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State pro notes: Promotion, relegation spots on the line in Sweden

10/29/2014, 5:30pm CDT
By ERIC ANDERSON
Superettan logo

There's a lot on the line for players with Wisconsin ties as Sweden's Superettan wraps up its season Sunday, both at the top and the bottom of the second-tier league.

Goalkeeper Alex Horwath (UW), midfielder Aaron Nichols (UW) and Ljungskile SK are in third place heading into their season finale at home against seventh-place Varbergs BoIS FC, three points behind GIF Sundsvall and one behind Hammarby.

At worst, Ljungskile (15-2-12) will play the 14th-place finisher from the Allsvenskan in a two-leg playoff series for a spot in the top division in 2015. The top two finishers in the league earn automatic promotion to the Allsvenskan.

To claim its first Superettan championship, Ljungskile would need to win and have Sundsvall lose its finale to 15th-place Landskrona BoIS and have Hammarby lose or tie against fourth-place Jönköpings Södra IF. Ljungskile also could finish second, and secure promotion, with a victory as long as Hammarby doesn't win its match.

Ljungskile and Hammarby (17-5-7) each settled for away draws last week, LSK tying Syrianska FC 1-1 and Hammarby tying GAIS 0-0, which allowed Sundsvall (19-7-3) to move into the top spot in the 16-team league with a 1-0 win over host IK Sirius FK.

At the other end of the table, Andrew Stadler (Wauwatosa West) and Landskrona (6-16-7) face long odds to keep their spot in the Superettan.

They must beat first-place Sundsvall and hope that Assyriska FF (5-13-11) loses or draws its finale against 10th-place GAIS. That would allow Landskrona to capture the final relegation playoff berth – the 13th- and 14th-place teams play two-game series against teams from third-tier Division 1 to determine 2015 placements.

Landskrona took the lead against Ängelholms FF in the 78th minute Monday night, but allowed an 82nd-minute equalizer in a 1-1 draw. Assyriska, meanwhile, beat host Östersunds FK 2-1 on Saturday to move ahead of Landskrona in the standings.

While that point helped, Ängelholms – with keeper Matt Pyzdrowski (Marquette) and center back Eric Pothast (Marquette) as regulars in their starting XI – aren't completely safe from relegation just yet, either.

Ängelholms (9-13-7) is in 12th place, two points ahead of Östers IF (7-11-11) but with a vastly inferior goal differential (minus-21 to minus-7). That means Ängelholms needs to beat visiting Östersunds to ensure its spot in the league for next year, or have ninth-place Degerfors IF beat Östers. If not, they'll be headed for the relegation playoffs.

All eight Superettan finales kick off at 8 a.m. Central on Sunday.

On Twitter: @AlexHorwath @AndrewStadler @MattPyzdrowski @Eric_Pothast 

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