Courtesy of SVT2 Sports – The February Month In Brief
Royal League Matchday 4:
Halmstad 1 (Emra Tahirovic ’30) Malmo 1 (Nicolaj Agger ’78) A goal on Nicolaj Agger’s debut kept our Royal League hopes high with two tough games to finish the tournament group stages. It was a brilliant strike as he cut in from the left hand side and curled the ball in to the top corner. Emra Tahirovic carried on his brilliant form against us when he headed home after 30 minutes, but we responded brightly and troubled their keeper all the way until Agger finally broke our deadlock.
Royal League Matchday 5:
Malmo 3 (McDonald Mariga ’32, Nicolaj Agger ’46, Marcus Pode ’47) OB 0 I knew this game was important for us, and a win would more or less seal or qualification to the semi-finals, I played the same team who won a point away at Halmstad. McDonald Mariga exceeded his reputation with a stunning free-kick which left Anders Sorensen rooted to the spot as a rippled the net. I encouraged the players at half-time knowing we needed to get the second goal as soon as possible. Agger made it two in two after an easy chance was pounced on by him after some excellent work from Safari. Marcus Pode then rapped the game up with a typical placed shot, I knew our strike force was something for opposition teams to fear and hoped they could both keep fitness and form throughout the season.
Royal League Matchday 6:
Malmo 5 (Suleyman Sleyman OG ’15, Marcus Pode ’28, ’41, McDonald Mariga ’30, Nicolaj Agger ’85) Rosenborg 2 (Steffen Iversen ’49, ‘90) A brilliant attacking game saw us destroy Rosenborg for the second time in the Royal League and seal our place in the Quarter Final draw. Yksel Osmanovski was pulling the strings on the right wing, causing problems for Rosenborg for the entire 90 minutes. An own goal got the game rolling and was shortly followed by a brace from Marcus Pode, sandwiched between the young Swedes double was yet again another free-kick from Mariga. We struggled to keep tabs on Steffen Iversen who pulled a goal back for them early in the second half, but the game was rapped up by Agger on the 85th minute. I was delighted to of qualified for the knockout stages and awaited the draw.
Final Standings
Royal League
The draw was made for the Royal League Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals today, I knew we’d done fantastically in the group stages and hoped for an away leg firstly, to gain home advantage in the second leg. Along with the teams who qualified were FC Copenhagen who had won this tournament on both occasions, they were looking to make it an incredible hatrick of Royal League trophies. We drew Halmstad at home, I was disappointed with the draw as we’d played Halmstad numerous times and recently in the group stages, I wasn’t too disheartened though as we had a good record against them. The winners of that game would face either Elfsborg or Lillestrom who had qualified second behind Elfsborg in Group A.
I decided to reward Marcus Pode with a new contract as his form had been fantastic throughout my rein as Malmo manager and approached his agent regarding a new deal. Bengt and I offered a wage rise and an extension that would see Pode stay at Malmo until 2010, we were confident he would sign a new deal as he was a Malmo boy and had declared no interest in leaving us at any stage, despite the interest from other Scandinavian teams. Anders informed me he’d arranged some friendly games for us that would work around the Royal League depending on our progress, the games were against Lyngby, Thisted and Gefle away.
