With the Red Bulls poised to sign Swedish defender Markus Holgersson, I had the chance to exchange e-mails this afternoon with Torbjörn Dencker, editor, presenter and reporter at Helsingborg Dagblad's TV channel, 24HD. Torbjörn also contributes to a Helsingborg IF-focused blog, which can be found here.

Holgersson: Defensive Help on the Way?"Quiet" doesn't begin to describe the New York Red Bulls media profile since the 2011 season ended. The only addition to date has been young homegrown signing Connor Lade, while a whopping ten players have departed, according to the club's official "Transaction Central" page.

Well we've all been wondering what the Portland Timbers pre-season plans were and today they've been given a serious spotlight. Per the title of this article, the Timbers will host Chivas USA, San Jose Earthquakes and AIK (from Sweden's first division Allsvenskan) from February 27th-March 4th, about 1 week prior to First Kick 2012).

The young Swedish midfielder is on his way to Swedish club Malmo FF after a one year stay with the Seattle Sounders. Per league policy terms were not disclosed, but the word "transfer" reveals an interesting nugget. Adrian Hanauer did exercise that option and then orchestrated a move. This not only opens cap space, a roster slot and an international slot, but may involve more allocation.

In the second part of our European summer leagues review we look back at another six leagues which fell upon the 2011 calendar year.

KAZAKHSTAN: FC Shakhter Karagandy (Played 32, Points 42) finished the season as Kazakhstan Premier League champions but it didn't look so clear cut throughout the season.

It was a devastating end of the season for Matt Pyzdrowski (Marquette) and Ängelholms FF on Sunday night in Sweden.

The Superettan side saw their hopes of promotion to the Allsvenskan extinguished on an own goal in the final seconds of stoppage time, as host Syrianska posted a 3-1 victory in Södertälje that gave them a 4-3 aggregate victory in the two-match series and kept the club in the top division for 2012.

Matt Pyzdrowski and Angelholms FF beat Syrianska FC in the first leg of a playoff series to see who plays in next year's Allsvenskan.

Matt Pyzdrowski (Marquette) and Ängelholms FF are 90 minutes away from playing in Sweden's top division.

Pyzdrowski made three saves and host Ängelholms came back to beat Syrianska 2-1 on Thursday night in the first leg of a two-game playoff series for the final spot in the Allsvenskan for the 2012 season.

Matt Pyzdrowski (Marquette) was in the middle of some incredible drama Saturday.

His Ängelholms FF side played host to Hammarby on the final day of the season in the Superettan, Sweden's second division.

Ängelholms went into the day knowing that a win and a loss by GIF Sundsvall would give them automatic promotion to the Allsvenskan next year.

Matt Pyzdrowski (Marquette) and Ängelholms FF will have a chance to earn promotion to the Allsvenskan, Sweden's top division, for next season.

But it appears likely it will be in the form of a playoff against a current Allsvenskan team.

Pyzdrowski made nine saves Saturday as Ängelholms drew with IFK Värnamo 1-1 and clinched no worse than third place in the 16-team Superettan.

Well well, I miss a couple of weeks of the Allsvenskan for various reasons and look what happens: we end up with a champion. Helsingborg won the Allsvenskan 2011 and did so in style. I can´t think of a worthier champion. They played well all year and despite selling their best offensive weapons (Gerndt to Utrecht and Jönsson to Wolfsburg), losing Peter Larsson on the end of their loan deal with Copenhagen, they still managed to win the league.

Well well, I miss a couple of weeks of the Allsvenskan for various reasons and look what happens: we end up with a champion. Helsingborg won the Allsvenskan 2011 and did so in style. I can´t think of a worthier champion. They played well all year and despite selling their best offensive weapons (Gerndt to Utrecht and Jönsson to Wolfsburg), losing Peter Larsson on the end of their loan deal with Copenhagen, they still managed to win the league.

Ryan Miller looks for another start for Halmstads BK as they take on Syrianska in the Allsvenskan while Matt Pyzdrowski and Lester Dewee hope to keep ngelholms FF at the top of the Superettan.

Ryan Miller and Halmstads BK look for three points against Malmo FF in Wednesday Allsvenskan action.

I´m a bit behind on the blogging here and I thought I would write a quick post with the scores from the 21st round of the Allsvenskan as well as a few updates on some of the national team players around Europe. To end it I will touch on the transfer market really briefly.

The 21st round of the 2011 Allsvenskan didn´t prove to be all that crazy when it came to results or even the meaning of the results, but there are some important games to cover so I will dispense with the pleasantries and get down to the meatier parts of this post.

Roland Nilsson has got Danish champions FC København off to a good start

Things already have a familiar look about them after just four matches in Denmark's Superligaen whilst the summer championships of Norway, Sweden and Finland are starting to get interesting as they reach the final third of the season.

Alejandro Bedoya and Orebro climbed into the Allsvenskan's upper half with a third straight win while Matt Pyzdrowski and ngelholms FF remained in the Superttan lead with a win over Vasteras.

The last time a team from Allsvenskan played in Europe was the 2007 season where Helsingborg managed to make it into the group stage. Once there, they took second place and were knocked out by PSV Eindhoven in the first knockout stage. I watched the last game in Helsingborg live, and though PSV were certainly the better team, Helsingborg had proved that teams from Allsvenskan could play and even do well at this level.

A lot of crazy things can happen in football. For example: teams favored in a game can end up losing by disproportionate numbers. Of course in the end the better teams tend to win out. Time is a factor in every season and as things wear on, the smaller clubs with their tiny budgets just cannot keep up.

Before I take us to the results of the seventeenth round of 2011's Allsvenskan, I would like to apologize for the length between posts here. I have been extremely busy with work as well as being in the middle of looking for a new job and preparing to be a father for the first time. I ask that you bear with me on this dear reader, as I promise to keep this thing going.

That's fifteen rounds down and fifteen more to go! The Allsvenskan has reached its midway point and now is getting ready to enter the home stretch. Everything that we thought we knew fifteen rounds ago has been dragged through the mud, shot in the head, and then finally erased from existence. Giants have ruled the land only to be slain in what is one of Europe's most even leagues.

The 14th round of the Allsvenskan kicked off with GAIS hosting Malmö FF on Sunday the 26th of June. Now before I get to the good stuff in this game, I wanted to first consider the position that Rikard Norling is in right now. Malmö had a phenomenal season last year and then started this one with a bang as well.

Following right on the heels of the previous round, the 13th round of the Allsvenskan kicked off with Häcken taking on Halmstad at home. Of course the drama had to revolve around international man of rumor Matthias Ranegie, who has been putting away goals left and right so far this season (the latest word was Wolfsburg, but I don't believe it for one second).

Orebro host Djurgarden at the Behm Arena on Thursday as Djurgarden come off their first winning streak in league play of the season and Orebro look to continue their push for the top spot in the Allsvenskan standings.

After a fantastic International break with two great games for Sweden the Allsvenskan returned to its more average and everyday existence and yet the drama was just around the corner and waiting for the right game to have it released...

The struggling kings of Sweden Malmö FF have finally ended their trainer speculations by hiring Rikard Norling (formerly of Assyriska and AIK).

The Allsvenskan resumes this weekend as Gale Agbossoumonde travels to IFK Goteborg and Ryan Miller looks to continue to impress for Halmstad BK.

Reading United fans may have noticed the absence of Brian Ownby in the team's 5-1 victory of the Central Jersey Spartans. Ownby, along with Reading and University of Virginia teammate Will Bates, is currently on a 10-day trial with Swedish team Mjällby. Mjällby plays in Sweden's first division, the Allsvenskan, and currently sits in thirteenth place in the standings.

Gale Agbossoumode and Djurgarden will try to avoid falling to last place while Ryan Miller and Halmstads BK are looking to escape the Allsvenskan's basement.

Gale Agbossoumode and Djurgarden will try to avoid falling to last place while Ryan Miller and Halmstads BK are looking to escape the Allsvenskan's basement.

Unfortunately, the (not so) fresh (anymore) Allsvenskan season has already seen a couple of moments which could be considered less than optimal. A match was abandoned recently for flying flares, and yesterday saw Helsingborg v Malmo called for a player attack.

However, approaching a silver lining: lovely to see some solidarity among players of opposing teams, no?

Alejandro Bedoya continued to tear up the Allsvenskan on Sunday contributing a goal and an assist while leading Orebro SK to victory over visiting GAIS.

Well, well, the fifth round of play is over in the Allsvenskan and we had two big things happen: the champions lost their first game of the season and there was a scandal. Let me rephrase that: there were two things that happened one major and the other while interesting, less important.

I will start with the scandal (obviously the big thing) first.

Occasionally, the timing is just right if because it's wrong.

Someone from the YouTube filmed their match experience travel and (brief) game at yesterday's Allsvenskan battle royale between Syrianska AIK. The match gained a certain degree of infamy for being abandoned after one of the linesman enjoyed a steaming firecracker to the back of his head.

The dust from round three hadn't really settled yet and then the fourth round of the 2011 Allsvenskan was also just a piece of history. The first game was on Tuesday night when GAIS hosted Djurgården. GAIS is, as of this round, a serious contender for the Lennart Johansson trophy given their form and potential.

Its time for the Allsvenskan Round Two review: in many ways it wasn't really all that surprising, except in one or two of the games (IFK Göteborg I am looking at you). Some of the expected patterns are emerging and I think that my season predictions are still holding, of course it was only the second round so there are probably some surprises coming up in the next couple of weeks.

The first round of the Allsvenskan is behind us and I thought I would go ahead with a quick summary of the action that took place. As with any league in the world, there isn't all that much to be surmised and taken apart for analysis after only one game, however that doesn't mean that there aren't still questions waiting to be asked.

A while back, I wrote an article about football and homosexuality. Unbeknown to me, an obscure player I blogged about player would announce he was gay via Offside Magazine. His name is Anton Hysen. Before this, he was best known for being a part of what I called the Hysen Dynasty. Now, he is making headlines all his own.

With the opening of the 2011 Allsvenskan season fast approaching, Alejandro Bedoya is ready to lead Orebro who are expecting to contend to for the league title.

Anel Raskaj is the next Zidane, atleast that is what former Halmstad BK manager Janne Andersson believes. Anderson claims that Raskaj is even better than Halmstad greats Fredrik Ljungberg and Niclas Alexandersson. Raskaj was born on August 19, 1989 in Prizren, then a part of Yugoslavia. He started his career with KF Liria.

BY ADAM SERRANO

Ryan Miller's name isn't one many would have expected to receive a U.S. national team call-up a month ago, but considering how far he has come in his career over the past two years, nothing should come as too much of a surprise.