Hangeland VG: – You have to set up for Norway as long as you can – VG

Brede Hangeland (33) did not want to give up, but believes he fails to deliver at the highest level on the national team anymore.

– It feels necessary to me now, before a new qualification. I had to be honest with myself. The body had not been able to deliver the way I want, says Hangeland on the phone to VG from London, where he now lives and plays for Premier League club Crystal Palace.

Tuesday afternoon announced Norway’s longtime national team stops that he gives on the Norwegian national team for 91 matches spread over 12 years.

Opposite VG he explains the background to the decision

– There were no other circumstances than the physical lay behind this decision. I think that you should line up for the national team as long as you have the opportunity. That is what is the main reason. I think my family would have endured to see me more with flag on his chest, says 33-year-old.

– Never a good time

The former Norwegian national team player Jan Åge Fjørtoft reviewing Hangeland as “one of the biggest in Norwegian football history.”

– It is of course nice to hear. I will not review it, but I’m at least one of them with the most matches, says Hangeland, who only has Erik Thor and CEO, Henning Berg, Thorbjørn Svenssen and John Arne Riise ahead of him on the list.

Hangeland do not feel he “fails” teammates now that the national team soon runs into a very important qualifier towards EM.

– I’ve thought about this a few months but took avgjølsen weekend. When the national team now enters a qualification, it is natural to take a breather and consider whether to participate or not. Although it is never a good time to give up on, so it was okay to do it now, says Hangeland, that should have been five years younger.

Excludes comeback

– If one were between the mental and the physical, so I would have liked to ten years. It’s not what it says on. But I take the consequence of having played in many, many years. I know that it takes on, to say the least. I need to reduce the burden, says 33-year-old, who will now focus on Premier League football for Crystal Palace.

Hangeland responds cash “no” to the question if it ever becomes relevant with a national team comeback.

– It would be strange to open up for it now, laugh England pro.