Taha Ali, a Swedish-Somali winger, was on target for Malmö as the reigning Swedish Champions overcame Djurgarden 4-1 on post-match penalties to win the 2023-24 Swedish Cup after the two sides had played out to a 1-1 draw in regulation and extra time.
The Swedish Cup final this year took place at Malmö's home stadium, Elena Stadion, on Wednesday evening.
Taha, who was born in Stockholm in 1998 after his parents emigrated to the European nation from Somalia, put the Sky Blues ahead in the 70th minute.
With the first half ending goalless, Taha broke the deadlock after collecting a pass from Lasse Johnsen in the final third.
Taha then coasted into the penalty area after exploiting the gap in Djurgaden's central defense, expertly lobbing the ball over Jacob Wildell Zetterstrom, who had rushed out of his line to narrow the angles.
However, Malmö's advantage lasted only eight minutes as Turkish forward Deniz Hummet equalised for Harambee Stars captain Michael Olunga's former club in the 78th minute.
The two teams remained level until the end of extra time, and the match proceeded to a penalty shootout, which Malmö won 4-1 to claim a record 16th Swedish Cup title.
Even though Taha was still on the pitch during the penalty shootout, he was not one of Malmö's penalty takers.
However, the Sky Blues still counted on their Swedish-Kenyan 35-year-old defender Martin Tony Waikwa Olsson, who successfully converted their third kick. After Tobias Gulliksen's missed Djurgarden's third kick, Lasse Johnsen made Malmö's fourth kick count, and the Sky Blues recaptured the Swedish Cup, which they had last won in 2022.
After a journeyman career that saw him play for Sundbybergs IK, IFK Stocksund, Sollentuna FK, Örebro SK, Helsingborgs IF, and Västerås SK in his first five seasons as a professional footballer, Taha seems to be loving life at Malmö.
He won his second trophy in his career yesterday, following his league championship with Malmö in November of last year.
Taha joined Malmö from Helsingborgs IF in January 2023, and his signing proved key to the club's restructuring under Henrik Rystrom after the club, despite winning the 2022 Swedish Cup, endured a terrible 2022 league season under Serbian Milos Milojevic, during which they finished seventh in the league.
Taha was influential in helping Malmö recapture the league title, which they surrendered to Hacken in the 2022 season.
Taha scored six times and assisted seven goals, helping Malmö win the league for the first time since 2021.
Malmö, who are the record Swedish champions with 23 titles, look set to extend their dominance of the Allsvenskan, as they have started this season with a perfect record after reaping 18 points from their first six matches while scoring 18 goals and conceding only one.
Even though Taha has yet to score in the league this season, he has still contributed to the team's success with two assists.
He also reserved his best scoring form for the Swedish Cup, during which he scored four goals, including one in yesterday's final against Djurgaden.
That the tournament top scorer, Remo Gotfredsen Grgic, had five goals just shows how significant Taha's scores were to Malmö in the Swedish Cup triumph.
With the Swedish Cup over, Taha can now work hard to translate that scoring form into league matches, as well as establish himself in the Swedish national team.
His performances for the club last season culminated with his debut for the Swedish national team in January this year, when he featured against Estonia in a friendly match.
Even though Taha had previously featured six times for the Swedish national futsal team in 2018 and 2019, he is still eligible to play for Somalia internationally as he has yet to play for Sweden in a competitive match.
Playing in Malmö's Sky blue and white kit certainly gives the best vision of how Taha would like to play for the Ocean Stars.
Only time will tell if Taha will switch allegiance and wear the same colours for club and country.
