Ljungberg looks on bright side

Umeå IK are only ten days away from the first leg of the UEFA Women's Cup final - but they have other things on their minds tonight as for the second year running they begin the defence of their domestic title with injury worries hanging over star striker Hanna Ljungberg.

Race against time
A year ago she missed the start of the campaign due to concussion suffered in the Algarve Cup but recovered to help her club to another unbeaten championship success and to within one two-legged tie against Arsenal LFC of their third European title. But a thigh injury has meant a race against time for Ljungberg to make the first leg against Arsenal on 21 April, and the domestic campaign starts tonight against QBIK with the forward still yet to return. However, the upbeat 28-year-old is optimistic.

Progress
"I'm quite good now, actually," Ljungberg told uefa.com. "I've been injured for a long time and didn't make so much progress at first. But now I've started to kick the ball and run and I've done everything I've had to do. Hopefully I will be able to play in the final."

Full recovery vital
Her frustrations over recent times ensure she will only return when fully ready. "I've been injured so much," Ljungberg mused. "Last year I was unlucky in the Algarve Cup and couldn't do anything for three months, I just lay in bed. But I wanted to get back as fast as possible, but then I got injured again and again and again and again. That's one thing I don't want to do again."

Changes
Where Ljungberg has been convalescing this winter, there have been plenty of changes at Umeå. Not only have Finnish duo Anne Mäkinen and Sanna Valkonen left for Bälinge IF and AIK Solna respectively, but Ljungberg's old Sweden team-mates Malin Moström and Anna Sjöström have retired. "We have played with each other for eight or nine years," Ljungberg said. "It feels a bit strange that they are not around. But that's the way it goes, they are older than us and now it is time for the younger girls. It's a new challenge. We have to teach the younger players what the older players once taught us."

English improvement
Ljungberg has never played against Arsenal, whose 1-0 win against Birmingham City LFC at the weekend left them needing only five points from as many games to retain the English title. But the Swedish international does have the experience of taking on England, not least in UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2005™, which proved a breakthrough for the game there. "England have improved very much, they have many young players," Ljungberg said. "England is a country where football is big. But it is more difficult for women's football to break through. It is as much about the media, getting shown on television, to make people wake up. In Sweden it did not come straight away, but here we are."

Ready to go
As for the league, Umeå have only dropped two points in each of the last two seasons, but the big challenges are expected to come from Djurgården Damfotboll (formerly Djurgårdens/Älvsjö), with their new German international signing Ariane Hingst in defence and Victoria Svensson up front, and Linköping FC, who beat Ljungberg and co on their way to winning the 2006 Swedish Cup. But Umeå gained revenge on Linköping in the recent Swedish Super Cup, and have new signing themselves including teenage Chinese forward Ma Xiaoxu. Ljungberg warned: "We have the energy, we want to start. We feel a team more and more."