Euro 2012 draw

The qualifiers for Euro 2012 were announced a few weeks ago and it threw up an interesting group for the Swedes.

1. Holland
2. SWEDEN
3. Finland
4. Hungary
5. Moldova
6. San Marino

Holland will be favorites but the Swedes will be confident of causing an upset in this group. Finland will be the Scandinavian opponents this time and will be difficult to beat under Stuart Baxter. Hungary were in the world cup qualifiers last year with Sweden so they know what they are about. Moldova have potential to be awkward opponents but can be beaten by Sweden.

San Marino barring a miracle will be the whipping boys. The San Marino side should be comprehensively beaten by Sweden but overall it is a group that Sweden can win if they perform.

Super Cup

The Super Cup is coming up on March 6th between AIK and IFK Goteborg. These two were involved in the tight title race in November and a week later the Svenska Cupen final, both of which were won by AIK.

IFK Goteborg have gone about their business this winter by keeping their remaining 2009 squad. AIK though have lost a few key players from the 2009 season. The upcoming season starts just under a month from now and the favourites may well be IFK Goteborg.

The Super cup will take place a week before the Allsvenskan season which means both sides have two weeks of pre-season left to prepare.

AIK can they break into the Champions League?

It's something that hasn't been achieved since Helsingborgs' 2000-01 champions league group stage campaign. But the question is can AIK achieve that this summer?
Personally back in November the answer would've been yes they would have a great chance of emulating that Helsingborg side that knocked Inter Milan out in the 3rd qualifying round in 2000.
But since November things have changed. Key players to the AIK title winning side have made me think that AIK might have shot themselves in the foot for this challenge. Daniel Orlund, ok he was drafted in last year because of Tomi Maanoja's horror injury but kept goal well, Iván Óbolo, was simply AIK's main treat. His goals propelling AIK to the double. Both just two players who have since left the club for Rosenborg and Arsenal de Sárandi respectively.
At the moment I can't see AIK making the group stage.

We saw last year that Kalmar were unlucky to go out to Debrecen. But look at what Debrecen achieved, money spinning ties against some of Europe's top names in the Group stage. The main problem for Swedish clubs is the selling of star players to make quick profits. The clubs are very keen to get as much out of their talented players than holding on and actually breaking into Europe's premier competition.
When Kalmar won the league in 2008 they did the same. They sold Viktor Elm, Patrik Ingelsten and since then lost Rasmus and David Elm. It's a trend that will continue unless the clubs wake up and see what potential they really have.