(Reuters) – Since Sweden have already locked up their spot in the round of 16 at the Women’s World Cup, coach Peter Gerhardsson said the selection of his squad for Wednesday’s final group game might come down to who is well-rested and who could use some rest.
The third-ranked Swedes play No. 28 Argentina in Hamilton, N.Z., on the back of a 2-1 win over South Africa and 5-0 rout of Italy that cemented top spot in Group G.
“I’m not thinking of any obvious starting 11 when I’m talking to the medical team, if there is anything in terms of strains or something that we need to make sure, (since) we’re going to play on Sunday,” Gerhardsson said.
He was cagey about who might be in the starting 11 to captain his squad, saying it will be either Caroline Seger, Kosovare Asllani, Sweden’s leading goal-scorer with 44, or Magdalena Eriksson.
“We’ve looked at the overall load on the team as a whole, we are at a fairly even keel in terms of the amount of metres run and the number of sprints, etc. It’s a fairly even load across the entire team,” Gerhardsson said.
“No one is really lagging behind right now, which means that we’ve got a good starting point in terms of training and how the players have fared. There might be minor injuries, for example, which means we’re going to have to have a second look and see what kind of team will play on Sunday.”
Sweden will take on either two-time defending champions United States, the Netherlands or Portugal in the round of 16, since the battle for a top-two spot in Group E is going down to the wire.
“No preference whatsoever, three completely different teams,” Eriksson said. “They’re going to challenge us each and every one of them in their own ways. I’m curious to see who we will be playing but I have no preference.”
Sweden has been one of the consistently good teams on the World Cup stage, capturing three bronze medals including four years ago in France. They were runners-up to the U.S. at the 2003 tournament.
Eriksson, who won four Women’s Super League titles for Chelsea before leaving for Bayern Munich in May, said the new depth seen in this World Cup is great for the women’s game.
“It’s so promising for women’s football, it feels like we’ve got interesting players popping up all over the place.”
(Reporting by Lori Ewing in Melbourne; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
