19 april 2011, Malmö IP
Some more pictures
After last week's showing from Hammarby, I was a little afraid that this game might be a rout; happily, it was not, and it was more entertaining than the final scoreline might suggest. It didn't start so well for Hammarby, as LdB earned themselves a corner kick within the first ten seconds of the match. But Hammarby stiffened up in defense, and their goal came from a direct counter-attack. Mami Yamaguchi took a hard shot that LdB's keeper could not hold onto, and the rebound came to forward Lina Larsson, who was standing by for just this sort of chance. Her shot was painfully weak, however, and one of the two LdB players who came streaking back nearly managed to clear it before it crossed the line. 0-1 to Hammarby, and the small cheering section of Skånebajarna start up a chant that I hear at Kanalplan.
Hammarby were clearly encouraged, and played the rest of the half looking competent and confident, while LdB looked a rattled. At nearly the half-hour mark, Hammarby's Leena Puranen got picked up and dumped on the ground by LdB's Lina Nilsson; Puranen then took out her frustration by swiping the feet out from under LdB's Frida Nordin, who fell with a shriek that the microphones picked up. LdB's enforcer, Nilla Fisher, rushed over to the scene, and knocked Puranen over with a push from behind. The whistle blew and I thought for sure that Fisher would at least get a yellow, but apparently the play had already been stopped. A minute later, at the other end of the field, Fisher knocked Yamaguchi to the ground. These two players, as defensive center midfielder and offensive center midfielder respectively, were clashing all day; as a result of what we might charitably call a slight size mismatch, these clashes often ended up with Yamaguchi on the ground. 
At halftime I chuckled, thinking that LdB was probably going to be in for a real tongue-lashing in the locker room; a damfotboll report of the match says that their coach, a half-hour into the game, was heard shouting "vakna nu för helvete" at his team. What exactly was said remains a mystery, but LdB came out for the second half looking determined and fast. Through a combination of nice play on their part and some bad luck in Hammarby's defense, LdB's Sara Björk Gunnarsdottir scored before four minutes of the second half have passed; she added a second goal, a much cleaner and well-struck one-touch full-volley, only five minutes after that. 2-1 and LdB never really looked like losing after that—Hammarby keeper Minna Meriluoto made a very nice save of a real daisy-cutter from LdB's Nilsson in the 57th, and Hammarby captain Matilda Agné was forced to clear a ball right off the line in the 78th. Hammarby very nearly pulled themselves up to a 2-2, when Helen Nottebrock sent a great long-distance cannonball at LdB's goal, but it bounced off the upper post. In the 91st Hammarby were clearly cheated out of a corner kick; in the 93rd, Gunnarsdottir completed her hat-trick and the game ended a minute later at 3-1. Not bad, though, for Hammarby, considering that LdB are last year's champions, and I hope that Hammarby can carry forward some confidence from this game into their next, an away stand against Dalsjöfors.Highlights:
A tale of two Damallsvenskan debutantes (source): Hammarby's goalscorer Lina Larsson hails from Malmö, but relocated to Stockholm and played for Tyresö FF in the second division, under then-TFF now-HIF coach Tino Katsoulakis, who this year convinced her to play for his new team. A small group from her old club Husle IF was on hand to cheer for her, in her first season in Damallsvenskan. It was especially nice for her therefore to score a goal, her first one at this level, and at the advanced age of 30, no less. LdB's Icelandic forward Sara Björk Gunnarsdottir also made her Damallsvenskan debut last week in Round 1, playing in only the first half against KIF Örebro. I can only imagine that her hat-trick-in-the-second-half performance in her home opener will mean that she'll get as many full games in the future as she likes.
Must-see TV: According to the current schedule, TV4Sport will be showing at least one Damallsvenskan game per week up until the World Cup break in June, mostly on Tuesdays. It's nice to know so far in advance what I will be doing for two months worth of Tuesdays...
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment