It might not be NWSL preseason yet, but we’re back with our first player Q&A of the new year. We open with new San Diego Wave signing and Swedish international Sofia Jakobsson. She spoke to The Athletic about how she expects her personal style of play to mesh with predominant styles in NWSL and adjusting to cultures all over the world.
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How are you doing? Are you at home in the north?
Yeah, yeah. In the north of Sweden. Yes.
I think American fans actually are very familiar with you, especially if they are fans of the U.S. women’s national team, because of the USA-Sweden rivalry.
There have been some times these past couple of years, every time we’re playing against them in the big game.
Yes, we keep seeing you guys. You can switch between the left and right sides as a striker. Do you have a preference there on left versus right?
It’s hard because I think I play different when I play on the left side, compared to how I play when I’m playing on the right side. So it’s like in the national team, most of the time I’m playing the right side. And in Madrid, I was playing more on the left side. So for me, it’s working out both of them, and I don’t really have a preference. I think I like to switch, actually.
How do you play differently on the left versus right, what is your perception of that?
Because of my right foot, I think I come into more crossing chances from the right side, and from the left side coming more into the field to get more shooting ability. But even my left foot is not that bad.
I was going to say the games that I watched, your left foot looks very strong.
It’s why I think on the left side I can do more of both, like going for crossing and still having a good shot when I dribble into the field. While on the right side I may be more straight and come to more crosses then going in and shooting with my left foot.
I saw an earlier interview where you were talking about your style as a player and how you prefer to challenge people with speed and by using body tricks. I think many Europeans classify NWSL as a very direct attack and counterattack style of play. How do you think that your preference for speed will work with that style?
I think it suits me. If you looked at my profile as a player, it would suit me perfectly to play in the U.S. with the transition of defending and attacking. But it also would be challenging because more of the players will be more similar to my type of playing. But I still think it will work out really well. I love to have the space to come out and dribble to the one against one, with the wide defenders. I think it would suit me really well.
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Also, a new teammate in Alex Morgan. I think you’re both players who are notoriously very fast and are known for that ability to take on players at speed, especially at an angle toward the goal. Is that something that you thought about, perhaps if you get played on a front two together — maybe it’s too early to talk about front two — but is that something you thought about?
Yeah, I used to think it would be super cool to play with such a good player. She’s really good at many, many things. I think she is also really good in the box. And also, like you said, super fast. So that’s also good — when I’m kind of going away with the ball, she can keep up with the tempo and still be in the box and hopefully score some goals off my process. So it would be super exciting to play with Alex. She’s an amazing player, so I think I can learn from her, too.
How long do you think it takes for you to learn to read other people like Alex Morgan, or any of your teammates, so that you understand, ‘oh, I need to come into this space, or I need to come into this space, and that way we can take advantage of our ability to occupy the channel with speed’?
I hope it will go fast. In Madrid I also played with my colleague in the Swedish national team, Kosovare Asllani, and obviously she knew my game. Alongside with her, playing as a 9, or as a 10, I could get a lot of balls from her. It will be challenging to get to know every player, but hopefully we can find out fast. I don’t know how to explain, but I hope it will go fast, and that we can see each other’s games and just connect really well from the beginning.
Speaking of connection, I watched another interview where you said you liked learning about different cultures and learning new languages, and that’s part of moving around Europe — in addition to playing in the Champions League. In the United States, is there an aspect of the culture that you’re looking forward to experiencing that you think, maybe I would like to try that?
Yeah, I would love to try to surf, outside of soccer. But yeah, (San Diego) seems like a super cool city, with the beaches, and also a super big city, if you compare it to where I am now in the north of Sweden (Örnsköldsvik) — super small city — so it will be a big change for me to come there. It’s easier with the language. It’s not like learning Spanish or French or German. So I think that will be easier than the other times when I have switched clubs.
I’ve heard surfing is a little bit like the reverse of snowboarding. Because in snowboarding the control is with the back foot and surfing the control is with the front foot.
I’ve been snowboarding a little bit, but I heard — my friend, who was doing some snowboarding and then he went to California and tried to surf, and he said it was nothing like that.
Is there anything culturally from Sweden that makes you feel comfortable that you want to bring with you, and maybe introduce to your teammates?
I don’t know. I moved so early from Sweden. So I almost don’t feel, like, totally Swedish. I feel like I have been through so many different cultures. To see the U.S. culture feels interesting. Feels like they have a hard mentality and strong mentality. To learn a little bit from that would be cool. In Sweden I think they have the picture that we are more laid back and like, more chill.
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I think the perception is southern California, it’s a little bit slower, very friendly, and people like to talk.
Oh, that sounds super nice. I also like to talk and I like to meet new people, so I think it would be great for me. It’s nice. In Paris, in France, they say people don’t like to talk so much and they are not so open. So to go to California, where people are chatty, that would be nice, better than people who don’t want to talk.
I’m always curious what other people’s perceptions of the United States are. It’s a large country, but what do you think? What is a perception that you have of the United States, or California, that you can’t wait to see is true or false?
I think in Sweden in general, it’s that people from the USA don’t know so much about Europe. Like if I say Swede, they say, ‘oh, Swiss, Swiss, like Switzerland.’ So it seems like they don’t really know so many countries in Europe. Is that true?
That… is true. Unfortunately, I think our primary association with Sweden in the United States is Ikea. So people know about Ikea, and they know about Stockholm.
And maybe ABBA.
Yeah. And maybe they might know about fika. But that’s about it.
If I take up a map, and I would say what is the capital of Portugal, then they will never know.
It’s Lisbon. Is it Lisbon? Is that correct?
Yes!
Thank you, thank you. I’m going to be riding high off of knowing about Lisbon for the rest of the day.
(Photo: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
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