Janne Andersson: “Bad luck grinned in our faces”

After 35 days with the gang, Janne Andersson is now back after the European Championship bubble and held a press conference on Thursday morning. The national team captain evaluated the championship with a couple of days distance, and gives the grade “clearly approved” to Sweden.

The national team is home from the European Championships. The players have returned home to their loved ones and the leaders as well. On Thursday, Janne Andersson and the assistant national team captain Peter Wettergren held a press conference at Friends Arena.

With a couple of days distance to the round of 16 against Ukraine, the Swedish national team captain is proud of how the national team handled the tournament. In the WC 2018, Sweden won the group, and now in the EC they also advanced to the round of 16 as group number one.

– I am very proud and happy that we won the group for the second time in a row that Peter and I have been league captains, says Janne Andersson and continues:

– We also went to the playoffs for the first time in a European Championship since 2004 and I think we grew into the tournament.

The loss to Ukraine took a heavy toll on the league captains. But Janne Andersson thinks that Sweden made perhaps its best match during the European Championships, just in the round of 16. Despite the good effort, it ended in loss, after a late decisive goal for Ukraine.

– We made a good final match against Ukraine but it felt like bad luck grinned in our faces, I think, says Janne Andersson.

The national team captain believes that Sweden has made a good championship. But he can not tear himself away from the fact that it could have gone much better. He gives the grade “clearly approved” after the tournament, but he had hoped to give a better rating after the championship.

– I think we have made a clearly approved championship. But I also feel a disappointment and an emptiness that we could not go any further. It gets very split in my head. I can not be dissatisfied with how it ended, but I can also not be satisfied after I think we had a good chance to move on, says Janne at the press conference.

Now it is very likely that more games will end in the national team. Janne Andersson confirms that Andreas Granqvist will not make another turn. Regarding Marcus Berg, Sebastian Larsson and other players, Andersson will keep in touch in the near future to reconcile. But that younger players will enter the autumn World Cup qualifiers, the national team captain believes.

– It will be a generational change. There may be three or four players or more quitting now. We get to see who it will be and how many there will be, and then we will have to deal with it from there. It is entirely up to the players themselves and I accept and respect that, says Janne Andersson.

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