Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Meet ESK! Part 1


Hey everyone.  I don’t have too much to say so I decided to do a little write up about the players at ESK.  I’ve mentioned many of them before, but I thought it would be good to have a place to reference in case you don’t remember who is who.  First a little bit on our next game though.

I don’t think that I will be starting on Saturday.  We played 11v11 yesterday in training and I was on the 2nd team.  I did score and assist though, and we won 3-0 so maybe there will be changes.  I don’t think so though.  I just hope I get in the game if I don’t start and have a chance to help get us our first points.  Also we’ve made a bit of a tactical shift that we will implement in the next match.  I don’t want to give anything away on the off chance that our opponents come across this blog.  Besides, the change was only explained to the first team prior to the scrimmage, so I don’t exactly know what it is!  Once I figure out what the changes are I’ll be sure to fill you in.  It’s kind of like last game, where I didn’t find out that we were playing 4-5-1 until I read  Per Ake’s (our assistant coach.  I guess I should do a write up on the coaches as well) quote in the newspaper the next day.  I guess some things get lost in translation.

Anyway, without much ado:  Meet ESK.  I’ll start with just the goalies and defenders.  Middies and forwards will come next time!  PIcs are from www.esk.nu, not me.  I don't think I'll be getting sued over using them, but figured I should give credit where it's due.

Goalies:

Gustaf Persson (1993) – He was our number 1, but has gone to the bench recently.  Gustaf is one of our really young players.  He’s a 1993 which means he’s either 18 or 19.  I don’t really see him ever outside of soccer, but his locker is next to mine so we talk from time to time.  He’s still in high school as well, so he has to do that before training.  But, as he told me, “I don’t like that place [high school] so much,” so he never goes.

Markus Hedstrom (1986) – At the moment he is our #1.  I literally know nothing about Markus other than he’s one of the only players on the team old enough to grow facial hair and that he looks like Albert Einstein.

Defenders:

Philip Zamayeri (1990) – Right back.  Philip is a jokester and has fun.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen him yell at anyone or get angry.  When I met him, the first thing he asked me was if I would be offended/annoyed by his constant joking.  I told him no and he’s been cracking jokes ever since.

Adem Kucukgol (1989) – Right Back.  Adem is what you would call the team clown.  I mean that in the most complimentary, least condescending way.  He’s our 3rd choice right back, something akin to being a backup punter.  Despite the prospect of maybe never playing, he keeps a borderline wacky demeanor and is a favorite amongst the players.  Adem has previously played at higher levels with Hammarby and a few other clubs I don’t know.  He was actually at Hammarby at the same time as Charlie Davies.  The last thing about Adem is that he drives 100km each way to training every day.  I think that’s crazy.

Robert Kjellman (1992) – Center Back.  Robert is one of the people I spend the most time with outside of training.  That’s in part because only about half the team even lives in Enkoping.  Like I’ve mentioned before, Robert loves to play the guitar and sing.  We tease him a bit about it, but it’s a pretty good talent to be able to play guitar.  He has a younger brother who plays for the Atletico Madrid reserve team.  Robert is a good guy and one of my closest friends on the team.

Heradi Simba (1988) – Center back.  I don’t have much to say about Heradi.  He’s one of the only other black guys on the team, but other than that I don’t know anything notable about him.  He lives in Balsta, which is about halfway from Enkoping to Stockholm.  He also has a brother on the team, Mtaka.

Dillon Ismail (1992) – Center back.  Another guy whose background I know nothing about.  I know he used to play at Sirius, a club near the top of the table of our league.  I don’t even know where he lives, but I know it’s not Enkoping.  If I learn more about him maybe I’ll update this, for the for the sake of this blog that’s not necessary at the moment.

Kevin Sharro (1994) – Left Back.  Kevin is another one of the babies in our team.  He’s in a similar position to Adem in terms of playing opportunities, but at his young age that’s not really a huge concern.  When I was Kevin’s age I was 4 years away from my first professional game.  He’s also a neighbor of mine in the locker room.  Between him and Gustaf I feel like Father Time!

Micael Tuhkanen (1990) – Left back.  Mica is kind of a strange character.  He’s a really nice person, but I’ve only heard him talk like two or three times ever.  He comes off as a bit of a loner.  I think he just is not much of a talker, which betrays the fact that he’s actually really easy to get along with.  He lives in Enkoping, but I get the feeling that if I saw him walking in town he wouldn’t even acknowledge me.  Don’t expect to hear too much about him in this blog.

There you have it, the back side of our team.  The important players will come in the next post!  (I kid, I kid…defenders are people too.  Even though their job is to prevent what the fans come to see!) See ya then!

No comments:

Post a Comment