At the beginning of June, two, at first glance, insignificant friendly matches await the national team in football. First against Hungary on June 6 in Budapest, and four days later at home at Strawberry arena against Algeria.
But for national team captain Jon Dahl Tomasson, the matches are anything but insignificant. The two matches are the last before the autumn's World Championship qualification begins.
At the same time, several of the star players are missing. Dejan Kulusevski was operated on for a knee injury just a few weeks ago, and earlier in the week, Alexander Isak was forced to cancel due to injury. Add to that midfield stars Lucas Bergvall and Sebastian Nanasi, who are also injured.
I talked a lot with Alex. He had a minor injury and we can't afford to take a chance with him, says Tomasson on Wednesday when the national team quietly started gathering with training for a dozen players from the U21 and A national teams.
"That's not how football works"
The injury worries mean that Tomasson doesn't have any opportunities left to fine-tune the details with his star players in the offense before the important qualification that begins against Slovenia on September 5. But it's not something that worries the national team captain.
No. Haven't you seen how we've played? I'm not worried, he says and continues:
Every gathering needs to be utilized in the best way, and I think we do. But of course, the best would have been if all our best players could be here, but that's not how football works. That's life, simply.
"Mix of both parts"
The matches against Hungary and Algeria will not only be the last opportunities to experiment before it becomes "serious business" for the national team, but also the last chance for several players to impress Tomasson and try to take a place in the squad in the autumn.
It's a mix of both parts, I think. In the end of the day, we're trying to prepare ourselves for the qualification in September. But, you never know which players will be available then, or in October or November. So, I'm trying to make a larger list of players who can be useful for us going forward.
