Pia Sundhage meets Wembley again in the final dispute

The dispute of the Finalissima (match between the South American and European champions) will have a special flavor for Pia Sundhage. From 3:45 pm (Brasília time) next Thursday (6) she will return to Wembley. In 1989, then as a Sweden player, the current coach of the Brazilian national team made history by becoming the first woman to score a goal in the mythical stadium. Now she has the challenge of leading Brazil in the challenge against England, the penultimate official clash of the women’s national team before the Women’s Soccer World Cup, which will be played in Australia and New Zealand between July 20 and August 20. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been back here, either as a player or as a coach. It’s great to be here, of course, but I think it’s even cooler to be here with the Brazilian team”, declared the coach to the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). According to Pia, the dispute of the first Finalissima in history is a milestone for women’s football. “If you look back today there are so many voices and things we are doing for women’s football and it starts with honoring the past, but now women’s football is more and more important and valuable. There are many of us and football on the field is very well played. This is a very special moment for women’s football.” Another person who highly values ​​the match against England is the captain of the Brazilian national team, defender Rafaelle Souza. According to the player from Arsenal (England), Brazil will have to know how to deal with the pressure that will come from the stands: “Tomorrow will be a special night. I’m honored to play here tomorrow. However, I played in the Maracanã stadium in front of 70,000 people at the Olympic Games and it was incredible. But tomorrow will be weird, because there will be no Brazilians in the stands. But there will be a lot of English. I know that in these games the crowd is the 12th player and we have to be careful with this and not let ourselves be influenced by the crowd’s energy. In some moments we will have to take it easy and wait for the best moments. This game will be important not just for women’s football but for me as a player as I will tell my children I played at Wembley Stadium in front of 90,000 people.”

Agência Brasil