IFK Göteborg winger Tobias Hysén likes to talk about the goals he scored when he was still a youth, growing up in Göteborg. He would watch his father, famed former international Glenn Hysén, float almost effortlessly across the field, then go out and try to emulate him, albeit as a striker, not as a defender.
“I scored some pretty good goals when I was a kid,” the 27-year-old Hysén admitted. “Sometimes I think I used up all my goals when I was younger.”
He needn’t worry about that.
Hysén scored twice as he led Göteborg to a 2-1 win over defending champions Kalmar May 17 at Nya Ullevi Stadium. The victory lifted Göteborg into second place, one point behind still-unbeaten Elfsborg and snapped Kalmar’s winning streak at three games.
“He was fantastic,” said Göteborg head coach Jonas Olsson. “He didn’t have such a good game his last time out, so this was important for both him and the team.”
Hysén failed to find the net May 7 when Göteborg beat Gefle 3-0 and didn’t even manage a shot on goal. His funk continued as Göteborg and Kalmar played a scoreless first half as Nanne Bergstrand’s smothering defense looked set to finally ground Göteborg’s high-flying attack.
IFK entered the match as the league’s best scoring team at home, firing home 15 goals in five matches at Nya Ullevi while allowing just one. On the road, however, Göteborg has just two goals while allowing seven.
Against Kalmar, Göteborg looked like its road self as the offense failed to find any sort of groove against Kalmar. Hysén changed all that just 12 minutes into the second when he latched hold of a pass from Stefan Selakovic and banged in a shot off the crossbar that bounced behind Kalmar goalkeeper Peter Wastå and into the net.
Hysen struck again 11 minutes later, this time taking a pass from Pontus Wernblom and chipping the ball neatly over Wastå for a 2-0 lead.
“Sometimes I think I need to really smash the ball in, but when I chip it in like that, I remember you can also score with finesse,” Hysen said. “Still, there were two or three more that should have gone in.”
Abiola Dauda scored his first Allsvenskan four minutes later as Kalmar tried to get back into the match, but Göteborg, which raised its home record to a perfect 6-0, never really let go of the match.
“Give them credit, they are very strong at home and we made too many technical mistakes,” Bergstrand said. “A lot of has to do with self-confidence. With a little luck, we could have grabbed point, but it was not meant to be.”
Hysén said the next task for him and his teammates was to play as well on the road as they do at home.
“We still have a couple of home games left before the break, so we should get some good confidence from those,” he said. “We should be able to get a good sense of the other teams we will face (in the second half of the season) and that could help when we have to go on the road.”

Elfsborg 4, Halmstad 0
BORÅS – James Keene had a brace to lead Elfsborg to a 4-0 thrashing of visiting Halmstad. The victory kept Elfsborg as the only unbeaten team in the Allsvenskan and vaulted the Borås side into first place. Daniel Nordmark opened the scoring in the 11th minute before Keene struck at the 20-and 44-minute marks. Denni Avdic scored one minute later as Elfsborg cruised to the win.

Hammarby 1, Malmö 0
MALMÖ – Hammarby collected just its second win in nine matches as it beat Malmö 1-0 at the Swedbank Arena. U.S. international Charlie Davies scored the lone goal in the 57th minute off a pass from Simon Helg. After the match, the Swedish FA handed Davies a five-match suspension for his role in an on-field altercation with Örebro defender Michael Almebäck during their match May 11. Almebäck also received a five-game suspension.

Helsingborg 2, Trelleborg 2
HELSINGBORG – Helsingborg raced out to a 2-0 lead but could not hold on as Trelleborg rallied for a 2-2 draw May 18 at Olympia Stadium. Rene Makondele and Christoffer Andersson fired HIF in front after a half hour. Trelleborg got back in the game when Max Fuxberg scored in the 40th minute while Fisnik Shala scored the equalizer 10 minutes into the second half.

Örebro 2, GAIS 0
ÖREBRO – Kim Olsen and Fredrik Nordbäck scored in the second half to lead Örebro to a 2-0 win over GAIS. The win was the second-straight 2-0 victory for Örebro. Olsen scored in the 55th minute while Nordbäck sealed the win with an injury-time goal.

Gefle 3, Brommapojkarna 2
GÄVLE – Hans Berggren scored his team best fifth goal of the season to help lead Gefle to a 3-2 win over Brommapojkarna. The 36-year-old Berggren scored in the 41st minute to put Gefle up 2-1. Philip Haglund tied the game in the 57th minute but Amadou Jawo tallied in the 73rd minute to give Gefle the victory.

Häcken 1, Örgryte 0
GÖTEBORG – Örgryte could not find a break in its second derby match of the season and remained the only winless team in the Allsvenskan after losing 1-0 to Häcken at Gamla Ullevi Stadium. Paolo de Oliveira scored the only goal of the game in the 70th minute.