Albin Ekdal has had problems with an injury and the last time he made an international match was about a year ago.
But now he’s back.
When Janne Andersson selected the squad for the matches against Belgium and Azerbaijan, the central midfielder was included.
– Conclusion with or without Albin, there has been quite a big difference. He has been important to us. He last played for us when we met the Czech Republic at home and won, since then he has not been involved as he had an injury problem. Albin has almost always had some kind of injury problem, but has now had a slightly more troublesome injury that has been with him, says Andersson and continues:
– But now he has played a lot. I have met him in Italy and in Stockholm and he was extremely energetic and is dying to be here again.
This means that the central midfielders in the squad are: Samuel Gustafson, Jesper Karlström, Kristoffer Olsson, Mattias Svanberg and Albin Ekdal.
Thus, Jens Cajuste ended up outside the squad.
– We have a competitive situation in several positions, in the central midfield I judge this time that these four players who are there are a little better than Jens. But there are no big margins, says Andersson.
– What’s fun about Jens is that he has now been whole for a period. He was in the European Championship in 2021 and after that he had an injury period and it was a bit messy, and he changed clubs. But now he’s up and running. He has started two games and pitched in the last five. But this time I choose other players.
The EC qualifying opener against Belgium will be played on March 24 at Friends Arena. On March 27, Blågult faces Azerbaijan, and that match is also at home.
