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| Djugarden and a bunch of geese who were full of themselves. |
Now, originally my plan was to do a bit of shopping before
the game. Unfortunately, I never
considered the fact that you can’t go into a professional sporting event with
shopping bags, so those plans got canceled.
Instead, I decided to walk around areas of Stockholm that I hadn’t
discovered yet. This plan also
backfired, because my ankle was still awful.
It was no longer the size of a baseball – now it was a tennis ball. Still, I soldiered on and for two freaking
hours I walked around downtown Stockholm and vicinity. Among the highlights were a few randomly
placed parks, Djugarden and a very odd military clothing store called ‘Indiana
Store’. Djuagrden was interesting mostly
for the geese-looking birds who had absolutely no fear of humans. In fact, they seemed to have a sort of
contempt for people who dared wander into their path! The lone lowlight of the day was the fact
that I was walking with a severe limp, and I’m pretty sure people mistook me
for homeless. Between the limp, the hair
and the fact that I was wearing a long sleeve button-up shirt despite the
relatively high temps, I don’t blame them.
 |
| Indiana Store. Apparently Indiana is synonymous with the military! |
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| Stockholm Stadion: Home of Djugarden. |
I met up with Daniel Alund, who is spending his midseason
break in Stockholm, and we had a bite to eat before heading to the Djugarden
game. Djugarden play at a really old
stadium, but despite that it was an enjoyable place to watch a match. In the video you’ll notice the poles holding
up the roof. If they annoy you in the
video, then multiply that by 1000 and you get the feeling I had during the
game. The game itself was pretty good;
Djugarden dominated much of the match but gave up a late goal and tied
1-1. The wing play from Djugarden was
average in my opinion, but then again the oldest winger was 23-years-old so
they can be forgiven for not being the finished product. I took a video of the teams walking out for
the lineups. The stadium only holds
about 12,000 people and wasn’t full, but when the fans got singing and chanting
it was a pretty good atmosphere in there.
A little Yanks Abroad side note: One of the Djugarden players is a
winger from UVa. His name is Brian
Span. He played the entire second half
as a replacement for the starting winger who got hurt. He did ok, but didn’t see so much of the
ball. He’s been criticized before for
his defense, but from what I saw he did quite well defensively. He also would have scored had he not slipped
as he was shooting. The grounds staff put
way too much water on the field and it caused a lot of players to slip during
the match.
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For those who care, I don’t think that there is much chance
of me returning to ESK after the midseason break. I have not been offered anything, and reading
the papers it seems like the club is not intent on re-signing any of the three
players whose contracts are up this month.
They seem instead intent of getting older players on loan who can be
like “team fathers” for our younger players.
I think I’ve earned an extension, but that’s not up to me. The club has to do what it thinks is in its
best interest both financially and sportingly.
On the other hand, I’ve finally got some interest from my emails. I got nowhere emailing top league teams, so I started emailing 2nd division teams in Scandinavia and I’ve now gotten a couple of responses. Perhaps I will be starting a trial soon! Also, I’m supposed to speak with the Swedish agent any day now about potential options in Sweden. Unfortunately for me, none of my good performances in Division 1 came when scouts were watching, so it’s not easy for him to find me something. That said, one of the specific teams he and I discussed will surely be signing at least 2 attacking players next month, so I believe there’s a chance for me in Sweden still.
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| Random park in Stockholm. |
Officer: “Who are you
staying with?”
Me: “Celia Moran.”
Officer: “Where does she live?”
Me: “I have no idea.
Somewhere in the south. I was
gonna call her from the train station.”
Officer: “So you have an international phone?”
Me: “Nope.”
Officer: “Then how were you going to call her?”
Me: “I dunno.
Payphone?”
Officer gets up and leaves the room. He comes back 10 minutes later…
Officer: “So the customs agents tell me you play football,
but you currently have no club?”
Me: “Yup. I’m staying
with Celia until I get a call from my agent.”
Officer: “Oh yeah?
Who is your agent? How will he
contact you?”
Me: “Email. And his
name is Farrukh...”
*ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE*
I was in holding for another 3-and-a-half hours after that
lol. Let’s hope my next trip to London
Stansted airport isn’t so eventful.
And how could I forget, the daily meme:
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