Kosovar Aslan's interview with “The Guardian”: 30,000 people came to celebrate with us

Sweden's Kosovar Aslan has a completely different opinion with England's coach, Phil Neville, for the third place World Cup match. Neville called that match meaningless, but Aslan's countrymen agree with their midfield. When Sweden's national team returned home after winning against England, which secured them bronze, they were hosted by 30,000 fans in Gothenburg.

This is a sign that the nation is proud of us”, says Aslan, the midfielder who scored its team's first goals in the matches against Chile and England. The wonderful expectation came as a special surprise to the team, who was unaware of the reputation they had earned at home because of their successes.

It's always hard to know because you're kind of in your world”, says Aslan. You just prepare for the next exercise, for the next fight. Of course, we've heard a little bit that people are going crazy in Sweden and that they're watching our matches in every sports bar and in the squares and we felt the whole country is behind us. We had the prime minister in our two games, and Prince<x3...

This situation is similar for almost every athlete at the World Cup: the need to inspire and postpone their sport forward. But since the bronze medal promoted this growth in Sweden, the pain of failure in the semifinals against Norway was not forgotten.

I think we could have won that match; we hit the gate bar on two or three cases”, the 29-year-old said. If I compare our team to them, we're not far from them. I mean, I think we can compete with those”.

It's a strange feeling because it's terrible to lose in the semifinals. You always dream of playing big games. But we're a team that gets better all the time, so the possibilities are that we're at the highest level again for the next World Cup or next year's Olympics”.

The first feeling is frustration, the next feeling is revenge. You look forward to a match against them at the next tournament, which is at the” Olympics.

Aslan's winning mentality is understood by her response to England's coach's statement that the outcome of the third-place match made no sense.

Each match is key”, she says. So it's surprising to hear something like that. If my coach said something like that, I'd be surprised”.

I think if you end up in fourth position, this worst position you can take. I mean, you went so close to a medal. If we had lost that last fight, I would have a completely different feeling now because I would have felt like everything we've done up to that now would have mattered”.

Aslan, whose technique and skill was the heart of her country's successes, hopes the bronze medal may have a football catalyst in Sweden.

I think we've inspired the next generation in Sweden not only girls, but boys. Before this World Cup, I knew it would be the biggest tournament. When it comes to marketing and everything, it's historical”.

I think we've reached a completely new audience in Sweden. I really feel that all of Sweden is behind us. I mean, two and a half million people delivered our semifinals and we only have nine or ten million people in Sweden that's a huge number for girls' football”.

Aslan is the main representative for the immigrant community in Sweden because of her Kosovo parents. She played twice in the Olympics (London 2013 and Rio 2016).