Hello, football fans!
Many of us headed to Malmö IP on this lovely September Saturday to see if Rosengård’s new coach, Fran Alonso, had already put his stamp on the home team’s style of play after just two training sessions.
Would the goals finally start flowing against the visiting side, IF Uppsala — currently bottom of the league? Uppsala is a team grappling with financial troubles, having been forced to sell their best players over the summer.
I have to admit that I — like many others, surely — fell into the trap of expecting a Rosengård victory by a margin of four or five goals.
WILL WE NEVER LEARN!
Uppsala arrived with a young squad that, right from kickoff, showed the crowd they had come to Malmö to take points.
From the stands, we watched the visitors create several sharp chances; no one would have complained had they been leading at halftime.
Coach Fran Alonso must have been tearing his hair out over the way Rosengård looked during that first half.
He must have had a good talk with them during the break, because we saw a completely different Rosengård in the second half.
Yet the inability to score persisted, and we began to resign ourselves to a 0–0 draw — a result neither side would have been happy with.
The referee added seven minutes of stoppage time, and with just a few minutes left, the breakthrough goal finally arrived.
Filippa Sjöström, who had come on as a lively substitute, scored to make it 1–0, securing the expected three points for Rosengård.
I won’t get into handing out praise or criticism; suffice it to say these are three points that will prove important when the season concludes.
The points lifted Rosengård out of the relegation zone. Fran and the coaching staff now have a week to fine-tune their tactics and gameplay ahead of the tough away match against Norrköping on Sunday.
People often talk about "six-point matches," and this is truly one of them.
As always, I plan to be there in person to experience 90 minutes of drama.