Fact: This is how the national team feels about penalty decisions
Kosovar Asllani:
— I am definitely ready to step forward. After all, I have taken all the penalties in Real Madrid, so I feel comfortable taking them. I don’t think there will be penalties, but they make sure to shoot someone extra every practice. But we hope to decide before then.
Magdalena Eriksson:
— I have always said in all situations that I will always take a penalty if the coach asks me. Then I’m not the one with the most experience in taking penalties, but I will always stand up if the coach wants it.
Fridolina Rolfö:
— I haven’t gotten that far in my thoughts and I hope you don’t have to think about it. But it is clear that one might take an extra penalty in training and prepare in case such a situation arises. And I think I’d be ready if Peter asked.
Johanna Rytting Kaneryd:
— I’ve practiced a lot on it and for me it’s mostly about the head. I try not to stress myself out too much and to be calm in that situation, but I’m not a great penalty taker. But if I were asked, I would take one.
Elin Rubensson:
— I like to take penalties. If that happens, I’m ready for it.
Olivia Schough:
— Safe and secure – it’s always tough with penalty shootouts. But if the coaches want me to take a penalty, of course I take one. I still got the experience to do it during the Olympics.
Peter Gerhardsson:
— Sentencing is by far the most difficult thing to prepare for. You can train clinically to take penalties, but never against that particular goalkeeper. And then there is a tension part which is very interesting. You can look at whether to shoot low or high or in which corner. But it is very difficult to prepare that part. I think you have an advantage if you take your penalties in the club team and if I do it in decisive situations. But you go for something you believe in and hopefully, when the players go forward, they also believe in scoring goals.
After the Olympic final loss on penalties last summer, Hedvig Lindahl regretted one thing: that she did not tell the national team captain Peter Gerhardsson that she had thought of taking a penalty.
She did not repeat that mistake when the chance arose again, in the Algarve Cup final against Italy in February. The national team goalkeeper fired the last Swedish penalty into the roof of the net and arranged the blue and yellow tournament victory.
— To be completely honest, I thought “What the hell am I going to do now? Uh, I’m running on power”. And I probably thought “oh well, this could probably go to hell.” But I drove as if in training, so I didn’t think much more about it, said Lindahl afterwards.
Sweden’s goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl saves one of the penalties at the Estádio Municipal de Lagos during the final match against Italy in the Algarve Cup in February. Stock image. Can take responsibility
Now it may become relevant again, but with greater stakes at stake. On Friday, Sweden plays the EC quarter-final in Leigh, against Belgium, and in knockout matches a penalty shoot-out is always a possible scenario.
TT: Have you and Peter talked more about maybe you don’t just want to save penalties?
– No, we do not have that. It remains, I think. It’s like writing “leave alone” on the blackboard in the school hall. But I may have to remind him, says Lindahl.
TT: But you’re still keen, it sounds like?
– Hungry? No, but I feel that I could take that responsibility if no one else wants to.
— There are a bunch of outfield players who can certainly do it much better than I can. But if it feels emotionally difficult, I’ve been around for a while and could do it. Maybe it’s better that I fail than some young girl does.
“She loves shootouts”
Penalty shooter or not, Hedvig Lindahl will be an extremely important piece for Sweden if it goes all the way to a penalty shootout against Belgium. She has shown many times how good she is in that particular moment. In the Olympic final, for example, she saved two Canadian penalties even though it ended up being a loss.
“My opinion is that she loves penalty shootouts,” says striker Stina Blackstenius about Lindahl.
— And that she sees herself as very strong there. And she is. I have full confidence in her. She is incredibly skilled, I wouldn’t want to penalize her.
It is also no coincidence that Lindahl has saved so many penalties over the years; The 39-year-old prepares more carefully than most and scouts all opponents who could be potential penalty takers.
But that type of information is partly fresh and Hedvig Lindahl constantly tries to stay up-to-date.
— I have to refresh it, I have a Teflon memory as we call it. So I have to study again. And then you remember a bit of it. But then I have to check the latest penalties and add clips and such, says Lindahl.