I knew what my friend Sonny would say when there was a national training match in Solna:
"Not even for a thousand bucks."
Sonny's interest in football is great, so it could happen that someone in our coffee group with a more moderate interest wondered if Sonny would go to the game.
The questioner's reaction to the answer was often surprise. It could be a big soccer nation that came to visit.
Sonny and I had to explain.
The best would play a half without caring about anything other than not getting hurt. Then a booty orgy would begin.
I went to the international training matches in the service of the job. It was often a waste of time. Few things are as pointless as watching elite athletes show off for nothing.
Then, in 2018, came the Nations League.
In the beginning it was football's ugly duckling. A collective sigh was heard from large parts of soccer Europe.
Not a new invention. Not a new competition.
There were arguments about the various divisions, there were jokes that the winner of a blueberry group could playoff-stumble into a championship, it was doubted whether the players would care.
Maybe they didn't in the beginning but everyone does now. It rubs off on us who watch.
Graham Potter stated that benching Viktor Gyökeres would cost him his head.
When Sweden's national team captain Graham Potter stated that it would cost him his head to bench Viktor Gyökeres in Friday's match against Bosnia-Herzegovina, it was a joke that nevertheless says something about how far the Nations League has come.
The players know that a good Nations League autumn means an easier qualifying draw for the EC. That a group victory gives more than the feeling of winning a group and a step up in the Nations League system. Above all, it provides an extra EC lifeline via playoffs.
The knowledge gives the matches a meaning that for the players feels real. And games that matter make things happen in an elite athlete. The matches should only be won.
It makes the international matches better, but the concerns of the club managers are greater.
At the time of the friendlies, the biggest stars played a football variant of shadow boxing for 45 minutes. Mostly so as not to disappoint the ticket buyers.
Now they want to play and win. It makes the international matches better, but the concerns of the club managers are greater. The wear and tear on already hard-pressed players increases.
Some of Europe's biggest stars left their national teams already after the first Nations League match. They returned to the clubs as damaged goods.
France's Kylian Mbappé went home to Real Madrid.
Germany's Kai Havertz returned to Arsenal and Jamal Musiala to Bayern Munich.
Alexander Isak was forced to travel to Liverpool after being Sweden's best player against Romania.
In that match, Emil Holm was also badly injured again and Hjalmar Ekdal also disappeared afterwards.
The competition that is liked by many but hardly by the leaders of the clubs.
Patrick Dorgu (Denmark/Manchester United), Cody Gakpo (Netherlands/Liverpool), Brian Brobbey (Netherlands/Sunderland), Dan Ballard (Northern Ireland/Sunderland), Eric Garcia (Spain/Barcelona) and Ibrahim Konaté (France/Real Madrid) are some other stars who were injured already in two of the first four first games of the Nations League.
The competition that is liked by many but feared by the leaders of the clubs.
Finally: It is understandable if Potter had a mental breakdown over the state of health in the squad. First came the injuries. Then the wave of illness that swept in and made the national football team look like the national cross-country team during the Olympics. On Thursday morning, five players were sick and withdrawn from Friday's game. There may be more.
