The new world number two Sweden is admittedly the clear favorite in the World Cup qualifier group A.
But the new Olympic silver medalists are not the ones who think it’s just to show off the shoes.
This is what national team captain Peter Gerhardsson says before the World Cup qualifier away against 45th-ranked Slovakia on Friday and before next week’s home match against Georgia, 123rd in the world rankings.
Other teams in the five-team group who play for a direct place to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand 2023 are Finland (25th) and Ireland (33rd).
– Everyone knows that if we do not perform well enough, we can lose, says Gerhardsson.
– But our player squad is not such a squad that just thinks that “this will fix itself”. Above all, all players are so eager to play. And they know they have to perform at a hundred, otherwise they risk ending up outside the squad.
A quarter of the World Cup qualifiers will be played next week.
– So these are extremely important matches that we step into immediately.
– Federation captain Peter Gerhardsson with, among others, the new Everton defender Nathalie Björn during this summer’s Olympics.
Photo: Jon Olav Nesvold / Bildbyrån
It has gone just over a month ago, an offensively brilliant Sweden played their way to the Olympic final in Japan. It was set for Swedish women’s football’s biggest success ever, but it was a loss against Canada in the final – on penalties.
The front figure and team captain Caroline Seger had both her and football Sweden’s first Olympic gold in modern times in their own hands in the fifth round of the penalty shootout. But the 36-year-old shot over – and was devastated.
“Every now and then it’s like her whole life rages,” Seger said as she stood with the silver medal in Yokohama.
Just over a week later she told on Instagram how she continued to be tormented by the miss.
“I feel shit,” wrote Seger.
“Throughout my career, I have dreamed of a moment where we could do something that no one else in Swedish football has done in modern times. Everything I had invested and sacrificed had brought me to this very moment and there I stood with the ball (…), a touch from becoming historic with my beloved national team. ”
– “Every now and then, it’s like the whole life rages,” said Caroline Seger (center) after the penalty miss in the Olympic final.
Photo: Pontus Lundahl / TT
Federation captain Peter Gerhardsson says that the abrupt end of the Olympics has meant a processing process for both players and leaders.
– There were many feelings around that we did not manage to take that gold, which we were very close to. But if you look at the actual implementation and performance – how we managed to keep everything together in a very good way – there is not much that we could have done differently.
Sweden sat only two of six penalties in the final decision.
How do you see in retrospect the actual sentencing and the order of the penalty shooters? Could you have put it another way?
– Penalties are a very illogical thing in football matches, says Gerhardsson.
– It is the most difficult and lottery-filled moment there is. And of the 22 players we had in the Olympics, there was one (Kosovar Asllani) who hits penalties in his club team (Real Madrid).
– I buy one hundred percent that you can have opinions about who strikes, but that aftermath does not affect me. You take out what you believe in. I do not work so that I regret team selections or anything else.
Of the 22 players we had in the Olympics, one was punishing in his club team.
Veteran Caroline Seger and Hedvig Lindahl has decided to continue in the national team.
What support has Seger received after the Olympics?
– She knows she can call anything and everyone, and she has her support system at home. Then we have Rasmus Wallin Tornberg (national team football psychological adviser) who took care of her directly. We have had contact, but what we have said is between her and me.