Concerns as Sweden release official statement after Alexander Isak forced to pull out of internationals

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·10 October 2023

Concerns as Sweden release official statement after Alexander Isak forced to pull out of internationals

Alexander Isak has been forced to pull out of the October internationals.

Newcastle United fans hoping for the best but fearing the worst.

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Hoping this is simply a precaution measure and will give Alexander Isak some valuable rest ahead of yet another busy NUFC schedule (see below) that kicks off on Saturday 21 October with seven matches in a three week spell.

Fearing that this is going to be an injury that keeps the 24 year old out, at a time when Newcastle have so many big matches coming up AND when it looked like Eddie Howe might be getting most of his missing injured players available again.

After the 2-2 draw at West Ham on Sunday, this is what Eddie Howe had to say about Alexander Isak, when he was forced to come off with only a few minutes left to go and Newcastle leafing 2-1:

“Callum Wilson couldn’t have started the game and indeed, couldn’t really have played longer than he did in the end (coming on with 86 minutes on the clock).

“I only really wanted to use him in an emergency but Alex signaled that he had to come off, so he was a natural replacement. Fingers crossed Alex will be okay (when we return against Crystal Palace).”

Only 24 hours later though, Sweden releasing this official statement:

‘Alexander Isak leaves the men’s national team’s European Championship qualifying squad,

‘The Newcastle striker came to the gathering with an injury report from Sunday’s match against West Ham and underwent an examination by the Swedish national team’s medical team on Monday.

After that, it is clear that Isak is not available for games next week and will miss the European Championship qualifier against Belgium next Monday.’

When you consider the position Sweden are in with their Euros 2024 qualifying group F, there are also two ways of looking at the Alexander Isak withdrawal and guessing how serious or not it is.

This is how Group F currently looks:

With three games left to play and only the top two automatically qualifying, Sweden needing a bit of a miracle as they trail the top pair by seven points. A situation that would maybe suggest, Sweden accepting they are almost certain not to qualify and so letting Alexander Isak possibly have a little rest time.

Alternatively though, the fact is that Monday’s match is a must win for Sweden.

The fact that Alexander Isak has already been sent back to Newcastle and not kept at least until Monday to see how he, is also a big negative I think.

The Newcastle striker was never going to be starting Thursday’s friendly with Moldova but on Friday there is a massive match between the top two, Austria v Belgium.

If say Belgium lost to Austria, then if Sweden then also beat the Belgians on Monday, only a point would separate them. A situation that would then mean if Sweden won their November internationals away at Azerbaijan and home to Estonia, if then Belgium failed to win their final fixture at home to Azerbaijan next month then the Swedes would qualify for the Euro finals in Germany next year.

Obviously the odds of the above happening aren’t massive but still a chance, with of course Sweden also knowing that winning their three matches and Austria collapsing, instead of Belgium, would give them an alternative route of qualifying.

What isn’t in dispute is that any of the above all appears to be far far less likely to happen without Alexander Isak involved.

Personally, I think the realistic thing is to hope for some kind of a middle ground.

Sweden are saying Alexander Isak had no chance of playing against Belgium on Monday, so I can’t see how there can be a great deal of positivity that he will be available to start against Palace five days after that.

So my realistic hope is that rest and treatment can lead Alexander Isak to miss a minimum of Newcastle games and that Callum Wilson will have perfect timing in coming back to be able to start in his place, following his own injury issues.

Thursday 12 October

Israel v Switzerland (Fabian Schar) Euros Qualifier

Sweden v Moldova (Alexander Isak) Friendly

Friday 13 October

England v Australia (Kieran Trippier) Friendly

Brazil v Venezuela (Bruno) World Cup qualifier

Argentina v Paraguay (Miguel Almiron) World Cup qualifier

Portugal v Slovakia (Martin Dubravka) Euros Qualifier

Saturday 14 October

Italy v Malta (Sandro Tonali) Euros Qualifier

Sunday 15 October

Monday 16 October