The national team captain wondered why so many of his players slipped and fell at the Friends arena. Especially in crucial situations in and around Belgium’s penalty area.
He himself didn’t quite know which leg to stand on.
— If you look at the result, it’s crap. If you watch the match, it’s okay. We are not far off in this match. Had we scored the lead goal, I think it would have been a different match, he says at the press conference after the match.
Andersson is referring to the ball that was on the verge of sneaking in behind Thibaut Courtois already after a quarter of an hour, after Dejan Kulusevski got around on the right wing.
“Just feel bad”
— It’s an evening like that, where you as a coach and player just feel bad. I don’t know if they have that many more chances than us. We have several good ones, but we don’t put them.
— We can’t take anything with us. If you want to beat a team like this, you have to have the margins with you.
— Belgium has greater individual skill. As a whole, I think it’s a fairly even match, but if it’s 0-3 on the board, you can’t talk about the result, says Andersson.
Among the positives, according to Andersson:
+ Samuel Gustafson, Linus Wahlqvist Egnell and Hjalmar Ekdal, the least experienced players in the starting eleven.
— Samuel goes and plays his first competitive match. The fact that he plays the way he does is great fun to watch. The same with Hjalmar Ekdal. Linus comes in and does well, he too.
The loss was the first in a qualifying match for the WC or EC at Friends Arena under Janne Andersson.
Good start for Tedesco
Domenico Tedesco, appointed Belgium captain as recently as February, got off to a flying start.
— It is a really good result. We are of course very happy about the three points. There are many things I liked, the spirit in the team and on the bench. It is very important. That we stand united. And of course the victory, he says.
Dodi Lukebakio was one of the players he paid tribute to. Lukebakio, with club affiliation Hertha Berlin, played only his second international match. He was behind treble scorer Romelu Lukaku’s first two goals.
— We want players on the field who are brave in one-on-one situations. He is fast, quick, has a brilliant left foot. He also works hard for the team.
“Much to improve”
— That’s why I chose him. It is not easy because we have many high-class players. If he plays like this for us, he can be a weapon.
— I’m not surprised, Tedesco says of Lukebakio.
But he was not completely satisfied.
— There is a lot to improve, to be honest. We lost the ball at one point in the first and Sweden could have scored the first goal and given us a difficult game. We are far from the football I want us to play, but that is normal after only two training sessions, said Tedesco.