The Finnish women’s national football team ends the World Cup qualifiers on Tuesday in Tampere against Sweden. Having reached the semi-finals of the summer European Championships, Sweden wants to return to the path of good results.
Finland will meet Sweden in the final match of the World Cup qualifiers in Tampere on Tuesday, September 6 at 19:00. Live broadcast on Femi and Areena from 18:45.
The Finnish women’s national football team no longer has an athletic stake in the final match of the World Cup qualifiers, but the test is one of the toughest possible. Sweden reached the semi-finals of the European Championships and holds third place in the Fifa world rankings.
On Monday, a number of the world’s top players were seen at the Ratina stadium: the one who moved to AC Milan Kosovare Asllaniof Barcelona Fridolina Rolfö, Chelsea’s Magdalena Anderssonof Arsenal Stina Blackstenius and so on..
Although Sweden has already secured its place in next summer’s World Cup, the team is not just going to walk into the final game of the World Cup qualifiers.
– We have a revenge spirit after the European Championships. The races did not end as we would have hoped. Now we have to get back up to speed and this team is also important in that sense, Blackstenius talked.
Sweden lost to England in the European Championship semi-final with a score of 0–4. The team received some criticism for its EC performances even before the loss against England, even though before the semi-final it had played 34 matches without a loss in regular time.
– It was really miserable to fall with such a loss. When the matter had been processed for a few days, I thought that we were one of the teams that made it the farthest. We also had our good moments against England, but the small margins were decisive, Eriksson summed up.
– This year it wasn’t our turn, we weren’t good enough and England were fantastically good.
After the European Championships, there have been many changes in the team: the number one goalkeeper refers to years of wear Hedvig Lindahl has left the national team uniforms behind, at least for the time being. Playing in the USA Sofia Jakobsson is at least not involved in the World Cup qualifying match and is a long-term captain Caroline Seger is sidelined for the rest of the season due to injury. Nilla Fischer was already absent from the European Championships citing family reasons.
– We are missing two very strong leaders (Seger and Lindahl). Our team is now a bit younger, although there are still many seasoned players who have played a lot of international matches, Eriksson, who will possibly play his 90th international match on Tuesday, said.
The superstar’s mother is from Finland
Finland has succeeded in defeating Sweden only once: in Järfalla in 1976. The Helmarei’s games have not gone smoothly this year, as the team has only been able to win one of the matches they have played. In the World Cup qualifying match in April, the three points came against Georgia, the group’s toss-up.
Despite that, the Swedish players don’t go into the match with their jackets open. The previous meeting between the teams in Gothenburg in November ended with a 2–1 victory for Sweden.
– I believe that the match will be really tough. In Gamla Ullevilla Finland put up a serious fight and made the match difficult. In the European Championships, Finland was in one of the most difficult groups. We know many good players from the team, and many of them play in Sweden. The match is a good test for us and I believe that the game will be of high quality. And it’s a derby too! Eriksson rejoiced.
The match has a special charge for the Chelsea captain.
– My mother is Finnish. We have a large family in Åland. I have spent all my childhood summers there. I remember them very fondly. We have been on cruises in Turku a lot. I feel at home here, Eriksson revealed.
Enskede IK’s product would certainly have been used in the Finnish national team as well. Eriksson, who moved to Chelsea in 2017, is the captain of the London giant, who has celebrated with the club, among other things, winning the Superliga four times.
In addition to his athletic performances, Eriksson has become known as a defender of sexual minorities. He has given numerous interviews together with his partner, a club friend Pernille Harderin with and the duo’s life is followed closely in the media.
The Swedish defender says that he asked his mother to watch the match, but unfortunately she couldn’t make it.
– I asked him who he was rooting for, and he answered Sweden, Eriksson laughed.
Eriksson revealed that he followed Helmareite’s performances in the European Championships as well.
– I wished Finland a little success in the European Championships. Finland is a bit like my second home country.