Alisha Lehmann has now publicly responded to the criticism she and her Switzerland teammates faced during the week after news of a 7-1 loss against an Under-15 boys team emerged. The match was part of a series of behind-closed-doors friendlies to prepare for the upcoming Women’s European Championship.
The host nation were heavily criticised from all angles after the result leaked despite all scorelines of these friendlies being meant to stay under wraps. Lehmann’s teammate Leila Wandeler was the first to break her silence just days after the game, claiming: “The result didn’t matter.”
Now, Juventus star Lehmann has had her say on the media attention received after the defeat. The 26-year-old, who moved from English club Aston Villa to the Serie A giants in 2024, was quick to move past any negativity surrounding the camp ahead of the tournament.
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Alisha Lehmann Wants to ‘Ignore’ Outside Noise After Friendly Defeat
‘We don’t have the time’
Per Goal, the attacking ace wants to focus on factors she and the rest of the Swiss squad can control, rather than media critics. After seeing the fallout from the less-than-ideal friendly defeat, Lehmann stated:
“As a team, we ignore that and concentrate on what we can influence. Today, we don’t have the time to analyse scientific studies.”
Instead of being down-beat about previous results, Lehmann is looking forward to the upcoming competition, while hoping Switzerland can be one of the underdogs of the entire event. She recalled her involvement in the 2022 edition in England and continued: “The atmosphere at the tournament was fantastic – I hope we can experience similar emotions here in Switzerland. It’s something very special to be able to play in a home tournament. I’m really looking forward to it.”
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Giving her thoughts on the intense and rigorous training regime the team have been going through in preparation, including the 7-1 loss, Lehmann added: “That’s no problem for us. We’ve prepared ourselves as best we can, both physically and tactically, and we’re ready to give it our all.”
Switzerland will kick off their campaign against Norway at St. Jakobs-Park in Basel on July 2. Lehmann and her teammates will need to do as she says and block out the noise and concentrate fully on the task at hand, with Iceland and Finland making up the rest of Group A.