Damallsvenskan Newsblog - Oldies rests, young ones picked for Sweden's last Euro qualification matches

Players like Victoria Svensson, Hanna Ljungberg and Karolina Westberg all asked to be left out of Sweden's squad for the last two qualification matches (Ireland September 27 and Romania October 1) for the 2009 European Championships to be able to focus on club commitments. As Sweden already is qualified, coach Thomas Dennerby could make an exception from his usual policy to always field the best team in competition matches. Instead he picked a group of young, internationally inexperienced players that have done well in Damallsvenskan this year: Linköping's 19 years old Kosovare Asllani, AIK's Louise Fors (18) and Hammarby's Nazanin Vaseghpanah (21). Asllani, who competed with Cristiane for one of the forward spots in Linköping, has only started 7 times for her club team but has 7 goals and 3 assists to her name. Fors has been a regular starter for an AIK that has made their best season ever and Vaseghpanah has 8 goals for her Hammarby, that is struggling in the lower half of the league. Keeping older players in the defense is a well-considered decision says Dennerby: "We chose to keep the skilled defenders to be able to field new players on the offensive positions".

Goalkeepers:
Hedvig Lindahl, Linköpings FC (38 caps)
Caroline Jönsson, LDB FC Malmö (79)

Defenders:
Sara Larsson, Linköpings FC (81)
Anna Paulson, Umeå IK (26)
Charlotte Rohlin, Linköpings FC (15)
Stina Segerström, Kif Örebro (28)
Sara Thunebro, Djurgården (36)
Frida Östberg, Umeå IK (77)

Midfielders:
Johanna Almgren, Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC (17)
Lisa Dahlqvist, Umeå IK (5)
Nilla Fischer, LDB FC Malmö (38)
Louise Fors, AIK (-)
Caroline Seger, Linköpings FC (47)
Therese Sjögran, LDB FC Malmö (131)
Nazanin Vaseghpanah, Hammarby (-)

Forwards:
Maria Aronsson, LDB FC Malmö (16)
Kosovare Asllani, Linköpings FC (-)
Madelaine Edlund, Umeå IK (4)
Jessica Landström, Linköpings FC (17)
Lotta Schelin, Olympique Lyonnais (56)
Svensk Fotboll: Fors, Asllani och Vaseghpanah med i EM-kvaltruppen