STOCKHOLM, March 16 (Xinhua) – Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back in the national team, the Swedish Football Association announced on Tuesday.
“God’s return”, the 39-year-old Milan striker tweeted when national team manager Janne Andersson announced his comeback at a press conference. It came four years and nine months after the striker left the national team after the 1-0 defeat against Belgium in the European Championship 2016.
Ibrahimovic is now back on the team for the FIFA World Cup qualifier 2022 against Georgia and Kosovo on 25 and 28 March and a friendly match against Estonia on 31 March.
Ibrahimovic, who made his first international appearance in 19 years against the Faroe Islands, scored 62 goals in the 116 matches he played before taking a break – one of the most memorable is the bicycle park goal against England in 2012, a match that Sweden won 4-2.
“First and foremost, he is a very good football player, the best we have had in Sweden,” Andersson said in a press release after the press conference. “Apart from what he can contribute on the field, he has incredible experience and can contribute it to other players on the team.”
“It is a long way to go to reach the WC 2022, but we want to go there and it is important for us to get as good a start as possible in the qualifiers”, says Andersson and adds:
“Both Kosovo and Georgia have many good and technically skilled players. We met Kosovo during the January 2019 tour and we know it is a suitable team even if they did not have the best possible team at that time. As usual we need to be careful in our preparations and perform well to get started in the qualifiers. ”
Source: sn.dk