PREVIEW: WEEKEND SWEDISH ACTION Arch Bell - Thursday, August 20, 2009
Alejandro Bedoya and Orebro pay a visit to Boras to take on Elfsborg in Allsvenskan action while Ljungskile USA host Syrianska FC in the Superettan.
IF Elfsborg - Orebro
Orebro hit the road on Sunday to try to build on their modest two match winning streak when they face Elfsborg at Boras Arena.
After spending most of the season at midfielder, Alejandro Bedoya has been tapped by head coach Sixten Bostrom to anchor the Orebro back line and is expected to do so again on Sunday when the two teams take the field.
The play of Bedoya at defender has been stellar as the Florida native has been recognized by Swedish media for his superb play.
Orebro continue to hang on to the sixth spot in the league standings are well within shouting distance of a Europa League berth.
Elfsborg are right in the thick of a very difficult stretch which sees them challenging for the Allsvenskan championship on top of Europa League playoffs.
Head coach Magnus Haglund's squad sit third in the league standings but are just one point out of first place in a race for the championships which has five teams only separated by three points.
In addition to their domestic campaign, Elfsborg are hoping to pull off the upset and take down Italian giant Lazio in the Europa League.
It is still unclear if Finnish forward Tommy Wirtanen will be back for Bostrom on Sunday however the head an does know that midfielders Patrik Anttonen and James Frempong are out due to injuries.
Somalian forward Yunus Ismail is out indefinitely due to a stroke suffered several weeks ago during training.
As for Elfsborg, midfielders Emir Bajrami and Anders Svensson will be gameday decision as both players hope to recover from an illness and an injury respectively.
Ljungskile - Syrianska FC
Ljungskile are once again back in action on Sunday when they host Syrianska at Starke Arvid Arena in Superettan action.
As has been the case now for the last two months, defensive stalwarts Ryan Miller and Etchu Tabe will man the back line for head coach Bosse Walemark.
The play of Miller has been a revelation for the western Swedish club as the former Notre Dame standout was recently recognized in a Swedish publication as oen of the best players in the Superettan for the month of July.
Miller also picked up honors for being the man of the match in last week's victory overs econd place Atvidabergs.
Fellow American defender Sam Brill continues to work with the Ljungskile reserve team and will not be seeing any action on Sunday while goalkeeper Colin Burns will sit from the stands and continue to count down the weeks until the season is over.
Walemark will have to be concerned about the fatigue of his squad who are playing their third match in seven days.
Despite the load of games in such a short span of time, the hosts have reacted well by going unbeaten in their last six to put themselves in a healthy position above the relegation zone with 10 matches left in the season.
Syrianska are very much still in the promotion race as the suburban Stockholm club are four points shy of being in the promotion playoff spot.
Head coach Özcan Melkemichel will be leaning on leading scorer Michael Mensah to head up the attack on Miller and Tabe.
Walemark has no injuries to report with the exception of midfielder Jacob Flingmark who is out for the season.
Melkemichel will be missing Serbian defender Ivan Ristic and Estonian forward Vladimir Voskoboinikov whom are out with injuries.
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