Former Marquette U. and Portland Timbers GK Matt Pyzdrowski has apparently signed with Superettan club Ängelholm FF. His Tweet: It's official, just signed my 2-year deal with Ängelholms FF in Sweden. Thank you everyone who helped get me here. Follow your dreams! I can't find confirmation from the club, but there is mention of him being there for a trial from a week ago. Bio from Marquette
Ängelholm say today: "We have an agreement and are just awaiting final confirmation from the US. Some small details remain, he is moving from america after all. If things work out like they should he will be back with us as early as this week."
Earlier I posted summaries of Allsvenskan (first tier) odds from the bookmakers for teams with Yanks Abroad in them. I figure I'd do the same for Superettan (second tier) so people can get a vague idea what is expected from the teams this upcoming season. Code: 10) Ängelholm: 51.00 (BET365) 10) Ängelholm: 35.00 (UNIBET) 10) Ängelholm: 40.00 (NORDICBET) 11) Ängelholm: 45.00 (BETSAFE) 9) Ängelholm: 21.00 (LADBROKES)
The two largest newspapers in Sweden released their big 2011 season preview magazines today. They are generally full of poor research and bad player ratings but I still thought it would be a fun thing to post what they say about the americans. Superettan (second tier) isn't given as much space but they write a little bit about it. Unfortunaly all that was written about Pyzdrowski was one of the magazines gave him a rating.
Good result for Ängelholm yesterday as they beat Brommapojkarna 3-2 at home (a club that played in Allsvenskan last year). Pyzdrowski isn't mentioned much in the match reports which is usually a good sign for a keeper. Ängelholm is one of only three clubs with a full six points after the first two rounds.
No opportunity for Pyzdrowski to test himself against Allsvenskan teams this year as his Ängelholm lost 2-3 against third tier team LB07 in the second round of the Swedish Cup. No blame falls on Pyzdrowski though as he was rested for the next league game, but still a big suprise loss for Ängelholm who have started the season strongly.
The successful start of the season for the american keepers in the swedish second tier continued today. Pyzdrowski played the full game as Ängelholm got their third consecutive win, beating Västerås SK 2-1 away. They now move up past Brian Edwards Degerfors and into first place.
Ängelholm were unable to beat Qviding at home today in a game that ended 0-0 even though they won the shot statistics 16-3. Qviding are a team that gained promotion just before the season started due to another club going bankrupt and they are almost certain to be relegated back down again straight away. So even though Pyzdrowski got his first clean sheet and Ängelholm remain top of the table there is still probably at least some disappointment after this result. Code: [B]Ängelholms FF 4 3 1 0 9-4 10[/B] Assyriska 4 3 1 0 6-3 10 ------------------------------------------------------- Jönköpings Södra 4 2 2 0 8-3 8 ------------------------------------------------------- Degerfors IF 4 2 1 1 8-7 7 Åtvidaberg 4 2 0 2 7-3 6 GIF Sundsvall 4 2 0 2 7-5 6 Ljungskile SK 4 2 0 2 6-5 6 Hammarby 4 2 0 2 4-6 6 Öster 4 1 2 1 7-7 5 IFK Värnamo 4 1 2 1 5-6 5 Brommapojkarna 4 1 1 2 6-7 4 Landskrona BoIS 4 1 1 2 6-7 4 ------------------------------------------------------- IK Brage 4 1 1 2 5-7 4 Falkenberg 4 1 0 3 5-8 3 ------------------------------------------------------- Västerås SK 4 1 0 3 6-12 3 Qviding 4 0 2 2 1-6 2
Rough day for Pyzdrowski as Ängelholm were brought back to reality after their unbeaten season start. They had a man sent off early in the game and then proceeded to lose 0-5 against a good Åtvidaberg team (played in Allsvenskan last year).
It doesn't sound like Pyzdrowski had a very good game today when Ängelholm lost 2-4 against Jönköpings Södra. The reports indicate that his bad positioning on a free kick caused one goal and a poor rebound from him caused another.
Revenge time yesterday for Matt Pyzdrowski after letting in nine goals in the two previous games. The reports indicate that he played his best game so far this season when Ängelholm beat Degerfors 3-0 at home. He apparently had a couple of really impressive saves and they also note that he won the duel between the american keepers (against Brian Edwards in Degerfors). Ängelholm now move up into third place in the table.
i'm pretty sure that iamalfred is in sweden but here are some i found with a google search http://hd.se/sport/2011/05/19/aff-hittade-vinnarsparet-igen/ http://na.se/sporten/fotboll/2.2534/1.1211596-difs-fina-bortasvit-sprack http://direkt.karlskoga-kuriren.se/sport/matchrapport/28212595
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sXp3e2xAho"]YouTube - Falkenbergs FF - Ängelholms FF Highlights Superettan 2011‏[/ame] Ängelholm lost 0-1 yesterday away against Falkenberg. Pyzdrowski seems to have played well though as a local paper mentioned him as one of the best players of the game.
Sounds like Pyzdrowski had an easy day today when he kept his third clean sheet of the season in what was described as a very uneventful 0-0 draw against Landskrona BOIS. Unfortunaly I haven't been able to watch him play yet since TV haven't shown any Ängelholm games at all this season. The reports aren't that many or detailed either but they usually indicate that he looks stable, however as seen below he doesn't rank very high in the statistics. There might be many different reasons for that though, so it's difficult to have a clear picture of how he's performing. Code: SP GC CS Tommy Naurin GIF Sundsvall 83% 8 5 Kristoffer Nordfeldt IF Brommapojkarna 79% 8 4 Brian Edwards Degerfors IF 78% 15 3 Ivo Vazgec Jönköpings Södra IF 77% 14 1 Gerhard Andersson IK Brage 76% 12 4 Oscar Berglund Assyriska FF 75% 13 3 Mirza Selimovic Landskrona BoIS 73% 14 3 Christian Caulker Västerås SK FK 72% 13 2 Joakim Wulff Östers IF 71% 6 2 Nick Noble Ljungskile SK 71% 13 3 Henrik Gustavsson Åtvidabergs FF 71% 10 4 Bill Halvorsen IFK Värnamo 69% 4 2 Johan Hagman Qviding FIF 69% 11 2 Stojan Lukic Falkenbergs FF 65% 16 4 [B]Matthew Pyzdrowski Ängelholms FF 63% 15 3[/B] Johannes Hopf Hammarby 57% 13 2 Hampus Nilsson IFK Värnamo 57% 13 1 SP = Save Percentage GC = Goals Conceded CS = Clean Sheets
I already wrote these quotes in the two other threads for the american trialists at Ängelholm, but I think it deserves to be included here too. I previously said that it's hard to know how he's been performing. Well, apparantly the club is very happy with him. The manager commented: "We were recommended these guys from Matt Pyzdrowskis agent, and Matt has been a hit for us. But of course we want to see more from them before making any decisions. This might be more for the future, but depending on how our injuries turn out we might bring in someone new this summer." The director of sports commented: "From a strategical point of view it's about being active early on and seeing what our options are for the next season. The american market is no doubt interesting, there's alot of good finds there. Matt Pyzdrowski is a role model with his great attitude, and that's why we're looking for more americans."
Sounds like Pyzdrowski had an amazing performance today. Ängelholm were outplayed the entire game against GIF Sundsvall but managed to get the 1-1 equalizer in the 92nd minute. The paper reports that GIF Sundsvall had three whole chances where their forwards were through alone one on one with Pyzdrowski but he saved all of them.
Detailed reports from Ängelholm are a bit scarce as usual but Pyzdrowski got his fourth clean sheet of the season today against Öster. This even though Öster did score a goal only to have it very dubiously disallowed by the referee. I don't think Ängelholm will lose any sleep over that however as the team now move back up into a promotion spot.
Ängelholm got a 1-1 draw at home against IFK Värnamo. Supposedly this was a result Ängelholm should be happy with since Värnamo played better in the game. No specific mentions of Pyzdrowskis performance. However, before the game there was an interview with him in the local paper, it was mainly focused on him being religious but on the actual football-related subjects he said: "I needed some time to acclimate when I first got here. We didn't really know where we had eachother in the defence, but now we're comfortable. A top three finish is realistic for Ängelholm. In my spare time I have started training the kids from the schools here, I'm not the kind of person who slacks of alot during the days. The coaches I had when I was younger meant alot to me and now I want to give something back. I have started studying swedish and know some football and food-related words. Other then that I don't understand much, everything else sounds the same to me. Overall I have no reason to complain, I get to do the things I love."
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEvb6RSsLUg"]YouTube - Matt Pyzdrowski against Hammarby‏[/ame] Ängelholm have played two more games since my last update. First off was every small Superettan clubs game of the season, away against Hammarby. The game ended with a 1-0 win for Ängelholm which meant Pyzdrowskis fifth clean sheet of the season. Hammarby did score one goal but it was disallowed for offside. Reading about the game it sounds like Ängelholm played some really good defense and Pyzdrowski wasn't put under too much pressure. The official Hammarby match report described Matt as "lively". The second game was a 1-1 draw against Ljungskile where Ängelholm performed much worse. The report say that Ljungskile backed home and played counterattack which caused alot of trouble for Ängelholm. The Ljungskile goal was apparantly unsaveable for Pyzdrowski as it went in off the post. After this game Ängelholm remain in second place of the very even Superettan league where the majority of teams still have a good chance of promotion with half the season remaining.