The mission in the Olympic semi-finals: Stop Sam Kerr

Hedwig Lindahl’s penalty saved Sam Kerr from a hat-trick against Sweden earlier in the Olympics.

But otherwise, one of the biggest football stars in the world was allowed several times to disrupt the Swedish defense, nodding his head with two goals – in front of the nose of his Chelsea colleague, Magdalena Eriksson.

Sweden definitely won The Olympic group stage match with a score of 4-2. But if there is a blue-and-yellow Olympic final, it’s important to follow the Australian captain into Monday’s semi-final in Yokohama.

In the Australian quarter-final against Great Britain, it was Kerr who led his team in the last minutes of regular time into extra time, and then added another goal.

– She is a world class player, says Magdalena Erickson of her clubmate.

– But can we prevent the ups and downs of matches and be tighter as a team, I think we can prevent them from creating chances to score goals.

Natalie Bjorn , Who played as centre-back in the Olympic quarter-final against Japan (3-1), when Eriksson came out instead as full-back, fills in:

We must, as we spoke last time, start by stopping the running tracks and keeping them as wrong as possible. We have to keep focusing on those points and do it better now.

– It’s likely to be a whole new match. But I think there will be a lot of fighting there.

It’s clear that Kerr – who has scored five goals in the Olympics so far – has been creating a lot of anxiety for Sweden lately.

– It is individual achievements that decide, and it is a player we have to get rid of, says Sweden captain Peter Gerhardsson.

How do?

– It’s not just about Sam Kerr, it’s about stopping the pass before you get the position. Australia is a very hungry team, it will explode in the air, and there it is very smart – it goes behind its back and dives in front of it, says Gerhardson.

At the same time you have Sweden has its star striker Stena Plaxtenius, who stands on four goals. The 25-year-old is in the shape of his life.

“I hope I can continue on the path I started,” says Blacksteinius as Australia captain Tony Gustafson laughs as the Haken player speaks the day before the semi-final match:

– Her name was mentioned several times in today’s meeting.

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