Jeglertz has Finland ready for shot at EURO glory

With Finland set to touch down in Sweden ahead of Wednesday's opening UEFA Women's EURO 2013 match against Italy, coach Andrée Jeglertz believes his side are ready to show their worth after some intense preparation in the last two weeks.

Hoping to improve on their 2005 semi-final appearance, the country's best showing at a UEFA European Women's championship, Jeglertz is confident his side will show what they can do. "The key thing before the training camp was to take steps forward every day and I think that is what we have done," said the Swede, who is hoping for glory in his homeland. "If we think about the timetable, we are where we want to be now."

Knowing his side are not the most skilful of teams, emphasis has been placed on the squad's ability to overcome adversity, something which will be needed if they are to make it out of a tough Group A including Denmark, Italy and the hosts. "There may be — and in fact there are — teams with more skilful individuals than us, but our strength is the unity of the team," he added. "It is not about single players, it is about the 11 players on the pitch."

With injuries ruling out star names Linda Sällström and Maija Saari for the tournament, Finland mercifully have not picked up any fresh knocks, and Jeglertz, who did his homework by watching Sweden defeat England 4-1 on Thursday, will have a full compliment of players to choose from. "No, it was not a surprise [to see Sweden win 4-1]," continued the coach. "Sweden are a very good team, but so are England.

"Anyway, that was a friendly and it will be different in the tournament itself. Sweden play at home and there is large interest around the team, but there is also pressure. We shall see."