Lasse Granqvist’s rage – major criticism after the national team’s decision on Caroline Seger: “To hell with it!”

Caroline Seger played her last international match – but was never even allowed to leave the bench.
It made Lasse Granqvist see red.
– Bbring her the hell in then, says the profile.

It was in December that one of Swedish football’s greats announced that his national team career was soon over. Caroline Seger is Sweden’s greatest national team player of all time, with 18 years and 240 international matches for the Swedish A national team.

Never got to play

In total, there were 14 championships since the debut in EC 2005, and over the years there were two Olympic silvers and three WC bronzes. She has also been the team captain and the engine in midfield for a long time, and her importance to the national team over the years cannot be underestimated. Seger had, however, had major problems with injuries towards the end of her national team career, but she was still in the squad when Sweden was to play Spain in December.

It was the last match that Seger would wear the blue-yellow shirt. Sweden’s dream of the Olympics was already over, so the Nations League match largely lacked any sporting aspect, but despite that, Caroline Seger was not allowed to jump in. Spain turned from 3-1 to 5-3 in the match, but not even a couple of minutes got Seger on the pitch, which led to great criticism from teammates and experts alike.

Granqvist’s anger

And in the “Sporthuset” podcast, the profile and presenter Lasse Granqvist now directs new criticism at the national team captain Peter Gerhardsson, who is a guest on the podcast in a special episode.

– She is making her last international match, replace her for the hell of it! She has to get the chance to make the last quarter, replace her, the whole bench stands up and applauds more or less because the match really didn’t matter, says the TV4 profile, according to Expressen, and continues:

– But no, she was never replaced. Why not?

But Peter Gerhardsson fights back against the criticism. He believes that he had a responsibility towards Seger as she was not completely ready to play after the injury, and that he did not want to risk making the injury worse. About the reactions that occurred, Gerhardsson says to Expressen:

– I think that somewhere in this world you have to have an acceptance for different perspectives and emotions are a big part of football, you have to understand that. But there’s a lot you don’t know, I work like that and I think other football coaches do too, that you don’t tell everything. And that means that people can’t know all the details of the whole thing and then you have to count on people being angry, pissed off and upset about decisions you make. But you have to take it.