The week the title race closed for the women
Malmö FF Dam lost 3–1 away to BP on Sunday at Grimsta IP, and the title race is over (1) (3). Louise Lillbäck scored on 27 minutes, Johanna Svedberg on 66, Frida Thörnqvist on 87 (5). Izzy D'Aquila answered once for Malmö. It was the 20th round of the Damallsvenskan, and it was not the defeat of a team that deserved to lose badly. The problem was where it happened. Whoever finishes third gets the last European place, and BP took the points straight off Malmö's plate (1).
The goals at the start of the game were almost identical. Fotbollskanalen's Ella Lindvall picked out the marking in both teams' first goals and called it the same sloppiness on each side (2). That is a fair read, and it is also the more damning one. A team chasing Europe does not get to concede from the same mistake twice in one afternoon.
A dry spell that has lasted longer than it should
Malmö have picked up three points from their last four league games: a 0–0 at home to AIK, a 4–1 win over Örgryte, a 2–0 loss away at Västerås. Go back a week further and it is a 0–3 home defeat to Djurgården and a 1–0 away win at Sirius. One win from four before Sunday. In the table it is 7th, 33 points from 22 games, a goal difference of plus four. That is not a crisis in the abstract. That is a squad that cannot win two games in a row, and the BP result fits the pattern instead of breaking it (1).
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The diagnosis is not hard to find. Frölunda beat Malmö Redhawks 2–1 in the home opener of the SHL season after conceding a late penalty again, for the second game running (21) (23). Different sport, same week, same symptom: Malmö teams lose games in the last ten minutes. The Dam side conceded in the 87th minute on Sunday (5).
Europe is still alive, and that matters most
The one thing Malmö did well this week, they did in Austria. St. Pölten 0–2 Malmö FF in the Europa Cup qualifier (5) (6) (8). Mia Persson called it "a stable performance and a good half-time result" (8). Vesna Milivojević came on and scored within three minutes (9). "It's these kinds of moments you live for as a footballer," she said (9). Two goals up going into the return leg at home next week.
Which leaves one question hanging over the rest of the autumn. Jonas Valfridsson said after the loss that the team "came from a good result in Europe" and had talked about sticking to their basic principles (2). Then they conceded three.
What is next
The return leg against St. Pölten is the biggest game of the week, and a two-goal lead at home should be enough to book a place in the Europa Cup proper. That is the whole season's prize sitting on one night.
The injury list also has something to say about where this club is going. Twelve cruciate injuries at Malmö FF between 2021 and 2026, three of them this season (13). Pontus Jansson is rehabbing with a handpicked specialist group and could be back before the winter (7). "The worst that can happen is that I get to go to the matches with my friends and watch MFF as a supporter instead, and that's not so bad," he said (7).
