Swedish striker Kosovare Asllani along with teammate Fridolina Rolfö and head coach Peter Gerhardsson were asked repeatedly by both American and Swedish press about having to face old foe the United States, and what impact if any the history of these two teams' clashes might be having on their prepration. The group was completely poker-faced in saying that they were absolutely looking forward to this game.
"It's a path, we like the path," Asllani said.
"Football is interesting," said Gerhardsson. "You can talk about self-confidence, you have self-confidence, you're very good. Then you can talk about — what do you call it — revenge, underdog mentality. For me, that's not what's going to make the difference tomorrow. It's the players who play and the history is nothing. It's tomorrow, you have to make a good game tomorrow."
Further quotes:
Gerhardsson asked about watching the US struggle in the group stage: "I don't know what the US think about their performances so far and I don't care about it. I care about what we can do. I think we have the possibility to win the game."
Asllani, asked if she's afraid of it becoming a physical game, said: "No, not afraid at all. We've been in this game for such a long time, we know how it is. We love playing physical games. It could be longer with the extra time and everything with VAR introduced into the game, but it's part of the game, it's something we're adjusted to and prepared for."
Asllani, asked about preparation for the U.S., said: "We love these do-or-die games, and we're two very physical teams. They're perhaps the most physical team. ...You tend to get a lot of physical play with full-on in dueling play. We play an attacking type of football, there's a lot of possession involved, so it's going to be a great game to play, a lot of fun."
"We will not make the mistake of underestimating them," Asllani said.
