The 2016 Swedish football season kicked off with the 32 clubs participating in the Swedish cup.
Among the participants were Liberia’s Dioh Williams, Amadaiyah Rennie, and Sam Johnson.
Veteran striker Williams, formerly of BK Hacken and now with Gefle IF, played 66 minutes, and was unable to get a goal as his club lost away at the little-known division one side, Football Club Trollhättan.
Despite a first half lead, Gefle was unable to deny Trollhättan three points as they won 2-1.
Gefle took the lead in the first half through Johan Bertilsson’s 27th -minute strike. Gefle failed to double its lead until Trollhättan found the equalizer in the 57th minute when Fredrik Sundström struck within the penalty area. Gefle lost all three points in stoppage time of the match when Trollhättan’s Swedish midfielder Agon Beqiri scored from the penalty spot.
With no points earned, Gefle descended to the bottom of Group 7.
Unlike Dioh, Johnson enjoyed a happy season opener with his club Djurgardens that got a narrow 2-1 home win over Swedish second tier club Ljungskile SK.
An own goal from Ljungskile’s goalkeeper August Strömberg gave Djurgardens the lead in the 57th minute. Despite being a goal down, Ljungskile kept fighting until they leveled the score through Jakob Olsson’s 76th-minute strike.
Five minutes to the end of the match, Sebastian Andersson netted the match winner as Djurgardens collected all three points at the Tel 2 Arena.
The victory puts Djurgardens on top of Group 6 with three points, while Rennie’s team Hammarby was unable to register a goal against second tier side Syrianska FC. The match finished goallessly with both teams sharing the points.
A point from a match placed them second in Group 6, two points behind Group leaders Djurgardens.
Hammarby will hope to get their first victory of the Swedish Cup when they meet Sam Johnson’s Djurgardens on Sunday, March 6.
Featured photo courtesy of Sam Johnson
