I watched Arsenal lose to Porto 2-1 in their Champions League match Wednesday, and that’s what I miss most about Europe: the big games like a Champions League knockout tie or a match against Chelsea or Man United. The atmosphere is electric; everyone’s on edge; it really, really matters; and the adrenaline is running really high. Those are the games that I always loved to play, and people say those were my best games.

I saw on TV that Cesc Fabregas was very disappointed — he said Arsenal made schoolboy mistakes. I understand his frustration because, at that level, you don’t expect to see those kinds of errors, which make it almost impossible to win on the road. Otherwise, I think Arsenal would have had a much better result, and it would have been much easier in the second leg.

I think Arsenal will be very disappointed with the first leg result, but in the end, it’s a good score in general to lose 2-1 and have the away goal. If they can win 1-0 at the Emirates, the Gunners are home-free. At the end of the day, I think Arsenal will still make it through.

In the Premier League, I’m excited because Arsenal are now only six points off the lead. After recent losses by Arsenal to both Man United and Chelsea, the Gunners were all but ruled out of the title race. It’s never good for your confidence when you want to compete for a trophy and you lose 3-1 to title rivals like Man United. However, with both Chelsea and Man United faltering themselves recently, the race is wide-open again.

As an Arsenal man, I’m hoping the other teams will continue to slip up again. Arsenal has an easier month of games coming up, so perhaps the gap will narrow further.

With the Sounders, we are in Spain right now in what has become the longest preseason I’ve ever played in. At Arsenal we typically trained for three to four weeks and then we played. We are training for about seven to eight weeks with the Sounders, so it’s hard to determine how hard to train and how hard to push myself. I talk a lot to the fitness coaches about how to plan that.

On the field, we have some unfortunate injuries to some key players, but I hope they can be back at the start of the season. In MLS, that becomes difficult because of the salary cap. When you lose some of your starters, you can’t just replace them with new players.

Before coming to Spain, we were in Arizona for nine days before making a 27-hour journey to Europe that, from boarding the plane to arriving at the hotel, was the longest trip I’ve ever taken! But we’re working hard and we’re getting fit.

Compared to the teams that are here in Spain, we’re pretty unfit. It’s early in our preparations, so it’s going to be difficult for us in the games, which is a pity. I would have loved to come here and show what type of team we have when we’re in full flow. I think that’s something that the Europeans need to see. It just comes too early for us to show how good we are.

I remember, during one year with Arsenal, we played an afternoon game at a tournament in Amsterdam against Barcelona. The day before and earlier that day we ran and worked in the gym so much that we couldn’t move, and Barcelona beat us 3-0. We were all upset because the game was televised all over Europe and we were making fools out of ourselves. But our coach told us it was the Premier League that matters, not the preseason, and that the result didn’t matter too much. It’s good to get fit in preseason games — the quality will come later.

We will be in Spain until Saturday, when we go back to Seattle. It will be nice to finally get back to living a normal life.

//F

PS You find my column at ESPN Soccernet

Photo: Sounders.com

Been in training camp in Arizona for a week now. We have been running our asses off and we are all a bit tired, but no pain no gain… Being in camp there is lots of time around the hotel, why it was nice last night when we all went to the NBA game Phoenix Suns vs Portland Trailblazers.

Some of us in the squad plays a friendly tonight, but I am one of the ones resting. Tomorrow we return back home.

That’s all for now from Arizona.
//F

This winter I am spending a lot of time in the Swedish mountains and Åre as the resort is called, and which is the perfect place for me.

I’m having a great time and at the same time doing my personal pre-season training before joining the team. Doing some boarding in the mornings, then lots of running, sprinting and going to Gym followed by another 3 hours boarding in the afternoon. As you understand I absolutely love snowboarding, check out the picture a friend of mine took the other day.

I have excellent support up here with local physio therapists that looks after my body. I have actually the hard way found out how important it is to have professionals to look after you while training hard, especially during pre-season and this gets more and more important for every year.

During the winter there has been some reports in media about teams in Europe asking for my service, and as a Player it is always an honour when top teams are interested and evidently this shows that MLS these days is a very reputable League.

I have not made any final decision about the spring as a lot depends on the outcome of the new CBA and lockout threat in MLS.

Stay tuned.

//Freddie.

I know Hasse Backe very well. He has great knowledge about the game. He was one of the 3 people I wanted to become swedish coach, when the job was up for grabs this year. If he can adapt to transfer and budget differences then he will be a great success. He is a top draw manager.

I purposely haven’t written much lately since I have been travelling and not been carrying my Macbook, I also wanted to forget about the world for a little bit… I will get back to you guys soon. To give you a clue, I have been just 3 feet away from a male lion…

// F

Photo: mlsnet.com

Check out below text and link from the MLS site !
//Claes, agent
CAA Sports

————————————
NEW YORK — MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced the 2009 Best XI during his annual State of the League address. The Best XI recognizes the League’s top 11 players at each position on the field – one goalkeeper, three defenders, five midfielders and two forwards. Six members of the 2009 Best XI are prior recipients of the honor, while five have been named to the squad for the first time. The Best XI members received the most votes from the media, MLS players and MLS coaches and general managers.

MIDFIELDER – FREDDIE LJUNGBERG (Seattle Sounders FC)
DOB – April 16, 1977
Citizenship – Sweden

The Swedish superstar made a remarkable recovery from off-season hip surgery while making a smooth transition from the English Premier League to Major League Soccer. Ljungberg, who became Seattle’s first Designated Player prior to the 2009 season, led a dynamic offense with a team high nine assists. His vision and creativity helped spark the Sounders run to the playoffs – only the third expansion team in MLS history to qualify. Ljungberg was named an MLS All-Star in his first season, was MLS Player of the Month for October and was a finalist for the MLS Newcomer of the Year award.

Photo: theoffside.com

I want to follow up on my last blog post and a few of the comments (I try to read them all – thanks) associated to this branding me as a bit of a “sore looser” in reference to the Dynamo game.

Whatever I have said, or will say, about the quality of the stadium in Houston I want to be very clear and say that it had nothing to do with the outcome of the game. Both Seattle and Houston played on the same pitch and had exactly the same circumstances, and even if it was a handball it does not matter at all as the referee has ruled which we all accept as professionals. Therefore I say it again, it was a fair win for Dynamo.

The point I am trying to make is to raise questions in reference to what is good or bad for MLS  (also adressed in my second column on ESPN´s US soccer site, released friday) as all of us involved are interested in seeing the League grow and benefit all teams in the future. I will therefore use my experience and continue to highlight issues I think need to be changed or improved in order to support the development of our League.

The League and Players Union are in discussion in reference to a new collective bargaining agreement as the current one expires this winter and one thing I know is that all the Players want to get FIFA rules. Except for the U.S. every country and player in the world of soccer has accepted these rules, to my knowledge even really small Leagues with minimum salaries. So what I am trying to highlight is that all we want as Players is to show the high quality of soccer that is being played in the US. If we are not getting the chance to do that I will be telling you why, as I see it, as I have done recently in reference to the quality of the pitch in Houston. A bit of inside information for you is that after the last game several of the Dynamo players apologized for the state of their pitch, which I think was a very nice gesture and underlines my point.

There are so many talented young U.S. players and foreign players in the league who deserve better conditions in order to be able to show their quality. Even if the MLS is a very young League compared to a lot of others around the world it is doing well, but as a player you need to feel sure that you can pass the ball without it flying everywhere and having proper soccer lines in the correct colours which is something much smaller Leagues internationally are adamant about. I sincerely feel that for MLS to be able to elevate its recognition Internationally this is a very important factor!!

People come to watch soccer games live for entertainment, but if the pitches are not good enough so that Players can’t  perform to their best ability they will say that the MLS standard is not good enough. I have personally, numerous times tried to promote the MLS in Europe, but when they see for themselves on TV that NFL lines are remaining during our games they laugh and say that it is not professional.

With all that said I have great belief in the future of soccer in the US and am ready to work hard together with the MLS and all the Players!

Off for a short holiday … where do you think I am? (will choose a winner who receives a signed cap)

//F