Matchday 2

Hey hey hey!

Yesterday was my first game of the season.  I got the start and played the full 90, so I was pretty pleased with my fitness.  However, there weren’t many more positives for me to take from the match.  We lost 2-0 and really were never very dangerous.  I can count on one hand our chances to score.

The game was against a team called IF Sirius.  They were tied in points for a promotion place last year from division 1 to Superettan, but didn’t get it because of goal difference.  Needless to say they were a pretty good team.  As always, I’m not going too deep into the match because that’s not necessary but I will make a few observations. 

We played the match tactically in a way you would expect against a strong opponent on the road.  Rather than constantly high pressure, we sat a bit lower than normal and only pressed if the opportunity presented itself.  I think that’s how we should always defend, but that’s neither here nor there.  We were looking to find the spaces in behind, specifically to me and the striker.  We thought before the match that Sirius’ left back would be marauding forward the whole game, leaving the space he vacated for me to attack on the counter, but he mostly stayed home.  I know that Sirius scouted us in our preseason match against Vasby and maybe they anticipated that we would look for me with passes behind their backline.  Or maybe the left back simply didn’t feel like running.  The result of our tactics though was that Sirius had a large chunk of possession, but mostly in the middle and back thirds.  Our possessions were short and direct which actually led to one or two decent chances in the first half, but took a lot of energy to create.  The second half was a bit different as Sirius essentially adopted the same tactics as us, leading to both teams having a fair bit of possession in safe areas, but no one really threatening goal.  I almost got in on a pass at around the 70 minute mark, but the goalie beat me to it and again around 85 minutes, which led to nothing when I chose to slide a cross on the ground when I maybe had a good enough angle to shoot.  We had a few good shots from outside the 18, but the goalie made a couple fantastic saves.  That was the game.

Our tactics have affected me in a unique way within the team.  Even without knowing Swedish, it was made quite clear to me (in Swedish and English) that Siggi wanted to get me and Joel in behind the defense.  We wanted to get the ball there and get it there as soon as possible.  This is great for me; I’m fit and all too happy to be a focal point of our offense.  You could even say I’m honored at the faith put in my abilities.  Unfortunately, it’s not really the style of the rest of the players on the team.  From the first day I arrived here I noticed that the technical skill of individual players is very good.  That’s because the roster is filled with guys who like to play a short passing game, even to a fault.  I’ve already spent 2-3 games cursing my teammates for trying to be too cute when just booting it to me would actually work.  It reminds me a lot of my early days at the University of South Florida when I would wonder aloud why no one would make the easy pass.  I’m interested to see how these competing dynamics resolve themselves this year.  Will the players adjust?  Will Siggi change the tactics to what is probably more popular with the players, but less likely to be effective?  Either way I just hope that I can help out and really use my skills to win some games for ESK.

Aside from the match I was impressed with the city of Uppsala (pronounced: Oops-suh-la), where Sirius play.  Uppsala is a city in and of itself, but it’s also kind of a northern suburb of Stockholm.  From what I understand it’s kind of a place for people to live who work in Stockholm but don’t want to live in Stockholm.  The city also has a big college, so that will always boost population figures.  I didn’t see much of the city, but I saw enough to know that I will visit sometime this summer.

That’s all for now.  Another week of training is coming up then we go off to play Vasby United.  They, along with Sirius were the preseason betting favorites to be promoted.  I guess we’re running the gauntlet!  I think we can win the game though so there’s reason to be hopeful!

Hat Trick Hero!

Hey guys.  Just noting that yesterday would have been my 2^nd payday at Haka.  $2300 ($4600 total) down the drain.  Awesome.  Today we played a match against a club called Silkejbo or something like that.  They are in division 2, which is one league below ESK.  We won the game 7-0 and I scored three goals.

That's me being excited about my hat trick by the way.  It's not some random naked homeless person.  I have pants on so everyone just calm down.  It's 11:50pm and I don't wear shirts at those kinds of hours.  Back to the post.

That’s right, everyone’s favorite Swedish lower-divison player scored a hat trick!  It was a left-foot, right-foot, header hat trick as well.  I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever done that before.

Anyway, as good as the match turned out for me, it didn’t start well.  I wasn’t in the first XI and only came on when the right back got injured.  We put me in as a winger and moved one of the wingers already on the field to right back.  That was right around the 35 minute mark.  At the time the score was 0-0 and ESK hadn’t had any chances.  The first thing I did was carry the ball past the outside back and cut back a pass that was cleared for a deep throw-in.  We scored immediately from the throw-in to lead 1-0.  I scored the second goal from a header a few minutes later and we went into halftime 2-0 up.  The picture is from another game but you get the idea.

The second half was a slaughter.  I won’t go through the goals, but long story short I scored two more and assisted another in rout to the big win.  I hope that I have given the coach a lot to think about as to who will start in two weeks in the season opener.  Today was our last training match so there’s no more time other than training to prove that you’re worth a starting spot.

After the match everyone was very supportive.  All the players and coaches knew that not scoring was weighing on me a bit.  My terrible miss in Turkey had kept me up at night wondering if all the players on the team were talking amongst themselves about how much I suck when I’m not around.  It was really nice to see the reception I received when I scored my first goal.  It was a team genuinely happy for me to score.  The celebration wasn’t like it would be in a league or cup game, but definitely more than the other “celebrations” from the match.  Every player made the effort to come personally congratulate me for the goal and that was a big deal to me.  Not that I absolutely needed the pat on the back, but to show that the team was pulling for me to score.  To me, that means that they see value in me and believe that I may just be the thing they need to be the best team possible.  Back to the point though after the match Siggy (the head coach) personally congratulated me for the hat trick.  That felt good because he’s the decision maker and his opinion of my play is more important than anyone at the moment.

After the match I stayed at the stadium for about 80 minutes to wash and dry my clothes.  I hadn’t properly done my laundry since I arrived in Europe.  I had been able to throw things like underwear and socks in the wash with training gear at various clubs, but the shirts and shorts were being washed for the first time in two months.  Everything is super fresh now!  Once that was done, I made my way over to the townhouse rented by Robert, Daniel and Fabian, something that has become a bit of a daily occurrence over the past week.  To my surprise, when I opened the door the only person I saw was Siggy!  He was just lounging in their living room watching an Allsvenskan match.  This wasn’t just any match though, it was Elfsborg vs. Djugarden.  Siggy coached Djugarden in 2007 and 2008 and some of the squad are still his players, so he took a special interest in the match.  Djugarden lost, but Siggy’s mood was still good because of the resounding win earlier in the day.  In fact, Siggy was in such a good mood that he made me a deal.  He told me he would buy me dinner.  In fact his quote was (and this isn’t kid-friendly) “Every hat trick gets you a dinner.  Two goals gets you lunch, and one goal gets you fuck-all!”  Siggy gets his English curse words from England.  He played there for many years.  In fact he spent three seasons at Arsenal (yeah, that Arsenal) and they paid 400-something thousand pounds for him.  That was in the late 80’s so he must have been a big time player.

Anyway we went to a thai food place which was very good.  Then an hour later we went to another restaurant for a few drinks.  Only Fabian had a beer though so it was kind of pointless to go there.  I’ve noticed that Swedes love to linger places.  In Turkey, all the guys would stay in the cafeteria for an hour for each meal.  I typically was in there for 15 minutes.  The same was true at the restaurants tonight.  Between the thai place and the second restaurant we were out for three hours.  It was good though, I got to know Siggy a bit more and I enjoy the company of Fabian and Daniel.

I’m home now and I’ll be going to bed soon.  Today was a good day, but I need to do some work to be a starter.  There’s better places than Enkoping where I could sit on a bench.  I’m here for the opportunity, but it will only come if I’m playing so I need to get firmly in the XI.  Siggy suggested today to me that I should work a bit on my fitness and told me to go for a 10km run tomorrow.  They call that a mile, so it was funny when Siggy said, “go on a long run tomorrow, like maybe a mile.”  I had to clarify that he didn’t mean 1600m but 10,000m.  Big difference.  So tomorrow I will do that then head over to Daniel and Fabian’s place to watch AIK vs. Mjalby.  AIK is one of the favorites to win the league and play some of the best soccer in Sweden so I look forward to watching the match.  It should be fun!  Til next time guys!

My First Match in Sweden

Thank God I am in Sweden.  Finland was okay, but Sweden is a country in which I feel at home.  For those who don’t know, Sweden is a bit more populated than Finland.  In addition, the teams in Sweden seem to be in larger cities/towns than in Finland.  For instance, Stockholm has roughly 10 teams in the metropolitan area in the 1^st-3^rd divisions.  Helsinki has three teams over the same range of leagues.  Even Enkoping has 40,000 people.  That’s double the number of people in Valkeakoski or Jakobstad and even more than double the number of people in Myllykoski, all cities of Veikkausliiga teams.  Of course being American I’m used to living in big cities.  The smallest place I’ve ever lived was Harrisburg, PA and that city had over 100,000 people.  So it’s nice to be in a place like Enkoping and also to be so close (50 miles) to Stockholm.

Yesterday me and my new team (Enkoping SK, or ESK) played Sala FF, a team in the sixth division of Swedish soccer (division 4).  Since ESK is third division and yesterday was a good training, I expected the game to pretty much be a walk in the park.  I started as the right winger in a 4-2-3-1 formation, and for the first 30 minutes everything was going exactly how I expected.  We were all over them and had scored two goals and it was only a matter of time before we got the third.  The first goal was created entirely by me.  I intercepted a loose pass at midfield and ran on the counter at the two center backs and left back.  Our striker ran into the space left by the other team’s right back who was behind the play and I played him a pass which he controlled and fired into the net with the next touch.  1-0 to the good guys.  The second goal came off a deflection, but it was well deserved.  However, after 30 minutes things changed.  We made 8 subs and the only players who stayed on the field were the goalkeeper, the striker and myself.  Within a minute of the subs, the other team’s striker got on a breakaway because of a terrible offside trap and our center back had no choice but to take the striker down.  He got a red card and Sala FF got a penalty kick, which they scored.  Ten minutes later they scored a header off of a set play.  We went into halftime 2-2.

In the second half I played 15 minutes as the striker.  It was pretty uneventful.  I barely saw the ball since the team refused to play through the middle at all.  I was frustrated, but the center midfielder playing underneath me was furious.  He was screaming at his teammates to give me and him the ball.  It was actually pretty funny.  I came off after 60 minutes and the rest of the game was pretty uneventful.  It ended 2-2.

Overall I was pretty happy with my play.  I was the best of the wingers in the game and I feel like I impressed.  The head coach didn’t say a word during the second half, but in the first half he seemed pleased.  The assistant did most of the talking and he was very happy with me.  He didn’t have a negative word to say to me, which was very different from what he had to say to most of the rest of the players.  I don’t speak Swedish, but his tone toward the other guys was clearly a negative one.

Tomorrow we play AIK, the 2^nd place finishers in Allsvenskan last year.  I think that ESK is a good team, but we’ll see how we match up against a superior team.  I see this as an opportunity to impress and hopefully get some buzz around me.  If I play well tonight, there will be more than a few teams who will know my name going into this season (assuming I get a contract).  In a perfect world I would do well enough tomorrow night to get signed directly to AIK or another of the Allsvenskan or Superettan clubs in Stockholm who will surely have eyes on the match. Wish me luck!

MLS First Kick and My New Audition

Finally I have lots to talk about.  Get comfy cuz this is going to take awhile…

First, I finally have a new trial.  It’s with Enkoping in the Swedish first division (3^rd tier).  The club is about 50 miles west of Stockholm’s center, so it’s not far from a big city which is a big plus for me.  I will arrive on Monday and train and then the club’s website shows two matches on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I figure I will play in at least one of those.  The one on Wednesday is against AIK Stockholm, one of the biggest clubs in Sweden.  They play in a 36,000 seat stadium, though I doubt the match will be in it.  Even still, Swedish clubs in Allsvenskan get huge preseason attendances and I wouldn’t be surprised if 10,000 people showed up to the match.  It will be a great opportunity for me if I play that game.  Also, Enkoping wears green and white just like USF so the universe seems to be sending me signs that this will be a good club for me.  I’m just really anxious to get out of Finland and start fresh somewhere else.  If you would have asked me on February 1 if I’d be happy in the third tier of Sweden I’d have said no, but now I could want nothing more.  I just need a contract and a team where I can be an important player.  Enkoping promises to be both.  Btw, Enkoping has the two little “dots” over the “o” so if you look up the club it might not direct you straight to where you need to go.  But trust me, everything I’ve said up to this point has been correct.

Second, today is March 10 which means it’s First Kick in MLS!  I have a lot of friends playing in MLS these days and even more who are floating around in no man’s land and are with MLS teams but not yet actually on the roster.  And speaking of MLS, because I know you care about my opinion, I will give my two cents.

MLS has been brilliantly run.  Commissioner Don Garber deserves a holiday among soccer fans in America.  It’s a different story from the players’ point of view, especially players who gave everything to MLS and are now retired, but overall the league has done wonders for all involved.  When I started playing soccer, there was no MLS.  When I started high school the only hope of going pro before college in the US was a Project 40 contract that paid $40,000 a year and gave you tuition money if and when you eventually went to college.  Now, in a neverending maze of new rules and bending of current rules, MLS has mechanisms in place for 15-year-olds to train alongside pros and as soon as a player is ready he’s plucked up by a team and paid handsomely.  Project 40’s replacement, Generation Adidas, has college kids now coming out making $200k a year.  Somewhere between 2006-2010, for the first time in US Soccer history it made more sense for the best college players in America to choose MLS rather than Europe or South America.  Think about that.  The league only just began in 1996 and already we’re paying young stars far more than they would receive in all but the 10 biggest leagues in Europe.  I don’t know how Brazil and Argentina pay, but I would bet Steve Zakuani wouldn’t do too much better financially by playing for Flamengo in Brazil than he is here.  The only players you hear leaving for Europe now are the big players getting sold, teenagers going to top 6 leagues and scrubs like myself trying to find a better life in Scandinavia than we had in USL.  The product on the field is much better.  I can say having watched both leagues live that MLS is a stronger league than Allsvenskan, the top Swedish league.  If I had to rate MLS generally in the world regarding quality on the field, I would say somewhere between 10-15.  I would guess it is somewhere with Belgium, Denmark, Argentina and maybe Japan.  But that is just the on-field product.  Off the field is where MLS is really remarkable.

In just its 17^th season (and with most teams less than 10- or even five-years-old), MLS is easily one of the ten most marketable leagues in the world.  The leagues that share a similar level (Belgium, Denmark, Argentina, Japan) don’t have nearly the consistency of an MLS in terms of attendance figures and marketing power.  Of course, in Argentina and Japan there are clubs that dwarf the popularity of any MLS club.  But those leagues can’t compare top to bottom with MLS.  The lower end of the Danish league averages 2000-3000 people.  The league averages in Denmark and Belgium are both around 10,000.  Only financially reckless spending by the clubs in those leagues allow them to have similar levels of play as MLS.  If MLS decided to let its teams spend as recklessly as European and Asian clubs do, then MLS could be a league on par with Portugal and France tomorrow.  NYRB and LA Galaxy could build Champions League-quality teams overnight and still show a profit at the end of the day.  Unfortunately, that would also mean the end of a lot of franchises as well.  MLS has been run very well though by Don Garber.  If LA and NY had been allowed to spend recklessly, then the new stadiums going up in Houston and San Jose and one recently built in Kansas City would not exist because all three of those clubs would have folded by now.  So good for Garber.  Sure, I wasn’t happy that if I had been offered a contract by the Colorado Rapids after I was drafted that it would have been for $12,900 a year, but no other team to this day has offered more (Haka did, but then took it back), so maybe the league wasn’t ruining those players’ lives the way everyone, myself included, claimed.

Enjoy MLS opening day and wish me luck.  I’m headed west!