Euro 2020: ‘My wife says I always make changes too late, never happy’-Sweden boss Andersson with hilarious revelation

In this world, it is difficult to make everyone happy and it’s all the more difficult if one is a professional sportsperson or coach. Ask Sweden head coach Janne Andersson, who will definitely vouch for it and tell you that even though his side have the last-16 of Euro 2020, his wife, Ulrika, is not happy about something.

And that something is the timing of his substitutions. During Sweden’s campaign so far, Andersson, with the timing of his changes, has played an instrumental role in helping his side advance to the knockouts. He introduced Robin Quaison in the 1-0 win over Slovakia and he promptly won the penalty that decided the game in Sweden’s favour. He put on Dejan Kulusevski against Poland who created two goals in a 3-2 win, including the late winner for Viktor Claesson. But Mrs. Andersson hasn’t been impressed.

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“You can always discuss how early or late you make changes, it’s an eternal discussion — not least with my wife Ulrika. She says I always make changes too late,” Andersson told a news conference.

Asked how happy she was that Kulusevski came on 10 minutes into the second half against Poland, the 59-year-old laughed.

“In principle she’s never happy with my changes, we don’t need to go into the details,” he said.

Andersson has had the task of choosing between attacking players such as Alexander Isak, Marcus Berg, Emil Forsberg, Quaison, Kulusevski and Claesson, with all of them contributing to a surprise Group E victory for the Swedes, often while coming off the bench.

“It’s been a long time since I felt I didn’t have much to bring on, and when you have that, it’s a bit tough to be a coach … We have a breadth in the qualities of our squad that means we can bring on players with different skills. I’m happy to have the squad we have that can change things in the game,” he explained.

Sweden managed to draw the game against Spain before defeating Poland and Slovakia to top the group with seven points. Forsberg scored three goals.

Having endured the heat of Seville and St Petersburg, Andersson is happy to be in Glasgow where the climate is more like home.

“This feels a lot more like Gothenburg, where we’ve come from, but the conditions when you play the games in are the ones you have to deal with, it’s as simple as that,” Andersson said.

The winner of this game will take on the winner of the final last-16 match between Germany and England. But the boss is currently focussed solely on the upcoming clash on Tuesday.

“Ukraine has around 50 million people, it’s a big nation with many good footballers … there are no ‘golden tickets’ in football, all the teams that went through are good teams,” he added.

(With inputs from Reuters)