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If Sweden is going to achieve its goals this summer, the blue and yellow jersey must take center stage.
Kosovare Asllani namely, you can translate games, or even control them.
He gave a model example of the latter at the end of the block phase. After Sweden’s shaky start, Asllani put on a display against Portugal that sent social media into a frenzy.
In the background of the team celebrating the goals, a huge banner was spread in the stands with the words “Vi ses på Wembley” – see you at Wembley. The championship dreams were rekindled, but there are three more bends on the road to their realization. The first is Belgium, which Asllan is supposed to rotate in the quarterfinals.
Sports expert Jonne Kunnas urges to be careful especially when Sweden gets the ball. Those are the moments when the heart of its attacking game comes into its own.
– How does Asllani move between the lines so that he can be passed? When he gets the ball, at what rhythm does he carry and touch the ball? How does he get a leg open for a pass or a shot? At the same time, he observed the field anticipating where he would be able to break through or where it would be worthwhile to continue while pacing Sweden’s game, says Kunnas.
There are many elite level players in the EC tournament, but Asllani is statistically unique. During his career, he has played in 12 European Championship matches and provided a decisive assist for six goals in them. No one else has reached more than three.
Asllani can take the ball in a tight space and play himself free. He can absorb two guards close to him and make room for others. When needed, he scores goals, around 200 in his career, but prefers to build them up.
It can happen by deflecting or carrying, but in the worst case, in an almost humiliating way – like against Holland. That’s when Asllani found an empty space in the wing attack, got the ball running and started a tempo delivery.
In the end, he put the ball between the defender’s legs and kicked an open spot on the other side of the penalty area.
Or it can happen in an insightful way, like against Portugal. Then Asllani, who gave a free kick near the end line, found seven Swedes in the penalty area, who attracted nine Portuguese players.
Instead of a rush, he passed in the direction of the arc of the penalty area.
Before the playoffs, Asllani has three assists. In every match for Sweden, he has given the last pass to at least one hit. He gave 26 crosses in the first block and shared the top spot in the statistics. The readings are not an anomaly, because in the previous World Cups, Asllani was the author or the last passer in five of Sweden’s 12 goals.
In the group stage of the European Championship, he was the most fouled player of the tournament by taking eight free kicks. He was also tied for first in fouls made, which is the result of relentless pressing when the opponent gets the ball. Asllani is not a bluff artist, but a tough fighter and also knows how to use his body to keep the guard at bay.
An outspoken and international Swedish star. Title field in childhood hometown. Born in the Balkans and originally from Skåne, he grew up in a rougher neighborhood, and is now a world-class player.
An obvious control for Asllani was already found years ago. Just Zlatan Ibrahimovic introduced him when the contract with Paris Saint-Germain was announced.
– If you want to win, you have to get a Swedish striker, Zlatan, who also represented PSG, mused, aptly anticipating a goal per game debut season that was below the imagination of his teammates.
Like Zlatan, Asllani has also come and gone at club level. Made it through in Sweden, visited the USA, returned home. Successful in France, saw the English Super League, and returned to Sweden again.
Most recently, she represented Real Madrid, which woke up to women’s football only in 2019.
Asllani was the women’s team’s first signing and was recruited as a cover figure: a leading player on the field, a marketing force off it. Like a club used to success, he was defined as the first galáctica, after the nickname that emerged from Real Madrid’s star-studded teams.
A supporter of Madrid since childhood, Asllani danced the white ballet for three years before realizing that the activity did not meet her standards. Knowing his own worth, when he left, he criticized the Spanish’s insensitive player policy and said that he was almost forced to play even with an injury.
The advantage is that Asllani can afford to choose. There is a lot of demand for expertise, so I haven’t had to settle for anything. Not even for teasing, as he has shown by publicly criticizing both Real Madrid and the former management of his national team.
– I have done a lot for the club since the beginning and I have seen that the players have not been treated well. It is important that I speak because no one else has, Asllani justified (you switch to another service) and forced the giant club to think about what they were doing.
If the time in Madrid was disappointing, despite the successful upswing, then these competitions have at least reminded us of what the Swede can reach at his best.
– He can play several roles upstairs. He is not a target player who takes balls down, but passes opponents with quality when he gets the ball between the lines. He is really good on the ball – versatile and productive. Skilled at attacking the penalty area and can finish from different positions, Kunnas describes.
Kunnas does not directly count Asllan among the best players in the world, as far as the overall package is concerned. In club teams, he has still shown his versatility by adapting to varying roles, such as the wing position, although it may not play to his strengths.
In the Swedish team and in playing, however, the best aspects are highlighted. Then the trail can be chilling.
– Overall, he is not the kind of player who would be able to influence every phase of the game so much that he would be at the sharpest peak. With his own qualities, however, he is able to bring so much to Sweden’s playing that in a relatively reduced role he can be said to be at least close to that level.
In the yellow knot, Asllani is right where he wants to be, basically quite in the middle and slightly below the top line. What is essential, however, is the wide-ranging movement, with which Sweden managed to break repeatedly, especially the Portuguese defense.
Asllani, who toiled full minutes in all matches, moved a total of 32.7 kilometers in the group stage in his rather free role, an average of 10.9 kilometers per match. Lukema is the biggest of the Swedish team and only ten players topped the entire tournament.
The versatility and unpredictability are shown by three goal passes: one from a free kick, one with a cross from the wing, one with a vertical pass from the center.
In special situations, Asllani is a starter worth its weight in gold.
– Sweden is also a strong team in special situations from the point of view of further games. If they don’t win the first ball, the box is filled so that the second ball falls straight on the head, from the experts Liisa-Maija Rautio beamed in the commentary of the Portugal game, when Asllani had shown his skills again.
To Sweden’s chagrin, the hit, which inflated the score, was disallowed after video review as offside.
Dirty day at Portugal’s expense
Next season Asllani will play in Italy, that’s when he joined the ranks of AC Milan. As an experienced and famous player, Asllani is an important addition to the league, which turned into a professional series for the first time this summer.
First, however, the big dream of the Swedes is in the sights, which has already been crushed a couple of times.
The top moment of the country’s soccer women is still the European championship 38 years ago. Since then, Sweden has lost three EC finals and has been in the top four seven times. At the World Championships, Sweden has won medals in three of the five previous games. There are two silver medals in a row from the Olympics – last summer after a penalty shootout.
Perhaps even the drop from getting close has whipped Asllan into a frenzy, which is why he seems to be involved in every goal position in Sweden, regardless of the opponent’s moves. For example, in the Switzerland match, Asllani was beaten as soon as the ball arrived, but the decisive pass still came off.
Aslani was fired up after Sweden came out victorious in the match against Switzerland – specifically came through. The performance was nowhere near what was expected. Asllani said it in her own way without twisting it.
Unlucky Portugal fell victim to frustration. It went to the last round of the group stage dreaming of the next place, not knowing that an irritated Asllani was ready to chop the underdog to pieces.
And so it happened. One goal scored, two goals assisted. And two more goals disallowed for offside after video review, which Asllani passed. The “Queen of Madrid” at her best, like a big sister playing at the expense of her younger sister who gives her all.
Sweden wanted to win the group, so Asllani turned on the afterburners and got a penalty kick as a reward for his top game.
Suddenly the Swedish dream was alive again. The group stage was crowned by a delicious performance, with which the team was pumped full of self-confidence before the playoffs.
The captain’s armband was also put on Asllani’s hand for the Portugal match, when Carolina Seger sidelined due to injury. In terms of leadership, it is only symbolic, because on the field Asllani is usually the factor that guides Sweden’s fate anyway.
– He is one of the most important players when he gets to break through the last line, pass to center, or pass to a better goal position. Sometimes he can go wider, sometimes he can be more central, but he lives by getting the ball to him as much as possible, Jonne Kunnas sums up.
Sweden will face Belgium in the quarter-finals of the European Championship on Friday from 22:00. The live broadcast of the match starts at 21:30 on TV2, Areena and the app. Bet on the opening goal scorer of the match in Futistietäjä and win a technical ball!