Malmö eye progress despite draw

By Jan Juhlin

The Malmö FF coach Anders Johansson was in ebullient mood after the Swedish side drew 0-0 at home against 1. FFC Frankfurt in the first leg of their UEFA Women's Cup semi-final. "The most important thing was to keep a clean sheet," he said. "Now we only need a 1-1 draw to reach the final."

Swedes hopeful
With Umeå IK winning 3-2 at Brøndby IF on Saturday, there is a distinct possibility that the third Women's Cup final will be an all-Swedish affair. Last season's showpiece also featured two sides from Scandinavia, Umeå thrashing Fortuna Hjørring 7-1 on aggregate. However, Frankfurt, the inaugural winners of this knockout competition, are underestimated at any team's peril, particularly on home turf.

Strong start
Malmö started the stronger, dominating the first third of the match but failing to make an impression on the scoreline. "We had a lot of respect for them and therefore we decided to attack from the off, which worked well," said central defender Karolina Westberg.

Jönsson saves
Midfield dynamo Therese Sjögran was behind Malmö's most fluid moves, although her influence was doused as Frankfurt, who have never lost over 90 minutes in this competition, found their feet and ended the first half in the ascendancy. The second period was even until late on, when home goalkeeper Caroline Jönsson saved her side with a series of fine stops from Renate Lingor.

'Did enough'
"I thought that we did enough to win the game," said Jönsson. "Although we didn't manage a goal we do not usually play two matches in a row without scoring so if I do my job away I'm sure it will be ok." The return takes place in Germany on 11 April.

'We were lucky'
"Malmö were a solid team as we had expected," said Frankfurt coach Monika Staab. "We were lucky not to concede before the interval but we gained control afterwards. I cannot be happy with the result as Lingor had two chances in the dying seconds which should have brought us the winner."