Errant Olof sent home
05 Sep 2006 - 15:37:22
Aston Villa defender Olof Mellberg is one of three Sweden players that have been lambasted by national team coach Lars Lagerback for breaking a curfew.
Mellberg, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Christian Wilhelmsson have been sent home from the Swedes' training camp ahead of Wednesday's Euro 2008 qualifier against Liechtenstein.
Lagerback, who had given the players some free time on Sunday afternoon, feels let down by the trio after they failed to meet up with the rest of the squad at the team hotel at 11pm.
"They arrived back at the hotel at 11pm, got changed and went again. I think that's thoughtless," said the furious coach.
"We were told of this on Monday afternoon and called the players into a meeting at 5.30pm. When we had the events confirmed we took the decision to send them home.
"It's all about trust. The players did this consciously and I can't accept that. They have to face the consequences of their actions.
"We had a new start before we got together (for these qualifiers) and discussed and agreed upon the rules we would all follow.
"These players haven't done that and we had no other choice but to exclude them from this match. They broke the agreement.
"I have no idea what effect it will have on their futures (with the national team). But as I told them, this is about this match only and no other. I will be in contact with them again."