BEDOYA BREAKS THROUGH Arch Bell - Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Orebro's Alejandro Bedoya is hoping that his two goal outburst on Monday against BK Hacken is a sign of things to come.
Trailing Hacken by a score of 2-0 late in the second half, the 22-year old midfielder entered the match in the 77th minute for the visitors and scored two goals in the span of 10 minutes to help Orebro salvage a draw.
The goals were the first ones in Allsvenskan action for the native of Weston, Florida who was relieved to have finally found the back of the net in league play for his new club.
"It was really good for me to get that first goal and break the ice. I'm really proud," Bedoya told YA.
"Our coach [Sixten Bostrom] told me before I went in to just do what I was capable of doing which is to raise the tempo of the match and bring an extra spark and energy to the team."
The second goal struck by the Boston College alum made all the rounds on the Swedish television highlight shows as Bedoya took a pass from Finnish forward Tommy Wirtanen and drilled a rocket into the Hacken net just as the full 90 minutes were coming to a close.
The ability to come off the bench at any moment in a match and provide an immediate impact such as Monday's strikes is something Bedoya says he has been working on this entire season.
"You really have to be mentally strong to be a substitute and I think I have been adapting and developing well on that front. I've been improving in training and hope to eventually crack the starting lineup. My teammates say I have what it takes to start but I'm also here to do whatever I have to do to help the club," continued the former ACC standout.
Glancing at the Orebro roster, players of all nationalities can be found including those from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Cameroon and of course, the Scandinavian countries.
The mixture of ethnicities on the field might be a source of friction in some clubhouses, but Bedoya likes to point out that the squad's diversity has helped form a strong bond with everyone on the central Swedish club.
"There is a lot of diversity on this club and I think we're mostly different in that sense from alot of the other Swedish clubs," he added. "We really don't have any guys with big egos on the team and it was easy for me to quickly make friends with some of the guys like Sammy [Liberian Samuel Wowoah] and Roni [Finn Roni Porokora].
The Sunshine State resident got the last laugh with his teammates during last month's Confederations Cup after the US national team pulled off the stunning upset of then-world number one and defending European champions Spain.
Bedoya noted that some players on the Orebro squad were predicting a 3-0 result for the Spanish team, but when it was all said and done, it was the ex-Eagle who had bragging rights.
"Some of the guys on team were dissing the US before the Spain game but they really couldn't say much afterwards. I think there is definitely a new found respect abroad for the US national team following the Confederations Cup," Bedoya beamed.
The midfielder is now the lone American playing in Sweden's top level of soccer following the departure of Charlie Davies from Hammarby to French club Sochaux.
With his professional career just starting out, Bedoya is focused on having plenty of success at Orebro before even considering following in the footsteps of Davies to move on to a bigger and more competitive European league.
Yet when pressed on what would be his ideal playing situation, the son of Colombian parents does not hesitate that he hopes to one day be scoring goals in a Blaugrana uniform at Camp Nou.
"My dream is to play in La Liga and I would love to play for Barcelona. To be able to play in front of 100,000 would be amazing," he exclaimed.
Bedoya and Orebro return to action this weekend looking and should be favored to pick up the three points at home against bottom feeder Orgryte.
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