Soccer-Sweden do not fear facing holders England in Euro quarter-finals, says Asllani

The Star

5 days ago

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - UEFA Women's Euro 2025 - Group C - Poland v Sweden - Stadion Allmend, Lucerne, Switzerland - July 8, 2025 Sweden's Kosovare Asllani REUTERS/Matthew Childs/File photo
ZURICH (Reuters) -Sweden captain Kosovare Asllani said her team do not fear England but instead have a healthy respect for the European champions ahead of their Euro 2025 quarter-final showdown on Thursday.
After England's 6-1 thrashing of Wales to end the group stage, midfielder Ella Toone said "Sweden should be scared".
"We do respect England, the team they have and what they have achieved so far," Asllani said at a press conference on Wednesday. "But fear -- no, we don't have the word fear in our dictionary.
"We look at the word courage. We want to be a courageous side. And we have a perfect game plan to win this match."
England dispatched the Swedes 4-0 in the 2022 Euro semi-finals en route to winning their first major title, but the two teams most recently drew in a pair of Euro qualifiers last year.
"I think both we and England are better now than we were in 2022, better teams, better players, better in shape overall," said coach Peter Gerhardsson. "I hope for a good game tomorrow, and I hope to win."
Heading into the knockout stage, there is the potential for penalties, and while Asllani said they prepare for a shootout, nobody likes them.
"It is part of the game and you practice it before, because there is a risk that it might go all the way to a penalty shootout," she said. "But there's no team in the world who wouldn't want to decide it before that."
Sweden lost to Canada in a penalty shootout at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic final.
Gerhardsson said a shootout is one of the most difficult aspects of the game to prepare for.
"Everyone has played a game," the 65-year-old said. "When you look at a squad of 23 players and you ask, how many of these players take penalties in their clubs? Not very many. And how many of those are absolutely decisive? Maybe one.
"It's a fairly complex thing. It's one of the most unpredictable things in football to try to do this, because you need the mental acuity, you need the skill, you need all of that."
There have been complaints about Stadion Letzigrund, which is the stadium for Thursday's match and hosts the annual Weltklasse Zurich Diamond League athletics meet.
England captain Leah Williamson said their team's family members were not fans because the running track creates distance between the pitch and the stands.
"I don't really like those (running) lanes. I want those small, intimate arenas," Gerhardsson said. "But I have to say, most recently, our supporters made this arena brilliant."
Sweden trounced Germany 4-1 in a group game last week at Letzigrund.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing in Oberentfelden, Switzerland; editing by Pritha Sarkar)