Mallbacken IF vs. Tölö/Kungsbacka DFF

       The week before we played Mallbacken, training went on as usual, but in the back of our minds we knew that we were going to be playing the first place team in our league on Saturday. We also had a semi-final district cup game to play on Tuesday. The team was in the second division so we were able to rest some of the starters. We won the game without much of a problem, but unfortunately, one of our starters and also one of the girls who scored against Mallbacken in the spring, sprained her knee in the cup game. She attempted to train over the next couple of days, but it was no use, she was going to have to miss the game.
    On Saturday morning, we all met at the train station to board the bus for the 5 hour drive to our game. It was 6:45 a.m. so my thinking was a little hazy, but it seemed like our bus looked a little empty. When we stopped at our first rest stop of the trip, the absences on the bus were explained for. The starting left midfielder was at at wedding, Frida was not there due to her knee injury, the starting center midfielder was sick, as was our head coach. Our only 2 substitutes were a girl who had joined our team that week and our back-up goal keeper. As if the game wasn't going to be challenging enough, now we were down 3 starters, 1 coach and a full bench.
    The game proved to be difficult as we had predicted. The first half was off to a great start when we scored in the first 12 minutes. It was good to get an early goal and let out a little sigh of relief. The rest of the half was difficult, but we managed to fend them off and our goal keeper only had to make a couple of saves. The second half was a different story. They came out with a vengeance and started to break us down. The relentless attack from Mallbacken, along with our inability to keep any sort of possession, resulted in a goal for them in the middle of the second half. We were visibly tired and made our only substitution of the game shortly after the goal. I was thankful when the final whistle blew and the final score was 1-1. It was the 3 points we wanted, but it was good to get 1 point against a team at the top of the table.
   After the game I was excited to see a former Gator teammate Katie Fraine. We were only able to chat shortly, but it was great being able to see her. She has been in Sweden since the beginning of the season so it was interesting to hear how she was liking it. She said her team is located in a very small town. That was apparent to me from our drive there. As we neared the field, the roads became smaller as they cut through woods, mountains and alongside lakes. It seemed like we were going to be lost in the woods before we finally turned a corner and saw the field surrounded by fences and nets. Katie explained the fences were there in order to keep the moose off the field. Besides being in such a small town, Katie said she was having a good time. We arranged to meet up in Gothenburg after my game on Saturday, so we will have a better chance to catch up and exchange stories of life in Sweden.

Took a quick picture after the 1-1 tie. 

Gators in Sweden. We couldn't resist haha. 

   Once everyone had showered and boarded the bus, we drove about 20 minutes to the restaurant where we would be eating dinner. Before the game, our manager walked around and asked everyone, fish or meat for dinner. I was in the middle of napping so I didn't inquire into exactly what the meal entailed, but quickly answered meat and went back to sleep. When we got to the restaurant, it turned out to be a cozy hotel with a spacious back porch overlooking a picturesque lake. We were led down a flight of stairs to a private room with a long table set with lighted candles and cold pitchers of water with lemon. They served us salad and bread as soon as we sat down. Next came our meals of fish and meat. The fish turned out to be a cold salmon with broccoli and carrots. Then came my meal. When they placed it in front of me I thought it looked delicious; it looked similar to the giant meatballs that our frequently served where we eat lunch. But I was quickly told that they were not meatballs, but in fact, they were moose, or in this case, mooseballs. I was hesitant to try them but they actually turned out to be quite good, and even had the same consistency as a meatball would. The meat wasn't tough at all and even had a good flavor. The girls on the team thought it was strange that Marissa and I had never had moose before, but then our manager made a good comparison He said that it was probably similar to me eating alligator in Florida. As soon as he said this, the girls were shocked that we eat alligators and wanted to know what they tasted like. After dinner, we continued our drive and arrived back in Kungsbacka around 11:30 p.m.
      This weekend we have a home game at 4 p.m. It will be nice to win and get another 3 points!