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(Sweden – Serbia 0-1) It does not go well for Sweden. Two home losses in a row have been decided, and to make matters worse, five midfielders are out with injuries ahead of the Norway match on Sunday.
Updated less than 10 minutes ago
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– Of course it’s crap to lose football matches. I hate losing football games and so do the players. But I can not blame them when they make such a match, says coach Janne Andersson to TV6.
Aftonbladet’s commentator Erik Niva does not like the match as much as Andersson.
– Finding the right eleven where many of the players had barely heard from each other ten days ago is still quite hopeless, writes the commentator after the match.
Five minutes before the break, the Swedish midfielder Joakim Nilsson had to leave with an injury.
An injury crisis that is not only noticeable in defense, but from before, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Albin Ekdal are also out of the team with injuries.
Alexander Milosevic, Victor Lindelöf, Filip Helander and Carl Starfelt are the four other midfielders who are out with injuries for Sweden.
– That’s football. Sometimes you have injuries, says Ståle Solbakken to VG.
A few minutes after Nilsson was replaced by national team debutant Edvin Kurtulus in overtime of the first half, Serbia striker Luka Jovic put the ball in goal from five meters after a corner from captain Dusan Tadic.
It was a real cold shower for the Swedes. Viktor Claesson had two great opportunities during the first round to send Sweden in the lead, but the Swede was not quite friends with his feet for the occasion.
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Despite some small dangerous goal chances in the second half, it did not sparkle for Sweden in the last third of the field this Thursday night. Some of the reasons for just that may be the absences in attack.
Alexander Isak and Emil Forsberg started the match on the bench, while Dejan Kulusevski was not included due to suspension.
It was left-back Ludwig Augustinsson who stood for Sweden’s biggest goal chance after the break when he had to shoot relatively unpressurized from eight meters, but the back blew the player high over the goal to the Serbian last chance.
With just over a quarter of an hour left in the match, Forsberg and Gabriel Gudmundsson switched in the hope that the Swedes would take some points from this match.
The duo could not make their mark on the match. Sweden did not get to put proper pressure on the away team, and thus the yellow jerseys’ second home loss in a row was a fact.
–Graphics: www.sofascore.com
Before Norway’s 2-1 victory on Sunday, the Swedes had not lost on their own turf since September 8, 2020 when Portugal visited Friends Arena.
Alexander Isak remained an unused reserve for Sweden. On Sunday at 6 pm, Norway will host Sweden for a new settlement at Ullevaal, and then the shooting star Dejan Kulusevski will also be back for our neighbors.
Norway stumbled at home against Slovenia, but still tops the Nations League group with one point down to Serbia. The gap for Janne Andersson’s crew is four points.
Edvin Kurtulus, Hjalmar Ekdal and Sotirios Papagiannopoulos are Sweden’s alternative at a stop next Sunday.
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