Sweden reached the semi-finals of this years FIFA Womens World Cup and won against England the match for the third place. They were able to win five out of their seven games in France and were a joy to watch.
Kosovare Asllani was one of the key players for the Swedish national team during the tournament in France. This tactical analysis will explain her abilities and show her impact on Sweden’s game during this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Sweden’s way in France
Sweden were in group F together with Chile, Thailand and one of the big favourites, the USA. It was clear that the United States would go through to the round of the last 16 as the winner of this group. Furthermore, everyone expected Sweden to be in second place after the third matchday. Since it was for the Chilean national team the first time that they qualified for a FIFA Womens World Cup and for Thailand it was the second time after 2015.
On matchday one, Sweden was able to take away a 2-0 victory against Chile and just five days later they won 5-1 against Thailand. With six points out of their first two games, Sweden was already through to the next stage of the tournament. Since the U.S. of course also won their first two matches in group F, the clash between Jill Ellis’ team and the Scandinavians decided who would be the winner of their group.
However, Sweden lost the game 2-0 and so they ended the group stage in the second place. In the round of the last 16, they played against Canada who are in the fifth place of FIFA’s world ranking (Sweden is in the ninth position). Peter Gerhardsson’s team were able to take away the win due to the only goal of the day which was scored by Stina Blackstenius after a great pass by Asllani.
In the quarter-final their opponents were Germany and so Sweden was the clear underdog. Although Gerhardsson’s team was able to win the game with 2-1 and went through to the semi-finals where they faced the Netherlands. After 90 goalless minutes, the game went into extra-time. Jackie Groenen scored the winning goal for the Dutch team in the 99th minute and so Sweden was knocked out of the tournament. However, they managed to secure the third-place due to their victory in the play-off for the third place against England.
Asllani’s career so far
Born in 1989 in a little city called Kristianstad in Sweden, Asllani is of Kosovar-Albanian descent. At the age of 15, she started her career at second-division team Vimmerby. There she scored 49 goals in 48 appearances and so many other clubs took notice of her. In 2007 she joined Linköpings who were in the first division in Sweden. In 2010 she played one season at Chicago Red Star but returned then to Linköpings.
After her return to her hometown club Kristianstad in 2011, she spent just half a year there and moved then to PSG in the summer of 2012. She played there three-and-a-half years and scored 39 goals in 59 matches. In January 2016 she joined Manchester City and stayed there until the summer of 2017 when she once more returned to Linköpings where she currently plays.
In September 2008 Asllani made her debut for the Swedish national team against Romania and made since then 133 appearances and scored 34 goals.
Positioning and movements
Sweden used to play with a 4-2-3-1 formation which transformed into a 4-4-2 when the opposition was in possession. Asllani was the one who played either as the offensive midfielder behind Blackstenius or beside her upfront. So, she either appeared on the teamsheet as number 10 or as the second striker in the 4-4-2.
Gerhardsson gifted her a lot of freedom. Sweden’s back-four and the two central midfielders were responsible for the build-up. On the other side, one of Asllani’s most important tasks was to be the linking between these players and the offensive. So, she mostly positioned in the half-spaces or between the lines of the opposition. As you can see in her heatmap of the World Cup, she preferred the right half-space but in general, she moved a lot to be a passing option.
As explained above, Asllani always tries to open up passing lanes and move between the opponents lines. Shes really good when it comes to these abilities. In addition, she has the technical qualities to get the ball under control quickly as later explained.
