Sebastian Larsson calls when Janne Andersson and Victor Nilsson Lindelöf have just finished the press conference ahead of Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier against Greece.
That “Seb” has released the national team is noticeable in that he has not thought about the question many ask:
Who will replace the injured Albin Ekdal in central midfield, Mattias Svanberg or Jens Cajuste?
Larsson does not know how Andersson thinks, but he himself would have chosen Jens Cajuste.
– Even though he did not get that much playing time during the European Championships, he continuously did good things in training. I stuck to Jens’ way of dealing with and being on the pitch. He’s impressive and he’s a guy who has the ability to take big steps.
We are back until June 29. Sweden had lost as bitterly as miserably against Ukraine and the European Championships were over.
Did you know it was your last international?
– Right there and then there was nothing I thought about. It was just complete soup cod. Both physically and mentally, mostly mentally.
– I never came to a decision about the national team that it felt crystal clear. The national team has been such a big part of my career and such a great driving force that it is impossible to get to a point where it is one hundred percent right to thank me.
– I remember when I was little and someone had left the national team. I really could not understand it. I said “if I join the national team I will never do that.” And here you are now sitting x number of years later and have made that decision.
– Sebastian Larsson was team captain in his 133rd and final international match, the one against Ukraine in the European Championships.
Photo: Steve Bardens/Uefa
It was 13 years, 133 international matches and five championships from Sebastian Larsson’s national team debut in 2008.
The following year, Nellie was born. Five years later, Sebastian and his wife Tina had their second daughter, Saga.
Despite all the time Sebastian has been away from the family, it was at home 36-year-old Larsson’s national team snowman met the biggest criticism.
– My oldest daughter was the one who was least happy that I would thank for myself in the national team. She was quite angry and annoyed at Dad actually.
– Throughout her life, she has been used to watching people go and watch the national team because Dad plays there and she has then met her friends she made through the national team.
Children of other players?
– Yes exactly. She has become very close to some of them and it has become normal for her. She has thought it was fun and experienced a lot through the national team.
– She heard how the discussions went home about the national team a while before, it was not just after the European Championships, and then she could come and say: “Dad, you should not stop.”
– Now Sebastian Larsson’s focus is entirely on the autumn with AIK.
Photo: Paul Hansen
On Thursday, Sebastian Larsson sat on the Friends stand and watched the victory against Spain together with Micke Lustig and Andreas Granqvist who also finished after the European Championships.
On Wednesday night, it will be the first time he, as a regular national team pensioner, sees a match at home on the couch.
How does it feel that the place next to Kristoffer Olsson is open and then you should sit at home in Eskilstuna and chew chips and…
-… cheering on like crazy. I try to stay away from thinking about those paths. It was very special to sit next to the first match, you got rid of the anxiety and nervousness before the match and it was fun to just be able to cheer.
He was not surprised by the victory or the game against Spain. Sebastian Larsson had told loved ones before the match that he believed in Swedish victory.
If anyone knows how Janne Andersson’s “then was then, now is now” works in practice. How does he make the players forget Spain and focus only on Greece?
– It is a routine that has been built up throughout Janne’s time. Regardless of the result and opposition, the match is closed the next day. We go through clips, Janne talks about the match quite briefly, then that match is closed. But we use sequences in that match before the next. I can imagine that you do that now as well.
– AIK players Mikael Lustig and Sebastian Larsson left the national team at the same time and saw the victory against Spain together.
Photo: Maxim Thoré / Bildbyrån
What are your plans for Wednesday night? Who will you watch the match with, what will you eat and drink?
– I can not pick and choose because I myself have training with AIK the next day. I’ll check with the family and just sit there in peace and quiet. Even if it’s a different kind of nervousness.
Will you be angry at the judge?
– It depends on whether he takes care of himself.
– No, but seriously, it’s a completely different thing when I sit next to it. I on the plane versus I off the field are two completely different people. I’m glad that’s so. Sometimes I see myself on TV and wonder who that is.
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