Euro 2025: Denmark meets Sweden again one month after being routed 6-1
GENEVA AP Losing - in your last challenge before a major soccer tournament to the group that also will be your first opponent is not optimal It is the challenge facing Denmark players Friday when they open their Women s European Championship campaign in Geneva against Sweden Germany and Poland also are in Group C and play Friday in St Gallen The things that hurt the majority of is what teaches you Denmark coach Andr e Jeglertz stated Thursday in translated comments I am convinced we will see a totally different kind of performance Sweden raced to a three-goal lead on Denmark inside minutes on June when winning a Nations League group was at stake in order to advance to the semifinals later this year Star forward Stina Blackstenius opened the scoring in the first minute and went on to complete her hat trick That s all forgotten now insisted Kosovare Asllani who was captain that night of a Sweden band missing its key defender Magdalena Eriksson It s a one-off that we beat them by - Asllani revealed Thursday We also feel like we ve put that match behind us Denmark defender Stine Ballisager who got a close-up view of Sweden s rampant attack dismissed the vulnerability of focusing on the heavy defeat We know what we stand for What you build in two years isn t demolished in one match coach Jeglertz noted while acknowledging after the competition yes it was tough We have dealt with it in a good way stated the Denmark coach who is Swedish It s amazing that we have the opportunity to play the same opponent again without any match in between Sweden coach s farewell Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson was elusive about planning for a quick rematch with the same tactics suggesting his past philosophy in club soccer was perpetually change a winning band Gerhardsson will leave after the tournament In his eight-year tenure Sweden was twice a World Cup semifinalist took the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics and reached the Euro semifinals We ve become more of a playmaking organization Asllani explained of the coach s influence We have the courage to play more fun football more intense football if you like But the - That s not going to matter at all Friday she declared Asllani reaches The -year-old midfielder s th competition for the national group arrives in what she says will be her last tournament Its going to be very special Asllani revealed of her enormous sense of pride reaching the landmark It s a magical number to achieve in a career Eriksson vs Harder The duel between Sweden defender Eriksson and Denmark star forward Pernille Harder is much-anticipated duel The stellar veterans have been a couple for more than a decade and are teammates at Bayern Munich It s quite a special situation Harder informed tournament organizer UEFA We have tried this a sparse times before so we know that when the encounter starts we kind of forget that we are partners We go all in Host Geneva s artwork Denmark-Sweden is the first of five Euro games in Geneva the city which hosts the European headquarters of the United Nations and commissioned a stunning piece of citizens art for the tournament Only aerial shots do justice to the painted grass image of a young girl sketching a chalk outline of a soccer field It was created by artist Saype in a lakeside park looking up to the th-century villa that hosted a diplomatic summit between then-U S President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin AP soccer https apnews com hub soccer Source
