Let's check in with Olof (Swedish Football)

[Zatman]

Surely its based on club form too if Zlatan won attacker of the year. Lindelof has been criminal for United

[sne]

4 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Surely its based on club form too if Zlatan won attacker of the year. Lindelof has been criminal for United

It's based on both club and national side.

And the flack Lindelöf get's at Manure is way OT IMO, mostly coming from people who are ukiping their pants because Manure didn't buy a proper English CB like Keane or Maguire from the look of it.

He's not been great by any stretch, but that goes for every player there. 

 

[Zatman]

32 minutes ago, sne said:

It's based on both club and national side.

And the flack Lindelöf get's at Manure is way OT IMO, mostly coming from people who are ukiping their pants because Manure didn't buy a proper English CB like Keane or Maguire from the look of it.

He's not been great by any stretch, but that goes for every player there. 

 

Him and Smalling are a joke of a partnership even in the games they are winning and look like have no sign of improving since. Any team that best player is consistantly the goalkeeper has shit defenders

United have kept one clean sheet all season in the league. ONly Fulham have a worse record

[sne]

Sweden, partly down to injuries and partly down to managerial preferences starting tonight's home game against Russia with 8 defense oriented players.

LB Martin Olsson at LW and midfielder Victor Claesson as secondary attacker.

As much as I'd like to see us playing with a bit more purpose and flair atm this is probably our best bet.

Interesting to see how Kristoffer Olsson fairs at this level.

 

[sne]

Swedish FA continuing their proud tradition of supporting just the worst countries in the world by putting their winter camp for the national side (domestic and Nordic team players) in Qatar.

Name any dictatorship, despot, or tyrant in the world and Sweden has likely visited them or faced them during the winter tour and helped then promote their regime.

For a wad of cash of course.

Thailand, China, North Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Syria, Oman, Bahrain...

And as always the line from the FA is that you have to work with these regimes to create change, not isolate them.

[sne]

Preliminary squad for the winter tour.

Some interesting names in there. Alexsander Isak - Dortmund 2 and Victor Gyökeres - Brighton the only ones playing outside Scandinavia.

Tried to get Joel Asoro from Swansea but Potter wouldn't release him.

All in all a very young squad, as it should be.

Daniel Sundgren perhaps a strange omission.

Edited December 3, 2018 by sne

[Zatman]

Muamer Tankovic the hype really wasnt warranted

Whatever happened to Kacaniklic, he looked a future talent in Premier League about 5 years ago

[sne]

9 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Muamer Tankovic the hype really wasnt warranted

Whatever happened to Kacaniklic, he looked a future talent in Premier League about 5 years ago

Tankovic has had a bit of a revival this season after moving to Hammarby with 7 goals and 5 assists from midfield in 30 games. Still only 22.

Kacaniklic is 27 now apparently. Bit part player at Nantes last season and this season he's gone full Keyser Soze.

The Fulham love in with Swedish players seem to have stopped.

Edited December 3, 2018 by sne

[sne]

@Tegis ?

Quote

SWEDEN: FAN SPENDS €19,000 TO BECOME AIK’S FIRST EVER ‘ETERNITY CARD’ LIFETIME SEASON TICKET HOLDER

Swedish club AIK have just sold their first ever “Eternity Card” – basically a lifetime season ticket that allows access to every single one of their home matches for the rest of the holder’s lifetime.

The recipient is AIK mega-fan Magnus Käck (right above), whose bank balance is now roughly €19,000 lighter as a direct result but will, as of the start of new Allsvenskan season, be able to watch his beloved team play, week in, week out, until he rattles his clack.

Priced at 189,100 Swedish Krona (the club was founded in 1891), AIK launched the Eternity Card scheme at the end of November and, just three weeks later, sold their first one.

Käck already has close business ties to AIK, predominantly through the grocery store he owns in a local suburb. He recently met with club commercial manager Stefan Jonasson at a Christmas event and, five minutes later, he had agreed to become Eternity Card Holder No: 001. 

Speaking to TV4 Sport, Käck said:

I asked Stefan how many eternity cards AIK had sold, but he said nobody had bought a card yet.

I was tempted immediately when the offer was launched three weeks before. I have a (standard, yearly) season card and am a permanent member of the club.

It has been awesome to have an eternity card, and even better to enter the history books as the first. Nobody remembers a second.

Asked about the impact of the massive financial commitment, he replied:

I have been working since I was 15 and have had better financial opportunities in recent years. So in that way it’s cool.

I have no kids of my own, so in that way AIK has become kind of a substitute.

Magnus isn’t bound to just one seat for the rest of his life either, as the card entitles him to switch segment ahead of every single game if he so chooses.

After all, the same old view could become a little boring after a decade or two.

 

http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/international_football/280505/sweden-fan-spends-e19000-to-become-aiks-first-ever-eternity-card-lifetime-season-ticket-holder.html

 

Edited December 14, 2018 by sne

[Tegis]

15 minutes ago, sne said:

SWEDEN: FAN SPENDS €19,000 TO BECOME AIK’S FIRST EVER ‘ETERNITY CARD’ LIFETIME SEASON TICKET HOLDER

Good thing he can change seats at will. Imagine spending a lifetime next to a Råsundafetto

[sne]

Dalkurd is looking at uprooting the club and moving their home games, again.

First they moved from Borlänge to Gefle, and now they are thinking about moving to Stockholm or Solna before moving to Uppsala in 2020.

Horrible little club and I hope they crash and burn.

[sne]

While he sadly choose to represent Iran rather than Sweden it's still interesting to keep up with how Saman Ghoddos is doing.

Off at the Asian Cup representing Iran atm.

Here is a nice long text by Erik Niva who is on location in UAE following the tournament.

Quote

"Great honor for me to be compared to him"

Together, Ghoddos is interviewed by Erik Niva before the Asian Championships

Iran has been waiting for more than 40 years, and now many people hope that Saman Ghoddos will finally redeem them.

His reputation has grown during an autumn in France, his status has increased.

When Saman Ghoddos replies nowadays, he does so with a phone completely dressed in rose gold, personally designed with his name and sweater number.

It is the same type of exclusive luxury phone that Leo Messi, Luis Suárez and the other players in Barcelona use, just like Sergio Agüero, Jerôme Boateng and Radamel Falcão.

And it's well in the company he is moving in now, the 25-year-old from Oxie, that's the level he got up on.

Or?

- Oh, it's just because I know the guy who manufactures these phones that I've got one.

It quickly becomes clear that Saman Ghoddos does not behave in a new and different way since the record move to the French Ligue 1. Although he earns millions nowadays, it is not that he does not care about money around him.

We have agreed that I should call, but when Saman Ghoddos realizes how high the call cost really is in the United Arab Emirates, he thinks it must be possible to find another way.

Should he go out hunting for a local SIM card? Skype doesn't have him, Messenger doesn't seem to work. There will be WhatsApp calls in the end.

- I myself do not know the difference so much, but it can be seen that many others look at me in a completely different way since I moved to France. There has been some nice pressure on me - it has become time for me to deliver, to show that I play in Ligue 1. On Instagram there are lots that compare me with Son in South Korea, that it should as well be a match-in the match between us about which of us will be the best player of the tournament.

How does it feel then? Does it feel okay or does it feel excessive?

- So, it is not any player at all ... It goes tremendously well for him, so it is a really great honor for me to be compared to him. It gives me pride.

▪▪▪

When Iran entered the World Cup in 2018, they were a defeat-tipped underdog who won the hearts by struggling fiercely against overpowering opponents from Spain and Portugal. Saman Ghoddos was a fresh bonus player from Allsvenskan who made a couple of in a kind of joker role.

Expectations are different now.

Today, Iran is in the Asian Championships, and this time the people leave home that they will win the whole tournament and that Saman Ghoddos will be one of the stars that make a difference.

There are no alternatives as well. Iran has not won the tournament since 1976, and now no excuses or excuses are accepted.

- It is almost like the people seem to think that it will be easy for us to take it home - but that is not true. For example, we met Qatar now in the repetition, and I actually became very, very impressed by how good they were. However, there was a noticeable difference that we scored our chances and could kill the match, but it simply will not be.

"Now it's the opposite"

Quite simply, the hardest challenge is probably the one. For nearly eight years, the acclaimed Portuguese federation captain Carlos Quieroz has built the team from behind, giving priority to the tough defensive.

Now they should instead bring matches, dominate them.

- It is a big change towards how we have played before. In the World Cup it was mostly that we would be low and be disciplined in the defense game. Now it's the opposite. We will dominate the ball possession, we will play for more chances - and then kill the match by just holding the ball when we have the lead.

What does that mean for you personally?

- For me, this fits much better, compared to running back and forth, fighting and tearing. It was a big reason why I did not play much in the World Cup - I do not have the qualities.

For many in Europe, it can be difficult to get the right perspective on the Asian Championships. Where is it really for tournament? Is it mostly just such a bonus thing that the big players are looking for to return to?

No, at least not for Iran. There, the motivation is maximum, both among the fans and in the championship troupe who recently played the World Cup.

Everyone comes. Everyone lives and dies for this.

- I have a hard time putting words into it. This passion I see in the other players - how desperate they really want to win, how seriously they take every single training. They will do just that, just everything to win the Asian Championships - and I am also inspired by them.

How is it labeled?

- Just take this with us because we have very strange rules within the team. Which Swedish player had ever questioned them, and that was what I did too. Most recently, we had to remove Instagram. I asked one of the slightly older people: "Why should we do this?" And he only: "Listen! I do anything to win the Asian Championships, I shit everything else. If this can help us a single small, small piece then there is nothing to discuss. I don't ask, I just do it - and you should do that too ”. So I just ... Yeah, okay. I'll remove it.

Tomorrow it has been two days since Saman Ghoddos made his first international match for Sweden, spicy enough in the same Abu Dhabi where he meets Yemen with Iran today.

It was as it was with that thing, and there is no need to go through the background again. Together, Ghoddos has made his choice, he has explained and justified it. And he absolutely regrets nothing.

- The fans in Iran appreciate a football player at a completely different level. They really show their love. I will not exaggerate, but it is very difficult to go to an ordinary restaurant in Tehran without people being totally excited. They just want to keep one, tell you how much you have done for them and how much joy you have given them just by playing football.

What do you know when you think back to the World Cup?

- I really feel that I have experienced the absolute biggest thing that can be experienced in football, I really feel that. The atmosphere, the joy ... It's completely sick. Even when I was sitting on the bench, it felt like I was playing. When they told me to warm up ... So, I didn't have to warm up. I just said, "Take me in right away! The sooner I get in, the more I can enjoy ”. I had so much adrenaline that everything just pumped.

"We made them proud"

Together Ghoddos scrolls through the impressions, among the experiences.

- In Persian you say: "You put the flag high up". You understand what I mean ...? We made them proud, we got the Iranian colors to be seen all over the world. It was an incredible pride, it was amazing.

As you mentioned earlier, successful football players are almost treated as gods in Iran. Can it be stressful?

- No, I appreciate it. When I was a kid, I wanted it like this, and I am very happy that I can experience it. I see no problem.

In early October, Saman Ghoddos bombed Amiens for a 30-meter shot against Dijon. It was his third goal - and fifth point - on the first seven matches in Ligue 1, and the success seemed to be total.

That picture was not true, at least not based on Ghoddo's own expectations of himself.

He was not very pleased with how he performed until that point - and he is actually directly disappointed with how it has happened to him ever since.

The points have become fewer, and just before the Christmas break he started some matches on the bench.

- In recent months I have been far too tired, not had any energy. I have not been resting for a year and a half - it has been football constantly - and now I have really got to know how worn I actually am. It has been marked both on training and on matches. And it hasn't gone as well at the end.

What are you doing about it?

The coach knows about it, I have explained everything to him. Some exercises I have to stand completely over, and on some training I should take it a little quieter just to catch up. It has been very important to me. Now I feel I get more and more energy. The explosiveness is beginning to come back again, I thought it disappeared quite a while.

Despite the headline goals and the resurrection, Saman Ghodos still returns to the same point of departure when he evaluates his first half in France: He is not satisfied.

Didn't get up to the level

He thought it would go even better. He started from it.

- Everyone says that the transition itself usually takes about six months, but I wanted it to go much faster. I thought that it would take a month, then I would be the best in the league. In any case, among those who do not play for PSG.

But has it not been so?

- No, I have not at all come up to the level where I know: "Wow, what good match I did". I have hardly even come up to the level where I know: "Okay, now I recognize myself". If I should be honest, I don't know why. Maybe a lot is sitting in the head, maybe I haven't adjusted well enough. It is difficult with the language. There are a lot of problems with apartments, you should buy everything, the furniture only comes after several months, the TV and the internet are not running ... Everything like that. And it is possible that such things have affected me, I really do not know.

Has it been frustrating?

- Of course it has, especially because I have not really been able to find the reason. On training, I have made mis-matches that I never otherwise do, missed receptions in a way that has never happened in my life ... Of course it has entered my head. "The Waffle Happens? Has it become poop? ”. I have kind of come away with explanations for myself because I still have to feel good: "Ah, it's grass, and I'm so used to artificial grass". "Ah, these are new balls". "Ah, it's Puma clothes, I'm not used to it". I have always tried to come up with something, but I have not found the real answer that I believe in myself - but I still feel that it is getting better and better and better.

During his time in Östersund, Saman Ghoddos often talked about how he grew as a human being, how he learned to see more than just himself. The question now is whether foreign life in a way will force him to step back to get ahead, if he needs to sharpen his elbows and once again become a little more selfish.

- One might have to get a little tougher shell, I've heard people talk that way and understand what they mean. But at the same time, I think it is a very familiar club I have come to. It is not that they eat from each other's plates. When it is law dinner, you really should bring your family, and there are good-hearted players in the squad. You do not know of any aggression from your colleague who you might have poked, but you feel the love. "Okay, come on now. Do your best and think about it ”.

Amiens SC paid about SEK 40 million for Saman Ghodds. The club has been around for 118 years, but never ever bought another player for the same amount of money.

Of course, as a record investment, pressure and responsibility follow - but also confidence and maneuvering space. It is not that Amiens is about to give up Saman Ghoddos because he started some matches on the bench.

- It gives a nice feeling that the club really believed in me as much as they did. I came into the team in a completely different way than I had if I had come as Bosman or so. Now the club does everything to make me play well, because I will succeed. They really take care of me, teach me and show me how to play. They give me every opportunity, so it's up to myself.

⁠

For Saman Ghoddos, the Asian Championships can mean a welcome little special bonus. Last autumn, the whole world of football followed how South Korean star Heung-Min Son played for his future in the U23 variant of the championship.

A title there would suffice to liberate him from the mandatory two-year duty, and the emotional relief when he succeeded completely forward.

Formally, Saman Ghoddos is in about the same situation. Iranian athletes are also required to complete a long conscription period - but medal in this championship would suffice to free them from duty.

- That's right, and it is clear that it would help our young players enormously.

Are you worried about actually having to go down to Iran and do military service?

- No not really. On the one hand, I have a kind of right not to have to do it because I have received my education in Sweden, but on the other hand I really have to do it because I have Iranian passport ... It is a bit complicated.

"She's fine now, thankfully"

Both parents of Saman Ghoddo come from the Iranian city of Ahvaz, as the avenue is not more than a few miles away from the arenas of the United Arab Emirates.

Before the World Cup, Saman told Ghoddos how his mother suffered from cancer, about how it naturally affects both the life he lives and the football he plays.

The parents could never follow the tournament as it was supposed to, did not get the opportunity to feel the pride of their son in place. Mom Simin needed to be treated in Sweden, Dad Mohsen wanted to be there for her.

Instead, they are now allowed to go almost all the way home to see how far their son has really come. The old hometown of Ahvaz is so close that it can almost be seen on the other side of the Persian Gulf.

- Right now Mom is good, thank goodness. Both mom and dad will come down to the game between Iran and Iraq, and it will be extremely fun. It will be very big both for them and for me. It's another thing that makes this championship really feel special.

https://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/a/21aBay/stor-ara-for-mig-att-jamforas-med-honom

For those of you who like to keep up with the Asian Cup Erik Niva has a blog on AB where he post really interesting in depth articles often with a political touch.

https://bloggar.aftonbladet.se/nivasvarld/

Quote

The Dictator's Team

The sad truth is that Assad has won, and that the outside world has accepted it. Formally, the war in Syria is still ongoing - and some areas are still controlled by others than the regime - but there is no longer any doubt about how everything will end.

There was no war crimes tribunal for Bashar al-Assad, there was no responsibility for the chemical gas attacks against civilians. It was about half a million dead, just over thirteen million on the run - and then all of us who thought it was time to move on.

Today, Bashar al-Assad can sit quietly and assure that nothing really has happened. A little worried for a while, maybe, but everything now again under control. From there, away - here is nothing to see, nothing special to report on. Syria is a normal, stable and well-functioning nation without divisions - or as the slogan reads on the national team's coach during the Asian Championship: "One Team. One Nation. One Syria ”...

You'll have to Google translate as always, but give it a go.

Edited January 7, 2019 by sne

[sne]

Someone's going to get a frosty reception at the next press meeting with the FA.

Quote

When the SVFF bought shirts and saved the world

January 8, 2019, at. 12:45 of Patrik Brenning

NOTE: Genre image .

Oh no, Stefan, Viktor, Fredrik and Filip have happened to wash their wool sweaters in 40 degrees again! Now they are not even enough down to the navels on them and make them look like four old Spice Girls fanatics who refused to change their style of clothing since the era of greatness in the 90s. How should Stefan, Viktor, Fredrik and Filip (we can call them SVFF for the sake of simplicity) now solve this ?!

SVFF googles after the nearest clothing store. There are 46 within a quarter-hour drive of the apartment. But now, my friend's gang doesn't want any shirts.

No, it should be camel wool. Of the finest quality. Those kind of sweaters that caress them over the skin as tenderly as a loving mother when they put on and warm as well as if the above mother was a newly established Finnish. Two of the stores just minutes from the SVFF's apartment have that kind of sweaters. But now it gets tricky. Which one should SVFF choose?

SVFF googles the shops and starts reading the reviews. The first store is located just 100 meters from the apartment and has six new-born Finnish men's coats in stock. In the reviews it also praises its incredibly friendly staff, its generous opening hours and its affordable prices. The only minus SVFF finds is that the people who sew the shirts seem to be imported criminal workers who work inhumane many hours a day, have got their passports seized by the employers and lack realistic opportunity to both protest against working conditions and to resign and leave the country. A large number of them also seem to have sadly died during the manufacturing process in recent years. Exactly how many are debated if and whether it is due to the toxic chemicals or other causes also seems unclear.

Well, the other store is at least 600 meters from the SVFF's home. It also has six new-born Finnish men's coats in stock and also gets praise for its incredibly friendly staff, its almost equally generous opening hours and almost completely equally affordable prices. These shirts also seem to be made in countries where the workers have collective agreements, are reasonably paid and work in a safe working environment.

So which store should SVFF choose?

This is not the case with the situation of the workers being unimportant to SVFF. SVFF is a good fellow person and always wants everyone's best. But it's still 500 meters further to the other store. Not that SVFF needs to go the 500 meters. No then, they have both a driver and a big nice bus to go in but the SVFF still thinks it is a bit difficult to maybe have to sit a few more minutes in the queue. Completely unnecessary as well. In addition, SVFF's 26 poles who they will meet a little later in the evening will be so grumpy if they are forced to wait.

No, it may still be business number one. It doesn't help as well. But then SVFF comes on an unpleasant thought.

Imagine if the people on the street see SVFF when they enter the store. And if they think the SVFF is not a good fellow person, they always want everyone's best. SVFF actually thinks it had been very uncomfortable.

Then SVFF gets an idea!

If they were to bring their friend Krille Kommunal, who can do a little more about this with labor law issues, when they buy the shirt. Then Krille Kommunal can tell the staff exactly how miserable those shirts that SVFF should buy are actually. And then the store can tell the factory that they cannot treat their employees such badly anymore. It would be very good for everyone involved. Then SVFF would even help to change the situation for the better. I mean, if they do not go into the store and buy that miserable sweater then the staff there will never hear exactly how miserable it is and then they cannot tell it to the factory so the workers can get the better there. And it would be very bad. Then it would even be the fault of the SVFF to go to the other store with the fair working conditions.

With the noses in the weather, SVFF jumps into his bus where Krille Kommunal is already waiting. An incredibly comfortable minute later they arrive at the store and at the same time as SVFF tries to get the canisters back to the test rooms, they hear how Krille Kommunal starts its lecture for the staff. When SVFF comes out of the test rooms again, the lecture is over and they can with good conscience pay for their new nice shirts.

In the evening SVFF gets much praise for its jerseys of the 26 friends. They are also just as comfortable as a caress from a loving mother and as warm as if the above mother was a newly established Finnish. But above all, it is conscience that warms the SVFF. For today, the SVFF has done a really good thing to change the world. Today, SVFF has bought four really bad shirts.

SVFF is so pleased with their new shirts that they post pictures on them in social media. It turns out that there are more who think they are nice and soon the store will order more shirts. And missing. And socks. And caps. Those poor working conditions seem to the new customers not think so much about because they know like everyone else in the city that if SVFF is shopping in the store it can not be so damn bad. For SVFF is a nice fellow who always wants everyone's best. Everyone knows. SVFF has even written it in their Tinder profiles.

Now the store sells so many sweaters, socks, mittens and caps that the factory is forced to bring in even more guest workers to make sure that the stock is not finished when SVFF comes back the following winter. For the return, SVFF comes. Year after year after year. To get their shirts. And to improve the world.

Hi, SVFF!

https://bloggar.aftonbladet.se/brenning/2019/01/nar-svff-kopte-trojor-och-raddade-varlden/

[rjw63]

AIK mega-fan Magnus Käck

Awesome name

[BOF]

35 minutes ago, rjw63 said:

Magnus Käck

Sounds like something I'd create the morning after a long weekend session.

[sne]

Watching a Swedish side made up of domestic league players put on a pathetic display against Finland in the first game of the Winter Tour in Qatar.

Obviously Finland have a side much closer to regular strength as they have far fewer pro's outside Finland and Scandinavia while this Sweden side contains no-one from the regular squad.

Still should be able to string a few passes together thou.

Nice to see the Swedish FA are continuing to get a lot of flak for putting the training camp in Qatar.

Spineless bunch of money grabbing ass hats. 

[Zatman]

11 minutes ago, sne said:

Watching a Swedish side made up of domestic league players put on a pathetic display against Finland in the first game of the Winter Tour in Qatar.

Obviously Finland have a side much closer to regular strength as they have far fewer pro's outside Finland and Scandinavia while this Sweden side contains no-one from the regular squad.

Still should be able to string a few passes together thou.

Nice to see the Swedish FA are continuing to get a lot of flak for putting the training camp in Qatar.

Spineless bunch of money grabbing ass hats. 

So you are saying we shouldn't sign any of these players

[sne]

7 minutes ago, Zatman said:

So you are saying we shouldn't sign any of these players

I do yes, at least not as players who we'd expect to improve us short term.

One or 2 who might be for the future. 

Alexander Milosovic is out of contract and might be a squad player for us even now, he has great leadership skills by all accounts.

But as we just loaned Hause there is no need for another CB probably.

[sne]

Much improved 2nd half by Sweden but still an embarrassing 0-1 loss.

Daleho Irandust with a miss that would have made Ronny Rosenthal proud still looked OK in the second half, as did Hosam Ayesh along with Jonathan Augustinsson who sadly went off injured.

Yes, that is the baby brother of my boy Ludwig Augustinsson, and he's also a LB.

So a loss, but as we all know these games are not about the result. But rather about getting money into the coffers of the FA, and to give goodwill and publicity to whatever vile regime is willing to sponsor the spectacle.

So thanks for reminding me of this horror show 

Edited January 8, 2019 by sne

[Zatman]

On 08/01/2019 at 18:01, sne said:

 

Alexander Milosovic is out of contract and might be a squad player for us even now, he has great leadership skills by all accounts.

But as we just loaned Hause there is no need for another CB probably.

Linked with Sheffield Wednesday, Bruce must be following your posts