Larsson has gotten his pace back

Very good news for Sweden. Henrik Larsson, who has seemed to lack pace in his performances after his injury, looked much more alert in Barcelonas loss against Atletico Madrid. He came very close to scoring but was (wrongly) judged to be offside and very nearly put van Bommel through with an excellent long ball. If I saw correctly, Larsson came on as a midfielder but soon ended up as a central attacker. It seems Samuel Eto'o has severe difficulties in playing anywhere else but centre forward. Odd, that.

The "news" that Larsson might be considered as fifth forward at Barca and that this would somehow be a threat to our national team is of course absolute rubbish. Let's compare the fatigue levels of Ronaldinho who will start every game and Larsson at the start of the World Cup. Larsson will continue to get the occasional 90 minute game and do lots of 20-30 minute games this season. The training sessions at Barcelona should be of a decent level, dontcha think?

AIK is looking good

Well not financially. But I dare to say that we are back in Allsvenskan. There simply isn't the quality around to stop us and after the amazing 5-1 defeat to Boden we're simply not going to relax again. Reports from the last game, a thorough 3-1 beating of pre-season favourites Örebro, speak of fluid attacking play with rapid movement of the ball. Kristian Haynes and Dennis Östlundh an unlikely yet very successful forward pair and re-born Derek Boateng in a holding midfield role with playmaker duties. Rikard Norling and Nebosja Novakovic has done an amazing job of turning a listless crew of has-beens and never-wases into a well organized attacking team.

van Basten is playing again and he is Swedish

Hungary totally deserved getting a draw out of the game. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored one of the most fantastic goals Sweden has ever scored. Absolutely amazing.