The attacking play of Sweden’s Johanna Rytting Kaneryd has attracted plenty of attention at the Women’s Euros, and not all of it has been welcome – on Saturday, Germany’s defence marked her tightly for much of the game but she still managed to create a goal in a stunning 4-1 win.
The 28-year-old has been electric on Sweden’s right flank, tormenting defenders and creating a slew of chances as the Swedes topped Group C ahead of the Germans to set up a quarter-final against the runners-up in a group containing France, England, Netherlands and Wales.
“I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t frustrated,” Rytting Kaneryd said of the extra attention she got from the German defence.
“I’m always frustrated when I don’t get to do everything I want on the field. In a match like this, it’s important to keep your head cool and make the best of the situations when I actually get the ball.
“At the end of the day, it’s about winning football matches, and I always want to contribute with as much as I can. In this game it wasn’t as much as in the last game, so you have to be sharp when you get your chances.”
Even without the ball, Rytting Kaneryd exerted an outsized influence on the game – by forcing the Germans to keep a close eye on her, space opened up for her teammates, and her assist for Lina Hurtig’s 4-1 goal crowned an unselfish performance.
“I don’t know if they thought that they needed to keep an eye on me, the feeling is that they started the game extremely strong, we really had a hard time in the first 10 minutes,” Rytting Kaneryd explained.
“We could have been one or two goals down (but) we did well in the game and became more direct in our play, and it paid off.”
