Soccer-Sweden enter the unknown after shootout loss to England
ZURICH (Reuters) -Sweden's agonising defeat by England on penalties in coach Peter Gerhardsson's final game in charge had them exit Euro 2025 on Thursday and plunged the team into a period of uncertainty as many others in the set-up also consider their futures.
Gerhardsson announced earlier in the year that he would be stepping down after the Euros and former Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson has already been announced as his successor, but how the squad and backroom team looks when he takes the reins in the coming weeks remains to be seen.
"There are a lot of us on the team who will be leaving after this, so there are a lot of emotions involved. But when you make a decision... even if you don't know how far you'll go in a tournament, there's only this game right now," Gerhardsson told reporters.
The game in question was a thriller, a 2-2 draw capped off by a hair-raising penalty shootout that had saves, spot-kicks sent high, and a goalkeeper in Sweden's Jennifer Falk who saved four of seven penalties, but still ended up on the losing side after 18-year-old Smilla Holmberg missed for Sweden.
Sweden cruised through the group stage, winning all three games and took a 2-0 halftime lead into the break, but England coach Sarina Wiegman's late substitutions resulted in two quick goals, extra time and a painful repeat of Sweden's 3-2 loss to Canada in the 2021 Olympic final.
Falk's overall performance would suggest that she will continue to be the first-choice goalkeeper, but captain Kosovare Asllani and winger Sofia Jakobssonare both 35, and defender Linda Sembrandt is 38, suggesting that they may have played their last championship for Sweden.
Asked what it was like to see the likes of Sembrandt after the final whistle, striker Stina Blackstenius said she found it tough.
"Everything feels very emotional today in every way, it's hard to put into words what you really feel, but yes, it is difficult," she told reporters before summing up Gerhardsson's eight years at the helm.
"Part of the whole thing that this championship was really something that we saw coming, to have a nice end to the time with Peter ... I think we've built up such an incredibly good feeling during this championship. And it's clear that we would have liked to have had a better ending than this," she said.
"It's just sad that it couldn't be like that. Peter has been in charge for many years and we've performed well in championships, without it really getting to where we wanted."
(Reporting by Philip O'ConnorEditing by Christian Radnedge)
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