Baptista_8 Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 What a legend. Last night, against Belgium at Euro 2016, he played his last international game in a major tournament, and the last game of his international career. Sweden crashed out of the group stage with a 1-0 defeat, picking up just 1 point in 3 games. He amassed a total of 116 caps and 62 goals for Sweden. He is Sweden's only player to score in three consecutive European Championships (2004, 2008 and 2012), with 6 goals (VS Bulgaria, Italy, Greece, Spain, Ukraine and France) coming across those. This should have been 7 goals across 4 tournaments last night, adding Euro 2016 to the list, but at 0-0, his goal was ruled out with a very strange decision. During his career, he played at 4 European Championships (2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016) and 2 World Cups (2002 and 2006). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astafjevs Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Let's talk about what a great Euros he had. 1 shot on target, 0 goals, 0 assists. What a player. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baptista_8 Posted June 23, 2016 Author Share Posted June 23, 2016 Well no-one can deny that his goal last night should have stood, and he forced the own goal VS Ireland (basically an assist). What a player. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
georginho_juventusygr Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 I think it's a shame that his international career wasn't as bright as what he deserved. He was always Sweden's best player. Shame that the national team didn't have anyone else whose level was as close as his. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Cartman Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Sweden have had plenty of great players alongside him down the years :/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
georginho_juventusygr Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Like whom? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divinity Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Like whom? Is that a serious question? Henrik Larsson leaps straight off the page in my mind, and Sweden have had loads of players in top European leagues for most of Zlatan's career. Reality is, his competitive (World Cup + Euros) scoring record is nowhere near good enough for a player of his immense talent. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baptista_8 Posted June 23, 2016 Author Share Posted June 23, 2016 Reality is, his competitive (World Cup + Euros) scoring record is nowhere near good enough for a player of his immense talent. 6 goals and 2 assists in 13 Euros appearances, so can't argue with that at all. 0 in 5 apps at World Cups, however he has only played an average of 50 minutes per game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
georginho_juventusygr Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Ibrahimović's career with Sweden spanned 16 years if I read the data correctly. One player can't do it alone to lift the team. His teammates should have the required class as well, from under the bar to up front. In those 16 years, Larsson and Allbäck were of quality, but they played up front. Isaksson has been a solid goalie for years. In front of him, only Mellberg was great. In the midfield, there was Ljungberg. Svensson and Källström had/has been the motor for years. While Ibrahimović was on his peak years, there weren't enough players who were also on the road to the best years in their career. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Moores Mum Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Only 3 players have ever scored more goals than him at the Euros, so not sure you can say his record there is not decent. Never done it at the WC, but then in 2002 he barely played. 2006 was disappointing but even then he only played 3 of Sweden's 4 matches. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Cartman Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Ibrahimović's career with Sweden spanned 16 years if I read the data correctly. One player can't do it alone to lift the team. His teammates should have the required class as well, from under the bar to up front.In those 16 years, Larsson and Allbäck were of quality, but they played up front. Isaksson has been a solid goalie for years. In front of him, only Mellberg was great. In the midfield, there was Ljungberg. Svensson and Källström had/has been the motor for years. While Ibrahimović was on his peak years, there weren't enough players who were also on the road to the best years in their career. Yet in 3 games Gareth Bale is half way to his career tournament goals with far worse players Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crispypaul Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Like whom? Kim Kallstrom Stefan Selakovic Kennedy Bakircioglu Tonton Zola Moukoko Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astafjevs Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Well no-one can deny that his goal last night should have stood, and he forced the own goal VS Ireland (basically an assist).What a player. Haha, clutching. Brilliant. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baptista_8 Posted June 23, 2016 Author Share Posted June 23, 2016 Haha, clutching. Brilliant. Not clutching at anything, but thanks for the condescending tone. Just stating facts, just like you did, but they don't always tell the full story do they? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baptista_8 Posted June 23, 2016 Author Share Posted June 23, 2016 Kim KallstromStefan Selakovic Kennedy Bakircioglu Tonton Zola Moukoko And Stefan Ishizaki and Teddy Lucic. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divinity Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 6 goals and 2 assists in 13 Euros appearances, so can't argue with that at all.0 in 5 apps at World Cups, however he has only played an average of 50 minutes per game. Count the qualifiers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divinity Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Here, let me help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_goals_scored_by_Zlatan_Ibrahimovi%C4%87 Massive massive gap in competitive goals between 2006 WCQ and 2014 WCQ, and the standard of sides he scored against in that time was very poor. A three year goal drought in there as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott MUFC Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 he still needs supply, there wasn't much supply going to him. he is saving the goals for the league anyway. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baptista_8 Posted June 23, 2016 Author Share Posted June 23, 2016 How is it a gap if he's scored goals in that period? Fair enough though, didn't score in 08 quals. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiley Dan Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Is that a serious question? Henrik Larsson leaps straight off the page in my mind[...]He was responding to Barry Cartman saying Sweden had lots of "great players". If you seriously think Henrik Larsson was a "great player" at the international level you are out of your mind. In the Scottish Premier League he'd probably be up there though.I'm not sure I'd call Ibrahimovic "great" in a historical sense but he was certainly entertaining, one way or the other. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maple Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 He's probably without a doubt for the last few years for the Swedish national team being best by the farthest margin to the 2nd best player in the team. But he very rarely made Sweden more than marginally better than we would be without him. The exceptions to this were more frequent in later years though. The other nine outfielders are not good enough to cover for Zlatan's non-existent workrate when we play clearly superior teams. In Euro 2016, there were numerous times he got caught offside because he didn't get himself onside after the last attack and also many times the teammates couldn't pass him because he was STILL offside. In the games with the national team where I've seen metres covered stats, Zlatan is more often than not the outfield players with the least amount of metres, and that "title" almost invariably goes to a central defender for regular teams. They usually get worse with Zlatan on the field, taking a step back and pass to Zlatan and hope he will do something. It worked rather well when we played inferior (to Sweden) opposition where Zlatan usually scored frequently. It hardly helped that the national team manager since 2009 let Zlatan play like he wanted himself, rather than how he would best aid the team. It is although a bit unfair to put Sweden's heavy decline on our offensive woes and putting the blame on Zlatan. The real difference with last 5-6 years compared to the early 2000s is that now our defence is marginally better than our Mickey Mouse domestic league while in the early 2000s we had a world class defence as a unit (and quite good defenders as individuals as well). Results-wise, I would say of our offensive players, Henrik Larsson and Fredrik Ljungberg had a much greater positive impact on Sweden's fortunes. Given the change of the national team manager and the surprising lack of impact Ibrahimovic has had on Sweden's results, we're probably be about as bad in the future as we have been the last few years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maple Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Up until qualifying for the World Cup 2014, Zlatan's goalscoring impact in qualifying was basically non-existent vs quality opposition, one qualifying goal vs a top-three finisher in the qualifying group and that was a 3-0 goal vs Bulgaria. We got better results (points-wise) vs similar opposition when Zlatan was suspended/refused to play for the national team in the 08(?) qualifying and Allbäck was starting instead. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a great player, but there are a lot of arguments he was NOT that great a player FOR the national team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divinity Posted June 24, 2016 Share Posted June 24, 2016 He was responding to Barry Cartman saying Sweden had lots of "great players". If you seriously think Henrik Larsson was a "great player" at the international level you are out of your mind. In the Scottish Premier League he'd probably be up there though.I'm not sure I'd call Ibrahimovic "great" in a historical sense but he was certainly entertaining, one way or the other. At the point in which Ibrahimovic was playing for Juventus, Larsson was winning the Champions League for Barcelona. Even Henry acknowledged that. I think Larsson contributed more for Sweden than Zlatan did. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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