“We’re just going to go out and drive around the USA,” says striker Thea Johansson.
“They won their group, but it’s nothing we can’t handle,” she continues with confidence and a dose of North American exuberance.
After Sweden won the quarterfinals against the Czech Republic on Friday and reached the semifinals of a championship for the first time in 12 years, they had to wait a day to know which team they would face.
Not surprisingly, it was the United States. In the quarterfinals on Saturday, Germany had little to fight and the USA won 5-1.
As the lowest rank In the semi-finals, Sweden will face the USA, who won their group as leaders.
The reigning world champions USA were in a class of their own in the group phase. They even overran Canada and won 5-0. Such large numbers are not the norm when the two major nations meet in women’s hockey.
But the Swedish players and leaders do not feel like losers in advance.
– We really have everything to win and nothing to lose in a game like this. “I don’t think they’re particularly eager to get to know us,” said Ulf Lundberg, captain of the Tre Kronor Women’s Association.
Routinely Striker Hanna Olsson, who made her national team debut eleven years ago and is now finally allowed to play in the semi-finals, is also cautiously optimistic.
– It suits us to be outsiders and chase.
Since women’s hockey was added to the Olympic program in 1998, the United States and Canada have met in every final except Turin 2006.
Back then, Sweden shocked the hockey world when it came back from a 2-0 deficit against the USA in the semifinals to win 3-2 on penalties.
This time it was the great goalkeeper Kim Martin Hasson who emerged as the big hero.
This time it is Ebba Svensson Träff, who played magnificently at the Olympics, who must play the game of her life so that Sweden can shake up what is currently the best team in the world.
Read more:
The adrenaline made the super goalkeeper forget the pain
The Olympic History of Women’s Hockey: From Mockery to Praise
