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.
Midfielders:
Midfielders:
Rasmus Fries (1992) – Winger/Left Back. I’ve included Rasmus as a midfielder, but he
splits time between winger and outside back.
Rasmus is one of the fastest guys on the team, along with me and
Heradi. I know nothing about his
personal life, except that he lives in a really small town about 20 minutes
from Enkoping.
Tom Noden (1989) – Our captain. Center Mid.
Tom is a very level-headed guy.
He gets along with everyone and works hard everyday. He’s not your typical captain, meaning he isn’t
a very vocal guy, but he sets more of an example. I think his young age might have something to
do with that. Nobody wants to hear a
22-year-old telling them what to do, even if you’re 17- or 18-years-old. He’s the right choice as the captain though. He does a good job. He’s spent a few games as a right back as
well.
Linus Bylin (1990) – Center Mid. For me, Linus and Tom are linked in my
head. For every preseason game and the
first couple regular season games, they played next to each other in the middle
of midfield. Linus has been on the
A-team for ESK for five years, making him the elder statesman of the team even
though he’s only 21 or 22. In fact,
Linus is the only person other than the front office staff that has a key to
the locker room.
Kerim Mrabti (1994) – Center Mid/Winger. The baby of the team. Kerim is freaking 17-years-old and one of our
best players. He, like Gustaf and Kevin
(and maybe Joel), is still in high school.
He’s another winger and has started every game. He’s a local kid and has played his whole
career with ESK from the time he was a little kid.
Alex Persson-Njie (1991) – Center Mid. Another local talent. I don’t know where he spent his entire youth
career, but I know that he did play for a time with the youth teams of ESK before
signing for the A-team. He played a big
role in the promotion last season, but hasn’t played as much this year. Even though he lives in Enkoping, I rarely
see Alex in the town.
Emil Strok (1986) – Center Mid. Emil is a player that I first met on the
Turkey trip. He’s kind of a strange
player; sometimes he can’t trap a ball, other times he’s a midfield maestro. We get along well, but he’s pretty quiet and
doesn’t say too much. He lives in
Enkoping and I see him occasionally, but we don’t really hangout outside of
training.
Mtaka Simba (1986) – Center Mid/Winger. Mtaka is one of the guys who has played 3-4
positions this year. He prefers to play
as a center mid though. Mtaka is one of
my closest friends on the team, in part because we were roommates in Turkey and
we play the same position so we train together quite often. He lives in Balsta, the biggest town between
Enkoping and Stockholm. Also, he is the
older brother of Heradi.
Ernesto Ferreira (1980) – Attacking Mid. ‘Nesto’ as he’s called, signed with us on the
last possible day. He hadn’t trained
with us at all at that point, but he did play with ESK last year. Ernesto is originally from Portugal and he
played there for Boavista. He’s been in
Sweden six years now because he has a girlfriend here (or actually in Uppsala,
about 30 minutes to the northeast), but he doesn’t speak a word of Swedish
haha. Ernesto and I agree on a lot of
things soccer-wise, so we get along quite well.
We also both hate the cold weather, so that bonds us a bit.
Daniel Alund (1992) – Attacking Mid. One of my best friends on the team along with
Robert (and Fabian, though he’s not exactly on the team). I’ve already profiled him so this will be a
recap. He went to Holland at 15 to play
for the youth and reserve teams at Feyenord.
He also had trials at Manchester United and Fulham among other
clubs. He trained with AIK, the biggest
club in Sweden, last year and is still being tracked by them.
Alexander Alan (1985) – Attacking Mid. He goes by his last name ‘Alan’ and is one of
my favorite guys on the team, even if I don’t see him much outside of
training. I feel like I’ve known Alan
for years, but that’s mostly because he looks exactly like a guy I went to
college with. I mean an uncanny
resemblance. Alan reminds me a lot of
the typical USL guy, meaning he doesn’t really harbor grand dreams about being
a star in Allsvenskan, but instead has staked out a little niche in Division 1
and is happy there. He, like most of the
players on our team, has a day job so soccer is more of a fun thing to do than
a livelihood. That’s not to say that he
or USL guys don’t take their job seriously or professionally, it just means
that they have other, sometimes greater, priorities.
Strikers:
Joel Rajalakso (1993) – Pronounced ‘Euell’, Joel is another
young guy. I’m not sure if he’s still in
high school or not. Last season he
scored 14 goals in Division 2, a very impressive total considering the season
was only 26 games. He has a brother
playing in Allsvenskan for Djugarden.
His brother is a winger, so I can’t imagine that the brothers’ playing
styles are too similar. Joel is what a
call a ruthless striker. He’s hellbent
on scoring goals and often does. It
would be interesting to see him play side-by-side with Erik, but we’ll see if
that happens.
Erik Andersson (1987) – Erik is your prototypical striker. Big, strong, good in the air and reasonably
fast, he has all the attributes most coaches look for in a striker. In fact, with him being 24-25 I’m surprised
no Allsvenskan team has come for his signature.
I know for a fact that half the teams in MLS would be willing to pay
good money to have him in their team. I’ve
never asked him about why he’s stayed in the lower divisions, but I assume it’s
just lack of opportunity. Maybe in that
way Sweden doesn’t differ all that much from America.
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