Tonight, three intense weeks with the national team conclude with Sweden’s fourth Nations League match, against Romania in Bucharest.
The match - and the gathering - have been marred by illness and injuries. After the first match, Alexander Isak and Hjalmar Ekdal left the squad with injuries.
Källström: “A special gathering”
The situation then escalated when five players, Yasin Ayari, Benjamin Nygren, Gustaf Lagerbielke, Elliot Stroud and Patrik Wålemark, had to leave the squad due to illness.
When TT asked to speak to national team doctor Jonas Werner, the answer was no. Instead, national team manager Kim Källström stepped forward.
"It has been a special gathering with many withdrawals and changes to the squad. We have faced challenges we normally don't have, but that's how life works. No one has complained, but we have chosen to focus on what we can influence," Källström said during the national team's final training session before the match against Romania.
Källström says it is difficult to prevent the players from going out, but that the team has routines in place.
When we see the infection starting to spread, we keep our distance, and we have also used face masks in enclosed spaces like buses and airplanes. We also isolate anyone who shows symptoms.
Is there a reason to review the procedures to prevent this from happening in the future?
No, we always review our procedures and fix things as soon as we discover them. We will continue to inform you about what is going on.
Lindelöf: "It's not like we do tests"
National team coach Graham Potter describes the situation as "unfortunate".
But I don't know if we can do anything differently. Things like that happen. It's important that we handle it well, and now we look ahead.
Sweden captain Victor Nilsson Lindelöf agrees.
It's not like we do tests or anything like that. We just try to look for symptoms and whether you have aches and pains.
After three matches, Sweden tops the group with seven points, two points ahead of second-place Bosnia-Herzegovina, who also face Poland.
Benjamin Nygren, Yasin Ayari, Gustaf Lagerbielke, Elliot Stroud and Patrik Wålemark all fell ill and have left the national team squad.
Carl Starfelt was injured in the first half against Bosnia-Herzegovina and has left the squad.
Emil Holm, Alexander Isak and Hjalmar Ekdal all left after the first match with injuries.
Gustaf Nilsson, Mattias Svanberg and Taha Ali were selected for the squad but all withdrew due to injuries.
Dejan Kulusevski, Anthony Elanga, Isak Hien and Jacob Widell Zetterström are all injured and were unavailable for this squad.
