Schelin confident of Swedish progress

Sweden striker Lotta Schelin believes her side have the beating of Norway but will need to be patient when the two sides in the quarter-finals of UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ on Friday.

England battle
Sweden, who secured a 1-1 draw with England on Monday to confirm first place in Group C, are expecting another demanding contest at Helsinki Football Stadium, leaving Turku for the first time in the tournament. However, Schelin feels the momentum is behind Sweden rather than a Norway side that qualified as the third-placed team in Group B and who have had a mixed bag of results this year, starting with a 5-1 loss to Sweden in Spain in January in which Schelin scored four goals. Norway did win 1-0 in Sweden on 19 August in their last warm-up but Schelin believes her side can prevail when it matters.

Sweden confident
"It's always interesting with Norway," said the 25-year-old, who plays for French champions Olympique Lyonnais alongside Norway's Ingvild Stensland. "It's a derby for us and it's always tough. But this year I feel that we have played really well and we've got a good resumé from the year – and that Norway haven't. So I feel we're a stronger team in the long run. We're first in the group, we've been playing well and there's a good level of confidence in the team ... I think we have more confidence than Norway."

Technical game
Schelin, her country's player of the year in 2008 and now a key figure in the attack for the national side, has particular faith in Sweden's technical ability to see off Norway over 90 minutes. "Physically, we're pretty close, but I think we have a game that is more workable in the long run," she said. "I think we can establish good play and Norway don't have that at the moment as much as they did before."

Patience needed
Between what Schelin views as Sweden's strengths and Norway’s potential weaknesses, she expects a match that will be close, with Sweden looking to get forward and their opponents aiming to strike on the break. And if Bjarne Berntsen's side do decide to pack their defence, Schelin reckons the 1984 European champions – who lost that title to Norway in the final four years later – will just have to bide their time. "I think they're more doing counter-attacks and I think if we can keep the ball and push them back, I feel that we have a good chance," she said. "But I think patience is going to be really important."