Orebridge. How much fun can you have on a rainy Sunday in Örebro? Well, Rosengård thought, you can’t have more fun than make yourself.
And so they came home with a golden fist connected to the Allsvenskan.
Then after the show it’s the next party.
Four days after qualifying for the Champions League, they left FC Rosengård To Närke to the trampoline for SM gold, and there were some funny quotes to take part in the match.
– When we spoke before kick-off, the goal for us is to score against them this time, said Rikard Johansson, coach of Kev Orebro.
“I thought it was crazy to shoot from there,” said Olivia Schouf after curling Sophie Bridgaard in a CL qualifier from a hopeless distance on Wednesday.
Logical statements, both.
Kev Orebro has not scored in Rosengard in the team’s last five encounters. Bredgaard achieved the goal share he had been dreaming of for a long time to come.
Then the match started. Fifteen seconds later, Lisa Pechersky had sent 1-0 to Orebro, twenty minutes later Sophie Bridgaard scored a dream goal more terrifying, from a distance even longer than the previous time. I thought it was crazy to shoot from there.
small fish in europe
football. what do you know.
In any case, Rosengård’s self-image as a winning machine as players fell into the winning pot like kids could be said to have passed the tough tests this fall. Within a couple of days in August they had pushed out major competitors Häcken and Linköping, and now that Häcken had commanded the drive over Linköping in particular, they had a great position to tighten their grip on the gold more tightly, or at least clear the way for the half-and-half. Final against Kristianstad.
If Renée Slegers warned of a hangover after CL qualifying, Pechersky 1-0 was a good reminder. Kev Orebro was going 4-5-1 deep (sometimes too deep with the flanks), and found fast ways forward through the playing foot of Carly Wickenheiser, behind Rosengard’s triple-defense line. Berglind Rós Áugústdóttir ran into the free position five minutes later, to remind one more.
Rosengård has its own place in the food chain, big fish in Sweden, and small fish in Europe – and player turnover follows. This is why it was impressive to see how they still manage to stabilize their game. With the departure of captain Caroline Seger, it only became clear how good Mia Persson was as a well-balanced midfield mind, with the same kind of scanning characteristics (head spinning proactively and continuously), and once the match profile was set, it was exclusively about Rosengård’s way of grinding against football. Transition to Orebro. Pearson roamed, collected, coordinated his teammates, and was given more space to do so.
It is no coincidence that they do this
Mimmi Larsson shot against a passive defense and tied, then that angry finish came from Bredgaard and the hangover ended. Olivia Schouf scored a penalty, she was supposed to take another one, then another after the break. 4-2 with half an hour left, after Augustdottir slipped a goal from the kind of situation where Rosengard didn’t have time to count his players into the defensive penalty area. Kev Orebro scored this time, and they should have scored more against a team Rosengard that never shined, but it was steadier, faster and more stable.
– But… we’re a little tired. You see it. Not physically, but perhaps in the head, sporting director Therese Sjogran then admitted.
You can see it, but you can also see their win on a rainy Sunday in Örebro. It is no coincidence that they do so. Häcken played best football in the series for periods, playing Rosengård this summer (but losing) and going to Östergötland and crashing Linköping as the Saab 29.
Rosengård remained.
The Champions League takes place on Mondays and they are there. Allsvenskan roll over, they’ve stifled the battle for gold there too.
You can have a lot of fun in Orebro, if only you know how to behave.