Gerhardsson: I like the feeling that Sweden could be champions

• Peter Gerhardsson led Sweden to bronze and silver medals at the last Women’s World Cup and Olympics respectively

• Swedes kick off their Australia & New Zealand 2023 campaign against South Africa on 23 July

• Their coach has been telling FIFA that his team enjoy their status as title contenders

Peter Gerhardsson is, in his own words, “not typically Swedish”. He also takes pride in the fact.

One point of difference is his eschewing of his nation’s traditionally cautious, safety-first approach to the beautiful game. “In this country, we often start discussions about tactics and so on by talking about defending. I wanted to change that mentality,” he told FIFA in 2021.

Gerhardsson has proved similarly bold, and similarly un-Swedish, in his approach off the park. When Sweden rose to second position on the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s Ranking, and became seen as one of the favourites for the UEFA Women’s EURO and FIFA Women’s World Cup™, he revelled in their new-found status.

“You often hear in Sweden, across many sports, ‘Yeah, we like being the underdogs and we perform better in that role.’ I don’t agree with that,” he said. “For me, if you’re an underdog, it’s because you’ve been kind of a loser before. If you’re the favourites, something has made you favourites and it’s because you’ve done something very good. I think we should embrace being favourites – because we’ve earned it.”

While plenty will applaud this approach, there is, of course, a reason why not everyone follows Gerhardsson’s lead. Great expectations do, after all, invite greater disappointment, and Sweden’s thumping 4-0 defeat to England in the EURO semi-finals appeared to be a classic example.

For a team that had won medals at the last four global tournaments, reached the final of back-to-back Olympics and had no recent experience of such scorelines, it was certainly a humbling scoreline. But Gerhardsson is quick to refute the suggestion that the EURO represented a backwards step for his erstwhile upwardly-mobile side.

“I actually don't think it was,” he told FIFA. “It always depends on your outlook and, as a coach, I will maybe see things differently to the wider audience and the media. Football is about small details sometimes and when you look at the game afterwards, with a clear head, those details can become clear.

“Looking at the two matches we played against England – in the bronze-medal game at the last World Cup and then in the semi-finals of the EURO – is actually a good example of that. In 2019, I think we were a little bit lucky, whereas at the EURO it was completely the opposite. We played so well in the first 25 minutes and should have scored, but we didn't. And that first goal is very, very important, especially in the latter stages of tournaments.

“At the EURO, it’s true too that we had some more issues with sickness and injuries than we had at the World Cup in 2019 or at the Olympics. That caused us some problems and, as a coach, you always want to have all your players available. We’re hoping for better at this World Cup.”

This quest for improvement extends beyond the quality of play, and fitness of his players, to the final outcome. And Gerhardsson, undaunted by that bruising EURO experience, makes no apologies for savouring Sweden’s role as title contenders.

“If you have a feeling that there’s a possibility for you to win the trophy, that’s a nice feeling to have,” he said. “That’s true for us as a team and also for the Swedish people. It's a good feeling to believe that you can go all the way. I like it!

“It’s clear though that this is a very open World Cup, with lots of teams that could win. Looking in Europe especially, you can see that many, many countries are getting much stronger. And that’s positive. It’s tougher than ever to win this World Cup – but it should be tough!”

Hunting that Holy Grail, and steering Sweden to their first global title, currently occupies Gerhardsson’s every waking thought. But in the process of pursuing his ultimate goal, he will not – it is clear – sacrifice the long-held beliefs that shape his approach to the beautiful game.

“For a coach, the first priority is always to win games,” he said. “But I always have in my head the idea of playing attacking football and focusing on what we do when we have the ball. People can sometimes think about Sweden as just being well organised, always thinking about defending, but my ideas are very different.

“I always remember 1974 and that Netherlands team that went to the final with Germany. The way we were educated in Sweden was more about tactics from England, but I watched that education with critical eyes. What I tried to do was take some things from different parts of the world and put something together that I believe in.”

There has undoubtedly been much to enjoy from Gerhardsson’s side at recent tournaments, with the recent Tokyo Olympics memorable for some particularly dazzling displays. But with COVID restrictions having forced those matches in Japan – including a remarkable 3-0 demolition of USA – behind closed doors, Gerhardsson is excited about a return to packed stadiums.

“I think that's what football is all about,” he said. “If there’s no people in the arenas, it’s not the same. You need that atmosphere.

“It's like in music: a rock band doesn’t want to just play to themselves – they want an audience to enjoy what they’re doing and have everyone feeling good. Hopefully the World Cup will be like that, with players and fans really enjoying the football together.”

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