Women's Euros: Group C team guide
The reigning Euros champions Netherlands are in Group C along with Sweden, Switzerland and Portugal. Sophie Lawson takes you through the four teams in the group, highlighting points of interest.
Netherlands
- Coach: Mark Parson
- Key player: Vivianne Miedema
- Best Euros result: winner (2017)
- FIFA ranking: 4
The Netherlands were a mess. Many of their talented veterans were retiring ahead of their home Euros and the players that were left had no faith in manager Arjen van der Laan.
Something needed to be done, the coach was relieved of his duties at the end of 2016 and the KNVB looked to his assistant, Sarina Wiegman to fill in on an interim basis until they could find the right person to lead the team at the fast-approaching tournament.
As the saying goes, the rest is history: Wiegman was given the job on a permanent basis and quickly ironed out the creased that had caused the bumpy and disjointed play.
Buoyed by a home crowd who were fast getting drunk on her national team, the Orange Lionesses claimed win after win after win at the tournament, going on to lift the trophy in front of a packed Grolsch Veste.
The team never quite managed to find that same rhythm again but still managed to find enough in France to reach a successive final, their lack of Plan B laid bare after the USA took the lead from the spot. Things only went downhill from there for the Netherland who, despite filling their boots with goals at the 2020 Olympics, were a defensive mess. Something had to change…
Fast-forward to now and the Dutch are still looking far less composed under new manager Mark Parsons, his players still struggling to gel with the style he's attempting to implement.
There was a time when the Netherlands' strength came from its midfield - very much a Wiegman marker, as can be seen with England - but now the team can only look to record goalscorer, Vivianne Miedema.
Given the Netherlands' group draw, there is still plenty of room for them to reach the knockout rounds, and even though we are fond of the, "offence is the best defence" cliche, it's balance that wins you tournaments and from what we've seen, that's an area the Dutch are coming up short.
Sweden
- Coach: Peter Gerhardsson
- Key player: Fridolina Rolfö
- Best Euros result: winner (1984)
- FIFA ranking: 2
If you've read my outright preview, you'll know just how highly I rate this Sweden team.
This is a nation that has just refused to go away. Even when at their lower ebbs they remain present, but this isn't Sweden at their lowest, not by a long way.
It took time for the team to fully believe in themselves and shake off some of the Scandinavian shackles when Peter Gerhardsson took charge after the 2017 Euros.
Sweden weren't favourites at the World Cup, but they still returned home with bronze, nor were they favourites at the Olympics but they left Japan with silver medals, which were possibly the most disappointing silverware Blågult have ever claimed.
The Olympics were a triumph of attacking play, belief (but not without humility) and balance and had it not been for a clinical touch deserting them in Japan, those medals would have been golden.
Although Sweden will argue that there is no real star power in the team as there is in others - where's the Swedish Katoto or Miedema? - there is strength in each third, creating a consistent world class level across the pitch.
From the defence anchored by Magda Eriksson, to veteran goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl who has written her place in history as one of the best goalkeepers Europe has ever produced, to powerful striker Stina Blackstenius.
There is a touch of swagger from Kosovare Asllani, the inspirational midfielder who manages to create chance after chance for Sweden despite spending all match getting kicked from one end of the pitch to the other. So too Barcelona's Fridolina Rolfö who, unlike her teammates will always take her opportunity to shoot from range, ensuring that her highlight reel never wants to bangers.
If the Olympics were about Asllani and Caroline Seger in midfield, it feels very much like the Euros are going to be about wide attackers like Rolfö and 25-year-old Johanna Rytting Kaneryd who is on the cusp of her long-awaited breakout tournament.
Switzerland
- Coach: Nils Nielsen
- Key player: Lia Wälti
- Best Euros result: group stage (2017)
- FIFA ranking: 20
Maybe the easiest way of explaining the Swiss women's national team is to say, "they're good, but…" because, and hear me out here, they're good, but…
Switzerland lack 11 players of the same quality and too often, under their current coach as well as his predecessor Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, their best qualities aren't harnessed.
If you were to run through the Swiss squad you would see players who ply their trade at teams like Barcelona, Arsenal and PSG, yet these are players who are routinely better for club that country and that is not simply because of who they have around them but how they're set up.
Recently given a pasting by Germany, pre-tournament alarm bells are justified but there is no simple fix for the team and even if they navigate their way through to the knock-outs - look out for their clash with the Netherlands for the likelihood of decisive pandemonium - they would have to pull out one of their best performances in recent memory.
Look out for captain Lia Walti and her ability to anchor the team from her midfield base, picking out just the right pass for her teammates.
Likewise, if Barcelona's Ana-Maria Crnogorčević is given the nod to play outside of the backline, you're likely to see some of Switzerland's better play when she can get forward.
Portugal
- Coach: Francisco Neto
- Key player: Inês Pereira
- Best Euros result: group stage (2017)
- FIFA ranking: 30
The only team at the Euros who failed to qualify for the tournament. Russia's exclusion saw Portugal, who had been next down the pecking order, promoted in place of the nation that's been unilaterally banned by UEFA.
Although Portugal have reached a Euros before in their history - in 2017, by way of the play-offs, oddly enough beating Ukraine to claim their sport in the Netherlands - it's a fair assumption when looking at their ranking that they are not expected to do much this summer.
Although they are the rank outsiders in the group, Portuguese women's football is on a steady rise with the incremental growth of the domestic league which has seen an uptick in the quality of player Francisco Neto can field, but it is still very much the early days in terms of investment from the FPF and the knock-on effect.
On the pitch, there are stalwarts like captain, Ana Borges, Carole Costa and Dolores Silva who, combined, have over 400 caps but very much feel like the old guard who've served their purpose but will be left behind moving forward.
Like the other unfancied teams at the Euros, the key to success will be a strong defensive foundation that transitions into a clean and clinical attack, meaning that the veterans will be tasked with shielding Inês Pereira who is well capable of impressive goalkeeping performances (as we've seen with Servette in the last season).
The team will need to be primed to feed the ball up to Jéssica Silva for the wily attacker to show her best form. However, as we've already said, Portugal will be facing teams who know exactly where the goal is and the task for them is akin to the one facing Finland.