Djurgården finally broke their derby curse! After 2372 days they picked up a well deserved 2-0 victory against AIK in the semi-final of the Swedish Cup. Even though the Allsvenskan season is around the corner I have not photographed many of the pre-season friendlies or previous Cup matches. I had photographed AIK the week before and was pretty impressed with their performance. With Djurgården I did not really know what to expect last night. They had lost several of the key players from last season so I was kind of leaning on them not being able to take AIK. But they put out a fantastic performance and owned the game through and through. I think I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again Djurgårdens coach Özcan Melkemichel is the best signing they have made in a long time. He worked wonders last season and after yesterday’s game I’m really looking forward to seeing what he can do this coming season.
Having gotten past AIK in the semi-final Djurgården will now meet Malmö FF in the final of the Swedish Cup. For some crazy reason the final of the Swedish Cup is not played at the national arena (Friends Arena). A lottery held later this week will decide if it is to be held in Stockholm or in Malmö. Fingers crossed that it’s here, so I can cover the game.
This week I got some royal assignments and some other news assignments. Right now the big story in Stockholm is that Sweden might play host to meeting between Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jung-Un. It’s still all a little vague, but as that develops there is going to be a lot of work around that news story.