Boos rained down on the field March 20 as AIK settled for a 0-0 tie with Brommapojkarna, just a week after opening the season with a goalless draw against newcomers Mjällby. The lackluster results against a pair of relative minnows already has pundits and fans alike wondering whether the Gnaget can repeat their success of last year.
Just to make matters worse, AIK playmaker Sebastien Eguren and left defender Kenny Pavey will both miss the next two matches after receiving red cards against Bromma. Eguren saw red in the 82nd minute after he picked up his second yellow card of the match. Four minutes later, Pavey got a red card for a tackle from behind.
The two-man advantage did little for Bromma, which managed just one shot on goal.
Despite the results, AIK head coach Mikael Stahre said it was far too early to hit the panic button.
“I don’t know what people expect,” Stahre said. “Certainly the match didn’t pan out the way we thought it would, but we played hard, we worked for 90 minutes and we had four good goal chances and they had none.”
While AIK is creating negative talk, BK Häcken is turning heads with positivity. The once-lowly Göteborg-based team has won its first two games, including a 1-0 win over IFK Göteborg March 22 at Gamla Ullevi.
Häcken completely retooled its squad in the offseason, bringing in a pair of Brazilian strikers to bolster its offense. BK might also have the top young goalkeeper in Sweden in Christopher Källqvist. Media throughout Sweden are already speculating whether Häcken has the horses it needs to make a run at the Lennart Johansson trophy, although it probably doesn’t have the big-game experience it needs to sustain a prolonged championship campaign.

Elfsborg 6, Halmstad 0
BORÅS – James Keene and Johan Larsson each had a brace to lead Elfsborg to a 6-0 drubbing of Halmstad. Keene has been on fire for Elfsborg, scoring 10 goals in 8 preseason games this year. Larsson, 19, netted his first two professional goals. Fredrik Berglund and Denni Avdic also scored for Elfsborg while Australian international goalkeeper Ante Covic picked up the shutout.

Malmö 3, Örebro 0
MALMÖ – Agon Mehmeti scored twice in the first half to make a winner of Malmö in its home opener against Örebro. Mehmeti struck in the 21st and 27th minute. Guillermo Molins added a late goal for Malmö.

Mjällby 3, GAIS 0
SÖLVESBORG – Markus Ekenberg dazzled in his debut as he nothced a hat trick to lead Mjällby to a 3-0 win over GAIS. Ekenberg scored once in the first half and twice in the second. Ekenberg led the Superettan in scoring last year with 16 goals.

Helsingborg 1, Djurgården 0
STOCKHOLM – Helsingborg spoiled the home opener for Djurgården, claiming a 1-0 win at Stockholm Stadium. Rasmus Jönsson scored just two minutes into the match and the Helsingborg defense made the goal stand up. For DIF, the loss was its second straight to open the season.

Gefle 1, Åtvidaberg 0
ÅTVIDABERG – Gefle remained unbeaten after two matches, knocking off Åtvidaberg 1-0 at Kopparvallen stadium. Alexander Gerndt scored the lone goal of the match at the half-hour mark.

BK Häcken 1, IFK Göteborg 0
GÖTEBORG – Häcken moved to the top of the standings with a 1-0 win over IFK Göteborg. Brazilian rookie Vinicius Silva Lopes Souto scored the lone goal of the game seven minutes from time.

Trelleborg 1, Kalmar 1
TRELLEBORG – The battle of two contrasting styles ended in a stalemate as Trelleborg and Kalmar played to a 1-1 draw at Vangavallen Stadium. Kalmar, with its emphasis on Brazilian and African players, took the lead through one of its Latin Americans as Ricardo Santos stuck at the 20-minute mark. Trelleborg, which has only Swedish players, equalized in the 64th minute through Fredrik Jensen.