Gina Bagnulo reporting from the Aviva Stadium
Ireland suffered a 3-0 loss in their third Euro qualifier match against Sweden at the Aviva Stadium on Friday night.
Having been a part of the so-called “Group of Death” with England and France, Sweden, currently ranked at number six in the world, was widely considered to be the most likely side for Ireland to win against.
Despite this, the game came to be Ireland’s heaviest defeat of the three losses throughout the campaign so far.
As always, Ireland put up a good fight and had numerous attempts on goal, some of which were a matter of being inches off the Swedish net. Offensively, two players stood out. These were Amber Barrett, who undoubtedly had the most shots on goal and Lily Agg also held the line in midfield, filling the shoes of Denise O’Sullivan, who was deemed unable to play due to an injury she obtained while playing for the North Carolina Courage.
Although Ireland started strong, Sweden persisted and proved themselves to be able competition.
FT | A frustrating one.#COYGIG | #OUTBELIEVE pic.twitter.com/j3fJ2JrYPd
— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) May 31, 2024
The first goal came five minutes shy of the half hour mark of the first half when Johanna Rytting Kaneryd scored thanks to an assist by Sweden captain, Kosovare Asllani which left the scoreboard at 1-0 at halftime.
Kaneryd would go on to score Sweden's final goal in the second half mere minutes before the conclusion of the match after the ball fell through Ireland keeper Courtney Brosnan's hands, leaving a Swedish goal ripe for the taking.
Speaking to the media after the game, the Chelsea player said the following on Ireland’s performance and if this was a different team to the one she faced in the World Cup qualifiers.
“You can still see some similarities with the physical game, it’s a physical team that are hard to play against. At the same time, I think they create a lot on us and I mean, in the first half if they score it can be another game. So yeah, it was a tough game but think we did a lot of stuff good today and I think we have been taking steps since the last time we played them.”
31’ | We keep battling 👊
Lots of time left in this one.#COYGIG | #OUTBELIEVE pic.twitter.com/NjpK1wR54g— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) May 31, 2024
Fridolina Rolfö was another exceptional player for Sweden in the second half as displayed by the moment she scored after capitalising on a wide pass from Kaneryd, booting the ball into the Irish net. Rolfö, who plays with Barcelona, was just coming off the back of her club winning the Women's Champions League against Lyon, a victory she says motivated her on the pitch with Sweden.
"I think i'm coming to this camp with a lot of confidence. We had great game in the final in the Champions League but it's definitely something different when you get here with the national team. We play a different way but my confidence is good and I try to bring it into the team and yeah, bring the confidence to the team."
The day before the match, Swedish captain Kosovare Asllani said she was expecting a "100 percent" Ireland. Sweden's manager Peter Gerhardsson expressed wether or not his captain's words came to fruition.
"I think they played physical. Yeah, when they got the chance they tried to get up to run a backline with centre backs with two or three players so you can see it was a tactical thing. I think we had problems the first fifty minutes with the way we play because we didn't get out of our own half on the pitch but after fifty minutes I think we had a little bit of passing and then started creating more chances and one goal also."
Ireland's next home match will be their Euro qualifier against France in Cork on July 16. Before this they will have to contend with two away fixtures against Sweden in Stockholm on June 4 and against England on July 12.
