Celtic star Carl Starfelt’s absence from Sweden’s squad is explained by the coach
SWEDEN boss Janne Andersson has described why he left Celtic defender Carl Starfelt from his match day squad to face Kosovo on Saturday.
Hoop’s midfielder of 4 million pounds was snubbed and had to look far when the Swedes ran out with a 3-0 winner to retain second place in their qualifying group for the World Cup 2022.
Starfelt, who also missed the Euro 2020 square, was dropped in favor of Alex Milosevic.
Although he has been a regular for most of the season so far at Parkhead under Ange Postecoglou, he has not been able to force himself into his national side manager’s first team plans.
Victor Lindelof captaines Sweden and therefore there is only one place to grab next to him with Starfelt, Milosevic, Marcus Danielson, Joakim Nilsson and crocked Rangers defender Filip Helander who all compete for that quay.
Starfelt has not played up to his price tag since joining Scotland and Celtic icon Frank McAvennie expects him and Cameron Carter-Vickers to play for their future at Parkhead as Christopher Jullien goes straight back to starting XI.
And Starfelt must do more to convince Andersson to reward him with another cap to add to his current four – because he thinks Milosevic is better in big games.
He told The football channel: “What we lose a little without Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a key player who can be crucial in situations if we get pressure on ourselves at the end of a match or have to force forward.
“You want players who are very good main players. Then Isaac Kiese Thelin also disappeared this week [due to injury] and he is also a very good main player.
“What made me choose Alex before Carl is his main game status. If I had chosen a player from the beginning based on their entry into the squad, Starfelt would have played.
“But when it came to the question of having a midfielder on the bench, I felt that Milosevic is very good on his head if we were to come under pressure towards the end or have to chase a goal.
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“So my thoughts went there.”
Meanwhile, Hoops’ ace Kyogo Furuhashi has revealed how he outsmarts Scottish defenders.
Furuhashi asked about the media when he was on international duty with Japan and asked if he could use what he has learned so far from playing in Scotland’s best flight against a physical Aussie defense.
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He said: “It’s a feature [of Scottish football], so I use my movement to outsmart the opponent.
“I hate it if I can not keep running, and there are some players who are good at lowering the opponent’s line and receiving it in space.”
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