shout. When the smoke curtains are lifted, we can see the blue and yellow outlines that will take Sweden to the European Championship final.
But no matter your tactical ingenuity and ability to pinpoint details, it’s broken hearts and cold minds that will decide.
Against England – in England – courage is required from the bench and players.
Tonight there is only room for winners.
It was difficult to determine the feeling before the semi-finals. The Swedish players looked relieved, despite the tense wall the team’s management had built up by ordering them to remain silent about illnesses and injuries at the same time as national assistant captain Magnus Wykman complained to the media about how the team was doing “work against the wind”.
An explicit strategy to keep players secret and delay notification of injury cases chosen by Peter Gerhardsson and his teammate Wakeman with the aim of giving opponents no advantages at all. Perhaps to build a sense of us against them.
The joy is complete
At the site in Sheffield, the smoke curtains were raised and the mood was clear. Kosovar Aslani sat in front of the biggest media gathering of the tournament to date, looked at the assembled English journalists and said, “I’m ready and ready.”
Next to her sat Magdalena Ericsson, captain of Chelsea “Magda” with the team of English journalists, and stated in a simple question about a three- or four-line defense that the Swedes, regardless of the system, are leaning towards their captain and in fact Peter Gerhardsson. Soldiers on their way to battle.
The joy of qualifying for the semi-finals against the host country was completed. The stress of rising to your self-imposed preferred status has been taken away by the comfort of being on the threshold of the final. Touted as vanity in England, we choose to ring it as well-established.
Cleverly, Swedish players point their whole hand at their English opponents.
They have everything to lose, Hedwig Lindahl notes.
Courage on the field will be decisive
The blue-and-yellow crew received good help from their home team of journalists ahead of the semi-finals. Defense stuffing Mel Bright plunged into his chair with questions about failures in the previous semi-finals: 2017 at EC and 2015 and 2019 at WC.
As Mel Bright’s cheeks turned pink, national team captain Sarina Wegmann stretched out and in a confidence-inspiring voice like a mantra indicated that the team lives in the present, now it is now, then it was her time and nothing else mattered.
The fact that she led the Netherlands herself to victory in the semi-finals of the 2019 FIFA World Cup against Sweden under Peter Gerhardsson and in the quarter-finals in 2017 (when the Netherlands won the EC title at home) is forgotten.
Tonight, a new story will be written and the question is who is most willing to write himself in the books. The will to win must be freer than the fear of failure.
Entirely aside from the smoke curtains and lack of misinformation, the decision against England is ultimately down to courage and effort on the field. Tactical genius creates conditions, but courage in actions becomes what decides.
Looking at the most offensive numbers, England did slightly better than Sweden during the European Commission, but the Swedish national team often entered the final third.
Aslani is one of the best in the European group
Sweden was looking for surfaces to use their game on respectable counter-attacks, and forward-leaning England could offer them.
“Kossi” is Sweden’s engine in the press match and the most important attacking player. She is the fifth best player of the tournament according to the Instat benchmark, and has forged an organically growing relationship with Johanna Rytting Kaneryd on the right wing.
If Sarina Wiegman picks Rachel Daly on the left flank, it’s a weak link in the British defense and a bonus for dodger Häcken and eventually Sofia Jacobson.
How Sweden chooses to line up is not yet clear. The chance to see Gerhardsons was that he could decipher his hidden little hints.
If Hanna Glass is match-ready, he leans toward the four-way line of defense. But we know the team has honed in on a three-way defense in the previous days. When Sweden met England at Rotherham 2018, Peter Gerhardsson played with a 3-5-2 formation. Three back streak and then with Amanda Elstedt, Linda Cimbrandt and Magdalena Erickson.
Looks like a mongoose in the box
That might also be the case in the semi-finals, albeit in a different way with Amanda Nelden landing left and Elstedt moving. Even in the last 20 minutes during the bronze medal match against England in the 2019 FIFA World Cup, Sweden played with a three-line defense. What speaks against the quadruple defense line is England’s superb ability to attack from the wings, while quarterback Ellen White is like a mongoose in the penalty area when scoring. Centrally, Fran Kirby can also field balls that will pose tricky questions to the Swedish defense line, which has been quiet so far in the tournament.
Regardless, it’s all pointing to Nathalie Björn and Filippa Angeldahl, childhood friends, to form a balanced midfield duo once again.
This means that Caroline Seeger starts on the bench, although she is ready to play. The Sweden captain did not play against Portugal or Belgium due to a heel injury.
Her presence, routine, and ability to keep up would be needed in a match of this caliber.
The question is whether Peter Gerhardsson still judges Natalie Bjorn as fitter and during injury she took the opportunity to trap her captain in offside?
