For years, there’s felt something of a malaise around the Swedish national team. There’s often disagreements between senior players and the media and a never-ending river of excuses for poor performances.
They failed to qualify for the Euros for the first time since 1996, but now things are looking brighter and a Stoke City man is playing his part in it.
There’s been multiple senior absences from the Sweden squad for the current international break. Victor Lindelof is out with injury, and that’s allowed Dejan Kulusevski to be captain and help create a better feel around the place.
FotbollDirekt say that for a long time, whenever goalkeepr Robin Olsen wasn’t available, there’s been a ‘cloud of worry’. Now there won’t be such panic, because Viktor Johansson has shown he can do a good job. The Stoke City goalkeeper made his competitive debut against Azerbaijan on Thursday and then played against Estonia on Sunday. Sweden won both matches and only conceded one goal.
Johansson has said he’s “supper happy” with the international break, but very much has his head on Stoke City again now.
Asked if he can now battle Olsen for the starting spot, he said: “I haven’t thought about it, I’m just happy that I got to play. Robin is fantastic both as a goalkeeper and as a person, my focus is on the club team now.”
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