The Return of Zlatan

In the Swedish media the build up to this game, and indeed the discussion surrounding the entire Sweden campaign, had centred around Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Do we love him or hate him? Do we desperately need his services or is the team better off without him? And so on. The notion that Sweden might lose against Northern Ireland, either way, never seemed to enter into the discussion.

I’m not a huge Zlatan fan, even if I understand people who are. And in this game he reminded me again why I’m not crazy about him and why it seems that whatever he does in his club, and whatever the club does around him, is harder to replicate in the Sweden team. He had an, at best, indifferent game. The Swedish tactics, which never really gained momentum, did not seem to incorporate him very well. Whose fault that was is up for the jury to pass judgment on, but even his arguably hard work up front seemed to be ‘not really what we want from him’, as one of the Swedish commentators put it. Significantly he played no part in Sweden’s only goal, a solid team effort by Svensson and Alexandersson, with a lovely finish by Elmander.

The unfortunate fact then is, that Zlatan’s eagerly anticipated return to his national team also became that team’s first defeat in a sparkling qualification campaign. Why were Sweden bad? They struggled with a pitch which made the ball bounce and must surely have been affected by the electric atmosphere at Windsor Park. Oh yes, and Northern Ireland were actually quite good. The defence was solid and they played a direct kind of attacking football, able to create chances as well as take the ones handed to them by defensive errors.

If Zlatan Ibrahimovic struggles to replicate club form for his country, David Healy appears to struggle with the opposite problem. He may not have had many clear chances on goal, but the ones he got he put away. Mellberg and Hansson going after the same cross, colliding in the air and tumbling down was a comical error and one which fed the ball straight to Healy. His finishing, however, was superb. The second goal, as well as an attempt just before the end, also revealed his predatory instinct and finishing touch. He is now the top scorer of the entire qualification campaign and has netted as many goals (9) as, for instance, the entire England team.

I have published a match report on Sportingo, you can read it here