Ekdal has played both the WC and EC for Sweden before. But now it looks like there won’t be any more championships in the national team shirt.
After the loss, which most likely means that Ekdal has played his last championship, the disappointment was great.
— It is clear that you are quite empty now, a difficult loss against a packed Friends. We had hoped to win the game. It is clear that you are a little disappointed. But that’s football.
He goes on to say that it was dead quiet in the dressing room after the match.
— There were heavy heads and disappointment. We haven’t talked much.
— It was two quick goals, two unnecessary goals that we can definitely avoid. With the first goal, it’s slack pressure, with the second, it’s a change that we can avoid. The match picture does not reflect the result, he says.
Austria won the match 3–1 after a few Swedish nightmare minutes at the start of the second half where the visitors scored two quick goals. Austria then made it 3–0 before Sweden reduced at the end of the match.
Sweden’s next international match is a training match at home against Moldova on October 12. After that, the European Championship qualifiers away to Belgium await four days later.