportunities and agreed that this should have been a win for Sweden. “We cannot be this dependant of one player” said Victoria Svensson, who partnered with Schelin in the attack when Sweden defeated Norway 5-1 a month ago. But, she added, Sweden will defeat Finland on Friday, with or without Schelin.

Sweden – China  0 – 0 (0-0)
Sweden: Hedvig Lindahl – Anna Paulson (62 Alexandra Nilsson), Linda Sembrant, Stina Segerström, Sara Thunebro – Caroline Seger (62 Nilla Fischer) – Kosovare Asllani (62 Louise Fors), Victoria Svensson (81 Lisa Dahlkvist), Therese Sjögran – Jessica Landström, Madelaine Edlund (74 Sara Lindén)
Svensk Fotboll: Mållöst i inledningen av Algarve Cup
Aftonbladet: Sverige mållösa utan Schelin
Dagens Nyheter: Målen uteblev mot Kina

The day after the match, there were more news on the injury front, mostly bad. Umeå IK’s goalkeeper Ulla-Karin Rönnblom, who was expected to make her national team come-back against Finland, hurt a finger during training and will not be able to play in Algarve. An estimated three weeks rehabilitation period will also keep her out of Umeå’s Damallsvenskan season opener 25 March.
Västerbottenskuriren: Rönnlund och Larsson skadade

Sara Larsson’s thigh injury was also worse than hoped for – a muscle contution, which requires a four week rest and might cause trouble for her opening match with St. Louis in the American WPS league. Both Larsson and Rönnblom has been replaced, by Kif Örebro’s keeper Kristin Hammarström and AIK’s defender Emelie Ölander.

On the other hand, it seems like both Lotta Rohlin and Lotta Schelin are looking good for at least the match against Germany, maybe already against Finland on Friday.

Faith Ikidi in Kristianstad and other international news

Nigerian international Faith Ikidi yesterday arrived in Kristianstad for a week long try-out. Ikidi has been on the Nigerian national team since the World Cup 2003, when she was 17 and has been a mainstay ever since. She played for Nigerian Rivers Angels from Port Harcourt last season, but has extensive experience from the Norwegian and the Swedish league, last with Linköping 2007.

Kristianstad has one spot open in the team and Ikidi is one of two players currently competing for it. The other one, Canadian Erin Ramsay, was on trial last week. Sport director Ulf Berglund said that she made a good impression and is a competent player, but “the question is if she is so much better than we’ve already got”. The club cannot afford to sign both players and coach Elisabet Gunnarsdottir will have the deciding word.
Kristianstadsbladet: KDFF testar OS-spelare

57 times Swedish international Therese Lundin, who retired from LDB FC Malmö last fall, has reached an agreement with Chicago Red Eleven in the USA W-league, the second level of American football. She has had recurring injury problems, which contributed to her decision to retire, but thinks the short May to July W-league season will suit her better. Her former Malmö team mates Caroline Jönsson and Denise Reddy in Chicago’s WPS club Red Stars has helped making her come-back possible.
Damfotboll.com: Therese Lundin gör come-back – i Chicago

The English FA a few days ago announced a new women’s league, the Super League, as their new highest level of women’s football. The new league, which will start 2010 and run March to October like the Nordic leagues, will be a 8 team semi-professional league with subsidies from the FA at £ 70,000 per season and team.

The Swedish women’s football community seems to look at this positively, it’s another promising step in the development of the women’s game, and Sweden veteran midfielder Therese Sjögran said she could definitely see herself playing there if the opportunity comes. Swedish public radio’s Anette Börjesson tries to dampen the enthusiasm a bit; the new league is set in place to strengthen the English national team and will probably favour domestic players.
SVT: Sjögran tror många vill till England
SR: England satsar på en proffsliga för damer

Umeå routs Sunnanå 8-0 and other training matches

“Forget Marta. This is the new Umeå” wrote the local paper Västerbottenskuriren after Umeå’s 8-0 defeat of local Damallsvenskan rivals Sunnanå. Madeleine Edlund, prolific goalscorer who relied a lot on her cooperation with Marta last year, scored four goals and Danish winger Johanna Rasmussen were involved in six of Umeå’s goals against a humiliated Sunnanå.

Coach Mika Sankala was really satisfied with his team: “When you score eight goals, you can’t complain” he said and told that he had focused on defence in the early pre-season, but has now started to work with the attack. Umeå without Marta looks more active with more players taking part and the one-touch football they showed against Sunnanå looks promising.

Umeå IK – Sunnanå SK 8 – 0 (4-0)
Umeå:
Sunnanå:
Goals: 1–0 Madelaine Edlund (7), 2–0 Madelaine Edlund (11), 3–0 Hanna Ljungberg (24), 4–0 Ramona Bachmann (40), 5–0 Madelaine Edlund (59), 6–0 Madelaine Edlund (69), 7–0 Emmelie Konradsson (72), 8–0 Johanna Rasmussen (74).
Västerbottens Folkblad: Umeå IK imponerar utan Marta
Västerbottenskuriren: Enkel seger för UIK

LDB FC Malmö played Brøndby again, in a match inaugurating a new artificial turf field in Eslöv 30 kilometres outside Malmö. This time Brøndby got revenge for the defeat in LDB Sports Cup last weekend. Malmö coach Jörgen Petterson was disappointed in his team, as players who got a lot of time didn’t take the opportunity to convince him.

LDB FC Malmö – Brøndby IF  0 – 1 (0-1)
Malmö: Tine Lundqvist – Malin Levenstad (45 Lina Nilsson), Christin Öyangen Örntoft, Emma Wilhelmsson, Nera Smajic (80 Elena Sakidu) – Dora Stefansdottir, Nilla Fischer (45 Michaela Jonsson), Emelie Erlandsson, Maria Aronsson, Aylin Yaren (45 Pavlina Scasná) – Manon Melis (65 Leyla Güngör).
Sydsvenskan: Tunga ben i LDB FC Malmö

Kristianstads DFF tested themselves yet again against a boy’s team, this time against Nosaby. This time the team found much better opposition in a team that were faster and stronger and didn’t allow Kristianstad to succeed with the long-ball counters they much too often allowed themselves.

Kristianstads DFF – Nosaby HJ  1 – 4 (1-3)
Kristianstad:
Goals: 1-1 Holmfridur Magnusdottir
Norra Skåne: KDFF föll mot Nosaby
Kristianstadsbladet: Nyttigt motstånd för KDFF

Hammarby played and defeated two local 1st division sides, Tyresö and Älvsjö.

Tyresö FF – Hammarby IF  1 – 3
Hammarby: Emelie Ekman – Matilda Agné, Annica Svensson, Elin Sölveskog, Anna Lindblom – Lena Andersson, Madeleine Tegström – Leena Puranen, Naza, Kicki Bengtsson – Johanna Andersson
Goals: Kicki Bengtsson 2, Leena Puranen

Hammarby – Älvsjö AIK  1 – 0 (1-0)
Hammarby:
Goals: Johanna Andersson
Hammarby: Seger mot Tyresö
Damfotboll.com: Hammarby – Älvsjö 1-0

Kif Örebro hosted 1st division favourites Jitex and continued to impress after their successful matches against Djurgården and Norwegian top sides.

Kif Örebro – Jitex  3 – 0 (3-0)
Örebro:
Goals: 1-0 Susanna Lehtinen (22), 2-0 Sanna Talonen (35), 3-0 Hanna Ågren (42)
Nerikes Allehanda: Kif Örebro vann mot Jitex

Also Linköping took on a 1st division side, Öster. The Damallsvenskan top side dominated but had problems breaking through Öster’s hard fighting defence. Both goals came from set pieces. Josefine Öqvist got her first 45 minutes this season while both Caroline Seger and Kosovare Asslani rested.

Linköping FC – Östers IF  2 – 0 (1-0)
Linköping:
Goals: 1-0 Charlotte Rohlin, 2-0 Tilda Heimersson
Linköping FC: LFC-vinst mot Öster

AIK played their 1st division cooperation club Vasalund and in this case the big difference between 1st and 2nd tier really showed with six AIK goals in the first half. In the second half AIK made numerous substitutions – they used 18 players in all – and also seemed satisfied with what they had achieved already.

Vasalunds IF – AIK  1 – 7 (1-6)
AIK: Maja Åström – Frida Höglund (46 Emelie Ölander), Linda Sembrant, Sofia Simonsson (46 Elin Karlsson) – Laura Kalmari (71 Heléne Holmgren), Emma Lindqvist (46 Anne Mäkinen), Hanna Folkesson (46 Kimberly Gustafsson), Emilia Appelquist (85 Petra Andersson), Emelie Karlsson-Wedin (46 Emma Lundh, 85 Andrea Hansson) – 9 Annica Sjölund, 10 Louise Fors.
Goals: 0-1 Linda Sembrant (9), 0-2 Annica Sjölund (12), 0-3 Louise Fors (20), 1-4 Annica Sjölund (31), 1-5 Emelie Karlsson-Wedin (42), 1-6 Linda Sembrant (44), 1-7 Laura Kalmari (71)

Finally, two clubs has been on training camps in a more agreeable climate. Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC spent a week on Gran Canaria outside Africa’s west coast and played a friendly against a local team, Universidad de Las Palmas CF. Even if the Göteborg players were tired from the daily double training sessions, they won convincingly and if not for a good goalkeeper the scoreline would have been bigger.

Universidad de Las Palmas CF – Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC  1 – 3 (1-3)
Göteborg: Susanne Nilsson – Amelie Rybäck, Jane Törnqvist, Stina Segerström, Caroline Näfver (46 Marlene Sjöberg) – Lisa Ek, Anna Ahlstrand, Jenny Hallstensson, Catrin Johansson (65 Carin Berling) – Linnea Liljegärd (65 Valeri Obita), Johanna Almgren
Goals: 0-1 Linnea Liljegärd (16), 0-2 Jenny Hallstensson (26), 1-3 Linnea Liljegärd (39)
Göteborg FC: Seger mot Universidad de Las Palmas CF

Djuirgården had their spring camp, traditionally you might say now, at Algarve. A convenient solution for the players who have national team duties in the Algarve Cup – they just change hotels after Djurgården’s camp are finished. Djurgården’s training match was a 3 x 30 minutes scrimmage against no less than USA’s national team. Djurgården’s coach Anders Johansson was satisfied with the first two thirds, where the team managed keep positions in defence, forcing USA to take long distance shots. A match against the Olympic champions is a great experience, and a rare one. All Djurgården players were fielded and the team also tried out three different set-ups with players trying out different positions.

Djurgården – USA  1 – 5 (0-1, 0-1, 1-3)
Goals: 1-3 Victoria Svensson
Djurgården: Förlust 1-5 mot USA

Umeå puts the breaks on after SEK 1,5 million loss

Already the early predictions last fall indicated a big loss for Umeå, maybe SEK 500,000. It turned out to be SEK 1,5 millions, “much more than I had expected” commented general manager Britta Åkerlund. The club will have to put the breaks on spending to try to turn things around.

It is essential for Umeå to make a profit in 2009 or else the club’s continued existence will be put in danger. Wage costs has already been cut with 30 % in the 2009 budget. They have turned down the sought-after Australian striker Lisa de Vanna and, said Åkerlund, a couple of other good players who wanted to join. Travel expenses will also be cut. Umeå will travel to Russia for the UEFA Women’s Cup semifinal against Zvezda Perm with a smaller party than usual, including a less than 16 player match squad.

Too much money spent on wages and the building of a new club house has been the main causes of the club’s current financial crisis. Marta’s very expensive 2008 contract turned out to be even more expensive than anticipated and the recruiting processes for a new general manager and a new head coach wasn’t cheap either. The new office building was completed just when the international financial crisis started and Umeå hasn’t been able to get the loans they were counting on. They have suggested a solution: the city council buys the building and rents it back to the club. The city doesn’t seem adverse to the idea, but nothing has been decided.

Britta Åkerlund also points out, that one of the reasons for the current financial mess is that the club, probably years ago, has become much to big to handle for the small staff.  So in spite of the budget cuts – Umeå’s operating budget will be SEK 2 millions less than last year – she has decided to hire an accountant.
Västerbottens Folkblad: Umeå IK:s förlustsiffror större än kalkylen, Umeå IK ser om sitt hus
Västerbottenskuriren: Marta dyr i drift – UIK gör ekonomisk brakförlust

Other clubs has also presented their accounts for 2008. Linköping FC increased their earnings from SEK 5,3 to 7,6 millions and came out with a small profit, SEK 17,000. Approximately half of the increase came from sponsors and the other half from match revenues.
Linköping FC: 2008 blev LFC:s bästa år hittills

LDB FC Malmö also increased their incomes, from SEK 6,1 to 7,4 millions. The deal with their main sponsor, the cosmetics manufacturer Hardford, has provided a financial security for the club, which walked on the brink of bankruptcy for several years, and it made a small, SEK 72,800 profit in 2008.
Sydsvenskan: LDB gick med vinst

Hammarby works with a much smaller budget, but manages it well. For the third consecutive year, the club could report a modest profit. The turn-over increased from SEK 2,7 millions to 3,4 millions with a SEK 56,000 profit.
Hammarby: Annika Vikander ny ordförande samt positivt resultat

Brazil match in jeopardy

The opening match at the new “Gamla Ullevi” stadium in Göteborg, that will also be the home arena for the Swedish women’s national team, on 25 April has been planned to be against Brazil’s national team. But the preliminary agreement made between the two associations hasn’t moved on to being anything more than preliminary. There are still no papers signed. Sune Hellströmer, the Swedish Football Association’s General Secretary, comments that it is not always easy to get things formalized and on paper with all national associations and that he hasn’t started to worry yet.

But there are apparently back-up plans. National team coach Thomas Dennerby wouldn’t mind Pia Sundhage’s USA if the Brazil plans doesn’t work out, “and Germany, Norway and Denmark are also good alternatives, even if I’m still counting on Brazil”.  Brazil should already be in Europe, since they are playing Germany in Frankfurt 22 April.

There is however another potential problem. The new USA professional league WPS starts in late March and six of the seven clubs have games scheduled for the 25-26 April weekend, with almost an entire Brazilian starting line-up, including Marta, Cristiane and Daniela, supposed to show up for their club teams. And for Dennerby’s preferred back-up, USA, the situation is even worse, since just about everyone in even a very extended national team pool is signed to play in the league. It will be interesting to see if the Brazilian (or the USA) national team is prepared to take a conflict with the fledgling league over call-ups to a friendly in Europe. I doubt it.
Göteborgsposten: Premiärmatchen på nya arenan kan spricka, USA – damlandslagets plan B

In other national team news, LDB FC Malmö’s midfielder Linda Forsberg has announced that she will not travel with the national team to the Algarve Cup. She had knee surgery last fall and has experienced swelling and pain in the knee when playing matches, last in the LDB Sports Cup last weekend. She has together with her club decided to start treatment, to hopefully be fit for her Damallsvenskan opener on 1 April.

National team coach Thomas Dennerby has decided to move AIK’s Louise Fors, who is one of three players invited to travel and train with the team, to the proper squad. Fors has in her turn been replaced by another AIK player, defender Emelie Ölander in the watch and learn group.
Svensk Fotboll: Fors/Ölander ersätter Linda Forsberg

Umeå wins LDB Sports Cup

In an almost perfect repeat of last years instalment of the LDB Sports Cup, Umeå defeated LDB FC Malmö with a penalty kick. Last year it was Marta, who scored with a penalty kick a few minutes in to overtime. Last weekend regulation time ended 0-0 and it went to penalties, or a shoot-out, which is the format used in this cup – first one to miss loses. Umeå’s Lisa Dahlkvist converted calmly the first. Then Malmö’s Therese Sjögran kicked a much too loose ball, that Carola Söberg could catch. But the referee decided that the Umeå keeper had moved forward before the kick, and Sjögran got another chance. Which she placed hard in the cross-bar. Exit Malmö and Umeå could walk away with the SEK 65,000 prize check.

“That hurts. It would have been important to beat them” commented LDB FC’s coach Jörgen Petersson. Umeå’s new coach Mika Sankala was pleased to be able to show that in spite of losing several important personalities, Umeå IK is still a team to be reckoned with. And, he said, “we want to show that we who are new in the club also wants to stay at the top”.

Sweden’s presumed top three – Umeå IK, LDB FC Malmö and Linköping FC – made up the cup contestants together with late addition Brøndby from Denmark. The six-fold Danish champions replaced Russian side Zvezda Perm, recent Russian champion and UEFA Women’s Cup semifinalist. Only a week before the cup, Zvezda notified the cup organizer LDB FC Marketing that they could not participate. One of their big sponsors had abandon the club and they couldn’t afford the trip to Sweden. Sankala, who’s Umeå will face Zvezda in the UEFA Women’s Cup semifinals in March, suspected there was another reason. Umeå is a pretty well known team, he reasoned, and there has been plenty of matches televised. Zvezda on the other hand is a rather unknown entity and perhaps they didn’t want Umeå to get to check them out. But Sankala wasn’t disappointed that the Russians didn’t show up. Umeå had scouts at Zvezda’s quarterfinal at Brøndby and anyway, he wouldn’t have liked having to play them just a month before they will meet in the UEFA Cup.

Zvezda’s replacement Brøndby had suffered serious losses during the winter break with key players moving to Swedish and Norwegian clubs and were the weakest of the teams in the LDB Sports Cup. Both Malmö (with former Brøndby players Tine Cederkvist and Christina Örntoft) and Linköping (featuring Cathrine Paaske Sørensen and Julie Rydahl Bukh from Brøndby) defeated them convincingly.

The matches between the Swedish teams were tight and well contested matches with Umeå coming out as winners with the lone goal in both. The meagre scorelines wasn’t in lack of opportunities though. Particularly towards the end of the Umeå-Malmö match, when tiring player began to lose their positions and concentration, both sides close calls, including a hit in the woodwork by Umeå.

Even with the opportunity to get a psychological advantage over the two other Swedish top teams, and the prize check as extra incentive, all teams made generous substitutions and let some of their younger recent signings get some match experience.

Semifinals:
LDB FC Malmö – Brøndby IF 3-0 (1-0)
Malmö: Tine Cederkvist Viskaer – Malin Levenstad, Christina Örntoft, Emma Wilhelmsson, Nera Smajic – Lina Nilsson (55 Sarah Storck), Renata da Costa, Therese Sjögran, Nilla Fischer, Pavlina Scasna (60 Aylin Yaren) – Manon Melis (50 Maria Aronsson)
Goals: 1-0 Pavlina Scasna, 2-0 Manon Melis, 3-0 Nilla Fischer

Umeå IK – Linköping FC 1 – 0 (1-0)
Umeå: Ulla-Karin Rönnlund – Anna Paulson, Karolina Westberg, Emma Berglund (Emma Kullberg), Maija Saari – Lisa Dahlkvist, Elaine (Emma Åberg-Zingmark), Mami Yamaguchi – Ramona Bachmann, Madelaine Edlund (Sofia Jakobsson), Johanna Rasmussen
Linköping:
Goals: 1-0 Ramona Bachmann

3rd prize match

Linköping FC – Brøndby IF  3 – 1 (2-1)
Linköping:
Goals: 1-0 Kosovare Asllani, 2-0 Cathrine Paaske Sörensen, 3-1 Petronella Ekroth

Final

Umeå IK – LDB FC Malmö  0 – 0 (0-0) 1-0 penalty shoot-out
Umeå: Carola Söberg – Anna Paulson, Karolina Westberg, Elaine, Maija Saari – Lisa Dahlkvist, Mami Yamaguchi, Hanna Ljungberg – Ramona Bachmann, Madelaine Edlund, Johanna Rasmussen
Malmö: Stéphanie Öhrström - Malin Levenstad, Emma Wilhelmsson, Christina Örntoft, Lina Nilsson - Linda Forsberg (50 Maria Aronsson), Therese Sjögran, Nilla Fischer, Renata da Costa (45 Dora Stefansdottir), Pavlina Scasna (60 Sarah Storck) - Manon Melis
Penalties: 1-0 Linda Dahlkvist

Smålandsposten: Ldb Malmö mot Umeå i final (including video), Ny straffseger för Umeå

Transfers: Try-outs in Kristianstad, plans in Djurgården and Stattena

Kristianstads DFF are working with two names for the open position at centre back. Recently the 26 years old Canadian Erin Ramsay has been trying out for the team. Ramsay, a tall defender who has been capped for Canada, has Damallsvenskan experience from her 2007 season with Falköpings KIK. She stayed with the relegated team and played in the Swedish 1st division in 2008. She didn’t disappoint in the match against the boy’s team Kristianstad played this weekend: “You can see that she is experienced” commented sport director Ulf Berglund. He and coach Elisabet Gunnarsdottir still were a bit disappointed with the resistance their team faced – Kristianstad won 6-0. “We had hoped for better opposition” said coach Elisabet Gunnarsdottir, adding that Ramsay was never really tested.

Kristianstad’s other name is the Nigerian international Faith Ikidi. The 22 years old Ikidi has been a fixture in the Nigerian national team since the 2004 Olympics and has played several seasons in Scandinavia, first in Norway’s top division and then in Damallsvenskan; Qbik 2006 and Linköping 2007. She will join Kristianstad for a trial within short.

In other transfer news, Kristianstad’s veteran Tanja Pihlblad has been hired as assistant to coach Gunnardottir. Pihlblad has coaching experience from her stay in USA, where she worked as an assistant coach at Central Connecticut State.
Kristianstadsbladet: Landslagsbackar förstärker KDFF, Inget test för Ramsay

Djurgårdens IF, which from the look of things needs to strengthen their defence, has offered Icelandic national team defender Guðrún Sóley Gunnarsdóttir a contract. “We have an open spot in the team and Guðrún might be the best fit” said Djurgården’s sport director Mikael Söderman.
Damfotboll.com: Djurgården-intresse för ny isländska

Stattena, newcomers with problems finding suitable reinforcements to the team, is trying to persuade last year’s top goalscorer Mia Westerblad to return to the club. Westerblad, who scored 21 goals during Stattena’s promotion campaign last season, left the team to be able to spend more time with her family. Stattena’s new coach Marianne Miettinen has been talking to her and has hopes for a come-back.
And to me in makes better sense to use part of the club’s increased budget to offer a proven goalscorer like Westerblad a reasonable contract than hiring a foreign, unproven player.
Helsingborgs Dagblad: Nygammal målkung aktuell för Stattena

Sunnanå’s team captain Lina Johansson has, 28 years old and after 11 seasons with the team, decided to call it quits. She has been trying to get back from a thigh injury, but now decided to give up: “It’s not fun when you can’t stay healthy”.
Lina Johansson was one of the team’s most experienced players and has been one of their best goalscorers the last seasons. It will be a noticable loss for Sunnanå.
Norra Västerbotten: Lina Johansson slutar – stort avbräck för Sunnanå

Training matches: Örebro wins big in Norway, Sunnanå loses big in Stockholm

Kif Örebro took a weekend trip to Norway to play two of the leading teams of the western neighbour. In a very high-paced and physical Saturday match, they were unlucky to have to settle for a 0-0 draw against Norwegian champions Røa. In the Sunday match, Örebrom played Norway’s number 2, Team Strømmen. After an even first half, 1-1, Örebro found out how to defeat Team Strømmen’s defence in the second half. After two fast goals by Maria Nordbrandt, who could run through Strømmen’s back-line, in the beginning of the second half, Örebro got the upper hand. And after Susanna Lehtinen’s 4-1 the Norwegians wasa defeated. Coach Richard Holmlund was understandably very pleased with his team: “There was a lot of positive answers for us” he commented, giving a special mention to the new Icelandic player Edda Gardarsdottir.

Røa – Kif Örebro  0 – 0 (0-0)

Team Strømmen – Kif Örebro  1 – 6 (1-1)
Goals: 0-1 Sanna Talonen, 1-2 Marie Nordbrandt, 1-3 Marie Nordbrandt, 1-4 Susanna Lehtinen, 1-5 Blerta Rashica, 1-6 Marie Hammarström

Just before Örebro went to Norway, they played their first match this season, a mid-week friendly against Djurgården. Coach Holmlund was very pleased with his new Icelandic and Finnish players and scoring four goals in one match is a promising start for a team that very rarely managed to get more than one goal a match last season. On the other hand, it was the kind of match that made both coaches thinking about their defensive play. The defence on both sides was rather loose and individual mistakes set up several of the goals.

Kif Örebro – Djurgården  4 – 3 (2-1)
Örebro:
Djurgården: Gudbjörg Gunnarsdottir – Sara Thunebro (57 Freja Hellenberg), Therese Brogårde, Malin Engdahl – Caroline Frånberg, Linda Sällström (76 Irma Helin), Victoria Svensson, Anna-Kaisa Rantanen (76 Victoria Tuoma), Linda Fagerström (46 Marijke Callebaut) – Jennifer Meier, Alexandra Höglund (57 Matilda Rosqvist)
Goals: 1-0 Sanna Talonen (17), 2-0 Olina Vidarsdottir (19), 2-1 Linda Sällström (37), 2-2 Anna-Kaisa Rantanen, 3-2 Kim Ekebom, 4-2 Kim Ekebom, 4-3 Marijke Callebaut
Nerikes Allehanda: KIF vann målrik match
Djurgården: Förlust i Örebro

Sunnanå SK went south to Stockholm to play Djurgården and AIK. After losing their first preseason match to newcomers Piteå and then defeating a Norwegian second tier team, they would face teams at a higher level. Already in the Saturday match against Djurgården, it was apparent that Sunnanå hasn’t reached the same level in their pre-season training as the Stockholm sides. Djurgården were much more active with more runs and better movement and outplayed Sunnanå in the first half, with Victoria Svensson behind most of their attacking play. The numerous substitutions in the second half, when Djurgården mostly fielded young talents from their cooperation clubs, slowed down the game. It was still a confident win for Djurgården.

Sunnanå’s result against AIK in the Sunday match might partly be explained by fatigue from the encounter with Djurgården. AIK were faster, much more aggressive in the attacks and controlled the match pretty much from start to finish.

Djurgården – Sunnanå SK  4 – 3 (3-1)
Djurgården: Gudbjörg Gunnarsdottir – Sara Thunebro (Matilda Mörn), Therese Brogårde, Malin Engdahl, Freja Hellenberg – Marijke Callebaut (Victoria Tuoma), Victoria Svensson, Anna-Kaisa Rantanen, Linda Fagerström (Caroline Frånberg) – Jennifer Meier, Alexandra Höglund Irma Helin)
Sunnanå:
Goals: 1-o Sara Thunebro, 2-0 Linda Fagerström, 2-1 Linda Fransson, 3-1 Jennifer Meier, 3-2 Matilda Forslund, 4-2 Alexandra Höglund, 4-3 own goal

AIK – Sunnanå SK  6 – 0 (3-0)
AIK: Johanna Baecklund – Emelie Ölander (89 Emilia Appelquist), Frida Höglund, Linda Sembrant, Sofia Simonsson – Laura Kalmari (70 Hanna Folkesson), Emilia Appelquist (70 Heléne Holmgren), Anne Mäkinen, Emma Lundh (58 Emelie Karlsson-Wedin) – Emma Lindqvist (70 Louise Fors), Annica Sjölund (70 Kimberly Gustafsson)
Sunnanå:
Goals: 1-0 Emma Lundh (6), 2-0 Emma Lindqvist (26), 3-0 Annica Sjölund (39), 4-0 Annica Sjölund (53), 5-0 Emma Lindqvist (66), 6-0 Louise Fors (79)
Djurgården: Idag seger med 4-3
AIK: Storseger i vinterväder

Stattena – Skovlunde  0 – 1 (0-1)
Compared to the 8-1 trashing Stattena recieved by kristianstad last weekend, the mere one goal defeat to Danish top division side Skovlunde was a fall forward. The defence worked much better and they even managed to create several good opportunities in front of the Danish goal. But for coach Marianne Miettinen the defence is still in focus: “In many of the matches this season we will not be the team with the most possession. That’s why the defence is so important.”
Helsingborgs Dagblad: Nygammal målkung aktuell för Stattena

Kristianstads DFF – Åhus HBK  6 – 0 (2-0)
Kristianstad: Sandra Wahldén (45 Sandra Brattenhof) – Johanna Rosén (45 Johanna Jönsson), Erin Ramsay, Erla Arnardottír (45 Therese Persson), Mia Carlsson (45 Emelie Johnsson) – Antonia Göransson, Gudny Odinsdottír, Sofie Persson, Holmfridur Magnusdottír (45 Pernilla Falk) – Susanne Moberg (50 Emma Sjödahl), Frida Sjöfors (45 Sofie Andersson)
Goals: 1–0 Frida Sjöfors (21), 2–0 Holmfridur Magnusdottír (31), 3–0 Sofie Andersson (59), 4–0 Antonia Göransson (65), 5–0 Sofie Andersson (75), 6–0 Antonia Göransson (89)
Kristianstad had picked Åhus’ men’s junior team to see how they faced up to the challenge from a physically stronger team. They did that very well, but, said coach Elisabet Gunnarsdottir, “we had expected more from them”. Kristianstad showed good combinations in attack and the boys couldn’t keep up. The 6-0 win showed some good work from among others their young winger Antonia Göransson, but the defence was never really challenged.
Kristianstadsbladet: KDFF körde över Åhus HBK

Hammarby IF – Rågsved  6 – 0 (2-0)
Hammarby: Minna Merilouto – Matilda Agné, Annica Svensson, Elin Sölveskog, Anna Lindblom – Madeleine Tegström, Hodan Siid Ahmed – Leena Puranen, Kicki Bengtsson, Johanna Andersson – Nina Hietanen
Goals: Johanna Andersson (3), Nazanin Vaseghpanah, Nina Hietanen, Leena Puranen
Rågsved, newly promoted to the first division, played their first match this season and had big problems against Hammarby. Hammarby’s new signee Johanna Andersson from Jitex impressed and worked well with Nazanin Vaseghpanah.

Göteborg FC continues to match themselves against boy’s teams, this time against Jonsered, Göteborg coach Torbjörn Nilsson’s old team. The already thin squad at Göteborg had several players on the injury list and was forced to field no less than five players from the youth team and lost 2-0. The defence were really tested and in particular goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl impressed.

Sweden’s Algarve Cup team announced

The traditional March tournament Algarve Cup will be an important part of Sweden’s preparations for the UEFA Women’s Championship in August. The four matches in Portugal will be half of the matches Thomas Dennerby’s team will play up to the start of the Euros.

Dennerby continues to look for alternatives. Goalkeeper Sofia Lundgren, who participated in Spain in January, isn’t on the roster this time. Instead we find Umeå’s Ulla-Karin Rönnlund.

- “We are not in any way dissatisfied with Sofia’s performance”, said Dennerby, explaining that he is making an inventory of the goalkeeper pool. After Algarve Cup he will have had a good look at all the four top names.

Ulla-Karin Rönnlund is a 32 years old goalie, who hasn’t played an international since 2001. But, says Dennerby, “she had a really good season with Umeå last year and when we are looking at keepers it stands to reason that she is there”. He added that it’s great to see a player who continues her career even as a mother of small children.

Rönnlund was brought back from retirement by Umeå after she, half jokingly, told a friend that maybe it was time for her to make a comeback, when both Umeå’s goalkeepers left after the 2006 season.

“When I started training with Umeå it was mostly just a fun thing”, she comments. “But it went pretty well”. And winning the Goalkeeper of the Year award last fall was a real boost. “Now when I’m in, I’m going to give it my all. If it goes well [in Algarve] I’m going to try to get to the Euros”, she adds.

Besides doing well as a goalkeeper, Rönnlund has also got a lot of attention by scoring no less than three goals during the 2009 season.

Several of the young players, who did well against Norway in January, have been left at home to give space for other interesting youngsters, like Louise Fors (AIK).

In addition to his 20 player squad Dennerby has picked three players, who will travel to Algarve and train with the team, but not participate in the matches.

Linköping’s Josefine Öqvist is left outside the team this time too, as she isn’t yet fully recovered after a minor surgery in January.

Unlike the preparations for the Olympics last year, when Dennerby focused on the defence, he and his assistant Lillie Persson will work with the attacking play. “It’s about details”, said Dennerby, “playing-angles, precision and that last important pass”.

Players marked with * travels to Portugal, but are not part of the Algarve Cup team

Svensk Fotboll: Algarve Cup väger tungt inför EM
Västerbottenskuriren: Ulla-Karin tillbaka i landslaget

Umeå vs Los Angeles Sol?

Umeå is in talks with Los Angeles Sol in the WPS league about the American team possibly guesting Sweden for a couple of exhibition matches in September, after the American season has finished. Umeå’s general manager Britta Åkerlund told this at the press conference following Umeå’s match against Piteå yesterday, Sunday.

The Swedish league will be on hold for almost two months over the UEFA Women’s Euro, from late July to late September. There will be a need for the Damallsvenskan teams to find some kind of friendly competitions during that time. Åkerlund stressed that the talks with the Los Angeles club is still in the early stages and nothing is set.
SR Norrbotten: Världens bästa fotbollsspelare till Luleå

What seems set on the other hand is Djurgården getting to play the USA national team. Djurgården will, traditionally if three times counts as tradition, have their preseason training camp in Algarve, just before the Algarve Cup week. A couple of years ago they played and defeated China the week before Algarve Cup. Fairly reliable information says that Djurgården this time will get the opportunity to play USA. Let’s see how it turns out.

Weekend training matches – the rest

Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC – IFK Göteborg P17  0 – 2 (0-2)
Göteborg (starters): Hedvig Lindahl – Jenny Hallstenson, Stina Segerström, Jane Törnqvist, Caroline Näfver -  Amelie Rybeck, Catrin Johansson, Anna Ahlstrand, Carin Berling -  Linnéa Liljegärd, Sara Lindén
Already in the middle of the week Göteborg played the 17 years boy team from IFK Göteborg, one of the major Swedish clubs. They were beat on the break twice in the first half, losing the ball after individual mistakes. Coach Torbjörn Nilsson still was fairly pleased with his team.

Göteborg were missing Lisa Ek, Johanna Almgren and Marlene Sjöberg, usually starters, to injuries but apart from that fielded the best team they had. The club still only has 15 players on their roster and I presume they are still working to find additional reinforcements.
Göteborgsposten: Fall framåt för Göteborg FC

Stattena IF – Kristianstads DFF  1 – 8 (1-6)
Stattena:
Kristianstad:
Goals: 0-1 Frida Sjöfors (9), 0-2 Susanne Moberg (14), 0-3 Mia Carlsson (20), 0-4 Frida Sjöfors (23), 1-4 Hanna Pettersson (32), 1-5 Sofie Persson (35), 1-6 Mia Carlsson (45), 1-7 Antonia Göransson (83), 1-8 Dafina Memedov (88)
Stattena suffered a huge blow in their first match against a Damallsvenskan competitor. The first half was a at best half-hearted performance with bad passes, still-standing players and lots of individual mistakes. Kristianstad’s speedy and aggressive attack took advantage and scored almost every five minutes. After the recess, and serious words in Stattena’s locker-room, things looked a little bit better, but far from enough.

Kristianstad’s coach Elisabet Gunnarsdottir was very pleased with her forward duo Susanne Moberg and Frida Sjöfors and was also happy with the new midfielder Mia Carlsson, last year in 1st division with Vittsjö, who headed in two goals.

In Stattena it was almost only Finnish international Jessica Julin who got away with a passing grade. And even if Stattena, who got their new coach Marianne Miettinen in place only ten days ago, is several weeks behind in training, they really could do with reinforcements both in defence and attack.
Norra Skåne: KDFF vann utklassningsseger
Helsingborgs Dagblad: Stjärnsmäll för Stattena

Hammarby IF – Djurgården  1 – 3 (1-0)
Hammarby: Minna Merilouto – Annica Svensson, Elin Sölveskog, Karin Lissel, Anna Lindblom – Madeleine Tegström, Lena Andersson – Leena Puranen, Naza, Kicki Bengtsson – Nina Hietanen
Djurgården: Gudbjörg Gunnarsdottir – Sara Thunebro (45 Alexandra Höglund), Therese Brogårde, Malin Engdahl, Freja Hellenberg – Marijke Callebaut (65 Irma Hellin), Anna-Kaisa Rantanen, Victoria Svensson, Linda Fagerström (45 Jennifer Meier) – Rebecca Johnson (30 Caroline Frånberg), Linda Sällström
Goals: 1-0 Kicki Bengtsson, 1-1 Victoria Svensson, 1-2 Irma Hellin, 1-3 Linda Sällström
In spite of the heavy losses Djurgården has suffered since last year (among them Nadine Angerer, Ariane Hingst and Linda Forsberg), it doesn’t seem like they will just lie down and die. In the second half they managed to dominate a Hammarby, that at least on paper is slightly improved from last year.

Notable: Sara Thunebro played her first 45 minutes after her knee surgery last fall. Debutant Irma Hellin, loaned in from Älvsjö AIK for the match, is only 14 years old.
Djurgården: Bra första träningsmatch

Sunnanå SK – Bodö  2 – 1 (0-0)
Sunnanå:
Goals: 1-1 Linda Fransson, 2-1 Lisa Renberg
Sunnanå hosted Norwegian second tier Bodö and their new coach Janne Hallberg was a little more pleased with his team than he was after the defeat to Piteå last week. More creative, keeping possession better and two good looking goals. Forwards Linda Fransson, who played for Umeå Södra last season, and Lisa Renberg worked well together and Sanna Frostevall continues to impress in midfield.

Sunnanå will next take a trip south to play Djurgården and AIK in a couple of training matches, matches that should be more challenging than those they have played so far.
Norra Västerbotten: Sunnanå besegrade Bodö
Kif Örebro is now the only club that haven’t played their first spring training match. They should have played against Qbik this weekend, but the match was cancelled when Qbik couldn’t field a full team. They will however play Djurgården on Tuesday.