Zlatan Ibrahimovic not at World Cup
Zlatan Ibrahimovic retired from international soccer following the Euro 2016 tournament, saying he would just be playing club soccer and would no longer be competing for Sweden.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is Sweden’s most famous and certainly among its most successful soccer players ever, yet the 36-year-old striker is not on Sweden’s roster for the World Cup this summer, despite being productive in recent years for Manchester United and scoring plenty of goals
While Sweden’s FA has not released an official statement on why Ibrahimovic was left out of the side, there are plenty of theories as to why he’s not at this World Cup. This is like when LCD Soundsystem disbanded and played their final shows ever and then released an album a year later.
Even when Ibrahimovic stepped away, it was clear it was to take some time off from added responsibilities, and when the time came for the World Cup two years later, he expected a call. He’s openly said Sweden would be better off with him in the side at the World Cup, and they need him.
In 2017, Ibrahimovic tore his ACL playing for Manchester United. At his age, one would think that sort of injury would be a career-ender, or at least a severely career-changing one, but Ibrahimovic is not built like most human beings. He recovered quickly, and has been playing plenty of minutes for Los Angeles Galaxy in MLS this season.
Former Sweden striker Henrik Larsson pointed to Ibrahimovic’s health as a reason he was being left out of the side.
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