FCS put to the test by brave Birnapa

MELITA GROUNDS: FC SCANDINAVIA VS. BIRNAPA 2-0

“Honestly, I do not see any team that can beat us at this level if we keep playing like now”, said Man of the Match Hannes Wåhlin after a place in the Xmas cup final was secured with a surprisingly difficult 2-0 victory against a brave Birnapa side Monday night.

 

By Roy Pedersen

This season’s FC Scandinavia stats need no further comment: Seven matches, seven wins, 26 goals scored and one goal conceived. The Sky Blues have been unbeatable and it is well within reach for them to speak of winning The Quadruple in Year 1 of club history.

Denied two penalties
A big step towards accomplishing that achievement was taken Monday night when FC Scandinavia as massive favourites took on Birnapa. And the favourites certainly did not get any help from the referee in the opening quarter.

FCS should have clearly been awarded two penalties, one after five minutes when Lasse Johansson was taken down by the Birnapa goalie after having been played through by Per Hertz, the other when a Birnapa player used his hand to stop a shot from Johansson, this time after a nice build-up from Hannes Wåhlin.

Much possesion, few chances
Birnapa did not have one single big chance throughout the game, but they played well defensively with many players behind the ball. They had a few counter attacking attempts that were stopped effectively by a rock solid FCS defense.

FCS rarely let Birnapa borrow the ball and showed tons of quality on three fourths of the slippery pitch. Per Hertz and Hannes Wåhlin kept total control of the midfield centre, but the Scandinavians lacked accuracy when they came close to the Birnapa goal.

“The last pass was often not good enough” was the opinion of Coach Johan Nyberg who usually plays centre half, but was out with injury. We could not agree more.

Made things right
Sebastian Dedering (good volley attempt from 20 meters), Per Hertz (shot just over), Johansson (shot saved) and Tommy Fällman (attempt to cross which hit the crossbar) had chances in the first half, but the score at half time was still 0-0.

A very uneventful period of 28 minutes passed by in second half without much happening when FCS top scorer Johansson suddenly was clear, but he missed the target from four meters. Luckily he made up for the massive miss four minutes later when got a foot on a loose ball after a good crossing from right back Markus Klintborg who had come on for Kalle Wåhlin. 1-0 was well deserved and a big relief.

Beaty from Dedering
Seven minutes from the end, Dedering made it 2-0 out of nothing with a beautiful shot from 18 meters in the corner behind the Birnapa goalie. Johansson almost made it 3-0 two minutes from the end, but the goalie did well to save it with one hand.

All-In Translations Man of the Match Hannes Wåhlin was happy with having secured a place in the Xmas cup final. The Swede with a history from 4th division in Stockholm is given much credit for the FCS success.

“I think it is realistic for us to aim for The Quadruple”, he says.

Final on Sunday
The other semi final is played Monday between Club 33 and AD 2000. Club 33 is one of the teams which FCS has not yet played against. The final is played 08:30 AM CET on Sunday, just before most of the FCS players travel home to celebrate Christmas up North, hopefully with the Xmas cup trophy safely secured.

All-In Translations will cover the final with reports and ratings as usual.