Risk. January round or championship match.
It doesn’t matter – Jan Anderson is just as passionate.
The referee received a real reprimand when Sweden met Iceland.
– I can’t help it, says the captain of the national team.
Midway through the second half, Sweden were down 0-1 against Iceland. Even then, the captain of the national team might have been a little grumpy. The mood did not improve when he noticed an unholy alliance between the judge and the Icelanders.
Because after a long injury break, during which Blagoult had to wait a good while, Portuguese referee Luis Godinho also allowed Iceland to make a time-consuming substitution.
This was not accepted by Anderson, who saw the entire act as deliberate vandalism.
– They fooled (Iceland) all along. It’s already two minutes, I thought maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but it was a very long pause. Then when we are about to start, Iceland changes. The referee can’t let them switch after that, it had to happen during the long break. This should not be the case.
“It’s funny that it can flare up a little.”
The good Godinho was also told this by the captain of the Swedish national team. It got noisy. The Portuguese finally needed to run up to the Swedish bench and speak directly to the hot-tempered Anderson.
– I told him they could change during the break or wait another time. We are here to play football, not to watch Iceland fail. But yeah…it’s funny that he can get a little fired in the head even on days like this,” Anderson says with a laugh.
You are known for your ability to cause a stir. How angry are you on a scale of 1 to 10?
– lol. Ouch. It wasn’t that serious. But at some point you probably made it to eight before it dropped all the way down again. I can’t help it, I’m a competitive person.
He was happier after the final whistle. Then Sweden, although the situation looked bleak for a long time, turned the game around after late goals by Elias Andersson and (in stoppage time) Jacob Ondrika.
– I was actually intending to protest that the downtime was too short. But then, as soon as we scored, I went to the fourth official and said ‘Now it’s over, isn’t it?’ You turn your coat after the wind!
Fourth straight win for Blagault
Thus, January’s successful run can be summed up by two straight victories. However, the effort against Iceland was not as stable as Sweden, then with a very different start he made two days earlier against Finland.
– The match was not as clear as before. But still good. The difference was physical. Iceland were good at dueling with free kicks, crosses and corners. We had a little problem there, she got way too skinny. When the ball goes into the penalty area you have to win it, and we generally didn’t do that today. At the same time, we turned around at the end of the game, got the fourth win in a row and there was a will in the players to go to the goal.
Many players impressed Anderson during the 10 days the national team spent in Portugal. The captain of the national team praised the team’s optimism, positive attitude and ability to learn the basic game of the national team in a short time.
Samuel Gustafson – Best of all
But one name stands out the most. No one else has delivered as high a level as Samuel Gustafsson, who was the best on the field against Finland and was the dominant throw-in against Iceland. Häcken’s gold-medal winning midfielder got a chance in the ‘real’ national team already last fall and was consistently the best player on the January tour.
– I think when Samuel Gustafsson comes on (against Iceland) we completely control the game. We had good control before too but it will be quiet with Samuel finding passes and distributing the game in a good way. It’s great, Samuel.
How much did he boost his shares?
– You can say this: his arrow certainly did not weaken in any way. What he did in November (the friendlies against Algeria and Mexico) weighs heavily on me. Now I prove here (in Portugal) that it was no accident. I think it would have been nice to be here, too.
