FIFA Women’s World Cup: Sweden gunning for glory after series of near-misses

Sweden is decided to shake off a run of near-misses at main tournaments and is snug with its standing as a high contender because it begins its quest for a Women’s World Cup title towards South Africa, striker Kosovare Asllani mentioned.

Ranked third on this planet, Sweden is historically a superpower within the girls’s sport however its solely triumph at a significant match got here on the 1984 European Championship.

Sweden reached final yr’s Euro semifinals, misplaced the Olympic gold to Canada on penalties at 2020 Tokyo Games and was third on the 2019 World Cup. Its finest end on the world soccer showpiece was in 2003, when it was runner-up.

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“Sweden is always a contender, I would say,” Asllani instructed reporters on Saturday. “It’s not only because we are very highly ranked in world rankings, because at the end of the day that doesn’t matter at all.

“But it’s the way that we approach matches and tournaments, more and more players that got experience from tournaments and were more comfortable being a favourite in a sense like we’ve been before as well.

“Primarily, the way in which we approach this as a team, we have plenty of players with excellent qualities. Right now, I’m just dying to get out there and show people what we’ve been practising in the past couple of weeks.”

Asllani will captain Sweden in its Group G opener in Wellington on Sunday, coach Peter Gerhardsson mentioned.

Regular skipper Caroline Seger skilled on Saturday however will begin towards South Africa on the bench, Gerhardsson mentioned. The 38-year-old midfielder was included 23-player squad regardless of a prolonged battle to beat a cussed calf drawback.

“I love taking responsibility on the pitch and enjoy being involved both on and off it,” Asllani mentioned. “I think we have an incredible number of players who have leadership qualities.

“So for us, it’s never really been a question of who wears the captain’s armband. We complement each other.”