A little light listening

The state of women's football in Sweden is this: the national team has played three games in the Algarve Cup, losing to Iceland for the first time ever, then beating Denmark and China and earning a spot in the third-place game against Japan tomorrow; Damallsvenskan 2011 kicks off in just about a month; Champion's League action kicks off next week when Linköping FC travels to play Arsenal.

As I may have remarked once or twice or three times in the last three years, Swedish teams have not fared too well in these early spring UEFA games. It's not too surprising, really. It's been a long winter, and no amount of training indoors can really prepare one for full 90-minute outdoor games; furthermore, since wintertime is the Swedish offseason, all the players who were going to change teams have done so, and the players that now comprise LFC are not the same ones that got them to the quarterfinals in the first place. LFC has lost some good players, including defender Faith Ikidi, forward Josefine Öqvist, both of its Maria Karlssons, and Jessy Sharro.

The good news is that LFC has acquired two very talented players, Lisa Klinga (from last year's surprisingly good newcomers Tyresö FF) and Australian Kathryn Gill (from last year's champions LdB FC). The two of them are interviewed in this video made by the club. When I watched I felt a sudden strong pang of empathy with Gill, who listens to the questions in Swedish, then answers in English. When one does it oneself, it doesn't seem nearly as odd as it does when other people do it.