With Zlatan Ibrahimovic already making his mark in Major League Soccer with three goals in his first three games for the LA Galaxy, the veteran Swedish forward is eyeing a return to international duty for the 2018 World Cup this summer.
“A World Cup without me wouldn’t be a World Cup” said Ibrahimovic, 36, recently as he also confirmed during an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Show that he will be going to Russia but didn’t give specific details if it was as a spectator or a player.
Well, perhaps we won’t be having a World Cup because it appears not all of his former teammates would be on board if Zlatan took a U-turn on his decision to retire from the Swedish national team after EURO 2016.
Back-up goalkeeper Karl-Johan Johnsson had the following to say to outlet Main Oppose.
“We managed to qualify and go through to the World Cup without him, and I think we can manage to play well at the World Cup without him,” Johnsson said. “But it’s up to the coach to see if he wants to bring him - and I am sure if he does join, he will play well. As a team, we play as a collective, all the players together. With Zlatan, as a person, as a player he’s an individualist, and the play goes around him. Instead, now, we play more the team all together.”
Boom.
Zlatan has said multiple times that he is thinking about a return to the Swedish national team squad and with World Cup squads set to be announced in around about one month from now, surely Sweden’s head coach Janne Andersson must now if he will call up Zlatan.
We all know Zlatan is a quote machine (thanks, pal) and would probably do something amazing like score a flying scissor kick goal in the last minute to beat Germany in the group stage if he did go to to the World Cup. But maybe, just maybe, Sweden would be taken more seriously this summer if Zlatan didn’t go to Russia as it could well become the “Ibrahimovic show: starring the Swedish national team.”
"I have my wife, I got my two kids. If I was single I would spread my investment here in the US and you would have future legends in the soccer. But sorry I’m already occupied by my wife and two kids." - @Ibra_official when asked if he could help development of soccer in US.
— Paul Pabst (@PaulPabst) April 19, 2018
The positives for Sweden are obvious. The can bring in their all-time leading goalscorer to jump off the bench late in tight games to try and get them out of Group F where they face Germany, Mexico and South Korea.
The negatives are centered around what Johnsson said, with Sweden looking like a tighter unit and all pulling together to get to the World Cup after missing out on qualifying for the last two in 2010 and 2014 when Zlatan was around. Not entirely his fault, of course, but there’s something to be said about other stepping up when he departed the international stage almost two years ago.
Zlatan has actually only played in two World Cups, in 2002 and 2006, scoring just once, and if he does go to the World Cup he will be taking the spot of one of Marcus Berg, John Guidetti, Ola Toivonen and Issac Thelin in the squad. Berg scored eight in qualifying, while Emil Forsberg scored four from midfield and the Swedish attacking unit seems to flow a lot better without Zlatan.
Look, Zlatan will probably go to the World Cup. But it appears not everyone will be happy with this decision.