Maria Karlsson: My best supporter, a big win, and a meeting with a legendary manager

Maria Karlsson with Sven-Göran Eriksson (Photo by Tim Sweed)

I hate to lose, but I’m not a bad loser. There’s a big difference. But I’m definitely a worse blog writer after a loss. So today I’m happy to write this blog after our great and important victory over Liverpool on Wednesday. It was a game when we had decided to fight from the first to the last minute, together, as a team. We created a lot of chances, but still struggled to put away a second and third goal. At least it must be exciting for the audience. Our goalie Helen Alderson, who I feel I should pronounce Andersson, because that’s makes her more Swedish, had a brilliant save off a penalty in the second half and then a great save (for the cameras) in the last minute of the game.
The FA WSL is an even league; every team can beat each other and a lot of games finish with a draw. It makes every victory so important, and the two last games we will do our absolute best to stay in the top half of the table before it’s time for the World Cup break. Today, we play Arsenal at home and on Thursday, Everton. Two fun games to play against two good teams.

I have to use this blog to write some sentences about my biggest and best supporter, my grandpa Bengt Karlsson. He’s 80 years old, lives in Gothenburg, and has been to so many games in my career, from when I started playing when I was seven to last year when he and my grandma visited me in Linköping. And if it wasn’t for his fear of flying, I wouldn’t be surprised if he even came to Doncaster. I almost always talk to him after our games, and he’s blunt and honest about what he thinks about my performance. Besides being a huge supporter to me and my sisters, he’s also a hi-tech old man. We Skype each other many times a week, he texts me and uses Google Translate to read my blog. My grandpa is the best!

Film of the week: Fast & Furious 5. A fantastic film, with a lot of action and some love.

Meeting of the week: I was very happy to meet the famous Swedish manager Sven-Göran Eriksson in Doncaster last weekend.