As the semester is slowly approaching it’s end so does the soccer season. In the NCAA div. 1 soccer you only play competitive games during the fall semester. Which makes the season very short and extremely competitive. In my opinion it is not the best setup for a soccer season, I think that we should be playing competitive games in fall as well as in the spring.
If we could spread out the games over two semesters it would be better, they could have the NCAA tournament in the end of spring instead which would not only mean warmer weather but also the amount of break between competitive season and off season would be much shorter.

As a soccer player we look forward to the fall because that’s when we get to play the real games. In the spring we only get to play a few games that doesn’t really mean anything except that you can show your coach that you deserve a starting spot on the team.

So what does that mean for us if we don’t make it to the NCAA tournament?
Well that means our season is over since there are no more games to be played. If the NCAA would expand the competitive season we could still be practicing all the way to finals week, but now we have to wait until spring where our hours are very limited to training.

So just a quick recap of our season:
We had a pretty good season I think, we won the Sun Belt conference as new comers and showed everybody that we are a team to be reckoned with. Even though we did not manage to win the Conference Tournament we ended with our heads held high.

As I wrote in one of my first blogs I sustained a injury in August, by late October I was back on the pitch and I could practice and be a part of the team for the last couple of games. So now I am looking forward to be able to play in the spring and then come back for a last fall semester to try and claim some more titles.

Player profile #4

This weeks player profile will be a playing legend. The Italian keeper Buffon is considered as one of the best goalkeepers of them all.

He started his professional career in Parma at only 17 years of age, which is very young for a goalkeeper. He made the starting eleven only a year after he signed his first contract and at the age of only 18 he took his club to a second place in the Italian league. Only two years after that he would go on to win the UEFA Cup with Parma and started to make a name for himself.

In 2001 he moved on from Parma and would join the Italian giants Juventus. This is where he became the goalkeeper everybody was talking about. But in the year of 2006 there was a big scandal where it was revealed that Juventus has payed referees to their own benefit, it would go on to be called Calciopoli. Juventus was relegated from Serie A (the highest division) to Serie B and was stripped all of their trophies from the previous two years. And this is where Buffon started his legacy of a club legend. He stayed in the club and helped them return to the highest league and since the year of 2011 they have won the league every year.

In 2018 he held a press conference saying that his time in Juventus had come to an end and it was time to part ways. So he made a transfer to the French giants Paris Saint-Germain, where he played for a year. But after that year he would return to his beloved Juventus with the hopes to lead them to a Champions League trophy.

Style of play

He is a tremendous shot-stopper and he is phenomenal on his line with quick reflexes and great control of his body. He is steady as a rock and commands his back-line in a way that he can avoid making saves unless they make a mistake. He is not the best with his feet, but he makes up for it by positioning himself so that he always has simple choices to play out. You rarely see him make any big mistakes leading to a goal.

Trophies
– UEFA Cup 1998/99
– Serie A winner 2001/02, 2002/03 and from 2011 – 2018 (7 years in a row)
– Ligue 1 winner 2018/19
– World Cup winner 2006

There is one reason that every soccer player is playing the game and that is to win titles. That is the biggest goal coming in to the beginning of the season. It is what we work so hard all year to achieve in the end.

All the hours spent in the gym and on the field during pre-season is all for one reason, it is to win. We put so much into our team that when the time comes we need to be prepared for that one game that means everything.

That’s exactly what happened this weekend, yesterday (Saturday) was our last home game as well as Conference game of the year. We could crown ourselves champions at home on Senior night if we won the game. The feeling in the locker room was electric, everybody was in a good mood because we knew that it was all in our own hands.

We came out flying in the first half and was up 2-0 after only 13 minutes, we started the game exactly the way we intended and we swept the opponents off their feet. The final result was 4-1 and when the referee blew the final whistle we all rushed on to the field to celebrate. And what a feeling it is to know that you are the best team in your conference, we all got together as a team and sang “Campeones, Campeones Ole Ole Ole”.
We also have a tradition to sing in the locker room after a win and this time we really blew the roof off that locker room.

Now we move on to the Conference Tournament next week in North Carolina for another trophy!

This weekend was a very exciting one for all Swedish football fans. It was the last weekend of the two highest divisions in Sweden and the title race as well as the fight in the bottom has never been closer before.

We will start with the second highest division called Superettan. It is also called “the league of talents” because this is where young players get their chance to prove themselves. The level is not the best but its a perfect environment to earn your wings and get a lot of time on the pitch for younger players.
There are 16 teams playing a total of 30 game weeks, and it was all going down in the last and final game week. Two teams are directly promoted to the highest division and one will have to qualify. But it is the bottom of the league where my attention is at. My childhood club, the team closest to my heart, called IK Frej was battling to avoid relegation. It did not end very well, they lost their last game 4-0 so it did not look like they were going to make it. But as a team with less points failed to win their game they avoided getting relegated straight away, now they will have to play 2 qualifying games to stay in the league. I can only hope that they win those two games so that they play in Superettan again next year.

Now on to the big league, Allsvenskan! Where the best teams in Sweden play to become the Swedish Champions. There are 16 teams, playing a total of 30 gameweeks in this league as well. This year 3 teams had the chance to become champions in the last game week. Two teams from the capital Stockholm so you can only imagine the rivalry on the streets for Saturdays game. The three teams that could win were, Djurgården, Hammarby and Malmö. But the ones in the driver seat was Djurgården, all they needed was a tie to crown themselves champions. This is also a team that I support after I spent a summer practicing with the team in 2018. It did not look good as the team went down 2-0 after the first half of their game. While they were 2-0 down, the other 2 teams were winning their games. So now they had to fight their way back to at least 2-2. The game went on and the managed to score 2-1 after 15 minutes into the second half. But it would take another 30 minutes before they scored the equalizer, 2-2 with 5 minutes left to play. All they needed to do was carry out the storm, which they managed to do. Djurgården were crowned champions after 2-2 in the last game winning the league by one (1) !!! point.

The world cup in 1994 will always be remembered as one of the best in Sweden. It was a very warm summer and there was football hysteria in the country. The world cup was played in the US but as the Swedish team went for win after win I don’t think that anyone missed a game even though there was a 6 hour time difference.

Even though I wasn’t even born I know all of Swedens games by heart. There is a documentary about the world cup and the Swedish team and I have watch it so many times.

Nobody really believed in the Swedish team except for themselves, we are not a very big country but this summer things would change. The team came out fearless to anyone that they were put up against. In the quarter-final against Romania the only thing that could separate the teams were a penalty shootout. The whole country of Sweden was holding its breath. But the team managed to win the shootout and the goalkeeper Thomas Ravelli saved two penalties, one of them to win the game.
In the Semi-final Sweden was put up against Brazil which became to much and they lost 1-0. But they would go on to win the game for third place. Which caused a mass celebration in Sweden. The team was welcomed home as heroes and 75 000 people celebrated the players in Rålambshovsparken. The players were celebrated with a song that still to this day is played every summer and we all think about that magical moment when Sweden was the third best team in the world.

Player Profile #3

Once again I’m doing a profile on a goalkeeper, I might be a little bias since I am a goalkeeper myself, but here we go….

Marc-Andre ter Stegen is a German football player currently playing for the Spanish club FC Barcelona. He is one of the best goalkeepers today and he was nominated for FIFA’s the best goalkeeper of the year, but as you already know Alisson Becker (from last week) won the prize.

ter Stegen started his professional career in a German club called Borussia Mönchengladbach, where he played for four years, he played in 108 games before making his move to FC Barcelona in 2014. He’s been at the club since and is a key player in squad.
In the national team he is still on Manuel Neuer’s shadow, but if you ask me it is time for a change and let ter Stegen take on the responsibility of being the first choice for Germany.

But he wasn’t the first choice straight away, he had some injury trouble in the beginning at his new club and was the 2nd choice his first and second season. But as time went by he developed and was soon the first choice between the sticks for the club, and today he is a very valuable player.

In a club like Barcelona the goalkeeper is often forgotten, they have so many talented players on the field (Messi for example) that their opponents often seem like they never have a chance to score, so when they do get a chance ter Stegen has proven his value time after time, making unbelievable saves.

I believe that ter Stegen is the best goalkeeper in the world today.
I see him as the perfect goalkeeper right now, he is very athletic and strong in his box, he is a very good shot-stopper and his reflexes are amazing. But the thing that makes him stand out from the other goalkeepers is his ability to read the game and come off his line. He is so quick and so good with his feet. The defenders knows that he is back there and therefore they can play with higher risks. His ability to kick the ball both from his hands and from the ground is as good as it gets. He rarely makes mistakes with his feet and that’s why I think he’s the best goalkeeper today.

Player Profile #2

Alisson Becker is a Brazilian football player currently playing for Liverpool. He was recently awarded as “the best goalkeeper” of the year at the FIFA gala in September. I think that he deserved the prize that the was given because he’s been a big part in Liverpools success the past two years.

Becker started his professional career in Internacional, a Brazilian club before he made the move to Europe and Roma. He played 37 games for Roma over two years at the club before Liverpool made a record signing of 66.8 million British pounds, making him the most expensive goalkeeper of all time.

He has definitely made his money worth for Liverpool, as he led them to a Champions League trophy by keeping a clean sheet in the final game.

He led the Brazilian national team to a Copa America trophy this summer playing a big role for the team as a solid last outpost.

To me Alisson Becker is one of the best goalkeepers today, he is one of the most complete goalkeepers in this modern style of football. He is a very good shot-stopper and his reflexes are incredible. His timing is very good and he is often quick of his line. He is also very good with his feet, which is what most goalkeepers need to be today. He gets a little over confident at times which can lead to cheap mistakes and easy give aways but that was when he first came to Liverpool. But other than that he is a very good goalkeeper and truly deserved the FIFA award.

Player profile #1

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a Swedish football player currently playing for LA Galaxy in the MLS. Many hold him as the best player ever to come from Sweden. In my opinion his results and stats talk for themselves, he is by far the best Swedish player ever.

Ibrahimovic began his career in Malmö FF where he was recognized by Ajax and signed his first international professional contract in 2001. He struggled to fit in to the team from the start but in his second year he found his place and started scoring a lot of goals. This was recognized by Juventus in Italy a big time club which he would sign for in 2004. After playing for Juventus for 2 years the team went through a tough time with being relegated to Seria C because of match fixing. So Ibra signed for Inter where he would score 57 goals in 88 games. This is where Barcelona got their eyes on the Swede, Ibra signed for Barca 2009 and fulfilled his lifelong dream to play for the Spanish/Catalonian club. He would only play 29 games for the club after falling out with the coach of the team. So in 2010 he signed for the Italian club AC Milan, first as a loan and then permanent in 2011. After a successful campaign he started to look elsewhere and in 2012 he signed for the French club Paris Saint-Germain. A club that was putting a lot of money in the team to make it a great club that would compete for the Champions League title. This is where he found a lot of success and scored 113 goals in 122 games. When a lot of people thought that he was going to hang his boots up in 2016 he made a BIG move to my favorite club Manchester United. Where he stayed for 2 years and suffered a horrific injury tearing his ACL. But he recovered very quickly and came back and now he plays for LA Galaxy and has scored 51 goals in 55 games as a 38 year old.

Some Trophies he won in his career:
– Dutch League x2
– Italian league x6 (3 different teams)
– Spanish League x1
– French League x4
– Europa League x1
– Named best Swedish player 10 years in a row (2007-2016)

He’s won a trophy every season of his career since 2001. He’s won the league in 4 different countries, no one has ever won in 5 different (yet).
He holds the record of scored goals for the Swedish National team.

As Zlatan Ibrahimovic is my favorite player I follow him on every team he plays for and I have multiple different team shirts with his name on the back. He is by far the best player to come from Sweden in my opinion.

This past week FIFA, Federation Internationale de Football Association, which is the international federation of association football handed out their prices for the best players in the past year.
There is always a hot debate on who is the best player at the moment. It is a very hard thing to judge since there are so many aspects to consider. What do you have to do to be “the best”?
Many think that the one who should get the prize has to win a big title, like Champions League for example. But in my opinion there is a difference between being the best player and winning trophies. A trophy is won as a team, winning the champions league is a team effort, of course a player can have a big impact in a game and score some goals but it is still a team effort. The best player is the one who changes the game, scores goal after goal week in and week out. The best should be the player who leads his team to victories and makes a difference.

So who is The Best?
This year the Argentinian wonder Leo Messi was awarded the prize of being the Best male football player of the year. A well deserved prize after having a great season of scoring tons of goals in both La Liga and Champions League.

The American and World Champion Megan Rapinoe was awarded the female best player of the year. I believe that it is well deserved as well, I saw her play during the world cup this summer and she was crucial for the American team.

As I mentioned in a previous blog I said that goalkeepers never really get the big headlines. Well, FIFA have their own Best Goalkeeper award, which I think is really nice. It is good that the goalkeepers also feel like they have a prize that applies to them. This year it was awarded to Alisson Becker a brazilian goalkeeper who plays for Liverpool.
For the women it was Sari van Veenendaal from the Netherlands.

There is one position very different from the others in football and that is the goalkeeper. The focus of the game is often on the forwards, the ones that score the goals. So we tend to forget the ones in the back, the ones that are trying to keep the other players from scoring the goals. It is as important to keep the ball out of the net as it is getting the ball in the net. A perfect saying of this is; if the opponents don’t score, we can’t loose.

Goalkeepers are always seen as different from the rest of the squad. They train different from the others and the outfield players always say that you have to be a little bit crazy to be a goalkeeper. And there might be some truth to that, maybe you have to be a little bit different to try to save a ball coming at you at full speed.

Even though goalkeepers doesn’t run as much as the other players it is still though and very physical work. A goalkeeper has to be as fit or even more fit than the outfield players. Goalkeeper practice is hard work, but during the game the mental aspect is the most important.

As a midfielder you can get away with missing a pass, but as a goalkeeper mistakes are much more visible and crucial. Therefore you have to have a strong mentality, if you can’t accept a mistake and move on your mental state will be off the whole game and you will keep making more mistakes. If you have a strong mentality you will stop thinking of what you did and look forward instead, always think what’s coming next and how you can do better.

“As a goalkeeper, if you make 10 world-class saves but then miss one shot, or you let in a pass, you’re there in the highlights afterwards – and, let’s be honest: that is what most people see” – Marc-Andre ter Stegen (goalkeeper for Barcelona and Germany)

The mental aspects has broken many good goalkeepers, they make a crucial mistake in an important game and then they are never the same again. Even if you make a mistake you have to keep looking forward, if you don’t have the right mental approach the rest of the game will be even more difficult and you will loose your confidence.

So what went through my mind when I chose to be a goalkeeper? Honestly I don’t really remember, my dad was a goalkeeper when he played so I think it was a natural thing for me to become a keeper. I tried different positions when I was younger but I was always better at goalkeeping than any other position.