Fair point, but DIF has been a Jekyll and Hyde team this season, great at home and terrible away. Bromm. had not won a game away from home all season until the last game. If they had played a few more games like this one they might have survived. As it was they saved the best till last. DIF need to work out how to break down teams away from home like they did a couple of years ago. Tobias Hysen was a big loss for the club!
Well, the final weekend festivities got off to an early start on Saturday, as Sundsvall turned 2-0 down in the 56th minute into a 4-2, promotion clinching victory over Ljungskile. The final 3 goals in that match all came with Sundsvall a man down as well. The final relegated team out of the Superettan is Östers IF. The story of the final round, aside from that whole "who is going to win the championship?" thing? Goals, and lots of 'em. Hammarby beat GAIS 4-0, and Helsingborg put NINE into the net against Halmstad, in a 9-0 rout. So, here's how they finish, noting that Royal League qualification at this point is provisional, and contingent on the tournament actually continuing for another season. 1-IFK Göteborg- Swedish Champions, Champions League bearth, Royal League bearth. 2-Kalmar FF- Runners-up, UEFA Cup bearth, Royal League bearth, Swedish Cup Champions 3-Djurgårdens IF- UEFA Cup bearth (Kalmar had a UEFA Cup slot already, by virtue of their Swedish Cup win. With IFK Göteborg, the Cup runner-up, winning the league, they have no need for the UEFA Cup slot, so it would filter down to Djurgården), Royal League bearth 4- IF Elfsborg- Royal League bearth 5- AIK 6- Hammarby IF 7- Halmstads BK 8- Helsingborgs IF 9- Malmö FF 10- Gefle IF 11- GAIS 12- Örebro SK 13- Trelleborgs FF 14- IF Brommapojkarna- Relegated to Superettan. So, barring any unexpected events, the newly-expanded 16-team Allsvenskan looks like this for 2008: IFK Göteborg Kalmar FF Djurgårdens IF IF Elfsborg AIK Hammarby IF Halmstads BK Helsingborgs IF Malmö FF Gefle IF GAIS Örebro SK Trelleborgs FF IFK Norrköping Ljungskile SK GIF Sundsvall And the Superettan: IF Brommapojkarna BK Häcken Bunkeflo IF Åtvidabergs FF IF Sirius FK Degerfors IF Mjällby AIF Örgryte IS Landskrona BoIS Enköpings SK Jönköpings Södra Falkenbergs FF Assyriska Föreningen Väsby United Qviding FIF Ängelholms FF
The first game was a sick fluke. BP scored after 51 seconds, pretty much nothing can prepare you for that. Yesterday, the steam went out of DIF after the 2-0 to IFK Göteborg was announced. We started of really well until that and where unlucky not to score and should have been awarded a penalty as well, but with the referee being a complete ass aiming to "stand up" to the pressure of 14 000 fans, that was never going to happen. We should have still beaten BP, it was a bit of a disgrace really. But all in all an OK season, next year we'll be better. Won't congratulate IFK though, they should have been relegated because of their cheating with transfers and financials...cheating club, it's sad that it payed off.
Final attendence numbers for the big 3 matches of the round: 9,423 in Kalmar, 14,222 at Stockholms Stadion, and 41,471 at Ullevi. AIK on top of the overall attendence chart, averaging 20,465 per home match. (For the record, the bottom of the heap was Trelleborg, drawing 3,458 per) Average attendence across the board this year was 10,258, according to the SFF, that is the best number for the top level of the Swedish league structure since 1965. Now, the thing to watch in the off season? Hammarby's crowd control troubles. For the third time this season, a Hammarby home match had to be delayed due to problems with things being thrown onto the field from the stands. Yesterday's incident involved some sort of firecracker or something that went off right next to the ear of one of the assistant referees. Had the assistant not been able to continue, the match would have been abandoned. The whispers are starting in the press that the SFF, and the referees are going to put the hard sell on Hammarby to either get the crowds under control, or get out of Söderstadion. "Closed stands" is already being thrown around in Aftonbladet, so that'll be the thing to follow, since it appears that the SFF is losing paitence.
In Sweden the second placed team gets the "big silver" while the third placed gets the "small silver" with the fourth placed receiving bronze. Quite silly in my book, and I'm not counting any silvers, big or small...
Certainly an improvement on last year, with DIF finishing in 6th place. What do you think DIF need to improve on to take the title next year? Do you think there'll be much coming and going in the close season? The question is, will Quirino Da Silva be the big player next year or will DIF even manage to keep him as he seems to have ended the season in fine goal-scoring form? Who would you like to see in the team?
I definitely think Quirino can start next season in the same way he finished this one, it's all about confidence. I think we need a better left back, hopefully that is Per Johansson who signed last winter and has been on loan while finishing school. He's impressed at Norrettan club Forward as well as in the youth national sides. After that I'd like to see a real impact player in midfield and perhaps a new striker to complement Quirino. Jonson isn't getting older and Dahlberg is only suitable to certain match situations. We've already signed Rajalakso who is a very promising right winger, maybe he can provide good width and goalscoring from midfield. Overall I think the turnover of players will be fairly big, around 7-8 out and 7-8 in. The coaches still want to form "their" team after the mess Jonevret left them. The central line of Tourray, Kuivasto, Johannesson, Riihilahti, Sjölund and Jonson will stay in place of course. The aim will be to take the title once again.
Rajalakso looks a promising player but the team needs some proven quality in the team to add to what they've got there. I agree that Siggi Jonsson needs to bring in a number of players. I felt that Kusi-Asare and Dahlberg have been a bit disappointing this season. The team would have struggled without Quirino's late showing towards the end of the season. How about the signing of a Dusan Djuric kind of creative midfielder to add spark to the midfield and chances for the strikers?
Hmm... Aftonbladet has a preliminary timetable up for Allsvenskan 2008. No actual schedule, just a framework of how the league is going to work out. And, when you combine a newly-expanded league with a break for a major tournament, you get a killer open to the season, squeezing in 11 rounds of play into 6 weeks. Lots of Sunday-Wednesday-Sunday stretches for matches and the off week for each team will be where they only play one match. Here's how it all breaks down: March 30-31- Opening Weekend May 11- Round 11, last round of league play May 17-18- Final matches involving Allsvenskan teams in the Swedish Cup May 19-June 27- Break for Euro 2008 June 28-29- Allsvenskan teams back in Swedish Cup play July 2- League play resumes September 20-21- Swedish Cup Finals November 9- Final matchday in league Middle of November- Qualifiers, dates and format not yet determined. If this winds up being accurate, that is a rough, rough way to open the season.