A goalless draw against Malmö

SÖDERTÄLJE - Sunday night's game at the Stadium Södertälje fotbollsarena ended in a goalless draw, a result that will please the Swedish champions Malmö FF more than the Suryoye.

The Suryoye dominated in terms of clear chances and total number of scoring opportunities, but were made to settle for a point by Ronald Nilsson's side. There were plenty of chances at both ends but it was all Malmö FF in the opening minutes. Syrianska FC came into the game midway through the first half but failed to take the upper hand. Touma's shot was meters wide.

Syrianska FC combined with Ijeh again minutes later. It was the first real chance of the first half, who rifled a strong shot at Dusan after running past Larsson. The shout was powerful but Dusan made a great save by punching the ball to the sideline. A couple of minutes later another great chance fell to the Suryoye through Johan Arneng but the Swedish midfielder's effort hit the woodwork. The ball bounced back into the penalty area before the Malmö defence could clear the ball away.

During the second half both Dinko and Ijeh had great chances to beat Malmö FF. Isa Demir sending in a dangerous cross for Felic who failed to head the ball behind Dusan, despite standing all alone. Instead the ball just went wide. Even Peter Ijeh had a quite similar chance and even this time the chance went lost. I lost count of how many times Ivan Ristic came between and broke the Malmö attacking game. The Serbian defender and captain for the evening broke the passes several times and prevented Malmö from coming to any dangerous chances. In attacking Saleh was probably the best player in Syrianska FC.

He terrorised the Malmö rearguard with some speedy attacking play. He even should have gotten a penalty but the referee refused to blow the whistle when a Malmö defender hit his foot instead of the ball.
Melkemichel was forced to shuffle his pack just past the hour, with the injured Saleh making way for Zatara. Unfortunately the Syrianska players were to tired to keep up with his running. Instead his crosses just went in the arms of Dusan. Both teams made changes in the last 15 minutes, with Etie replacing Touma and Ahmed coming on for Arneng.

Miller made a difficult save from Durmaz and two easy ones from Dardan Rexhepi, before the game went to an end. Syrianska FC got their second point for the season and still awaits the decision from the Swedish football association regarding the interrupted game against AIK. Malmö FF slips to third place in the table behind early-season leaders Helsingborgs IF.


Text: Yacoub Emanuel