Sometimes a goal can turn a season around, establish a player as a star or even save a coach’s job.

Malmö striker Junior managed to accomplish all three July when he scored a stoppage-time game-winning goal against IFK Göteborg at Ullevi Stadium. The Brazilian’s goal not only put Malmö back in contention for the Allsvenskan crown, it sealed Junior as league’s newest Brazilian star and it likely kept Malmö manager Soren Åkeby employed.

“I think I will have a job for another week,” Åkeby told the Sydsvenska Dagbladet. “I really hope this kind of win can turn the season around for us. It should do wonders for our confidence.”

Despite preseason hype, Malmö had yet to come close to the level Åkeby and the rest of the club expected. When the team began to struggle, the former gold-medal winning coach at Djurgarden came under intense pressure to get his underachieving side to perform. In the days prior to the Göteborg match, rumors swirled that a loss would mean Åkeby’s job. Now, the manager knows he is safe for at least another week.

“I can’t give Göteborg enough praise. They played really well,” Åkeby said. “Still, we’re really happy to get the three points and this could possibly get us back on track.”

Malmö goalkeeper Jonas Sandqvist was just as certain the win would put Malmö on the right foot, thanks to Junior.

“This is the kind of goal that can really get us going,” Sandqvist told fotbolldirekt.com. “It should give us a boost when we face Djurgården.”

It certainly gave Malmö’s Brazilian striker a boost. Although Åkeby calls Junior the most talented Brazilian in Sweden, the striker had to really shine this season. Junior had just three goals in 11 matches this after nothing 11 goals in 17 games in 2006. At 31, he is also one of the oldest Brazilian players to arrive in the Allsvenskan. He spent several years at Odense in Denmark before moving to Malmö last year for a reported $1.7 million.

Junior’s season this year mirrored that of his team. Although it’s in fourth place in the standings, Malmö has just five wins in 12 matches this season. Junior, like Malmö, never seemed quite right. Åkeby had problems finding a partner for his Brazilian star up front, using Finnish international Jonatan Johansson and most recently Niklas Skoog as strikers.

It didn’t do much to help Malmö’s fortunes. The Skåne side went into Ullevi Stadium riding a three-match winless streak that saw Malmö drop toward the bottom of the standings.

“Sometimes it’s good to get a garbage win like this one just to prove we’re not completely incompetent,” Sandqvist said. “Sometimes you need a win like this and we needed it.”

Malmö took the lead at 21 minutes when Skoog bent a corner kick right into the goal. The lead lasted nearly 50 minutes until Sandqvist made a rare mistake. The goalkeeper came off his line to challenge Göteborg striker Marcus Berg. He and midfielder Jon Inge Hoiland slammed into Berg and Göteborg’s leading scorer dropped like a stone.

“It was a clear penalty,” Sandqvist said. “I got to the ball, but I took him out, too. It was just a bad move on my part.”

Berg beat Sandqvist on the ensuing penalty kick to tie the score at 1-1. The Göteborg striker leads the league in scoring with eight goals in 12 matches.

Göteborg continued to press its attack, but despite creating chances, could not beat Sandqvist again. IFK head coach Stefan Rehn, who played for Åkeby when he was at Djurgarden, said the missed chances hurt the most.

“We played very well right from the start and kept the pressure on them,” Rehn said. “In the second half we continued to play well but we couldn’t finish any of the chances we created.”

The lack of scoring touch gave Junior the opening he needed. As stoppage ran down, Christian Järdler pushed a ball into the penalty area and Junior was there to knock the ball home. The goal was his fourth of the season.

“This is absolutely the toughest loss we’ve had this season,” Rehn said. “But that’s the way it is in football. Whichever team scores the most goals wins, and they scored more than we did.”