Tag: World

Sweden are finding their way without ZlatanIbrahimovic

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ZlatanIbrahimovic decided to step down from international football on June of 2016 and even though it was something that was going to occur either sooner or later, it’s still a sad thing to see as the former Inter Milan player has played a huge role for the Sweden national football team and now the Swedish Football Association has to try and find a player that can fill in his boots.


In 116 caps for Sweden, ZlatanIbrahimovic has managed to score 62 and this makes him the top goal-scorer for the Swedish national side.

“There is a future after Zlatan. I am sure there will be new fantastic football players from Sweden. We’ve had them before.” This the statement released by the Sports Minister Gabriel Wikström as he was saying that there is a bright future even in the absence of ZlatanIbrahimovic.

Even without Ibrahimovic, the Swedish national side has managed to stay in the upper section of their group from the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification stages. Sweden is located at the 2nd spot of group A with 10 points collected from their 5 initial matches.

The Swedish national football has not managed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup since 2006 when they reached the round of 16. Continue reading →

ENGLAND CAN DEAL WITH EURO 2017 PRESSURE – KIRBY

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Fran Kirby has come out to back her team, saying that she is fully convinced that England can deal with the pressure being mounted upon them to deliver in the Euro 2017 as it draws nearer.


The team has been on a high since they came off at the third position in Canada at the 2015 World Cup. On the FIFA world rankings, they climbed up to sit at an all-time high position of fourth place, before going on to qualify for the Euro with an unbeaten run.

Kirby is of the belief that she and her team mates are prepared mentally and otherwise to deal with the pressure that comes with being one of the top teams in focus.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ Sportswomen programme, Kirby was quoted as saying,

“The expectation is a lot higher now. We’re going to have a lot more attention on us. I think it’s a pressure we can deal with. There is always pressure in football, be that playing for your club or country. Continue reading →

Erik Hamren may take Break from Football

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Sweden coach Erik Hamren has revealed that he will be taking time off from football after having announced his exit from the national team.


He leaves Sweden’s national football team after seven years in charge. During this period, he has overseen qualification to back-to-back European championships. Sweden not only qualified for the Euro 2012 but they repeated the feat with the Euro 2016. The latter was especially not successful given that the team failed to get into the knockout stages of the competition as they finished bottom of the group even with striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic on board.

Over the years, Hamren has been in charge of 70 games and he has an extremely good record by winning 40 out of these matches. He was not convinced about another major tournament with the national team, as he announced even before the Euro 2016 that this would be his last tournament with the Sweden national team. There are signs that the 58-year-old could announce his retirement from management, as he has stated that he will take an indefinite break from football for the time being.Hamren spoke about the disappointment of not having done well at the Euro 2016. He says that a return of just one point from three matches is simply not acceptable for a team like Sweden.
Continue reading →

SWEDEN PLAYS ONE ALL DRAW WITH CZECH REPUBLIC

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The Swedes were dominant in the match against Czech Republic but failed to act on the dominance with the ball. The highly exhilarating match on Tuesday in Stockholm ended in a stalemate with Czech Republic being more comfortable with the result.

From the start of the match, The Team Yellow-Blue took the game to Czech Republic. They dominated attacks which resulted in a goal within 14 minutes of play. Marcus Berg sent a cross from Martin Olsson to the back of the net. Then it seemed the home team was sated with the goal. The visitors, obviously unsettled, calmed into the game and sustained attacks. The attacks were rewarded with a goal in the 26th minute. The goal came courtesy of a close-range range header from Reading forward, Matej Vydra. Vydra headed the goal from a Tomas Sivok’s set piece.

The match proceeded slowly until the 34th minute when Vladimir Darida almost gave Czech Republic a lead. He received a pass from Ladislav Krejci and shot it few inches wide. It was a painful miss for him and he obviously reacted. The match proceeded without much action until the end of the first half of the International friendly. Continue reading →

Erik Hamren reckons whatever Zlatan Ibrahimovic was due to heat

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The Swedish national manager, Erik Hamren, reckons whatever Zlatan Ibrahimovic said following the Bordeaux game, it was all the heat of the moment stuff and it should not have been blown out of proportion.

Ibrahimovic was fuming post that game as he thought his team lost only because of the rough decisions of the referee.

He, thereafter, was heard hurling some negative words on the standard of the referees in France.

If the reports are to be believed, he also said that France does not deserve to have Paris Saint Germain.

The French public and media have taken it as insult and there has been a little bit of outrage over there against Ibrahimovic.

The striker will have to justify his act in front of a disciplinary committee now and in case the committee finds his words unacceptable, he might have to suffer ban.

Ibrahimovic has already put forward an apology to all of those who are feeling hurt by what he said.

According to Ibrahimovic, he did not take a dig at anyone. It was just his frustration which came out.

Hamren, who manages Ibrahimovic in international Football and knows him very closely, also had the same thing to say. Continue reading →