Last week Robin Olsen, after being petitioned from his place as a first goalkeeper, went out and criticized the national team captain.
It was not the first time Jon Dahl Tomasson ended up in conflict with a player in front of an open curtain. Previously, he had a dispute with midfielder Hugo Larsson and been ignored by Anthony Elanga.
– I think Robin (Olsen) is part. There are many opinions about it. I’ve talked to a couple of players about it. We will put it away now and not put more energy into it, Dahl Tomasson said at the press conference on Monday.
He meant that the players are good at looking ahead and that this type of controversy often occurs in the club teams.
– The other two players you refer to started in the last match, so there is no problem at all.
Here are five storms that Jon Dahl Tomasson has been forced to handle in the national team so far:
Playing time riot with Hugo Larsson
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I september 2024 Hugo Larsson remained on the bench in Sweden’s Nation’s League match against Azerbaijan. After the match, the union captain told us why the young midfielder was not allowed to play.
– What I have said to Hugo, who obviously wants to play, is that I have looked at all his matches this season, even in the preseason. I want more vertical passes. Especially against opponents who are deep, he told Viaplay then.
Later during the national team collection, Larsson criticized the coach’s statement.
“I would have appreciated if we had kept it between us,” said the midfielder.
The morning after that interview, the Swedish Football Association announced that Hugo Larsson would leave the national team collection due to an injury. When he was back in the club team Eintracht Frankfurt, several media received information that claimed that Larsson was not damaged at all.
Ignored by elanga
After Anthony Elanga Had been benched during an entire collection in October 2024, the Football Channel wrote that the outside was the only player to leave the collection before the team’s closing dinner.
For the next collection, Elanga was not selected in the squad. Dahl Tomasson told him that he tried to get in touch with the then Nottingham player without reaching.
In a later interview with Expressen, the union captain said he had called Elanga seven times without getting hold of him and that the ball was on the player’s half.
Anthony Elanga later called Dahl Tomasson and sorted out the situation.
– What has happened has happened. We had a good snack. What we said stops between us, Elanga told the Football Channel in March 2025 about the conversation.
Nottingham Forest for Newcastle United during this summer’s transition window.”/>First loss ever against Luxembourg
When Sweden played training match away against Luxembourg in March, the home team won 1-0. It was the first time ever that Luxembourg won against Sweden and the result was followed by fiasco headings.
– A very bad result. Luxembourg deserved to win, they were the better team. I didn’t recognize my team today, Jon Dahl Tomasson told Viaplay after the match.
“A very bad match against Kosovo”
On Monday, Jon Dahl Tomasson said that the national team played “a very bad match against Kosovo” in the second match of the World Cup in September. After the 0-2 loss, the national team captain was criticized and the lost points have deteriorated Sweden’s chances to move on directly from the group play to the World Cup 2026.
The Swedish Football Association published an open letter after the match, where they wrote like this:
“We are all disappointed. The start of the World Cup does not live up to expectations. We know that the situation is tough. We know that the remaining matches will be crucial. But we also know that we have traveled before.”
On Monday, Sweden gets a chance to revenge when Kosovo comes to visit Ullevi in Gothenburg for the World Cup qualifier’s second meeting between the teams.
Robin Olsen’s critical farewell
The latest of the storms came last week in connection with the squad for the current national team collection.
Robin Olsen was told that he would not be Jon Dahl Tomasson’s first choice in the upcoming matches in the World Cup qualifier. He decided to quit the national team and criticized the league captain’s leadership style in an interview with Aftonbladet.
“Jon is a leader I don’t want to work underneath,” he said, among other things, in the interview.
This is how Jon Dahl Tomasson said about the goalkeeper’s play the day after the interview was published:
– I’m disappointed with Robin’s reaction. He failed his teammates by being openly critical instead of standing with his teammates.
