As I posted yesterday Sandviken sold american Andrew Stadler to Superettan club Landskrona BoIS and today the local newspaper writes that they might replace him with another american named Yoni Berhanu. Apparantly he used to play together with Stadler and the clubs other american Seth Rudolph (here's his college profile) and they recommended him to the club. Berhanu is going to have to trial with the club a bit first to prove himself but it does sound in the article that it's likely that they will sign him and that the trial will be a formality.
Nice catch. He was a top player in the DC area as a youth. Here, somewhat nostalgically, is an old match report that also features Howard Turk, John Stertzer and MIA ex-YA Shaq Phillips. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/27/AR2007092702311.html
Sandviken announced today on their official website that they have signed Yoni Berhanu for the 2014 season. They also re-signed fellow american Adam Kelemet who I posted about in the Andrew Stadler thread previously.
Haha, this guy is the brother (?) of one of my friends from college; I just saw this on facebook. Awesome.
Here's an old Adam Kelemet thread we can revive... https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/adam-kelemet-in-poland.1490417/
The local paper had a big article today about the three Sandviken americans who are going to bring the club back into the third tier. The article mentions the previous success of Andrew Stadler and the club president praises american players and the way that they are easy to work with, adaptable and skilled. He compares them to african players and says that americans adapt much quicker. Sandviken apparantly has a hookup with a guy working in Boston for some football related company called GPS and through that guy they hope to bring over even more and better american players. The article also mentions that the three players share a four room apartment in central Sandviken and make $2300 per month. Kelemet mentions that this causes problems for him because he enjoys buying expensive swedish name brand jeans. Kelemet does mention at the end of the article that he is living his dream by getting to play football full time but that in the future he wants to work in marketing, preferably for Nike. Berhanu on the other hand says he wants to stay in sport and perhaps become a sports journalist. The article also notes that Seth Rudolph seems to be the most ambitious out of the three when it comes to his goal of playing at a higher level. In the article the manager also describes all three players and this is what he had to say about Berhanu: "An irrational player who can bring something that we've been missing. He can go one on one against opponents and is very good in the final third. We have used him both on the right and left of midfield."
Sandviken did not manage to return to the third tier which I guess would have to be considered a dissapointment. They also announced that Berhanu and Kelemet won't be getting contract extentions. Seth Rudolph on the other hand did get one even though his season has been plagued by injuries.