After the Swedish 1–0 win against Denmark in Geneva, the players went over to the blue and yellow fans at one of the short ends. There, in the middle of the celebration, Kosovare Asllani received a jubilee jersey with the number 200 on the back.
That she received the jersey from the cancer-stricken national team manager Marika Domanski Lyfors made it even more emotional.
Nice, magical. I want Marika everywhere – she's like a little mascot I want to have with me and carry around. She means everything to this national team, you know that too, says Kosovare Asllani after the three points.
Was behind the goal
The veteran – she will turn 36 years old at the end of July – was highly involved in Sweden getting three points in the sweltering Swiss heat. "Kosse" nicely wall-passed forward to Filippa Angeldahl's 1–0 goal in the 55th minute.
It was fun because we had just talked to Filippa and told her to try to find her way in a bit more centrally, so that we don't become too direct and hit behind (the back line) every time. I said "check centrally, we can try to wall-pass". So she tried it in the situation after and it worked. I had to say to her: "that was exactly what I meant", laughs Asllani.
Before the kick-off, the team captain adorned a massive blue and yellow tifo together with Anette Börjesson, team captain in the European Championship gold team in 1984.
I'm so sorry, because I missed the whole tifo, sighs Asllani.
I was talking to my mascot, she was nervous and she had never gone into an arena and the whole thing. I talked to her and said that when you're nervous, you sometimes forget to enjoy the situation, so "we can enjoy together". But I got to see pictures afterwards, very nice and magical. I never thought I'd get a tifo…
What do you say about the message ("41 years since last, the gold should go home")?
I got goosebumps when I saw it and I'll check it out again afterwards. I want to thank the Swedish audience who made this tifo, very beautiful and it goes straight to the heart. And I hope the gold will go home, says Asllani.
"Tough in the heat"
She was talkative and in excellent spirits after the dream start at the European Championship. Despite missing the tifo, despite 3.5 hours in the bus waiting with the destination national team base in Cham – and despite the mixed interview zone being located in an extremely sweaty garage (!) right outside the match arena in Geneva.
I have to make a call to Uefa, because this is not okay, she says.
Sweden will meet Poland in the next match, in Lucerne on Tuesday.
It's tough to play in the heat, we had to put ourselves at an intensity that is lower than we're used to. We have three points, that was the most important thing today. We have put ourselves in a good position.
