For the record - Poland has a $500B economy; Romania $171B, Sweden $540B, Ukraine $180B. Ukraine and Romania have a higher concentration of wealth. Sweden obviously has the highest living standards there but also the highest cost of living.
Seems like Span will get more PT and that's a good thing for him. Can't wait to see how he does this year. What formation does his team usually play?
4-2-3-1 with Span most often playing on the left wing but also sometimes at right wing. There's been two more preseason games since my last post with Span playing 45 minutes in the first one and then around 30 minutes in the second. I watched both games but Brian didn't make much of an impact during his time on the pitch so there's not much to report.
As you can hopefully see behind the net in the video above Span scored in a preseason tournament in Finland yesterday where he played the first half. The goal meant 2-1 to Djurgården against FC Lahti and the game ended with a 3-2 win even though Djurgården played 85 minutes of the game with one man sent off. I didn't watch that game so I can't comment on Spans overall performance there but I did see him play the full 90 minutes in another preseason game a few days earlier where Djurgården drew 1-1 against Öster. In that game I thought his performance was much improved from earlier in the year and he was getting involved and putting in alot of crosses.
Span started again today and played 68 minutes in another game in Finland, this time a 2-2 draw against champions HJK Helsinki. It's interesting that he started because it had been said beforehand that we would be playing with the "real" starting eleven in this game, meaning the eleven players that the manager would pick if the league started today. The decision to include Span in that group seems to have been correct since he very nicely scored the first goal of the game as you can see in the video above.
Good goal. He looks much more confident on the ball now. That's great to hear he's in the plans to start and having a good preseason. If he has a good start to the season maybe he could get a look for the the gold cup.
Hypothetically, he should have accelerated his dribble after the interception instead of doing his Deion Sanders impression but the defender did stay back and the finish was pretty nice as well.
"Hypothetically" he could have slowed his pace to draw the defender toward him so that he could cross into the space that was left behind, but then he shot when the defender stayed back. Way to criticize a good goal though
When you pick up pace dribbling toward the goal, you force the defender to commit, allowing then a cut inside for a shot.
Hopefully, this leads to other "cheap" signings of the Americans from the NCAA (college ball). Span went to Sweden at just the right age (will turn 21 this week).
Cobi started for Djugardens on the left wing for Djugardens in their 3-0 cup victory today. Season starts March 31. Might be a Gold Cup option if he does well. http://www.svenskafans.com/fotboll/dif/halvtidsrapport-djurgarden-umea-1-0-472098.aspx
Yeah, like you said Span started and I would say that he performed pretty well but not great. His biggest goalscoring opportunity came early in the game when he blasted a shot just wide of the post. He also should have been given a penalty when he was tripped after he turned a defender. Djurgården dominated the game and besides the goals they also hit the woodwork three times. Spans replacement after he was subbed off played about equally as good as Span, so while he got the start today I think it will likely continue to be a good competition between the two for playing time throughout the season.
The two biggest swedish newspapers released their traditional season preview magazines this weekend. And like recent years I thought I would again provide some scans of the player ratings which are the most talked about parts of these magazines. Span maintains the same two 2/5 ratings that he was given last year. Here's what the comments say: "Quick feet and clever crosses. But doesn't stand much chance in physical duels." "American midfielder who the club scouted a long time before signing last year. Made his first team debut in may and played nine games, mainly as a substitute. Useful in several positions."
Span started on the bench as the league started up today. Fortunate for him perhaps since the team really struggled with their defence in the first half and conceded three goals. Span eventually came on as a sub in the 55th minute so he got a decent amount of playing time and I think he did alright in the situations that he was involved with. He had a decent effort where he lifted the ball towards the back corner of the goal but it went just wide. He can also be seen putting in a cross at the end of the highlights video.
Well, after the positive preseason and playing time in the first game things haven't been looking that good for Span. He did start in a Swedish Cup game but got subbed off at half time after what has been described as a really poor defensive performance (I missed most of the first half in that game so I can't really say if I agree or not). In the league he has remained on the bench for three games and was also left out of the matchday squad entirely in one game. In one game they also prefered to bring on a fullback as a substitute to play winger even though Span was on the bench. He has been playing with the U21 team though, where he has scored 2 goals so far this season in 3 games. The latest, kind of messy, goal can be seen in the video below.
Span got some playing time today as he came on in the 81st minute. He had one of the last chances of the game when the ball fell to him from above in the penalty area but he swung and missed the ball completely. Djurgården are unfortunaly looking set to be relegated to Superettan this year. The manager resigned yesterday after supposedly receiving threats and the way he put together the team this season is pretty shambolic. We're currently in last place with one point in five games and that's with two games played at home against the two other worst teams in the league. One of those were today where we scored a 1-0 goal that probably would have won us the game but the referee claimed it wasn't over the goal line and then shortly after the opponents scored the winning goal with their only shot on target during the entire 90 minutes. Tough times, but from a Yanks Abroad perspective it could be a positive that Span might get some more playing time in the second half of the season if it's already a done deal that we'ere getting relegated by then. And yes my new profile picture is an attempt to reverse-jinx this whole thing!
Span came on in the 57th minute today as Djurgården won todays cup game 1-0 and advanced to the Swedish Cup final. He worked hard and was a definite improvement over the guy he replaced and since that guy went out injured I think there might be a good chance of Span starting the upcoming league game this weekend.