March 2nd On the day Marcus Pode agreed a new 4 year deal at Malmo one player was heading out, we’d received an offer of around £2.5m for our centre back Gabriel. He’d been a strong player for us throughout last season but we decided the money was too good to turn down and accepted the offer from Fluminense. Gabriel had played 15 league games for us last season and played well in all of them, but the fact he was non-EU meant we couldn’t play him often due to the ruling. We knew we were short of cover at the back with Olof Persson and Raoul Kouakou the only other solid defender we had to play centrally so we made it clear to Fluminense’s chairman Rodrigo Horcades we’d prefer the transfer to take place at the end of the Brazilian season (January 2008). He agreed and although I was disappointed to let Gabriel leave, I knew his departure would be critical in the development of our younger non-EU players.
Gabriel
Courtesy of SVT2 Sports – The March Month In Brief
Friendly:
Lyngby 0 Malmo 3 (Pape Pate Diouf ’13, ’40, Junior ‘25) I decided to play a team which probably wouldn’t see a great deal of first team action this season and they didn’t disappoint, a hard-working performance from Diouf saw us clench an easy win. Torje slammed the ball against the post then minutes later Diouf made it 0-1 after a nice passage of play. Junior was brought down on the edge of the area, but the referee deemed it to be a penalty, Lyngby were obviously upset, but I wasn’t complaining. Junior stepped up to take it and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to make it two. Diouf rapped the game up 5 minutes before half-time with his second goal of the day, we never looked like conceding and it was interesting to see some of the reserve players impress.
Royal League Quarter-Finals 1st Leg:
Malmo 3 (McDonald Mariga ‘4, Marcus Pode ’27, Peter Larsson OG ‘90) Halmstad 0 I was fairly nervous as I took my place in the dugout for this match, but my nerves were soon eased when Mariga scored another stunning free-kick, the ball was hit with real pace and left the keeper with no chance. Tahirovic was looking to carry on his rich vein of form against us and he nearly did so, when he saw his shot ricochet off the bar. The tension was eased further, when Pode celebrated his new contract with a neat header, a long ball from Hoiland in defence saw Pode nudge the ball pass the advancing Marcus Sahlman. Half-time came and I encouraged the lads to play the ball a little slower and catch them on the break at any given opportunity. To my surprise Halmstad came out of the blocks very sluggishly and barely troubled Jonas between the sticks until the 71st minute when he was forced to tip the ball round the post. The game was winding down to a finish and I was delighted with our two goal lead, then disaster struck for Halmstads Royal League hopes as Larsson didn’t realise Sahlman was behind him and passed the ball in to his own net. What a result, I could plan for the second leg with much more ease with a three goal cushion.
Halmstad
Friendly:
Thisted 0 Malmo 2 (Pape Pate Diouf ‘5, Daniel Andersson ’18) Another comfortable friendly win and yet another good performance from my second-string, Joakim Nilsson was in fine form and dominated the midfield from start to finish. Two well worked goals was the difference between the two sides as Thisted were totally outclassed by us. They managed just 4 shots in the entire match, 3 of them were off target. Whereas we created chance after chance for our strikers, but unfortunately couldn’t make it three. This was the same team I would be using to play the second leg against Halmstad and was quietly confident they could nick a win away at Orjans Vall.
Royal League Quarter-Finals 2nd Leg:
Halmstad 1 (Olof Persson OG ’90) Malmo 0 It was damage limitation for us as we entered the noisy arena, Halmstad fans were expecting their team to push us right to the very end. We started off the brighter with chances falling to Diouf early on, but the game wasn’t up to the high standard of the previous tie. It got to half-time and Halmstad hadn’t forced Sandqvist in to making one save, the crowd let their feelings know and they were met with a barrage of boos as the whistle went. Halmstad came out for the second half much more fired up and the tackles were flying in, although there were no chances for Halmstad…still. I was happy with the way the team were performing and was delighted when the board went up indicating there would only be 2 minutes injury-time. An angled ball from Duric panicked our defence and Persson headed it past Sandqvist, there wasn’t much either player could do, the quality of the ball was fantastic. We were through to the semi’s, we’d be playing Lillestrom who I didn’t know a great deal about, but I was excited nonetheless.
Friendly:
Gefle 2 (Tomas Hedlund ‘2, Antouman Jallow ’13) Malmo 2 (Joakim Nilsson ’36, Edward Ofere ‘74) I’d came in late to the game as I Bengt stopped me in the corridor for a chat on the way to the stadium, he informed me FC Copenhagen had bid for Marcus Pode and that he’d rejected the transfer without my approval. I let him know there was no way I wanted Pode to leave for whatever money was offered and he agreed, we heard a cheer from the home support as Gefle went 1-0 up. I headed to the dugout and took my seat, soon after Jallow made it 2-0, what a disaster this was turning out to be. Nilsson pulled a vital goal back 10 minutes before half-time and I told the players we could win the game at the break. The second half was woeful, hardly any chances for both sides and the rain was coming down making the pitch impossible to play on. Then Edward Ofere produced a moment of magic as he thundered in a 25 yard volley to pull the game level, a beautiful strike which saw some of Gefles own supporters applauding the goal.
Royal League Semi-Final 1st Leg:
Lillestrom 2 (Espen Breivik ’17, Knut Overas ’45) Malmo 2 (Marcus Pode ’73, ’83) A game which had a similar story to the friendly against Gefle saw us go two goals down, but this was going to be a different kettle of fish against a strong Lillestrom side. We were total outclassed in the first half and I thought we were lucky to only be two goals down, I questioned the players passion and they responded well after the break. Pode headed just wide from a lovely worked move down the left starting with Jardler, then Agger put a shot over the bar from just outside the area. I knew we needed at least one goal to take back to Malmo with us and got my wish as Pode thumped the ball home for us, our travelling fans were buoyant and so was I, well, I was more relieved than anything. Only 10 minutes later, Pode sprinted past Simen Aune and put a low left footed shot across the face of the goalkeeper, it snuck in at the far post to send the fans in to raptures. What a comeback for us, this surely would set the tone for the return leg in a week, I knew we could defeat them and reach the final, but we needed to get off to a much better start.
Malmo Fans Celebrating
Royal League Semi-Final 2nd Leg:
Malmo 4 (Nicolaj Agger ‘8 Marcus Pode ’40, ’56, ’83) Lillestrom 0 I was excited ahead of the game which could see us make the Royal League final and I had every right to be as Agger started the game off for us with a long range strike which left Heinz Muller stranded. That deflated Lillestrom who never recovered from the early goal, there were chances galore in the first half and Pode made it 2-0 after some scrappy defending saw us capitalise. The game was dead and buried in my eyes, but I warned the players against complacency, Pode netted a superb hatrick for us, we wouldn’t have been in this position if it wasn’t for Marcus and I was delighted with his form. I knew he’d be drawing more attention from rival clubs, but was confident his heart lay with Malmo. We dominated the game and Lillestrom only troubled Sandqvist once in the entire game, we’d done it! We would be playing in the Royal League Final for the first time in our history. I wasn’t looking forward to playing FC Copenhagen in the final though, they’d won the tournament on both occasions, but I told the players we had to break that record and they’d done excellent to get this far.
