Asllani Returns: Aiming for Sweden’s Title Glory

MARBELLA. The decision to continue in the national team was never particularly difficult.

Kosovar Asllani, 35, has unfinished business.

– One hundred percent. It would have been stupid if you just, thank you and hello.

After the European Championship exit, there were question marks about whether the 35-year-old team captain had played his last match in Blue and Yellow – but that was not the case.

Now she steps into a small white room at the Marbella Football Center after the last training before another international match. With a smile, she leans forward towards the microphones.

– So we meet again.

Got space to think

On Friday evening, the semi-final against Spain awaits in the Nations League – a meeting that attracted too much for Asllani to hang up his shoes.

– Tony was a little more unsure if I wanted to. So he was very happy about that.

The national team captain himself says that he chose to give his team captain some space after the EC. Then he texted and asked if she wanted to see him. The answer was: Absolutely.

– Then I sat down on the first best floor above and had a meal with her. We had a very long and good conversation, says Gustavsson.

No persuasion was needed.

– But for me it has always been in my head – to qualify for the semi-finals, play the big matches, fight for a title for Sweden. These are the matches you live for, explains Asllani.

The decision to continue in the national team is primarily about the Nations League. Then she has to think again.

– There is nothing I keep secret. It is very difficult, you have never made such a decision before. For me, it’s been kind of okay – take it in stages, see how it feels.

Still looking for the feeling

If there is a signal for when it is time to stop? It hasn’t arrived yet. Asllani, who has had a fine start in the Women’s Super League, admits she has asked friends who have quit how to know when that day has come.

– They say you will know when the time is right. I don’t know what it is to feel? What feelings are there to wait for?

There is extra pressure in her voice when she says the word feelings – because it seems to be something she genuinely wonders about.

– I am just as passionate and driven to win matches and play these big matches. So I guess I’ll have to wait until you stop feeling that way – but that hasn’t happened yet.

And it’s a title at stake. A title that attracts. Because it is clear how much it would mean for Asllani, who made his debut in the national team in 2008, to lift a trophy.

– Everything. It’s what you’ve been fighting for for 18 years or whatever, I’ve been in the national team. Those are really sick numbers. It had been like the circle was closing.