John Guidetti will proudly represent Sweden’s u-21 side against France tonight amazed that some of potential team-mates have turned their back on national service.
The Celtic striker played a big part in the 3-0 win over Greece and 4-3 win against Turkey that edged the Swedes into a play-off against France for a place in next summer’s eight team finals in the Czech Republic.
Before the last finals a secret poll on a Swedish website expressed dissatisfaction among half the squad for coach Hakan Ericsson.
Mattias Johansson of AZ Alkmaar has refused to play under Ericsson while others have found convenient injuries to opt out of the play-off’s against France. Guidetti scored four times in four appearances in the group stage and could never imagine turning his back on the yellow jersey of his country.
“Everyone in this squad is excited to represent their country, I can’t answer for anyone else,” the striker said. “When the national teams calls I’ll always want to play, this is where I want to be.
“We’ve been fighting for this position for a long time, who wouldn’t want to be involved in the finals of the European Championships?
“Everyone in this squad has got huge pride in playing for the country. The coach works hard and that is seen in our results. We are not a major country so reaching the play-off’s two competitions running is a good achievement.
“We lost out last time to Italy and they went on to reach the final, unfortunately I missed those games through injury so it’s very important to do well against France.”
Tonight’s first leg kick’s off at 5.45 Celtic Park time with the return leg in Halmstad on Tuesday.