LIVESTREAM Sweden: Tyresö Royal Crowns @ Örebro Black Knights, May 21, 15:30 CET (3:30 pm, 09:30 am ET)

AFI | American Football | 05/21/2022

Graphic: Igor Lazarevic

The Örebro Black Knights (1-2) will play host to the Tyresö Royal Crowns (1-2) as the second half of the Swedish Superserien gets underway Saturday, May 21 at Behrn Arena in Örebro.

The first time these two teams met was on April 9 in Tyresö and the Royal Crowns came away with a 35-16 victory, outscoring the visitors 28-6 in the second half after trailing 10-7 at the break.

The Royal Crowns are coming off two straight losses following that opening game win, first dropping a tough 34-20 decision to the Stockholm Mean Machines and then losing 10-7 to the Carlstad Crusaders on a last second field goal. In their lone Scandinavian Cup game so far, Tyresö downed Denmark’s Aalborg 89ers, 35-12. The Black Knights had a rough start to the season, first losing a heartbreaker to the Stockholm Mean Machines 26-23 at home at Behrn Arena before losing to Tyresö. They rebounded with a 22-19 win over Carlstad after trailing 19-0 at the half. Örebro has also played two CEFL games, trouncing the Copenhagen Towers 56-25 after trailing 20-0, and then getting trounced themselves by Germany’s Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 58-7.

Tyresö Royal Crowns @ Örebro Black Knights, May 21, 15:30 CET (3:30 pm, 09:30 am ET)

For the Black Knights, quarterback Trevor Vasey is the key. The 6’7″ signal caller has thrown for 598 yards and seven touchdowns in the three games in Sweden and against the Towers tossed three touchdown passes and scored two more on the ground himself. Running back Tim Göransson scored two touchdowns in the rout of Copenhagen and is a punishing runner. Another weapon for Vasey is wide receiver Johannes Lindeus, his “go to” target. Lindeus has 258 yards receiving and two touchdowns in Swedish play. Against the Towers he had two more touchdowns while he was the lone touchdown scorer against Schwäbisch Hall while catching five passes for 94 yards. Younger brother Jesper Lindeus is also dangerous both as a receiver and returner. He scored once in Copenhagen but has been another key target for Vasey during the Swedish campaign.

Defensively, the front seven is anchored by linebackers Jonathan Armendariz and Filip Jönsson while defensive linemen Martin Jäppinen and 6’3″, 307-pound Tristen Cox, along with Team Sweden’s Sebastian Nilsson, make for an impressive unit.

Tyresö’s offense will be slightly altered with the absence of veteran quarterback and offensive coordinator Phil Juhlin who is away in the United States due to a family issue. He will be replaced by Ted Eriksson and Marlon Alm. The young Swedes have an excellent receiving corps however including Edwin Taborda as well as Mattias Gauthier, Niko Peterson and Dovydas “Dovve” Koncevicius. Young running back Carl Lundberg has carried the load on the ground and can cause problems.

Linebacker Richard Liljestrand is one of the anchors in the Royal Crowns front seven along with Victor Benerius Frank. Malcolm Engström is another formidable presence along with linebacker Ali Chakkour, who was recruited from Stockholm.