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There are three games left in the qualifying phase of the European Women’s Football Championship.
Sweden, who lead the group on the same points as Iceland, will meet Latvia at home on October 22. Five days later, entry to the European Championship will be available when the Icelanders visit Gothenburg. But then Sweden need to play a better game than Reykjavik last time, where it was “only” 1-1.
– We hope that we end up in a situation where we can decide this on our own already against Iceland in the seventh match (Sweden will meet Slovakia in the last qualifying match in December), says national team captain Peter Gerhardsson.
– When we draw a squad, we have looked at continuity and quality, to win these two games and prepare Sweden for the 2022 European Championship in England.
Therefore, the template will be roughly the same as the one who played 8-0 at home against Hungary and then crossed away against Iceland in September.
Bayern Munich defender Hanna Glas is back after a knee injury, but veteran goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl (Atlético Madrid) and offensive star Fridolina Rolfö (Wolfsburg) are still missing.
Lindahl underwent knee surgery in September and has yet to debut in the Spanish league. Rolfö suffered a concussion in the Champions League final in August and has not participated in group training for seven weeks.
– She has just started her own training, says Gerhardsson.
– We don’t really know when she will be able to return, but we hope she is ready for the next collection
Fridolina Rolfö suffered a concussion in the Champions League final with Wolfsburg in August and has not played since. Now another round of the European Championship is lost.
Photo: Alvaro Barrientos / AP
In September he received Goalkeepers Jennifer Falk (Gothenburg) and Zecira Musovic (Rosengård) each face their match in the absence of Lindahl. Now it will be a goalkeeping game again.
– We go with three goalkeepers (also Emma Holmgren, Uppsala). We will see exactly who will be in the first match against Latvia. There is some time left, says Gerhardsson, who also says it is not the time to rest the players against the Latvia jumbo group.
– But one thing that has been opened is that we will have five changes. This increases the opportunities.
– It is a factor that we can use in a purely tactical way. But we must beat Latvia. So our starting point is that we will play with the best team there. Then it will be a lot of fun to go to Iceland. I hope it’s a pure finale.
Read more: Swedish stars are doing well in Europe: this is the situation before the qualifiers of the European Championship
