IFK Värnamo - VSK (Swedish cup)

[Robban B]

Some updates from a rainy Västerås:

We are playing Värnamo in the cup today, they currently play in div 2, one divison below us. Won't be going myself, as it's a 700 km trip back and forth. VSK will play with pretty much the same team as against Norrköping, only difference is that (hopefully) the new recruit from Ghana will play. After lots of hassling, it looks like he finally is our player.

Next league game will now be on sunday May 4th, this game has been re-arranged to avoid the effects of the more widespread strike. We then take on Gefle at home, a team that has started reasonably well. More news later tonight when I've had some updates from the cup game.

-Swedish Correspondent out

[François]

Is the swedish cup taken seriously by big clubs in Sweden?

[Robban B]

Is the swedish cup taken seriously by big clubs in Sweden?

Nah, I wouldn't say so. I suppose if they progress far enough, then they'll start showing interest. If you manage to win it, it's an UEFA-spot so a way out to Europe up for grabs. Probably the only hope we'll have for the forseeable future...

[Robban B]

Swedish correspondent calling again:

We are through to the third round after beating Värnamo 2-1. Apparently this was a game of two very different looking halves. Värnamo started brightly with some good passing and pace. They scored the first goal, only to be denied the post later on. VSK mustered 1 good shot at goal, the ball was scrambled away from the goalline by a Värnamo defender.

Second half and VSK started playing, our manager lyrical about our passing and wing play. Made some substitutions at halftime, which proved to be a very good idea. One of our attackers who came on promptly scored after three minutes and managed to squeeze in another halfway through the second half. Värnamo couldn't keep up with our pace, we pretty much dominated the second half.

The new ghanesian, Atiku, was playing 65 minutes before he was subbed due to a lack of match practice. No special mention of neither of our defensive players, I suppose that must mean they did OK...

Bring on Gefle!

[François]

How many teams take part in the swedish cup?

[Robban B]

How many teams take part in the swedish cup?

62 teams from div2 to div6 start the first round, the draw for this round is not random, but based on where in Sweden the different teams are based. The reason for this is of course to prevent small clubs from paying half of their annual turnover for one trip on a long away journey somewhere.

The teams from our division, Superettan, and Allsvenskan joins for the secound round. This draw is completely random (I think), which is why we played Värnamo - 350 km from Västerås.

So, all in all there are 62+30=92 teams taking part. As I said earlier, the cup is not very rated here, there are a few reasons for this:

The Swedish FA screwed it up on numerous occasions, there was rounds being played indoors, the last years cup not being decided before next years tournament started and so on. They have remodeled it now, so we'll see what happens.

The big teams basically field their reservs against small sides, not very fun to look at.

Teams in the lower divisions being too crap, there's hardly never any big surprises. Exceptions do happen of course, but too seldom.