Sweden team doctor Anders Valentin has declared Fredrik Ljungberg fit to play against England in Sunday’s World Cup opener, despite the Arsenal midfielder claiming that the injuryy has not cleared up.
“He (Ljungberg) has not got an injury which will prevent him from playing against England,’ said Vallentin. ‘He has not torn a muscle, which would have been far more serious.”
“This is a new injury,” he said. “He felt the injury before the Japan friendly on Saturday but we didn’t think it was serious enough to rest him. Everything went fine during the game and the injury didn’t get worse.”
Ljungberg, meanwhile, did not share the doctor’s optimistic assessment of his fitness.
“I can feel the injury when I am walking and that is not good,’ he said. ‘I really wanted to train (on Thursday) as there are only a few days left to the England game,” he said.
