It might be too early to say, and I would love to be corrected on it, but for me this is not a squad that is screaming ‘gold medalists’. They’re not even exuding semi-final energy if I’m being terribly realistic, which seems to be the side I’ve woken up on. This has nothing to do with individual players, but rather the fact that Peter Gerhardsson’s selection is too safe, not forward thinking, and lacks creativity. With that being said, they’ve tried the audacious ‘How To Beat Sweden’ route and it fell flat, so maybe this is the way to go. Let me outline some reasons for my attitude.
Hedvig Lindahl’s omission from the squad
Peter Gerhardsson said it was: “one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever had to make” about his decision to leave Lindahl out of the squad, whilst the player herself just tweeted a message supportive of the squad (so not much drama there for those who were looking for it.)
She’s only played 180 minutes this season with Djurgården, due to a knee injury she sustained in training and had to get operated for, and in April the reports were very negative in terms of her ability to come back in time for this summer’s tournament. At yesterday’s press conference there was no mention about the injury and no update on her progress, but rather it seemed like it was a question of changing things up.
Personally I’m not too surprised about this, just disappointed because I think if there’s one position where it would be good to have an experienced player even if their injury status is unclear, it’s on the goalkeeper position. Because let’s be honest, the decision stands between Zećira Mušović and Jennifer Falk as the first choice goalkeeper. What worried me is that when asked about it, Gerhardsson was very airy and non-committal about selecting a first choice keeper. He kept saying that it was a close call between the keepers, hinting at being open to rotate on the position if there was a sub-par performance. While I can understand and agree to the need to change it up, there are about three or four other positions in which I think this would apply, and the goalkeeper position is not necessarily one of them.
In-form youngsters left behind
Some of the players who are missing out are in-form youngsters like Rosa Kafaji, Matilda Vinberg, Amanda Nildén. 19-year-old Kafaji has not had a senior call-up yet, but both Vinberg and Nildén have been invited to previous meet ups, Nildén was part of the Euros squad in 2022 and Vinberg racked up minutes against both Denmark and Norway in April this year. And in Kafaji’s defense, her current form is so strong that it would not have been an outrageous decision to include her, if nothing else than as a super sub, as she does not need long to make an impact on the pitch.
Instead, Gerhardsson has opted for experienced players to lead the line and take on the challenge, without much in terms of creative goal-generating youth to back it up. The main issue with this route is that many of these players are only now returning from injury and are short on game time.
Lina Hurtig has only played 90 minutes twice in all of last season, with her other performances rarely lasting longer than 30 minutes in general. Her form has been really inconsistent at Arsenal, and she had to deal with a foot injury mid-season. Caroline Seger is the captain and legendary midfield lock heading for her fifth World Cup and a real leader on and off the pitch. The issue is that she is dealing with a nagging muscle injury and she only has 101 minutes of league football under her belt this season, notably having to step off only minutes after coming on against Norway in April. Kosovare Asllani, who is another dominant force on the midfield that has sometimes taken the captain’s armband off Seger, has been dealing with a groin injury herself. She’s gotten sporadic game time over the season in AC Milan, clocking 90 minutes in the last game of the season, but experiencing several set backs in her return from injury and it’s been a frustrating journey for the midfielder. Linda Sembrant, Elin Rubensson and Amanda Ilestedt also have periods of quite a recent injury behind them.
Then I have not even mentioned other players who have been left out - Anna Anvegård who has been doing it well consistently in both Damallsvenskan and for Everton in WSL, Julia Roddar, and Julia Zigiotti Olme. The absence of Hanna Glas, who’s still recovering from an ACL injury, is also a big one.
Very conservative selection does not bode well for aspirations
The squad selection relies on experienced players to deliver. It’s playing it very very safe and although I know people remark on the fact that it is a *World Cup after all* we’ve known for a while that this team is at a crossroads in terms of generational shifts. We’ve known that this would be a great opportunity to start and prepare for the future of this team. And he does not take that chance, at all. It feels extra frustrating when he’s been in the stands to see all of these really good performances that the young players have put in.
I think we can all agree that being named as one of the gold medal favourites at the 2022 Euros did not suit Sweden very well. Nor was the strategy to launch a somewhat arrogant ‘How To Beat Sweden’ guide - come on, we all loved the audacity of that kit launch, but you need to be able to walk the talk. We’re not coping well with labels (cheeky ones on shirts or otherwise.) Which is why the fact that we have not been mentioned even as a THREAT (like, at all) might benefit us. But is also really fucking sad, because we should be. But that leads into another question - what are the aspirations of this team? They’re not clear, let’s get that much straight.
At this point, I would argue that playing it safe does not do anything for us. We’re basically putting the bar at a quarterfinal exit (unless we get second in our tough-ass group, in which case we’ll likely be playing the US next and waving goodbye).
What’s the identity of the team under Gerhardsson?
During the presentation, Gerhardsson was talking a lot about individual strengths and having players that can play in several positions. He says that he wants the best players to play. But ‘best’ can mean many things. He also talked a lot about the abundance of leaders he’s got in his team. But where’s HIS leadership?
What the team lacks is an identity. What’s their DNA? It feels like we’re sometimes overly reliable on the likes of Fridolina Rolfö to run down that wing, for those long balls up to Stina Blackstenius and for her to break through the defense, but I’m worried about the lack of creativity and sharpness in front of goal. Judging by what we saw at the Euros last summer, this is not a team that knows what to do with their goalscoring opportunities (which they are creating, they’re just not fucking finishing). We really struggle with inconsistency, and we can get a good result against a big team, to then struggle to put the game to bed against a lower-ranked opponent.
His reluctance to choose a first-choice keeper is another thing that irks me. For continuity and a sense of security, you would want there to be somewhat of a hierarchy. At the same time, if anyone’s got the mentality it’s Mušović, who has been sharing the first-choice position with another superb goalkeeper in Ann-Katrin Berger at Chelsea. Falk is more uncontested in her role at BK Häcken, which might work against her at this particular juncture. With that said, Falk does have a lot more consistency.
Inclusion of Madelen Janogy is exciting
Janogy got her breakthrough in the Swedish national side at the World Cup in France in 2019, and what a way to do it. She scored a great goal against Chile in the final minutes to cement Sweden’s win. Janogy, playing in Piteå at the time, moved to VfL Wolfsburg at the end of that year, but took a break only five months later, citing mental health struggles, and terminated her contract with the German side after only 7 months, in order to move back to Sweden and take care of herself. She first joined back with her old team Piteå in August 2020, to then make the game-changing deal of going to Hammarby at the end of the year. She’s been steadily performing well in Stockholm and is an integral key to their sharp attack, as proven by last week in which she delivered four goals in seven days, one of them being a beautiful goal in the cup final against BK Häcken. She was disappointingly left out of the squad for the Euros 2022, so it’s really good to see that she’s back for this tournament, and it’s likely that she’ll have a big part to play. Olivia Schough is another attacker who has been in fine form this spring, and definitely brings a lot of good energy to the team.
Conclusion
This team under Gerhardsson *has* achieved things during his six years in charge - most notably a bronze at the 2019 World Cup, and an Olympic silver medal in 2021. But with the calibre of the team that he’s had at his disposal, that’s the least that could be expected. It has yet to feel as if he can make the decisions necessary to take the team to the next level, to actually WIN something. This team selection does not give me any winning vibes, with a heavy and recent history of injury, lack of fresh blood and innovative creative flair.
BUT I’M VERY HAPPY TO BE PROVED WRONG.