Sweden lose Linderoth and Elmander

Midfielder Tobias Linderoth and striker Johan Elmander have been ruled out of Sweden's crucial final qualifiers against Spain and Latvia on 17 and 21 November.

Galatasaray AS midfield engine Linderoth, 28, is suffering from a groin injury and will not play in either game as Sweden look to earn the point needed to secure a place at UEFA EURO 2008™. "He's in pain as soon as he runs or kicks the ball, so there's no way that he can play," said coach Lars Lagerbäck.

The 26-year-old Elmander is also unavailable after picking up a thigh injury in Toulouse FC's 3-2 UEFA Cup group stage home loss to AC Sparta Praha last Thursday. "He can't play in these two games, so we've replaced him with Sebastian Larsson," said Lagerbäck. "It's a blow but we've got other strong forwards in the squad." Marcus Allbäck is now likely to partner Zlatan Ibrahimović up front.