The dream is over – at least for Division I Nord club Sirius.
After a magical run through the Swedish Cup which included winning its group over defending Allsvenskan champions Elfborg, Sirius IK finally gave up the ghost, losing to Oster 2-1 April 4 in the quarterfinals.
Sirius, playing on the artificial turf at Tipshallen in Växjö, gave Öster everything it could handle despite allowing an early goal. Johan Persson scored in the 15th minute to put Öster in front but after that, Sirius shut down the Allsvenskan side. The small team’s dream of claiming another big club scalp essentially came to end six minutes in the second half. Defender Elliot Käck received his walking papers after picking up his second yellow card of the match, putting Sirius down a man,
Despite the advantage, Öster wasn’t able to score for another 25 minutes when Freddy Söderberg pretty much put the game out of reach. Sirius, game to the end, made the final 10 minutes interesting when its scoring leader Ante Björkebaum scored his sixth goal in four Cup matches to cut the lead in half. Öster, however, held on to advance.

IFK Norrköping - Djurgården
The second quarterfinal match of the day had just as much drama as IFK Norrköping and Djurgården locked horns at Nya Parken.
Although both teams created scoring chances neither could find the net in 90 minutes of regulation or 30 minutes of overtime. Norrköping played the final 40 minutes down a man after Morten Skjønsberg picked up his second yellow card of the match.
When neither team scored in overtime, the game went into a penalty-kick shootout. After the first four shooters for each team scored, Norrköping defender Siim Luts walked to the penalty spot. He fired his shot well over the cross bar, giving Djurgården all the chance it needed. Jesper Arvidsson slotted the ball past Norrköping keeper Andreas Lindberg to send DIF to the semifinals.

The first two quarterfinals on April 3 didn’t have the drama of the second pair but still spawned plenty of rancor.

IFK Göteborg - Helsingborg
IFK Göteborg knocked Helsingborg out of the Cup with an ugly 1-0 win at Olympia Stadium that left a bad impression on just about everyone at HIF. Philip Haglund scored just four minutes into the match to put the Blavitt in front and from then on, Göteborg did little to increase that lead. Instead, head coach Mikael Stahre packed his players into his own half of the field, looking to keep Helsingborg from scoring.
The tactics particularly annoyed U.S. international and Helsingborg midfielder Alejandro Bedoya. The New Jersey native said he the way Göteborg played shocked him.
“They didn’t come here to play football. This wasn’t football. They didn’t want to really play at all,” Bedoya said. “If they had I am sure we could have easily defeated them but all they did was stay behind the ball and smash it back down the field.”
The Helsingborg player was so incensed at how Göteborg played he said “the last place on earth” he would be for the Blåvitt.
“I’d rather stay home and play video games than play for them,” Bedoya said.

Falkenberg - Örgryte
The Falkenberg-Örgryte clash, by comparison, was almost tame. Falkenberg also looked to play more defensively, and had no choice but to stay back after striker Carl Wede received a red card in the 12th minute for a flagrant foul.
Örgryte, now up a man, needed just a half-hour to use its advantage. Oskar Wallén scored in the 50th minute and Örgryte held on to advance to the semis.