Sweden's Wanne, Palicka: Focus is on Qatar, we have a plan for Marzo
Sweden's talismanic scorer Hampus Wanne and keeper Andreas Palicka spoke to Egypt 2021's website ahead of their knockout tie against Qatar in the quarterfinal stage of the competition.
Both players have been instrumental for their sides at either side of the pitch, but the duo played down future chances for their country, preferring to take things match by match.
"We need to focus on Qatar, we can't talk about a final now because it's too far. We need to take things game by game and not think too much about the future," said Wanne.
"We have two more games before there's any chance of facing Egypt, but for now we have to think about Qatar only. Looking at a final now would be crazy. The game by game approach has worked for us.
On facing Qatari goal machine Frankis Marzo, the duo stated that plans to contain the team, but also Marzo in specific, are in the works.
"We need to be aggressive like we have been most of the games. We need to get into positions where Frankis Marzo doesn't get too comfortable but we have to accept that there are some players like him who will just score some goals no matter what," said Wanne.
"Frankis is a great player who's doing really well in this tournament, we are preparing for Qatar though as we do for each opponent. There are a few things we are preparing for and obviously Frankis is one of them. We build a defence where we feel secure, I'm pretty sure we can make it difficult for them," Palicka agreed.
"Any team that reached the quarterfinal deserved to be there. In every tournament teams have ups and downs, but I think some teams have gone home too early. I can't say it was a surprise that any individual team reached there. It's pretty nice that we haven't lost yet. It's a fantastic experience for us." added Palicka.