Erik Friberg's First Half Learnings About MLS And Seattle Sounders
by Dave Clark on Jun 22, 2011 4:00 PM PDT
in Sounders: MLS Regular Season
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When Erik Friberg arrived to play for the Seattle Sounders there was internet babble about him being a CAM or Classic #10, and while he hasn't been the next Carlos Valderrama, what he has shown is the ability to push the through ball forward into the attacking third fairly effectively from any part of the pitch, as he's played on the left, right and centrally. His English has improved, as well as his understanding of the league and his teammates.
It is a little bit the same as Sweden, but a little bit hard. There's a lot of physical stuff, and a little faster from goal to goal. I think I'm getting better and better. I had my foot thing for a couple of weeks, but it's getting better. I think I had some good times in the last game.
SaH: How has developing a relationship with your teammates gone?
Friberg: From the beginning everyone has been friendly, they've helped me with everything. Of course, I hang around with a lot of guys outside of soccer too. That's important for our success, to have a good time. I'm happy so far. I can always get better.
SaH: You've played on the left, the middle, the right...
Friberg: Of course as a player you want to be on the field, that's better than having a specific place - on the right or on the middle. There's not many games where I've played the same. You want to be on the field, and healthy. I hope to play more soon.
SaH: Sweden doesn't have quite the travel that the US does how does that change things?
Friberg: That's a little hard. Not the five hour flight, but the three hour time difference that's a little hard. An hour flight, or an hour bus, or a few hours, that doesn't matter. The time changes take a while get use to, not difficult, but harder than the travel.
Sweden's furthest travel would be an8 hour bus ride, or a bare two hour flight, and the nation is all in one time zone. Friberg's last team there plays in a city with three teams. The league itself basically exists in a the lower third of the geographic area of Sweden, and a few other metro areas have multiple teams as well. The Allsvenskan is in some ways more like an East coast college sports league, than the way Americans think of a national sport.
It leaves me to wonder about time changes as the league continues to grow, and how the international players get used to travel and its effects.
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A while ago I compared HFA across confederations in WC qualifying
The biggest HFA, IIRC, was in South America and Asia, where I imagine the travel is generally pretty hard. The main thing that jumped out at me was that HFA was much smaller in UEFA than the other confeds.
Only Australia, Russia and Brazil have the travel like MLS
And then it is only with a team or two outside of a core area.
Now, travel in the Asian Champions League is so bad that they use regional Group’s until the semis (iirc)
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I was only talking about WC qualifying
Not league play.
Missed that
Seattle has a potential killer roadtrip in CCL play if Alpha United make Groups – Guyana
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1 or 2 are departments not nations
and CONMEBOL has a really high opinion of itself.
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I think it's beyond CONMEBOL's opinion of itself...
The Guyanas fit way better with the Caribbean in just about any way possible (other than the fact that they are physically on the continent). Even the bottom feeders in CONMEBOL (Bolivia, Venezuela, Peru) would destroy them competitively, and they seem to be overall just more connected with the Caribbean than with the rest of South America (they’re isolated to the point where if I were to fly to one of them after I move to to the Northern part of South America, I’d almost surely end up with a layover in the US, even though that would multiply the actual distance involved, or otherwise it’d have to be on a tiny plane from a place like Aruba or Port of Spain). I know it’s weird when you look at the map, but with way the geography works out there, they may as well be islands.
They are also each connected with Euro powers not otherwise connected to South Am
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Definitely
French Guiana is actually the only one that’s not independent, but when you look at the entire rest of the continent and its colonization by Portugal or Spain, then have these three little outposts of England, France, and The Netherlands, it’s easy to see how they developed to fit more closely with the island colonies of those respective nations.
Sweden
I actually traveled through Sweden last Fall and attended a match in Malmo (Malmo vs Goteborg). An 8 hour trip is about right – the night before the match we drove from Stockholm to Malmo and it took us about 7-8 hours with a single stop along the way. Clubs in the Allsvenskan don’t get much more north than Stockholm and Malmo is on the southern coast of Sweden – across the way from Copenhagen.
While I was there, the person I was with asked me how the MLS compares with Allsvenskan. I only had the single match to go on but I told her similar remarks to what Erik expressed: The tempo in the MLS is a bit quicker and the league is more physical… but the technical ability of Malmo and Goteborg seemed better. Again though, these are simple observations from a single match and Malmo were the Swedish champions last season.
As for the culture of the sport there… I inquired the locals and the person I was traveling with (she’s a dual citizen of here and there) about the soccer culture there. Regional rivalries are big… somewhat similar to the college sports culture here; it also sounded as if the smaller regions were more passionate about their clubs than were those from Stockholm. The specific match that I attended was an amazing atmosphere… as soon as I returned, I attended the US Open Cup final and I’d say that was one of few atmospheres that could rival what I witnessed in Sweden.
I avidly follow college sports here, specifically UW, so I’m not certain that a comparison to East Coast college sports is accurate. I’d say they’re much more passionate in Sweden… more akin to Big 10 and Big 12. It’s just that country is small (population wise) and it’s likely that league is close to it’s economic potential… it doesn’t receive much attention at all outside of Sweden.
Editor and Writer for SB Nation's Manchester United blog, 'The Busby Babe'
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by Gene Um on Jun 23, 2011 9:46 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs
that was kind of long
my bad
Editor and Writer for SB Nation's Manchester United blog, 'The Busby Babe'
http://twitter.com/#!/GeneUmTBB
"ROOOONEY!.... It defies description. How about spectacular?...How about superb?"
My point was that the travel is similar to the SEC or old ACC
and honestly, I don’t know that the passion of the Big10/12 is any greater than the SEC, or ACC or Big East basketball.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
gotcha
I was referring more to football but I’d say you’re spot on. I’m not sure anything is more fanatical than SEC football here so that’s why I refereed to the conferences that I did. ACC and Big East basketball seem to be good comparisons.
Enjoyed the read… always fun to get a perspective on the background of a player… maybe even more so if the player is from outside the country.
Editor and Writer for SB Nation's Manchester United blog, 'The Busby Babe'
http://twitter.com/#!/GeneUmTBB
"ROOOONEY!.... It defies description. How about spectacular?...How about superb?"
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