Sweden needed to win the last World Cup qualifier against Spain to play home a direct place to the World Cup in Qatar 2022.
Emil Forsberg was Sweden’s offensively most dangerous player.
But after 63 minutes of play – when it was still 0-0 in Sevilla in mid-November – he was replaced in favor of Mattias Svanberg.
Spain later won the match after a late goal in the 86th minute. For Blågult, the playoffs await a World Cup ticket. And in the aftermath, national team captain Janne Andersson is strong questioned for the choice to take out Forsberg.
– Janne wanted healthy legs, there was nothing more to it, Forsberg himself said after the match.
“Emil started to hang around a bit and you can not afford it,” said Andersson.
When Janne Andersson on Wednesday – two and a half weeks after the World Cup qualifiers – presented his squad for the January tour in Portugal, he developed the reasoning.
– I did not think it would be such a big storm that I replaced Emil Forsberg in this match. I did not anticipate that, says Andersson at a press conference.
– For us, it was quite obvious that we would change relatively early. Emil had definitely managed to play a few more minutes, but he is an explosive player, and that places quite high demands in a match against Spain.
– Janne Andersson at Wednesday’s press conference.
Photo: Johanna Lundberg / Bildbyrån
Forsberg had been “Fantastically good” against Spain, Andersson continues, but the double change where even Dejan Kulusevski stepped down was both about the defensive and movement forward.
– It was quite clear that it was needed because the match started to crack, Andersson says.
– It was not because Emil did not run, he has a fantastic loyalty. But if you look at playing time, he had a 90-minute match in the club team since September 8. Now he had played 90 against Georgia (0-2 a couple of days before) so when we came to this match it was pretty clear to me that he will not play 90 minutes. When I choose to make the change, it was not for what it had looked like in 60 minutes, but for what it will look like in the next 30.
The league captain continues:
– Spain wanted to enter our inner corridors, and if we are not in place, we are a bit stuck against a team like Spain – no. It’s not possible. That’s why I chose to do it.
– There are huge demands on forwards and outer midfielders in a match like this. It’s not only that they should be able to run home when we have lost the ball, but when we win the ball, Spain is perhaps the team that is the best in the world at recapture, so it is important to get movement immediately, with explosive runs into free spaces. There we must have nimble legs.
I do not regret the reasoning itself in principle.
He was not clear enough with the explanation for the change after the match, Andersson says about the criticism.
– I did not anticipate that it would be such a big deal.
– And of course you can discuss whether we should take Emil out five minutes later, it’s always a matter of taste. But I do not regret the principle reasoning itself a bit.
Read more:
The change that surprised everyone: “Janne wanted healthy bones”
Johan Esk: Malpractice by Janne Andersson to replace Emil Forsberg
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