Sweden vs Belgium Women’s European Championship quarter-final preview: Where to watch, kick-off time, predicted line-up
Sweden meets Belgium at Leigh Sports Village in the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 quarterfinals on Friday 22 July.
Where can you watch Sweden vs Belgium on TV
Fans can find their local UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 broadcast partner here.
What do you need to know?
Sweden came to England with many – not least themselves – who advised them to go all the way. They made a slow start against the Netherlands and Switzerland, but apparently ended up in their footsteps in Sunday’s demolition of Portugal – timing is all in tournaments.
Belgium’s course has been similar: second best in their draw with Iceland and beaten by France before they came well on Monday with an impressive win against Italy that took them on to a first quarterfinal ever.
Any starting line-ups
Sweden: Lindahl; Rubensson, Sembrant, Eriksson, Andersson; Björn, Asllani, Angeldahl; Rolfö, Blackstenius, Kaneryd
Miss the next match if it is booked: Magdalena Eriksson, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd
Belgium: Evrard; Vangheluwe, Kees, De Neve, Philtjens; Vanhaevermaet, Biesmans; Dhont, De Caigny, Cayman; Wullaert
Miss the next match if it is booked: Feli Delacauw, Davina Philtjens, Justine Vanhaevermaet
Reporters’ opinions
Alexandra Jonson, Sweden Reporter
Sweden are favorites; anything but a win will be seen as a failure. After a slow start to the tournament, they looked sharp against Portugal, but Sweden will be keen to show that they have higher gears they can switch to. Coach Peter Gerhardsson has not yet had the same starting line-up twice, which shows his team’s impressive depth: it can be important against Belgium, and even more if they go on.
Alyssa Saliou, Belgian reporter
Belgium’s primary goal for these finals has already been achieved: qualification for the quarterfinals. Now they have come this far, Red Flames can dare to dream of even more. Sweden is definitely an average over Belgium on paper, but the performance against France in the group stage showed that Ives Serneel’s side can handle big opponents. There is no pressure on Belgium; they have nothing to lose. Could it be an advantage?
Views from the camps
Magnus Wikman, Sweden’s assistant coach: “Belgium is relatively good at everything and that may mean that this match has more flow than our previous ones.”
Magdalena Eriksson, Sweden defender: “Belgium seems to be a very well-trained team. They played as a team and through every third of the pitch you can see that they have a clear ethos. Even when they played against Italy, which was higher ranked, you could see that they had their idea and they agreed to it. They really look like a strong group. ”
Fridolina Rolfö, Sweden forward: “[Being favourites is] something we must learn to deal with. We have come here and said that we want to get far and we must show that too. We are expected to win this match; now we have to live up to it. We want to fight for the medals so we have to win this match and show what we can do. “
Tessa Wullaert, Belgium forward: “We have reached our goal, but we will go for it 100% against Sweden. We have had one day less than Sweden Day on us to recover, so it is important to rest well. We do not have much to lose, but “It will definitely not make it easy for them. We have to prove to ourselves what we can do. We’ll see where it takes us.”
Formguide
Sweden
Group C winner
Netherlands 1-1 Sweden (Sheffield)
Sweden 2-1 Switzerland (Sheffield)
Sweden 5-0 Portugal (Wigan & Leigh)
Story so far: Sweden came to England with high expectations, partly overwhelmed by themselves: they are here to win. That is still the goal now that they have qualified from the group, but the performance has not necessarily lived up to the conversation before the tournament. Some aspects of their game looked more even against Portugal, not least their death game threat, and there was a noticeable step up in intensity as well. However, they will need to be improved again if they are to go all the way.
Ladies’ EURO best: Winner (1984)
Previous quarter finals in the women’s European Championships
04/09/2009: Sweden 1-3 Norway (Helsinki)
2013-07-21: Sweden 4-0 Iceland (Halmstad)
29/07/2017: Netherlands 2-0 Sweden (Doetinchem)
Belgium
Group D second
Belgium 1-1 Iceland (Manchester)
France 2-1 Belgium (Rotherham)
Italy 0-1 Belgium (Manchester)
Story so far: It has been a bit of a roller coaster for Belgium. Their first goal was to win against Iceland but they had to settle for one point. Then came a French team that had defeated Italy 5-1 but Belgium surprised everyone, played really well and just barely lost.
Against Italy, the task was simple – to win. That victory means that the ghost of disappointment is now gone and the tournament can only be classified as a success. The qualifiers for the quarter-finals are a historic event.
Ladies’ EURO best: Quarterfinals (2022)
Previous quarter finals in the women’s European Championships
N / A
What comes next?
The winners of this match will meet the winners of the quarter-final England vs Spain in the first semi-final, which takes place in Sheffield on Tuesday 26 July.