Have the stars aligned for Sweden at the Women's World Cup? - ESPN

Officially, the Peter Gerhardsson era started when he first took charge of the Sweden women's national team in autumn 2017, marking his first match with a win over Croatia to get the Blågult's qualification bid for the 2019 Women's World Cup off to the perfect start. Yet, inheriting a team that was entrenched in the typical Swedish 4-4-2 and playing a style the coach likened to an old-fashioned English system, it would take almost four years for the squad to finally begin looking like the real (attacking) deal under the 63-year-old.

It was a philosophy that saw his attacking players given freedom to express themselves and find their best instincts in key moments. The idea was to build on a strong defensive core that would act as a safety net and give a sense of security for their bold attacking play. Gerhardsson was clear in his ideals, but it took far longer than he planned for Sweden to be a team that could embrace an attacking outlook.

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With one, ultimately, lacklustre tournament in the bag in 2019, Sweden stepped up to the plate for the delayed Tokyo Olympics and delivered an attacking masterclass in their opening match against a shell-shocked United States. The team seemed to be in cruise control through the group stage and into the knockouts when they unceremoniously dumped hosts Japan out of the tournament. Yet, instead of continuing on their trajectory after the 3-1 win, Sweden began to wobble, looking unconvincing (but getting the job done) against Australia in the semifinal, before the goals completely deserted the team by the time of the final against Canada.

That downward turn continued through the European Championships the following summer when the