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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Simon Collings

Women’s Euro 2022: Peter Gerhardsson wants England challenge as Sweden prepare for Belgium clash

Sweden head coach Peter Gerhardsson would relish a semi-final showdown with England at Euro 2022.

Sweden are taking on Belgium in the quarter-finals tonight and the winner of that tie will face England on Tuesday at Bramall Lane.

Hosts England have been in impressive form during the tournament and they have since been made the new favourites to go all the way, but Gerhardsson would love to take them on after watching their quarter-final win over Spain on Wednesday.

“I decided to stay in my room to watch the game and I thought it was a really good game of football,” he said.

“I wasn’t thinking about England, only the game, but I did think to myself: ‘I would like to play this team and I would prefer to play them here in England’. But I’ll have to revisit that after Belgium.”

Sweden, who topped Group C, must first get past Belgium, who snuck through to the quarter-finals by finishing second in Group D behind France.

Sweden’s preparation for the game tonight at Leigh Sports Village has not been ideal, with a Covid-19 outbreak at their camp disrupting plans.

Defenders Hanna Glas and Emma Kullberg tested positive for the virus earlier this week, while Jonna Andersson was absent from training yesterday due to mild cold symptoms.

Gerhardsson has remain tight-lipped on the issue and when asked yesterday if either Glas or Kullberg had since tested negative, he replied: “I’m not going to answer that question. I don’t want to give Belgium any advantages before a game in the quarter-final.”

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