Let’s start this thread off on a cheerful note, shall we? Happy Vernal Equinox to everyone! Spring and the start of football season cannot be far behind, because of Scientific Principles. never mind the 15cm of fresh snow covering the pitch at Studenternas.
Right. Now that that’s done with, on to serious matters: Tyresö is still in financial trouble, and there will be a some sort of statement about What Is To Be Done in a couple of hours. If they have to drop out of the league, local team Sirius (who finished 3rd in the second league last year) will take their place. If that happens, I can only imagine that local player Sarah Storck, who suffered through Bälinge 08, and who has had a rough time of it since (first badly injured with LdB, then back to Uppsala to help Sirius with its goal of reaching the top league in 2014), and who has since left the team for AIK... where was I... oh yes, if suddenly Sirius is hurtled into the limelight, Sarah Storck (and several other people as well!) may have some mixed feelings about Football and Life in general. Interestingly, some sort of deal has been reached with the University so that all active students can go to matches free, for both the women’s and men’s sides. Wonder if that would still obtain, if suddenly SiriusDam were in the top league instead of the second. Well, let’s hope that we don’t find out. I’d much rather Tyresö stay active than to be able to suddenly go to matches for free, just to see Sirius get their butts kicked week in, week out. It would be all too familiar.
The Cider Girls (aka Kopparberg/Göteborg) show off their kits for this year. As usual, home color is black. Away color? I am not aware of an intensifier in the English language that is strong enough to express how very P I N K the away jersey is.
Continuing with Kopparbergs, they just signed American midfielder Sade Ayinde on a short term (3 months) with the possibility of extension. --- after edit ---- Saw that somebody already mentioned it in the Yanks abroad thread..
Not liking the neck at all. And the fact that I mention the neck rather than the P I N K tends to suggest that I really don't like the neck. It's a multifunction training top, not part of a football kit. *grumble grumble*
Completely agree about the neck line...though it didn't seem so awful when they played against Vittsjö just now, and I do believe it were the new kits they played in. But I guess they had another kind of jersey under the shirts, cause the neckline didn't look as deep/ugly as they do in the photos with "Katten" and Lieke. I won't bother saying anything about the color pink and women...
Reminds me of the atrocity that Puma designed for WPS first season. Why can't people just design a straight top and stop trying to be cute with the neck line
It's not a new business model for the clothing company, at least: they kit out the young, trendy side of the Swedish ski team. Read this and chortle. The quote from 1998 is particularly laughable. That square-necked horror? Oh well, at least Göteborg's version didn't come with a skort.
Perhaps it has to do with the brand Tenson. Never heard or seen that they actually make jerseys for football/soccer players. They could have gone and chosen another brand. Doesn't have to be one of the big ones (Adidas, Nike, Puma and Umbro). They had UhlSport last, they could have gone in directions like Kappa, Joma or any of the kind. I doubt it has anything to do with financial concerns, so why choose such an obscure brand? At least for soccer jerseys..?
The italian Pamela Conti to Eskilkstuna United: http://www.mondopallone.it/2014/03/27/pamela-conti-dalla-torres-alla-svezia/
Do read that and chortle, by all means. Actually, go through the whole slide show, which is short, and includes such things as half-naked Swedish hippies cavorting about on beaches in the 70s. The text afterwards though is pretty long, and someone who didn't manage to read all the way to the bottom might have missed this gem... "[Founder] Paul [Rydholm] described his intended ’Nature Man’ like this: ”Tenson-Man – skis, hunts and fishes, wanders in the forest with his pipe in his mouth. Smells good, little kid, a little tuna fish, a little gunpowder. Can’t live without his jacket. Sleeps in it if he can. One of those half-tall things with a thousand pockets to keep stuff in. That’s what Tenson-Man likes, the guy with a pure heart and gunpowder in his moustache. The kind of guy every girl wants to roll meatballs and fold the bedclothes for.” ... this Pearl, which I will just drop into a Bucket of Evidence that all of constructed masculinity is just a way to get out of doing chores.
I would debate this, but there's a woman in the bedroom putting fresh bedclothes on for me at the moment. However, I do suggest that we set fire to the gunpowder in Tenson-Man's moustache.
So you're suggesting that one doesn't have to have all the listed Tenson Nature Man qualities in order to get out of chores. Phew, that's a relief. Anyway, any man whose mustache smells of gunpowder is either very confused about what gunpowder is used for, or he's from Missouri, where gunpowder is everyone's top-secret chili ingredient. Too bad K/Göteborg already has 'Cidergirls' for a decent nickname, or we could come up with something Tenson-based and amusing. Must check into whether some other team has Tenson as jersey maker.
So it was only a matter of time, but it's now official: Tyresö will not be renewing Marta's or Seger's contracts. They are free to go as of May/June, i.e. before the end of the season - though after a potential Champions League final. The club states that this early release is to facilitate a possible transition to the US. Boquete has already signed for Portland and will be joining the team when Tyresö's Champions League adventure is over. The drama of it all.
Well should Birmingham beat Tyreso, they could be released even earlier... I am kidding, there are 90% chances of Tyreso reaching the Champions League final
I wish Marta's agent Marta would just take a pay cut and go to Germany instead. Nothing beats the drama going on upstairs, though. Boy, is it going to get worse. hehe
Give us a hint, won't you, before tempting us to wander up there? Surely it's not about Germany or Frauenbundesliga, whose Drama Threads are down here. Is your drama to be found in one of the French threads, which seem to be a continual parade of make-up and fingernails and eye-scratching punctuated by the occasional well-placed Gallic shrug? Or is it in one of the Team/League USA threads, where there are fascinating debates like "A team of American pony-tailed players who turned 25 before 2003 VS a team of non-ponytailed internationals were vegetarians before 2007, discuss" and "Alex Press, is she or isn't she [fill in your own personal hobby horse]?"?
Righty-ho, league play starts tomorrow at last! Here are the teams for Damallsvenskan 2014, in alphabetical order, with links to their own sites for handy reference: AIK FF (overly busy, confusing) Eskilstuna United DFF (nice up top, a little busy at the bottom) FC Rosengård (simple, boring) Jitex Mölndal BK (purple, very purple) KIF Örebro DFF (love the ball with angel wings, very twee) Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC (funny with 'official' team picture, here) Kristianstads DFF (simple, easily navigated) Linköpings FC (overly busy, confusing) Piteå IF (simple, easily navigated) Tyresö FF (still decent, guess they're still paying the webmaster) Umeå IK FF (ooo, new design finally, and decent) Vittsjö GIK (simple, easily navigated) FC Rosengård used to be LdB Malmö (used to be Malmö DFF); Jitex has added the town name of Mölndal by request of sponsors. Newly-promoteds are Eskilstuna United (for the first time ever) and AIK (who go up and down). Eskilstuna United are aiming for the middle of the table and they also win the 'hardest to pronounce properly' award (at least for those of us who are now somewhat used to Kristianstad). AIK, tapped by some for quick relegation back to the second tier, declines however to lay down and die. General consensus is that FC Rosengård will win the season easily. Tyresö, who might have challenged them, will of course lose several key players half-way through the season and is thought by at least one expert to be relegation bound, although another expert at the same site thinks they'll finish third. Linköping is seen as a solid second, possibly the only ones who can challenge Rosengård. As usual, the easiest place to find the latest news is at dagensdamallsvenskan. And no list of news links would be complete without the grandmammy, damfotboll. And here's the FA's site, best avoided until they stop being such schmucks.
Eating words, sort of: I said to avoid SvFF's homepage mostly out of spite, but I have to admit that their new matchtracker is faster and easier to use and navigate than it ever has been before. SvFF are still schmucks as far as I know. But at least Therese Sjögran is getting in her digs, just a little bit. She's doing a radio ad for a used car dealership, in which she says that of course you all know who has the most caps, and if you buy a car before the end of May you will be entered in a contest to win a bike autographed by her.
Round 1: Some early surprises 13/4 AIK - FC Rosengård 0-4 0-1 Anja Mittag (’10), 0-2 Sarah Mellouk (’34), 0-3 Ramona Bachmann (’81), 0-4 Kathleen Radtke (’88) – Publik: 466 13/4 Vittsjö GIK – Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC 0-5 0-1 Manon Melis (’24), 0-2 Melis (’45 +1), 0-3 Melis (’50), 0-4 Sara Lindén (’59), 0-5 Annica Sjölund (’88) - Publik: 485 13/4 Piteå IF – Linköpings FC 1-0 1-0 Pauline Hammarlund (’48) – Publik: 1049 13/4 Jitex BK – Umeå IK 0-1 0-1 Hanna Sandström (’81) – Publik: 423 13/4 Kristianstads DFF – Tyresö FF 2-0 1-0 Marija Banušić (’1), 2-0 Olivia Welin (’79) - Publik: 858 14/4 Eskilstuna United – KIF Örebro 2-0 1-0 Kim Arodin (’78), 2-0 Felicia Karlsson (’87) – Publik: 1853 Eskilstuna United wins big in front of a big home crowd, which is a nice way to start one's run in Damallsvenskan. A deflated and demoralized Tyresö loses on the road, somewhat surprising but Kristianstad has proven to be no patsy over the last few seasons. Piteå – as often, fierce at home and with a surprisingly large attendance number. FC Rosengård has no trouble with AIK, and one of their goalscorers, Sarah Mellouk, is 15 years old. They've actually already started Round 2 as well against Vittsjö, in which they also scored a large number of goals. Actually it was a pretty good round for other young 'uns as well, with several of the under-20 crowd scoring (Marija Banusic, 18 år, Kristianstad; Olivia Welin, 17 år, Kristianstad; Hanna Sandström, 18 år, Umeå IK).
Less demoralized than that the lacked all threee of their key trio (Marta,Vero,Seger) and a jetlagged Press(the 4th most important Tyresö player) played only 15-20 min at the end. What we saw was a demo of the post-WCL Tyresö
Yes, very true, good point; this is the Tyresö that will play the back half of the season. Though I think they are demoralized as well, based on various interviews that I'm too depressed to link to. Or at least, the big names who get interviewed, who were not on the field.
Round 2, part 1: FC Rosengård romps on The number of games played is going to be out whack for quite a while, so I'll just get these results up quick before the 3rd round kicks off with FC Rosengård hosting KIF Örebro in about 5 minutes, while Tyresö and Eskilstuna United kick off their 2nd round game against each other in about 20. Catch ya on the flip side of those. 16/4 FC Rosengård – Vittsjö GIK 7-1 1-0 Anja Mittag (’19), 2-0 Ali Riley (’26), 3-0 Sara Björk Gunnarsdottir (’63), 3-1 Johanna Ejdelind (’72), 4-1 Ramona Bachmann (’81), 5-1 Bachmann (’83), 6-1 Nathalie Persson (’90), 7-1 Sarah Mellouk (’90+3) – Publik: 683 18/4 KIF Örebro – Jitex Mölndal BK 2-0 22/4 Umeå IK - Piteå IF 0-0 22/4 Linköpings FC – AIK 4-0 22/4 Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC – Kristianstads DFF 3-1