Swedish Soccer Season Nearing Its Conclusion

The season began with Elfsborg in the top league and Falkenberg in the second league.

The top league is usually dominated by Malmo (21 titles) with clubs from the other big cities like Gothenburg (18) and Stockholm (AIK, 13; and Djurgarden, 12) also competitive. Norrkoping (13) and Elfsborg (in the city of Boras has won 6 times) have punched above their city sizes and have won some championships. 

As an Elfsborg fan, the expectations is that in a typical year they would be mid-table but with an outside chance at getting to play in Europe (need to finish in the top 3).  And every few years, there could be some excitement about them winning the whole thing.

This is one of those years! 

5 matches to go! Can they catch Malmo?

As for Falkenberg, they have definitely punched above their weight by even making it into the top league after spending their history in the lower leagues. Thus, when they got relegated, the hope was they could bounce back up but the town is just 28 thousand people and it is very hard to keep good players on their budget. This year has been very difficult and they are looking at relegation (15th or 16th place) down to the third tier where they haven't been since 2002. They have 4 matches left and are 6 points from relegation playoffs (positions 13 and 14).

I also follow Vasteras SK. The city is actually the sixth largest in Sweden but the football club doesn't have much of a history of success. They are currently in the second tier but have spent many seasons in the third level of the soccer pyramid and were in the top league back in 1997. They are in the top part of the bottom half of the league and only 2 points away from relegation playoffs. At the moment, 7 clubs have anywhere from 30 to 33 points and occupy positions 8 to 14 in the table. 

Anyway, these are the clubs I follow since I married into a Swedish family!

Heading into the October international break

LA Galaxy have dropped two in a row and in both cases their defense was the culprit. As a result, they go into the MLS playoffs in fifth place. Which team will show up? The team that took three straight wins or the one that then gave up two straight losses? As it is, they could get bounced in the first round or make a run all the way to the finals!

Meanwhile, their crosstown rivals LAFC are on the top of the standings and the odds on favorite (53% according to 538) to win the whole thing. They have the most points ever with 72 and Vela has the single season goal scoring record with 34.

In the Swedish top league, the race for the championship is close among the big city clubs Malmo and the three Stockholm teams (Djurgardens, Hammarby, and AIK).

My family teams Elfborg and Falkenberg have their goals. Elfborg is in eighth and realistically the gap to seventh is too far. However, they could slip down so finishing eighth would be satisfying at this stage. As for Falkenberg, avoiding outright relegation is the goal. They have 19 points in 15th place. They are close enough to Sundsvall (20 points) to move up into the playoff relegation spot.

Over in England, Liverpool is off to a 8-0-0 start outpacing traditional top dog Man City and venerable top-6 Arsenal. Leicester City and Crystal Place are surprise top-6 right now. Chelsea sit in 5th. Shockingly, typical top-6 Man U is 12th and Tottenham is 9th. LFC's eight wins include some nervey one goal wins. Will this be the year they finally win a EPL championship after so many decades?

Defending the Champions League title would be a bonus but having gotten it last year I think they would not be too disappointment if they don't win it again. However, I think they would like to at least get out of group stage. Thus far Liverpool's champions league performances have been shaky with a loss to Napoli and a too close for comfort win against Salzburg.

QPR is doing stunningly well! They are ninth! However, will they be able to hold it together in the marathon 46 game season that is the Championship. They only have one draw as they give up goals but score them as well. They have managed to come out on top more than not.

Wide World of Soccer February 2019 - the six teams I follow

Time for the expectations round up!

QPR and Liverpool are now in the second half of their seasons.

QPR is constrained by the FFP sanctions so I had forecasted: "At the low end for QPR is the practical goal of AVOIDING relegation [.....] There are 24 teams in the Championship so the bottom half is 13-24 and the upper half of that is 13-18. If they get to 18, they should throw a parade around Loftus Road!"

QPR stands at 18th but have been on a losing streak of late. They are 10 points clear of the relegation zone but the Championship season is 46 matches. Come on you R's, you gotta stay in the Championship!

As for Liverpool FC, my forecast: "a lively race for the title (win or lose) would be wonderful for the long disappointed Liverpool fans. Winning a title of any kind would be nice as well (League Cup, FA Cup, Champions League, or Premier League)."

They are in a close contest with Man City and Tottenham. They crashed out of FA and League Cup. Tonight, they play in leg one of the Champions League against the mighty Bayern Munich! Can they bring home Premier League title? Can they win the European Cup? It is going to be tough as injuries have started to deplete the team. But I'm calling for them to win the Premier League! 

As for the other four clubs:

Falkenberg - They got promoted to the top league! The goal is to stay in the top league!

Elfsborg is in trouble. They finished 12th just 4 points out of the relegation zone. Hard to keep track of the club via English language media. But the expectations of the venerable old club is low at avoiding relegation. They have always punched above their weight considering that their home town of Boras (pop. 66K) is small compared to the big boys in Stockholm (960K), Gothenburg (572K), and Malmo (312K) so they really should be a solid mid-table team (7-10 place) occasionally challenging for European play.

LAFC is an expansion club with a high ceiling and they are living up to it! Last season they got bounced in the knockout round of the playoffs. This season the minimal expectations has to be one playoff win and perhaps even making it to the conference finals (2 playoff wins). They finished 3rd last year so they need to move up to at least 2nd for the season to be considered a success.

LA Galaxy finished last season in seventh place out of the playoffs. Thus, this season they need to make the playoffs and win at least one game. Finishing 4th in the table would be a reasonable goal. There are a lot of question marks for this team as it is largely the same as last year's team plus/minus a couple of players. The key additions are Polenta (centerback) and Antuna (speedy midfield wing) and if they live up to their billing the Galaxy could be competitive in every game. Zlatan is another year older. Will he continue to be a force to be reckoned with? As for the rest of the team, will the pieces fit together and they stay healthy in particular the rather thin defensive line.

Expectations: FFF, Elfsborg, Liverpool FC, QPR, LA Galaxy, LAFC

Time for the expectations round up!

Starting up their seasons are QPR and Liverpool FC.

At the low end for QPR is the practical goal of AVOIDING relegation. Given their financial limits due to FFP fines, they aren't going to be bringing in pricey players or even non-pricy players. They will need to make do with their in-house talent of which there are some promising young ones. So if they stay up in the Championship, the season would have to be called a success!

If the young players bloom, the high end of the expectations would be to finish in the upper half of the bottom half. There are 24 teams in the Championship so the bottom half is 13-24 and the upper half of that is 13-18. If they get to 18, they should throw a parade around Loftus Road!

As for Liverpool FC, after all the big spending, the low end is closing in on the high end of expectations. Man City is still the biggest fish among the big six and remains the favorite to win the Premier League. Thus, a lively race for the title (win or lose) would be wonderful for the long disappointed Liverpool fans. Winning a title of any kind would be nice as well (League Cup, FA Cup, Champions League, or Premier League). The only cup that would be considered a disappointment would be Europa League Cup because that would mean the team crashed out of the group stage in Champions League!

For teams nearing the end of the season that I follow:

Falkenberg - they are one the brink of pulling off automatic promotion back to the top league! They have 11 games to go and eight points ahead of third place Eskilstuna that would qualify for the promotion playoff. Promotion or bust!

Elfsborg is in trouble. 13 games to go and they are in 13th place. 14th place leaves them in relegation playoffs and 15/16th place is automatic relegation. In summer business, they did extend some people (Frick, Kaib, Ronning, Dresevic) but they did sell on (Jebali, Horn) and added (Obasi, Holst). Their defense isn't bad as there are plenty of teams that give up more goals but their offense is anemic with a paltry 15 goals, second worst in the league.

LAFC is an expansion club with a high ceiling and they are living up to it! They are solidly in the playoffs (3rd place in the west) and are aiming for seeding. Winning the west is not impossible but second is within reach. Aiming very high would be a MLS Cup final appearance. More likely is an appearance in the western conference finals. 

LA Galaxy has been playing better but have been hit with the injury bug (all three DPs are out!) and are a question mark. Their near term goal is to stay afloat. Currently 4th in the west, they need to hang on while the DPs recover. Six teams make the playoffs per conference so finishing 6th is the goal. Hopefully, the DPs come back late in the season and they can get back into form and pull of a surprise and reach the western conference semi-finals.

Wide World of Soccer - weekend April 28-29

Liverpool FC 0 Stoke City 0. Nuff said.

High drama on Wednesday for leg 2 against Roma. 5-2 lead looks good but Barcelona collapsed to Roma and were eliminated so Roma is not to be underestimated.

QPR takes care of business with a 3-1 win over bottom of the table Birmingham City.

LA Galaxy woes continue coming out on the short end 2-3 to NY Red Bulls. A couple of questionable calls went against LA Galaxy that took a goal off the LA tally and added a PK that was the Red Bull's winner.

LA Galaxy got some more offense but unfortunately their defense cost them.  One of the MLS analyst says that LA's 4-3-3 might be better for them. I speculated about that possibility back on April 13 though at that time I didn't anticipate Zlatan would start which he did.

LAFC in dramatic fashion defeat Seattle 1-0 with a stoppage time free kick!

Elfsborg falls 2-1 to Sundsvall.

Falkenberg plays on Tuesday on the road at Halmstad.

Wide world of soccer: weekend of April 21/22 2018

Hats off to LAFC for rallying from a 2-0 deficit to beat Montreal on the road. If you had said that LAFC would get 4 wins against 2 losses to open season entirely on the road, fans would take it. They have their home opener next weekend.

Liverpool was on the road at West Bromwich cruising with a 2-0 lead only to surrender 2 goals late. The problems of defense reared its head once again!



QPR lost to Brentford 2-1. Not surprising for a road game at a team at the top half of the table.


LA Galaxy fall at home to Atlanta 2-0. Saw the second half of the match on TV. Atlanta had the lead so they were probably not as aggressive on offense. Nonetheless, it seemed they were always more threatening to score while LAG only got weak "half" chances at goal. LAG simply looked inferior to Atlanta.

Falkenberg (FFF) is off to a 4 game win streak with a 3-1 victory over Frej Taby.

Elfsborg plays Monday against Stockholm based Djurgarden.

Wide world of Soccer - how the six clubs I follow did

Friday April 13
LAFC beat Vancouver 2-0 on the road
LAFC bounced back from two prior defeats and continue to show the acumen of signing Rossi and Vela who got the goals in the victory.

Saturday April 14
Liverpool defeated Bournemouth 3-0
The three headed front line get a goal apiece in a taking care of business win.

Elfsborg downed by Sirius 1-0 at home
That is now three straight losses for the boys from Boras but no time to panic yet as there are still 27 more matches. For historical context, Elfsborg have been in the top league since 1998. From that time onward, they won the league in 2006 and 2012. They finished second in 2008. They won the Svenska Cup in 2001, 2003 and 2014. Hopefully, they can get their season going real soon!

QPR lost at home to Preston 2-1
Preston is higher up in the table so a loss isn't too surprising.

Chicago 0 LA Galaxy 1
Zlatan has appeared in 3 games and now has 2 game winning goals! Wound up watching the match on the phone via the live stream on Twitter for the first half and then the LA Galaxy audio stream for the second half. With the crazy wind, LAG had the wind with the in the first half and Chicago had the wind with them in the second half. The much maligned (and often with good reason) defense and goalkeeper came through a steady steam of attempts by Chicago in the second half.

Sunday April 15
GAIS 0 Falkenberg 2
The team by the sea have started off with 3 wins!

The weekend in soccer

Saturday started with the Merseyside Derby.

Everton v. Liverpool 0-0 (draw) 

The Reds with an eye toward the second leg of the Champions League semi-final played a weakened side so a draw was a reasonable outcome.

Hull v. QPR 4-0 (loss)

Ugh. QPR isn't a top level team so don't expect them to win all the time but they are usually at least competitive and they weren't today.

Falkenberg v. Eskilstuna 2-0 (win)

Off to a good start with two wins. Can they keep it up and get back to the top tier? "Laget vid havet!"

Atlanta v. LAFC 5-0 (loss)

Did the stunning loss against LA Galaxy last weekend leave the team still out of sorts? Or perhaps Atlanta is simply too much for LAFC to deal with? In either case, Bob Bradley and the brain trust will need to look at their situation after the glossy start.

Sunday provided two matches for me to follow

Kalmar v. Elfborg 1-0 (loss)

Ooofff .... off to a bad start with two losses. 28 matches to go. Hopefully, they will get their feet under them soon!

LA Galaxy v. Sporting Kansas City 0-2 (loss)

SKC dominated possession of the ball in the first half but LAG defense was up to the challenge for much of the time in the first half. But there was one bad patch early in the second half when LAG surrendered two goals. Those were not outrageous world class goals. However, they were clinical finishes to the opportunities granted by some poor defending from LAG.

The first goal was off a weak clearance off a corner kick that got pounced on by SKC.

The second goal was essentially a 1-against-3. Give the guy credit for taking it to the LAG defenders Steres and Cole and after ditching them, he got it past the goalkeeper Bingham. Any one of Steres, Cole, or Bingham could have prevented that goal but none did rise to that occasion.

LAG had shots of which three hit the woodwork. Jonathan Dos Santos and Romain Alessandrini were back in the line-up but did seem a little rusty: pace and passing was just a little off.

The defensive group does seem a bit slow and teams that have speed will cause problems for LAG. Cole is astute but his 37 year old legs sometimes let him down. Skjelvik looks promising and don't recall him getting overwhelmed against SKC but he clearly got outpaced on goal #3 that LAFC scored. Steres has the physical tools (he made a couple of good tackles against SKC) but over his time at LAG errors seem to crop up. Perhaps it is focus and decision making that will improve with experience? Feltscher seems to be settling in but am concerned that without smart positioning and situational awareness he might not have the speed to catch up if he gets up too far forward on the attack. Kitchen has been very helpful to the defense but it seems the sum of the parts haven't gotten to where LAG needs to be to be consistently competitive.

Meanwhile, the Zlatan phenomena continues but no Hollywood ending tonight. He got in for about 30 minutes and put some shots on goal with one or two of the chances that got the crowd hopeful.

From the General Admission side of the stadium, it was hard to tell how good were his shots on goal. Judging from video replays I saw after the game, two of them looked like good efforts that if the goalkeeper has shut-off for a moment would have yielded a goal.

Sigi and company have a lot to chew over.

Defending put them in a three-goal deficit against LAFC and a two-goal deficit against SKC. Don't see Ciani or Romney as a better option than what they have out there now. So they may simply have to live with what they have. Do wonder how much upside does youngsters Hilliard-Arce and Arellano have?

As LAG offensive players advance in fitness returning from injury, it will be interesting to see which players will get the minutes upcoming and whether they will stick to the 4-2-3-1 formation - probably. It seems that when Zlatan is in they switch to 4-4-2. Will he go on the road to Chicago? And how many minutes will he get?

Tough loss that could easily have been a draw. No time to panic as the team is still a work in progress with the arrow facing in the up direction.

Wide world of soccer - Sweden

Swedish soccer leagues that I follow, Allsvenskan (tier 1) and Superettan (tier 2) have kicked off.

Elfsborg fell 2-1 to historic powerhouse Malmo.

According to Transfermarkt.com, Malmo, AIK, and Ostersunds are the top-three in terms of "market value" of the clubs. Elfsborg is fifth.

According to one odds-maker site, Malmo, AIK, and Djurgarden are front-runners. Elfsborg is seventh.

Last season Elfsborg finished eighth.

In the Superettan, Helsingborg, Halmstad, and Jonkopings are the favorites according to the same odds-making site. Falkenberg is projected fifth.

On the basis of "market value," Helsingborg, Eskiltuna, and Jonkopings are the three strongest. Falkenberg comes in eighth.

Falkenberg kicked off their season with a 3-2 victory over Landskrona.

Falkenberg has punched above their weight the last few years winning the Superettan in 2013 and staying in tier 1 for three seasons. Last season they came up short to making it into the promotion playoffs.

Swedish Soccer Season Has Concluded

In the top league, Allsvenskan, Malmo FF has repeated as champions and have a run of 4 in the last 5 years. They now have won 23 times in their history. Malmo goes to 2018-2019 Champions League qualification rounds.

AIK and Djurgardens finish two and three and gain entry into 2018-2019 Europa League qualification rounds.

At the bottom end, AFC United (Eskiltuna) and Hamstad BK were relegated.

Jonkopings Sodra IF will face Trelleborgs (third place in Superettan) in a two-legged play-off with the winner going to Allsvenskan and loser going to Superettan.

IF Brommapojkarna won Superettan and Dalkurd finished second thus, these two teams are promoted up to Allsvenskan.

As for the teams I follow, Falkenberg finished fourth in Superettan which is pretty good considering their poor start. Elfsborg finished eighth in Allsvenskan. They never seemed to get on track this year.

The life of a sports fan - victory or misery!

Been crazy busy. However, still keep my ears and eyes open to the soccer teams I follow.

USMNT - if you can't get a victory or a draw against Trinidad Tobago you don't deserve to go to the World Cup. The men's side of US Soccer is in sackcloth and ashes with calls for sackings. Coach Arena within a matter of days resigned. The question now is whether more changes will occur and what changes would be most helpful to improve the program. The major criticism I have heard is that the team simply didn't play as a team with any sense of urgency. They thought they would just roll the ball out onto the field and show up and win. Once they realized they were in a real match and having to play catch up the team just didn't have the mentality to recover. The other observation is the "missing generation" hypothesis. USMNT has relied on that group that came to prominence about a decade ago with Donovan, Howard, Dempsey, Bradley, and others. This group is now running out of gas as time has caught up with them. Unfortunately, the group that is now in their 20s doesn't appear to have the right stuff to take their place. I will now be rooting for Sweden to upset Italy to gain spot in the World Cup.

Elfsborg - they are bottom half of the table. It has been a tough year. The manager, Magnus Haglund, has been sacked. Barring losing every game and someone below them winning every game, they should avoid relegation. But beyond the team is playing for spots in next seasons roster.

Falkenberg - they made a run at the third spot and a place in the promotion playoff but they have since slipped back to fifth. They started the season poorly in the relegation zone for several weeks but slowly creeped up the table reaching third for one week. Will see if they can make a run at promotion next season.

LA Galaxy - they are currently last in MLS with one game to go. Its been a rough season with clubhouse tensions, injuries to key players, and far more defeats than expected. The question for the brain trust is who is going to get sacked in the front office and which players on the roster will be retained. Might Cole get one more year at left back? Will they be able to lay down the curse of right back injuries and find someone who will survive and thrive in that position? Which of their many midfielders (Jones, Pedro, Husidic, Lleget, Boetang) will stay and which will go? We assume the three DPs are "untouchable?" Which of the three goalkeepers will stay and which will go?

Liverpool - they put a lot of shots up but they don't get them in the net and losing Mane to injury makes that even more challenging for them. There have been many draws where they had the lion's share of possession and opportunities and the defense surrendered soft goals. Big win against Maribor with seven goals! Perhaps, that will restore their confidence. On the other hand, it could be that Maribor is simply not very good. Big match this weekend against Tottenham!

Meanwhile, in baseball, Go DODGERS!

It has been a long time since 1988 when they last climbed to the top of the MLB mountain. Two times against the Phillies they were at the short end of a 4-1 NLCS. Two times against the Cards they were at the short end of a 4-2 NLCS. Last year, they were at the short end of a 4-2 NLCS against the Cubs. But this year, they knocked out Arizona in three straight and have gained a 3-0 lead over the Cubs. Let's finish this thing and advance!

Go DODGERS!

Ooofff - LA Galaxy season hits bottom, Elfborg in the middle, FFF with still something to strive for

It has been a rough season with many low points and it seems the season has hit yet another low with a 4-0 defeat.

I had a prior event commitment so I was not able to watch the match.

However, from the post-game report from Corner of the Galaxy, it looks like Coach Sigi Schmid had seen enough and was at wits end. Excerpt:

The normally talkative Schmid appeared worn out and frustrated after a 4-0 drubbing by Toronto FC. His hand was pressed against his face as he struggled to find the right words to express his anger at the events without yelling at reporters.

And some of the fans had seen enough such that the Angel City Brigade (one of three official supporter groups) demanded a response from the club. Excerpt:

Meanwhile, back at field level, Galaxy supporters group Angel City Brigade still was singing nearly 45 minutes after the final whistle. Those fans were determined to stay in section 121 at the north side of the stadium until either a player or Galaxy President Chris Klein talked to them. They wanted answers for a disappointing season and were adamant in not leaving without them. Not even L.A. County Sheriffs, a K-9 unit and several officers in bulletproof vests could persuade them to leave.

Eventually, Romain Alessandrini came out to address the fans. Excerpt:

according to one fan, “Romain just apologized for the situation and said, ‘We need you guys.’ “He assured us that next year will be very different. Considering Sigi is getting ready to chop heads and players’ jobs are on the line, we feel a lot will change next year. But this year is lost.”

###

Meanwhile, keeping an eye on Swedish soccer, Elfsborg's season continues to be inconsistent. Throughout the season, they win some, draw some, lose some and thus sit at eighth place right in the middle of the 16-team table. Today, they have a home match against Djurgarden, one of the Stockholm clubs. who currently sits in second place.

As for Laget vid Havet, the team by the sea, Falkenberg, the opportunity to make the promotion playoffs is slipping away. After the huge win over number two in the table Bromapojkarna, FFF has had two draws and a loss and have slipped back into fifth place and six points behind number three Trelleborg. Trelleborg has been on the upswing going undefeated in eight matches of which seven were wins.

FFF does face the two teams ahead of them so those are essentially must win matches. They also need to collect three points from some of the other matches and need Trelleborg and Helsingborg to take a few losses in order to get back into the race for that promotion playoff spot.

FFF has an epic fail against Gefle

Falkenbergs FF fans witnessed a total collapse in the home match against last place, relegation bound Gefle.

Using google translate, here is how the reporter at the Hallands Nyheter put it.

It was Saturday night, there were nine matches without loss. It was sunny and hot in September. It was Gefle's last placed on the other side of the board, a team that lacked three suspended punches (players). Everything set for celebration; tjo and tjim (idiom for making sounds of celebration) and much more. It ended in embarrassing silence at the Falcon Alcohol Free Arena and crowds who left far before the end signal.

Final score: 0-4

The result leaves FFF in fourth place in the table two points out with 8 matches to go.

FFF goes on the road to take on Dalkurd in the next match.

Swedish soccer is unpredictable. Brommapojkarna and Dalkurd are sitting respectively at 47 and 46 points and in solid position for promotion. Nonetheless, FFF beat Brommapojkarna 5-1 on August 27. Dalkurd has been on fire going undefeated since June 12. However, in the previous meeting FFF beat Dalkurd 2-0 back on May 21.

We shall see!

Laget vid Havet!

Can the teams I follow go 4 and 0 today?

Falkenberg, scrambling to get into third place, went on the road to league leading Brommapojkarna. Was hoping for a point on the road to keep Falkenberg in the hunt. Instead, a stunning 5-1 victory over the top dogs! With the help of Google Translate, got the league press office summary of the match. For the moment, Falkenberg is in third place but Trelleborg plays Helsingborg this week and with a win could jump into third. Helsingborg with a win jumps into fourth tied on points with FFF but in fourth on goal differential.

Elfsborg isn't mathematically eliminated from European football (Europa League) but it would be very difficult to climb that many spaces. Nonetheless, playing to be higher up on the table remains a reasonable goal for the club. Today, they got a much needed 1-0 victory at home against relegation bound Halmstad after 5 matches without a win.



Meanwhile, Liverpool dismantled Arsenal 4-0!



Behind the scenes murmuring was raised by the starting of Karius in goal and Ward on the bench with Mignolet left off the XVIII player team sheet. But the fans at Anfield left happy with the frontline members all scoring! Starters Firmino at 17, Mane at 40, and Salah at 57. To punctuate the domination, substitute Sturridge scored at 77. Liverpool enters the International break in good spirits. The remaining mystery for the club is whether there will be any ins or outs before the transfer deadline at August 31.

This evening, have the TV set on for the LA Galaxy vs. SJ Earthquake "California Clasico." Expectations are rather low as LA hasn't won since June 28 in a US Open match and June 21 in an MLS match. Nonetheless, players will have some pride with some playing for spots in the 2018 squad.

Not going to happen. Van Anholt stretchered off the field in the middle of the first half. LA gives up a goal right before the half. Red card on Smith so LA has to play catch-up down to 10 players. SJ scores again late in the half. And now at 90' a third SJ goal as Wondo gets a poacher's goal off a rebound.

Laget vid Havet - GO FFF!

image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkenberg#/media/File:Grand_Hotell_Tullbron_Falkenberg.jpg

With a victory, FFF can leap to third!

It is a road match against Degerfors so we shall see.

UPDATE: Degerfors 1 FFF 1. There are apps that track soccer scores from around the world. From those, I can get the bare bones of the story. In this case, Degerfors got the lead with a PK. FFF was able to equalize in the second half to snatch a road point. They are 1 point behind Trelleborg and the 3rd position with 11 matches to go. Can they do it and give themselves a shot at returning to the top tier league! Go FFF!

Wide world of soccer: Coutinho chase, Carabao Cup, FFF on the rise

Sources report that Liverpool FC rejected a 100 million pound offer for Coutinho. Thus, for now, Coutinho remains with the Reds. Fans at both Liverpool and Barcelona will be waiting to hear if Barcelona's owners will up the ante with a third bid.

UPDATE: Coutinho has upped the ante by placing a transfer request. From my learning about world soccer, South American players dream of someday reaching the level of being able to play for Barcelona or Real Madrid. Coutinho believes that time has come for him. In fairness to him, he has been quietly making that known without social media blasts or walking out of training sessions. The question now is how the high priced game of "chicken" will play out. Barcelona has a maximum number in their minds they are willing to go to to get Coutinho. Fenway Sports Group (FSG) the owners of LFC have to decide if there is a dollar amount that is "an offer they can't refuse." If Barcelona don't bid that number, LFC keeps Coutinho and have to hope he gives a great season (despite being disappointed) thus raising his selling price even more next year. On the other hand, if Coutinho gets injured (he has had some injuries in the past) and doesn't have a world beating season, the asking price may go down. Stay tuned!

If you have clicked through on your sports web pages to check on England soccer, you may have seen something called the Carabao Cup. Did you wonder what is that?

Well, it turns out that the English Football League Cup has sold naming rights to Carabao. You can read all about the history of the EFL Cup at the Wikipedia link.

The short version is that the top four levels of the English soccer pyramid is involved in this competition. Level 1 - Premier League, level 2 - League Championship, level 3 - League One, and level 4 - League Two. Thus, in addition, to league play, there are domestic cup competitions such as the Carabao EFL Cup. There is also the FA Cup which we can discuss in another post. And there are European Cup competitions (Champions League and Europa).

A few examples from EFL Cup first round of play:
Queens Park Rangers (League Championship club) defeated Northampton Town (League One club) 1-0.
Oxford United (League One club) lost to Cheltenham Town (League Two club) 3-4 aet (in extra time).
Bristol Rovers (League One club) defeated Cambridge United (League Two club) 4-1.
And so it goes .....

The teams of the first round are in one big pot and there is a draw to determine who plays whom - there is no seeding or home field advantage. The winners advance to the next round where 2 clubs from League Championship (the 18th and 19th place finisher in the Premier League that were relegated into the League Championship) and 13 clubs from the Premier League (not involved in European competitions) are thrown into the pot for the second round draw. The remaining 7 Premier League clubs are thrown into the pot in the third round draw. As a result of these draws, sometimes a giant Premier League clubs wind up playing a match against a lower division team (sometimes called "minnows" in the sporting press) in a tiny stadium in a small town.

Meanwhile, Falkenbergs FF won 2-0 over Varnamo to move themselves into fourth place with 30 points. Oster is at 31 points in third place and a slot in the promotion play-off at the end of the season. There is excitement in Falkenberg, population 20,000, the small town by the sea in Western Sweden.

Laget Vid Havet!

Falkenberg and Elfsborg Update

The Swedish domestic competition

Week 31 is in the books in the top league of Sweden, the Allsvenskan.

Elfsborg is eighth with 26 points. Malmo is running away with it and will likely win yet another league title. The battle is for second and third and thus a ticket to the Europa League. AIK an Djurgarden have 31 and 30 points respectively.

Elfsborg has 12 games left in their season to make up the difference.

Meanwhile, in Superettan, the second level of the Swedish soccer pyramid, Falkenberg is in fifth with 27 points.

The league champs and the runner-up get promoted to the Allsvenskan. Third place teams gets a playoff with the 14th place Allsvanskan club for the chance at promotion. Currently, Helsingborg hold third with 30 points. Falkenberg has 13 games left to close the gap.

European club soccer scene for Sweden 

The Allsvenskan winner gets a ticket to the Champions League. Thus, 2016 champion Malmo entered 2017-2018 Champions League at the 2nd qualifying round. Unfortunately, they were defeated and eliminated by Vardar, the Macedonian league champion.

AIK and Norrkoping qualified for 2017-2018 Europa League at the first qualifying round level. Both advanced to the next round. Norrkoping was eliminated but AIK advanced to the next round. Ostersund entered at the second qualifying round by winning the Swedish Cup. They also won their matchup to progress to the third round. AIK's run in Europa Cup came to an end in the third round when they were defeated by Braga a club from the Portuguese League. However, Ostersund is still playing as they won their match and now await PAOK from the Greek Superleague in the playoff round. If they win that, they enter into the 32-team group stage.

And so ends the season for LA Galaxy, Elfsborg, and Falkenberg fans .....

The Galaxy got the 1-0 win at home in leg one. However, in leg two, Colorado got a wonder strike to even up 1-1 on aggregate. Didn't see the game but from the reports, it seemed to be a struggle for both sides with Colorado generally getting the better of the chances. However, it wound up in PKs and Colorado won it. LA Galaxy off-season is going to be interesting as that is now two years in-a-row the team has fizzled out.

Meanwhile, in Allsvenskan, the final matches were held today. Malmo had locked up the championship previously and the last day was left for some final jiggering of the finishing rank for a few teams. Elfborg finished 5th and Falkenberg finished 16th and will be relegated. Looking forward to following the two clubs in the next year. Haven't followed the Superettan before. Will see if FFF can bounce back after a dreadful campaign.

Thus, now my soccer fan energies will be directed toward US Men's National Team, US Women's National Team, and Liverpool FC.

The USMNT have a huge showdown with Mexico on 11/11 as part of World Cup Qualification for the CONCACAF.

On the USWNT side, there aren't any consequential matches in the near term as the 2016 Olympics have concluded as have the 2015 Women's World Cup. However, with the stunning upset in the Olympics, there are some things to consider on the USWNT side. The top priority is finding a successor to Hope Solo. Additionally, as for any team, finding the balance of veterans and working in new talent.

Meanwhile, LFC is top of the table after a 6-1 win over Watford with Klopp saying "stay cool" and indeed fans would be right to not go crazy this early in the season with title talk.

Swedish Soccer FFF and Elfsborg Update

Falkenberg's run in the top league of Sweden for all practical purposes will end after two magical years.

I had mapped out a potential route to avoid outright relegation (see table above). At the moment, the 14th spot (qualifies for a relegation playoff match) is occupied by Helsingborg with 22 points after 25 matches. Alas, FFF has only obtained a few draws and no wins over the recent stretch. Even if they win the next four matches, they would reach 22 points tying Helsingborg only if Helsingborg fail to collect any points over their next five matches. In the unlikely event this were to happen, I think goal differential is the tie breaker and right now FFF is -45 while Helsingborg is -21. It was a fantastic run for Laget Vid Havet. Will be looking to see how they fare in the Superettan. 

Meanwhile, Elfsborg are mathematically eliminated from Europa league. Norrkoping sits at the third spot with 53 points. Even with five wins by Elfsborg, they only reach 50 points (see table below). 

Malmo appears on track to take their 22 championship (most of any club). AIK and Norrkoping trail by seven points and are unlikely to make up that much ground in the four remaining matches. 

The top Swedish football league (Allsvenskan) probably rates as a third or fourth tier league in European soccer. I think few would dispute that the Spanish, German, Italian, and English top of the pyramid leagues are the best. The second tier would be occupied by a handful of leagues scattered across Europe from France to Turkey. The rest of Europe will fill in the third and fourth tiers. 

Within the Allsvenskan there are the historically dominant clubs like Malmo (21), Goteborg (13), and Norrkoping (13) that among them have won 47 championships. All other clubs combined have won 44 championships.

This is quite a bit more parity compared to the English Premier league where the "Big Four" (Chelsea, Man City, Man U, Arsenal) have won all but two titles. Man United has won 13 while everyone else has won a combined 11 titles. 

Ooofffff - Falkenberg takes it on the chin 0-5 to Jonkoping

It is not looking good for the team by the sea. Check out the video highlight package from CMORE.

With this loss, FFF falls to 16th in the table. I had projected which games they probably needed to win in order to have a shot at staying in the top league. Suffice to say, today was one of those games. Instead, they were wiped out.