The extra rest speaks for Sweden: ‘Big difference’

Immediately after the quarter-final win over Great Britain, 4-3 after extra time, Sweden-Australian captain Tony Gustafson began honoring the team’s doctors and fitness team.

Gustafson said their meticulous work has laid an important foundation for progress.

– Before this match, our players had much more minutes on their legs than Great Britain, which had the opportunity to rotate much more. However, our players have been able to work their way through this in a way you rarely see, Gustafson said.

But regardless of preparations, the Olympic journey so far is bound to have eroded the Australian players. They have played four tough matches in nine days, and six starters have played every minute, including 30 in overtime against Great Britain.

“you don `t want”

At some point, it will likely have its effect.

Sweden hopes that will happen in the Olympic semi-finals on Monday in Yokohama.

– We know how tiring it is with such tight matches. Even though we played late (in the quarter-finals against Japan), we felt it was unbelievable moisture, and it still required more energy than you think, says right-back Hannah Glass.

– That could be a huge advantage for us.

Unlike Australian key players such as Sam Kerr, Steve Catley, Eli Carpenter and Emily van Egmond, who have played every minute so far, Hana Glass and several other Swedish key players have been given extra time to recover.

Having secured the quarter-final spot already after two rounds, Gerhardsson was able to rest a full eight players against New Zealand. And in the quarter-final against Japan, Sweden managed to excel during normal time, without unnecessary extra minutes in the legs.

– It was great, we had a goal to determine the match before extra time. Then you just have to be very happy to eat and sleep and do what’s best for yourself while recovering, says Glass.

Catley: “Feeling good”

She and Stina Blacksteinius were in complete control of the match against New Zealand, when Sweden had already secured a place in the quarter-finals, and neither of them needed to play 90 minutes in the 4-2 win over Australia in the group stage. .

Blacksteinius thought it important before the fight for medals.

It’s very good that we had the opportunity to play the way we did. We have a good and broad team that enabled us to complete the tournament with a different group of elves. I hope and think it will be an advantage for us, says Blackstein, that we will strengthen these last two games.

Australian Steve Catley does not intend to lie. She preferred to sit in the swede position, with more comfort and without much stretch in her body.

Not having to play a stretch is, of course, great for them. But we prepared carefully, and we knew an extension was a likely scenario. So we did the necessary work and preparations. Everyone is healthy and injury free, so we have a good feeling no matter how many minutes we’ve played so far, Catley says.