Ängelholm won 3-1 tonight in a very important game against fourth place Degerfors, this means that the club now looks very likely to end up in the top three. The first two teams are directly promoted while the third team have to play a double game against the third worst team in Allsvenskan. The club is still kind of a mystery to me, tonights match reports say that Degerfors dominated much of the game but Ängelholm managed to score on three of their four shots on target. This seems to be a common theme with Ängelholm as I've often read that the other teams claim they "should" have won but in the end Ängelholm always seem to walk away with the victory. This is also very different from the other two top teams (Åtvidaberg & GIF Sundsvall) who both play "nice" football and dominate possession. Of course this is all second hand information about their playing style since TV still haven't broadcasted a single game of theirs. This is however about to change as TV4 seems to have woken up and will show three of their games in September. I'll try to catch some of them and report back on how Pyzdrowski (and now also Lester Dewee) look. As for information on Pyzdrowski right now I can say that reports on his performances seems to have gotten more and more positive as the season have progressed and he is now being spoken of as a big success. Code: [B]Ängelholms FF 21 12 6 3 35-23 42[/B] Åtvidaberg 20 12 2 6 42-21 38 ------------------------------------------------------- GIF Sundsvall 20 10 5 5 33-18 35 ------------------------------------------------------- Degerfors IF 21 10 3 8 32-30 33 Falkenberg 20 10 2 8 31-28 32 Öster 21 8 6 7 29-20 30 Assyriska 21 9 3 9 25-28 30 Ljungskile SK 20 8 5 7 31-26 29 Brommapojkarna 21 8 4 9 30-26 28 Jönköpings Södra 20 8 3 9 31-32 27 Hammarby 20 7 6 7 22-24 27 IFK Värnamo 20 7 6 7 29-33 27 ------------------------------------------------------- IK Brage 21 6 7 8 24-34 25 Landskrona BoIS 20 6 5 9 24-31 23 ------------------------------------------------------- Västerås SK 20 4 4 12 21-41 16 Qviding 20 1 7 12 12-36 10
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDVJOHFcnn4"]Matt Pyzdrowski of Angelholm in Sweden on Jared Montz Soccer Podcast - YouTube[/ame] Longer version of the interview.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3aiq980nwQ"]Ängelholm - Landskrona BOIS 2011 Goals - YouTube[/ame] I finally got to watch Ängelholm play earlier tonight at home against Landskrona BOIS. It was a very entertaining affair which unfortunaly ended in Ängelholms fourth loss of the season even though they individually looked like the higher quality team throughout. The biggest reason for the loss was some bad defending in the first half, especially the way everyone stopped playing on the first goal because they thought the ball was out of play. The manager sourly described that sequence as "amateur football" in the post game interview. After Ängelholm went down 0-2 they started totally dominating the game but could only manage to score one goal through a nice volley shot. Landskrona did also have some dangerous counterattacks to be fair. On Pyzdrowskis individual performance I think he did alright overall. He looked calm and was strong in the air. Also a nice reflex save on a shot from inside the penalty area comes to mind. He did have some help though from his defenders as they twice had to clear the ball off the line when Pyzdrowski was beaten. With only six games left to play my overall impression is that we will be seeing two new yanks in Allsvenskan next season since I thought Ängelholm had that look about them of being a slightly higher quality that most teams promoted from Superettan have. Even with this loss the situation in the table still looks promising and the team really has to go into a total meltdown to miss out on getting at least a promotion playoff spot (third place).
Swedish football site Fotbollskanalen published an article a couple of hours ago indicating that Pyzdrowskis career might really be taking off soon as a move to Djurgården is a strong possibility for next season. The club is looking for someone new to bring stability in goal when long time keeper Pa Demo Tourray leaves at the end of the year. Worth noting is also that Pyzdrowskis previous agent now works as the head scout for Djurgården. In the article the Ängelholm manager comments: "I called Magnus Pehrsson (Djurgården manager) last winter and asked him if he knew of any goalkeepers. He told me he knew of an american who he had on trial when he was manager of GAIS. He had kept track of him after that and said that he had great strength and elasticity but he was also a little unsure about him since he hadn't played high level games continuously. We are a bit worried now that Djurgården want him. He has a release clause in his contract if an Allsvenskan (first tier) club wants him, but if Ängelholm gets promoted that clause gets canceled." Pyzdrowski also comments: "We will see what will happen. Of course everyone wants to play in the top division. I knew there was a possibility of moving up when I came here. I like it in Ängelholm, I couldn't have found a better place to get my start in Europe. I came to Sweden through a combination of my agent and Magnus Pehrsson. I trained with GAIS when he was their manager and we created a contact. It's been good for me to have him as support and he has a good relationship with my agent. He also had a relationship with the Ängelholm manager so he adviced him to sign me. My new agent is the Wasserman Media Group. I haven't personally heard anything about Djurgården but my agent has told me that there are interested clubs. I don't know which ones since I have instructed them that I don't want to know who they are until the season is over." The article also goes into a possible conflict of interest since his ex-agent now works for Djurgården and there's also a second article on that subject, but I'm leaving all that stuff out of my translations .
Well, Ängelholm won the big game yesterday between the top two teams in Superettan and advanced back up into first place. It was televised but unfortunaly I couldn't watch since the Stockholm derby was played at the same time so I can't comment on Pyzdrowskis performance. Reports seem to indicate that he played well once again though. Even with this win nothing is certain yet about the promotion, but we can at least finally limit the number of possible contenders in this always extremely uncertain and even league: Code: [B]Ängelholms FF 25 14 7 4 43-29 49[/B] Åtvidaberg 25 15 3 7 52-28 48 ------------------------------------------------------- GIF Sundsvall 25 13 7 5 47-23 46 ------------------------------------------------------- Degerfors IF 25 13 3 9 46-37 42 Öster 25 11 7 7 35-23 40 Only five games remain and next weeks tough away game against third place GIF Sundsvall might very well become the deciding factor in how the table ends up. Today there was also some extra drama added as Ängelholm announced that they are having financial difficulties and that the local municipality has gone in and helped them with a loan. This was of course met with some protests from both the fans of the other top teams and local Ängelholm residents who doesn't think politicians should help out with things like that. With this new development getting a promotion this year seem almost completely neccessary to keep the club afloat. If they don't it kind of looks like they have a choice between selling off most of their players or going bankrupt. The stakes has definately been raised for Ängelholm.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjqlq2ZwGBk"]Jönköping Södra - Ängelholm 2011 Highlights - YouTube[/ame] I'm a bit late with this update but Ängelholm played again on monday and lost very suprisingly 0-3 against bottom half team Jönköping Södra. The bad news is that the two other top teams won their games which moves Ängelholm back down to third place meaning a playoff game against the third worst team in Allsvenskan. It should also be noted that Ängelholm has a much worse goal differential then the other two promotion candidates. The good news however was that the fourth and fifth teams only managed to get draws so a top three place looks more and more likely. On Friday Ängelholm play away against GIF Sundsvall (a club Pyzdrowski had a trial with in 2009). As you can see in the table below this will have a huge impact on how the season ends. Code: Åtvidaberg 26 16 3 7 56-28 51 GIF Sundsvall 26 14 7 5 50-24 49 ------------------------------------------------------- [B]Ängelholms FF 26 14 7 5 43-32 49[/B] ------------------------------------------------------- Degerfors IF 26 13 4 9 46-37 43 Öster 26 11 8 7 35-23 41
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2seSVbMQW3k"]GIF Sundsvall - Ängelholm 2011 Highlights - YouTube[/ame] Well, this game certainly did not turn out the way Pyzdrowski had hoped. Instead it had probably the most unexpected scoreline of the year in Superettan. Everyone thought this was going to be a really tight game but instead GIF Sundsvall totally destroyed Ängelholm and took an early four goal lead after only 30 minutes played. They then slowed down and scored only two more goals in the second half, but it was still a very humiliating 0-6 loss for Ängelholm. I wonder how the team will react to a result like this, especially if Brian Edwards Degerfors win this weekend and move up only three points behind them? Code: GIF Sundsvall 27 15 7 5 56-24 52 Åtvidaberg 26 16 3 7 56-28 51 ------------------------------------------------------- [B]Ängelholms FF 27 14 7 6 43-38 49[/B] ------------------------------------------------------- Degerfors IF 26 13 4 9 46-37 43 Öster 26 11 8 7 35-23 41
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sJB762_6MU"]Ängelholm - Öster 2011 Highlights - YouTube[/ame] Todays Ängelholm game was the exact opposite of the previous one. It was really boring to watch but the team won 3-0 and had very little trouble. I was going to give a very detailed report on Pyzdrowskis performance but I think he only made one save the entire game so there's really not much to write about. This result together with the fact that Degerfors only got a draw means that Ängelholm are now close to securing a top three finish after all. There's still alot to play for during the last two rounds though as the third place promotion playoff against the third worst team from Allsvenskan will be really difficult. Historically it has usually ended up with the Allsvenskan team winning. Code: GIF Sundsvall 27 15 7 5 56-24 52 [B]Ängelholms FF 28 15 7 6 46-38 52[/B] ------------------------------------------------------- Åtvidaberg 27 16 3 8 56-30 51 ------------------------------------------------------- Degerfors IF 28 14 5 9 51-40 47
Ängelholms with a 1-1 draw with IFK Värnamo today, clinches no worse than a playoff against the 14th-place Allsvenskan team for a promotion place. Right now that looks like Syrianska FC First-place GIF Sundsvall (55 points) plays second-place Åtvidabergs FF (54) on Monday Ängelholms has 53 points heading into Saturday's finale against 13th-place Hammarby. Åtvidabergs closes against fourth-place Östers IF GIF Sundsvall plays 12th-place Jönköpings Södra IF
I watched the game and it was a pretty fair result, Värnamo ran things in the first half and then Ängelholm took over in the second. Pyzdrowski had some good saves mixed with some nearly dangerous rebounds and a little help from his post. Ängelholm will definitely be hoping that the other results go their way so that they can avoid the playoff. Personally I'd rate Syrianska as slightly stronger then all the three Superettan teams trying to get promoted. But they also play a pretty open type of football which a smart Superettan team could take advantage of.
Pyzdrowski was in goal as Ängelholm dropped their final game of the season at home to relegation battlers Hammarby 1-0. Ängelholm would have been able to move up to second and into the automatic promotion places with a win. Instead as the third place finishers they'll face the 14th place team in the Allsvenskan in a two legged promotion playoff. That team will likely be Syrianska FC unless Trelleborg FF make up 3 points and 7 goals tomorrow. Pyzdrowski played every minute of every Superettan game for Ängelholm. He kept 5 clean sheets.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1erc_Eia0mI"]Ängelholm - Hammarby 2011 Goal - YouTube[/ame] Yeah, it was a very dramatic end to the Superettan season. Because of the other results both Ängelholm and Hammarby needed to win to gain promotion/avoid relegation playoff. So the game really opened up in the second half and the teams started creating a ridiculous amount of chances but still no goals. Lester Dewee was back from injury. He came on in the second half, looked pretty lively, missed a good chance, and then got injured and was subbed off again. Pyzdrowski had an amazing performance in the second half making lots of great saves. Then finally in the 95th minute Hammarby managed to score off a corner and secured their Superettan contract for next season. The playoffs will take place on thursday and sunday next week with Ängelholm starting at home.
Big win for Pyzdrowski and Ängelholm as they take care of business at home 2-1. If they can manage a tie on the road they will win promotion.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGSHdV0nrt0"]Ängelholm - Syrianska 2011 Highlights - YouTube[/ame] Ängelholm was the better team in this match so the result was well deserved. However it might come back to haunt them as they missed an incredible amount of chances and really should have won with a bigger margin. Syrianska is also a completely different team at home where they have collected 22 points this season compared to only 6 points away. So Ängelholm will need to stay on their toes for the second game and not expect things to be as easy as tonight. Pyzdrowski had a good game again. He has a very calm and collected style, made some good saves and punched away many crosses with confidence.
It did. No promotion to Allsvenskan for Ängelholm after they lost todays second qualifier 1-3. This game was the exact opposite of the previous one with Syrianska totally dominating the play. Ängelholm were unlucky to get a man sent off at the end of the game when the scoreline was still 2-1 and going into overtime. However, my guess would be that Syrianska would still have won it in the end even if things had remained 11 vs. 11 as Ängelholm were looking really knackered. Pyzdrowski didn't have a great game and the commentators blamed him for the first two goals and I have to at least agree about the second one. Overall a very tough loss for the club who has had a great season where they surprised everyone but now instead face an uncertain future with their economic worries. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7Uq0MUK6rs"]Syrianska - Ängelholm 2011 Highlights - YouTube[/ame]
I thought he should have had the first one. But the second one? How about a defender pick up that run? The guy was all by himself. Yes, if Pyzdrowski gets off his line a second quicker, he gets to the ball first, but there was no one within 5 yards of that guy in the box. And there were TWO defenders who could have picked him up. Amazing that one of them didn't shift over to mark him.
I was at this match, and frankly you couldn't have expected Ängelholm FF to win because they generated almost no offense. Their goal came out of nowhere. The Syrianska players weren't that much more skilled, but they were better athletes. The 3rd Syrianska goal, literally at the final whistle, was one of those goals that nobody understands how they go in, they just do........
In addition to Djurgårdens IF, which we've known about for awhile there is apparently some interest or at least rumored interest from GIF Sundsvall, GAIS, IFK Norrköping, and Syrianska.
I think the most likely one out of those listed is GIF Sundsvall since their starting keeper will be out injured for at least the first half of the season. They are a newly promoted team to the first division and will likely be limited to bringing in someone from the second divison. And they know Pyzdrowski well after he spent time trialing with them a couple of summers ago (pictured below). Of course such a transfer would be risky though since the guy they bring in would likely become the second choice when the injured keeper returns.
A little competition for Pyzdrowski as Ängelholms FF are bringing in a young keeper named Hampus Nilsson on loan for the season from Helsingborgs IF.
Completely baseless speculation: Red Bulls said they are planning to sign a young American goalkeeper who plays/played in Europe. At first I thought it was Joe Bendik, but Soler said the player did not play in Norway. So I'm guessing it's Matt.