Malmö's gold party was postponed by Västerås. Maybe until Sunday.
If the Stockholm derby between second-place Hammarby and third-place Djurgården ends in a draw, it means that Malmö secures its 24th SM gold and gets to lift the Lennart Johansson trophy.
I haven't thought about it that much. I'm mostly disappointed about today's performance, says Malmö's Erik Botheim after 1–1 against Västerås.
He looked like he was going to be the man who shot the SM gold to Malmö. But in the second half, Pedro Ribeiro equalized for Västerås, and Malmö had to leave the arena with somewhat disappointed faces.
"We make some bad decisions"
We try, but we make some bad decisions in certain situations and go for setting 2–0 when we maybe should hold onto the ball instead and get control of the match. It becomes open, like Västerås wants it, and they're a good team too, continues Botheim.
His teammate Taha Ali – who had a successful loan spell in Västerås once upon a time – was also disappointed.
We didn't reach the level as a team. But one point was important anyway, he says.
About the possibility of becoming champions in a quiet way on Sunday, he says:
Sad that we don't win today.
But at the same time, you shouldn't be too negative, because we have a chance for gold until the next match or depending on how the results turn out in the next matches. We should look at what we can do better and look ahead, he says.
"It will probably be individual"
Will you be watching the derby tomorrow?
I don't know. Some might. It will probably be individual, that we watch from home, says Ali.
The match between Hammarby and Djurgården is played at 2:00 PM on Sunday.
