– I think it’s strange that some teams get more rest than others. I don’t quite understand it, to be honest, says Dutch Jackie Groenen to news before their quarter-final. If they manage to overcome France on Saturday, they will have three days to prepare before the semi-final against Germany. The Germans, on the other hand, get five “rest days” after the 2-0 winner in their quarter-final against Austria. EXTRA DAYS: This team gets two more days off than their opponent in the semi-finals. Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP The same applies to home hope England. They get two more days than Sweden, who progressed to the semi-finals on Friday evening. – It tends to be like that for the host nation, that they get some advantages. There is not much to say about it, says Seger to news And there is little doubt that it is an advantage. – It’s a scandal Because the difference between three and five non-combat days on the eve of a championship is enormous, according to news’s expert Carl-Erik Torp. – I think it’s a scandal. I think it is terribly bad planning by the organiser. It changes the competitive element a lot, says Torp. He believes that one would not accept this in a men’s championship today: UNBELIEVABLE: Torp believes that the teams do not have the same conditions in the semi-finals when one team has two extra rest days. Photo: Terje Pedersen / Terje Pedersen – No, I certainly don’t think so. There would have been very big reactions if this had happened on the men’s side. It’s terribly bad planning, it’s almost unbelievable, he says. When the semi-finals of the EC for men were played last summer, all four teams had the same number of rest days (three) before the match. In the men’s EC in 2016, there was one rest day difference between the teams that met in the semis. In the previous EC for women, in the Netherlands in 2017, the host nation had four and England three rest days before they met in the semi-finals. In the second semi, there was also a difference of one rest day. JAMNARE: The Netherlands won the European Championship in 2017. When they met England in the semi-finals, they only had one more rest day. Photo: Yves Herman / Reuters Make the most of the “rest days” Germany’s goalkeeper Merle Frohms describes the extra match-free days as “extremely important”, and receives support from top scorer and captain Alexandra Popp. – This match was very intense and it is very, very good that we have two extra days to recover. We will see that on the track, in the intensity and energy, and we will win the semi and go to the final, said a confident Popp to news after the quarter-final winner. NEXT BEST: Popp has scored the second most goals so far in the EC (4), only behind England’s Beth Mead (5). Photo: Alessandra Tarantino / AP news’s expert also believes that both England and Germany benefit greatly from the two days they have more than their competitors. – It is clear that the advantage is very large. There are two days of good training, important preparations and possibly recovery as well. Which, of course, is completely decisive so far in the championship, he says. Home advantage? Torp believes that Sweden, which has already struggled with covid cases and injuries in the squad, really needed the extra days. – They are probably a little inferior to England in that semi-final, so they probably had strong, healthy legs – and maybe a little healthier legs than England – to keep up in that match, says Torp. Sweden’s captain Seger has not played the last two matches due to injury, and says the days they have before the semi-finals are extremely important. ON THE BENCH: Captain Seger (bottom right) has had to watch Sweden’s last two EC matches from the bench. Here against Portugal in the last group stage match. Photo: Jon Super / AP She is not surprised that some teams have several days at their disposal. – We know about it and we knew that it was going to be like this here if we got England. So it’s just to relax the body and solve it in the best possible way, says Seger. – You can think that it is a small advantage for them, but we will see, says Sweden’s goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl to news. news has contacted Uefa and asked them to explain why the set-up looks like it does for this championship, and why they have proposed that two of the semi-final teams get two extra rest days. Uefa has not yet responded to the inquiry.
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– It’s a scandal – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedule
