Olsen Retains Confidence for World Championship Qualifier After Error

Robin Olsen gets new confidence. The national team captain Jon Dahl Tomasson puts no weight at all on the veteran's huge blunder on Friday. That a player makes a mistake does not mean that he should be thrown under the bus. The whole team should be thrown under the bus, he says ahead of the World Championship qualifier against Kosovo.

» Published: September 07 2025 at 20:16

Olsen Retains Confidence for World Championship Qualifier After Error
Photo: Jonas Ekströmer/TT

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Olsen, who has saved the national team several times, received a lot of criticism after the mistake that led to the Slovenians' 1-1 equalizer at the beginning of the second half in Ljubljana.

The Scania native carelessly let the ball in.

Afterwards, he, very downhearted, did not come up with any excuses at all, but took responsibility for the blunder.

For Dahl Tomasson, Olsen is still the national team's number 1.

"Not robots"

We are not robots, mistakes are a part of life. He made some saves after what happened. How he handled the media afterwards shows who he is.

We don't do this one by one, we all ended up under the bus.

He has experience, we have a fairly inexperienced team. His experience is the key, says the national team captain about why Olsen is still ahead of Viktor Johansson in the queue.

Alexander Isak is available and ready to play if "JDT" wants it against Kosovo.

During Sunday evening's press conference, the national team captain gave a more detailed explanation of why he did not play Isak in Ljubljana.

It was a bit dependent on the result. If the match had been 1-1, he would definitely have played. He has had five training sessions with us and has not had a long preseason. We are thinking, he can definitely be a "game changer", but I will not sit here and say whether he plays or not, says the national team captain.

Responds to criticism

He also points out that Liverpool has nothing to say about Isak's playing time.

When he is here (with the national team), it is we who decide.

If there will be any changes in the starting lineup, "JDT" does not want to answer.

We have a good squad and can make changes. Right now, everyone is available. We will get a full report from the medical staff tomorrow morning.

Dahl Tomasson received criticism after Slovenia's late goal - the 2-2 equalizer came in the 90th minute - for not making any substitutions after Yasin Ayari's leading goal in the 73rd minute.

We controlled the match. Sometimes when you make substitutions, you can lose control. After the 2-1 goal, they were not near our goal. There was no reason to make a substitution.

With more defensive players on, you can also become passive, he says.

The World Championship qualifying match in Pristina kicks off at 20.45 on Monday evening.

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By TTEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for local and international readers

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