Johanna Rytting Kaneryd had not even been a minute on the pitch in the record match against Brazil (3–1) on Tuesday night.
Then came the goal she had been waiting for an entire career.
Among 33,218 people at Friends arena, she saw her father in the audience, held up her arms, formed a heart with her hands and explained afterwards:
– I would have promised my match shirt to dad if I scored, I saw him right after the goal as well and he got my shirt later.
– It is indescribable, just that he said so before the match and somehow predicted this – it’s just pure happiness. I’m incredibly proud to have been able to come here and show what I stand for.
– Johanna Rytting Kaneryd celebrates the first national team goal of her career with Hanna Glas and Amanda Ilestedt.
Photo: Fredrik Karlsson / Bildbyrån
She must be a doldis in the national team – twelve international matches and one goal it has been so far – but in the damallsvenskan, the fast winger has been perhaps the season’s most brilliant player. It has taken Häckenstjärnan to the first championship of his career.
But on the way there, mental ghosts have knocked. The 25-year-old says this before leaving for the European Championships in England on Sunday.
– I have had an enormous amount of performance anxiety during my career and always wanted to do top matches regularly, but have recently understood that it is not possible, that I can not be my absolute best self always. This is something I have learned to accept in recent years, she says.
– Now I have stopped feeling pressure. I felt that before and it did not go well. Now I have to think instead that when I get the chance, then I will take it … that instead of cave down I will not give up.
– In the Häcken jersey.
Photo: Avdo Bilkanovic / Bildbyrån
As a 14-year-old moved she from Kolsva outside Köping to Tyresö for games with world stars such as Marta, Caroline Seger and Lisa Dahlkvist. In 2014, she sat on the bench in the Champions League final in Lisbon – before the star team went bankrupt and was dissolved.
His career since then has gone via Älta, Djurgården, Rosengård and now Häcken.
During what periods have you felt this performance anxiety?
– That I came to such a good team as Tyresö so early was extremely hard mentally, to feel that you might not be there really, it was a long way but I may not want to accept it there and then, says Rytting Kaneryd.
– Then also during my time in Rosengård when I came back from injury (cruciate ligament injury immediately after the signing in 2017) and had expectations that I would be at my absolute highest level but realized that it was not really possible. I had been away for over a year, so it was no wonder that not everything was sitting, but I thought it was hard not to get a dividend for what I know I can.
Did you get help?
– I received extremely much help from my boyfriend who is also a football player (Anton Salétros, formerly of AIK). It is really he and my dad who have made me change my mind.
So you feel like you’re out of this now?
– Yes indeed. I have known that for maybe two years now. The hedge time, I think, was the turning point for me.
– “I think the hurdle time was the turning point for me,” says Johanna Rytting Kaneryd about how she overcame her performance anxiety.
Photo: Ludvig Thunman / Bildbyrån
Against Brazil got she also show what she means in black and white.
It was 0-1 when the championship debutant replaced Sofia Jakobsson into the 65th minute. Then it just said bang – and Rytting Kaneryd had dribbled past several players and equalized.
– It is clear that it is a sign of strength to show that I am dangerous, she says and states that she strengthened her shares before the European Championships:
– I absolutely think so. These are goals that Peter (national team captain Gerhardsson) has missed from my side.
Do you think you have played your way into the European Championship eleven?
– Hard to say. Peter works a lot with both starting eleven and final eleven and it’s about winning football matches. Some resistance may be better suited that I can come in and contribute with a lot of speed and energy, but it is clear that I strive to start.
I feel absolutely ready for the next step in my career.
In the last two championships has debutants impressed in blue and yellow: Madelen Janogy scored a dream goal in the World Cup premiere in 2019. Filippa Angeldahl became a given starting player in midfield in the Olympics last year.
There she can get inspiration during the European Championship adventure, says Johanna Rytting Kaneryd. And it’s no secret that she wants to go to Europe.
– I feel absolutely ready for the next step in my career, she says.
About the solo performance against Brazil can open that door? Johanna Rytting Kaneryd shines with confidence in the interview zone at Friends arena.
– It is clear that it means a lot, it is always important to score points, especially in my position – so it really strengthens my shares everywhere.