Stoke City goalkeeper Viktor Johansson has issued an apology after Sweden’s poor form during this international break.
Fotboll Direkt interviewed the 27-year-old, who said he’s ‘sad’ the national team weren’t able to bring joy to their supporters.
Before the start of October’s international break, the Stoke City player started in eight of Sweden’s last 12 matches. He was on the bench for both matches last month as Malmö FF stopper Robin Olsen started ahead of him.
Olsen has refused to play for his country as long as Jon Dahl Tomasson is in charge after the Dane decided to start Johansson this month. This resulted in a drama even before the two matches and set the tone for a terrible international break.
The Potters goalkeeper started in Sweden’s two defeats to Switzerland and Kosovo.
Fotboll Direkt put it to him that supporters booed the players for their poor performances in both fixtures. Johansson didn’t want to hide from the criticism he and his compatriots are being subjected to in their country.
“It feels super tough, I am so disappointed. It is very tough. First and foremost, I want to apologise to the Swedish people. We appreciate all the support we can get, it means a lot. It is sad that we cannot give more,” he said.
“If I had been in the crowd, I would have booed too, I would have wanted to see the team win. It is shameful.”
Sweden have a point from four matches in the World Cup qualifiers. They are bottom of the table, trailing second placed Kosovo and leaders Switzerland by six and nine points respectively.
