No place for Larsson in Sweden squad for Malta qualifier

Sweden coach Lars Lagerback named a 24-man squad for the World Cup, European Zone group eight qualifier at home to Malta on June 4 and a friendly against Norway on June 8.

As expected, Lagerback chose to leave out Barcelona striker Henrik Larsson, 33, who recently returned to action for the Catalan side after being sidelined for six months following a serious knee ligament injury.

"He has been away from the pitch for quite a while and is still not in shape for it," Lagerback said.

Larsson, who has scored 32 goals in 82 appearances for Sweden, made his return to action in Barcelona's final home game at the weekend in their 3-3 draw with Villarreal.

Brondby striker Johan Elmander has been brought into the squad in Larsson's absence.

Sweden are one point behind Croatia in group eight with both sides having played five games.

Lagerback's Squad

Goalkeepers: Andreas Isaksson (Stade Rennes), Eddie Gustafsson (Ham-Kam Fotball).

Defenders: Christoffer Andersson (Lillestrom), Erik Edman (Tottenham Hotspur), Petter Hansson (Heerenveen), Teddy Lucic (BK Hacken), Daniel Majstorovic (FC Twente), Olof Mellberg (Aston Villa), Mikael Nilsson (Southampton), Alexander Ostlund (Feyenoord).

Midfielders: Niclas Alexandersson (IFK Gothenburg), Daniel Andersson (Malmo), Alexander Farnerud (RC Strasbourg), Kim Kallstrom (Stade Rennes), Tobias Linderoth (FC Copenhagen), Fredrik Ljungberg (Arsenal), Anders Svensson (South-ampton), Christian Wilhelmsson (Anderlecht).

Forwards: Marcus Allback (Hansa Rostock), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Juventus), Mattias Jonson (Norwich City), Markus Rosenberg (Malmo), Fredrik Berglund (Esbjerg), Johan Elmander (Brondby).