Assyriska 4-2 GIF Sundsvall: Victory at last

By: Luka | August 17th, 2009

What can I say? After what seemed like an eternity of disappointment and inauspicious luck, Assyriska finally emerged victorious on the back of a completely virtuoso and domineering performance. GIF Sundsvall belied their form and position on the table to completely crumble at the Sodertalje Arena. The final scoreline flattered our opponents, with Assyriska showing what it can do when some degree of effectiveness in front of goal is exhibited.

Goals:
1 -0 Peter Furuseth 18’
2-0 Eddie Moussa 33’
3-0 Nahir Besara 46’
3-1 Akombo Ukeyima 83′
4-1 Dennis Ostlundh 89′(pen)
4-2 Hannes Sugurdsson 90′ (editor’s note: this guy is an angry bald man)

Pre-match issues:
- Aziz Corry Nyang did not play in the end, with rumours suggesting the decision was two-fold – both the economic aspect and Sundsvall’s coach’s postulation that Assyriska will go extra hard on him.
- Goran Marklund declared we will witness his glorious return to form. In fitting manner, Goran picked up a serious injury within the first 20 minutes of the game and will most likely have a long spell on the sidelines. Indeed, football and fate conspire in such cruel ways sometimes.

First half:
Yet again, I was left bitterly disappointed with C Sports. I only received match pictures by the 18th minute, and even then, the video barely streamed at all (C Sports have since received an angry-rant email from yours truly). In the words of Sundsvall coach Soren Akeby (google translated, of course) – ‘The first 10 minutes I thought we were okay. We had some chances but when it does 1-0, it is Assyriska who dominate the match.’

Goran Marklund had an early chance saved. Unfortunately however, this represented the extent of his involvement in the match, as he picked up an injury challenging for a ball and had to be replaced just before the 18th minute by fellow striker Xhevdet Llumnica (who performed admirably). Dennis Oslundh subsequently took over the captaincy.

That represented the only adverse moment of the game for Assyriska however, with the match soon turning into an exhibition. Eddie Moussa (pictured, and probably about to mesmarise his opponent) expertly set up winger Peter Furuseth for the first goal almost instantly after Goran’s moment of affliction. The Assyrian connection was responsible for the second goal – Stefan Batan crossing diagonally for Eddie Moussa to volley home first-time. Again, young Assyrian (and Swedish, if you want to be technical) prodigy Besara teased Sundsvall by firing from 25 metres, only to be denied by the cross bar in first half stoppage time. Sundsvall simply had no answer to Assyriska’s ascendancy.

Second half:
Assyriska afforded Sundsvall absolutely no reprieve in the second half, with Besara capping off a fine performance with a goal to make it 3-0 (conveniently occurring in the rare occasion that the stream failed me and so I missed this goal as well). The game subsequently resembled a training match for Assyriska, going forward at will yet not feeling any need to score again. Sundsvall were struggling to even maintain any meaningful periods of possession, let alone threaten Assyriska keeper Oscar Berglund. The ole’s began in the 75th minute, with the Zelge fans rekindling their long-lost love affair with victory. Sundsvall drew a fine save from Berglund in the 76th minute (who before this point was enjoying a fine Sunday afternoon nap). Random note: Eddie Moussa is very fast, and ‘gult hort’ means yellow card in Swedish.

Peter Furuseth received a gult hort in the 79th minute for hilariously joking with the crowd over which ball to use for a throw in (and wasting a grand total of 4 seconds, hence the yellow ticket). The referee obviously had somewhere to go after the game. Eddie Moussa reminded us how wasteful we can be sometimes, by choosing to pass the ball instead of shooting when finding himself completely through on goal. Random note: Conateh is the scorpion king.

I missed Sundsvall’s goal (surprise surprise) because, believe it or not, my computer’s screen saver came up and my depressed reflexes (it was 4am ok) reacted too late. Ostlundh capped the Sunday stroll off with an 89th minute penalty for Assyriska, threatening the life of Sundsvall’s away supporters behind the goal by almost tearing the net.

Post-match reactions:
When you meet an Assyriska side in such supreme form, all you can do is hold your hand up and admit ‘Assyriska played us the banana in large parts of the game’ (this moment again brought to you by google translate). Sundsvall coach Soren Akeby (note the scary-looking chicken haunting him), when not reveling in what he likes to add to his cereal in the morning, could do little more than congratulate Assyriska. He admitted his side, but for the first 10 minutes, offered no real resistance and did not show any of the quality that had allowed them to overtake Assyriska in the table.

Robert Johannson felt overwhelmingly vindicated, as he had stressed for weeks how well his side were performing, with wins only being denied by some abject profligacy in front of goal. He said something along the lines of: I find it gratifying that we played good football with good spells of passing and good tempo. Earlier we ran a lot but the passing game was not so good. Coach Robbo also heaped particular praise on Eddie Moussa, who was unequivocally the man of the match.

Aftermath:
Despite a depressing spell, Assyriska still finds itself in a strong position, now equal on points with 3rd placed Sundsvall (with 3 goals separating them) and only two points behind Atvidabergs, who lost this week. Our next match is away to Angelholms FF on Thursday, meaning the players have scant opportunity to revel in their success. It’s the business end of the season now, and we now have a fine foundation to negotiate automatic promotion.