Gerhardsson’s view of the players who do not have an obvious place in the starting eleven in the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is crystal clear.
— All these 23 players who are here, they are here so that the World Cup can be played, he says at the press conference after Sweden’s penalty win against the USA in the round of 16 in the World Cup.
And it’s not just empty words from the national team captain. So far, when Sweden will next play in the quarter-finals against Japan on Friday, August 11, all players in the squad, except the third goalkeeper Tove Enblom, have been given playing time in one of the World Cup matches.
Comfort each other
Gerhardsson thinks it is important that “these players 12 to 23” feel a sense of participation.
– Then I can’t always invite them to play, but the girls themselves are very good at creating this harmony and comforting each other if you can’t play or, for example, jump in.
Peter Gerhardsson says that the substitutes are very good at making demands, both of themselves and of him.
– Then they also understand that only eleven start and I can only make five changes.
Talk afterwards
He takes as an example that in Sunday’s meeting he chose to put Lina Hurtig in the position that Olivia Schough previously played in.
— Then I get to talk to Olivia about it. But it was more like this that now I want to have deep play, now I want to bring in a main player and Lina has looked very good in training and then I chose her in this situation. You can talk to them afterwards as well, says Peter Gerhardsson.
Even the players who have a given place in the starting eleven are well aware of the importance of those that Gerhardsson refers to as players 12 to 23.
— It is very important for us to have the whole squad with us all the way. It has been an incredible strength for us in previous championships and will be so in this championship as well. We never know what’s going to happen, so to have 23 players who are this hot and this ready, it can’t get any better, says Magdalena Eriksson to TT.
Round of 16 hero Lina Hurtig, who was substituted for Kosovare Asllani in the second half and then scored the decisive penalty in the match, is a testament to what a substitute can mean.
— That means everything, I would say. It is needed in a championship, that people can come in and contribute from the bench.