Swedish football team has won a major accolade this year due to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the forward’s performance who has been named as Major League Soccer Newcomer for this year. He has defeated competitors like Wayne Rooney of England’s team to gain this award.
Former Premier League star Dickson Etuhu is facing bribery charge against him in Sweden, as per reports. The former Manchester City and Fulham player featured for clubs in Sweden before retiring to become an agent. As part of investigations into match fixing in Sweden, it was discovered that Etuhu might have paid former AIK Stockholm teammate Kenny Stamatopoulos for match fixing against Gothenburg last year.
Sweden was stunned by two quick goals from Emre Akbaba in the closing stage of the game against Turkey to lose the game 3-2. Sweden thought that they had made the most difficult thing by scoring two goals in the 34th and 49th minute of the game in order to lead 2-0. But they will concede the first goal in the 51st minute before conceding two quick goals from Akbaba in the 88th and 92nd minute of the game.
Sweden coach JanneAndersson has opened up on the provocative celebrations of the Germans following their loss in the second group game. Sweden needed a win or a draw to favour their objective of going through to the next stage. They scored the first goal but wasted opportunities of getting another. The Germans responded in the second half and went on to win in practically the last kick of the game.
Former Real Madrid manager Fabio Capello has discussed about Spain’s poor performance performing at the World Cup 2014. Despite going into the competition as the current champions, Spain were knocked out at the group stage after suffering two defeats against Netherlands and Chile. Even more disappointing was that they conceded eight goals in these two matches, which is far cry from the impressive defensive record that they had during the previous World Cup. A lot of criticism has been pouring on manager Vicente del Bosque.
Despite being aware of the weaknesses in the squad from the loss in the Confederations Cup the previous summer, Vicente del Bosque stuck with the same group of players. His choice of strikers were also not clear since he went for the out of sorts Chelsea forward Fernando Torres while leaving out Juventus forward Fernando Llorente, who had been performing well in recent months. Capello, however, says that criticism should not be directed at del Bosque since he feels that the former Real Madrid boss did a good job in that regard.
It is seen as the end of the era for the Spanish national team, which has been not only immensely successful in the last six years but also created a blueprint for other teams to follow.
“Del Bosque is a great coach and friend. Whenever football begins a cycle, it must conclude, because coaches figure out how to stop it. That’s what happened. Spain had many chances but they paid dearly for each failure. That’s the truth. Coaches study their rival’s styles, as was the case with Holland. Teams didn’t allow Spain to retain possession for that long of time, like they did in the past. Quick counterattacks created a lot of problems for Spain. Every time the Spaniards made a mistake, it was a death sentence,” said Capello.
Chelsea manager José Mourinho will be delighted with the news that PSG striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic will not be available for the French outfit when they take on Chelsea in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final at Stamford Bridge. Ibrahimovic is regarded as one of the best strikers in the world and Mourinho will know everything about the quality possessed by the Swedish international from his time at Inter Milan. Mourinho worked with Ibrahimovic for one year before the forward was sold to Barcelona in a deal estimated to be around £ 60 million.
Ibrahimovic is right now playing for Paris St Germain and he has helped them already to take them to the brink of the second league title in a row. He also led them to the Champions League quarter-final stage last season when they were ultimately knockout by Barcelona on away goals. He is determined to take them one step beyond and even reached the final. However, he will have to cheer on his teammates from the sidelines after a hamstring injury suffered in the first leg has proven to be serious.
He had to be substituted midway into the second-half and he will likely to miss around four weeks of action according to the club.
“We are waiting for the results of his tests. But I think he will be absent for a minimum of four weeks. He will not be playing in the return match against Chelsea, it’s impossible,” said Paris Saint-Germain owner, Nasser Al-Khelaifi. Khelaifi has also said that manager Laurent Blanc is likely to be offered a new contract after impressing in the role this season. “I have a great respect for Ancelotti who is a great coach but Laurent Blanc has done a lot to change the style and the quality of play,” said Khelaifi.
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has revealed that he will not try and sign his former player Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Paris St Germain. The French club have all the money in the world thanks to the investment from Qatari owners. They have been spending huge amount of money in the last few transfer windows and it has helped them dominate French and European football in the last few months. They are top of the French league and are also into the quarter-finals of the Champions League. A lot of the success has been owed to the quality of Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
The 32-year-old is the top scorer in the French Ligue One with 25 goals. He has also been one of the top scorers in the Champions League as well. His goals helped PSG reach the quarter-finals after a 6-1 aggregate win over Bayern Leverkusen. Ancelotti was the manager who brought Ibrahimovic to the French capital. He has recently taken over at Real Madrid, while he has done exceptionally well in the last few weeks. Despite this, there is a belief that Real Madrid will be even stronger with another striker on-board. Karim Benzema is the only recognised top striker in the squad.
Ancelotti, though, has ruled out of the signing of Ibrahimovic by saying that would not be made available by PSG.
“Will I try to sign Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marco Verratti from PSG? No, not at all. They are players who cannot be dislodged because they are very important to their team. Ibrahimovic and Verratti are very important for PSG. We will not waste time trying to recruit players who would be impossible to sign,” said Ancelotti. “If I am here, it is largely thanks to him (Ancelotti). But last summer, there was no contact so I have not had the opportunity to ask,” said Verratti.
Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has denied suggestions that Paris St Germain have qualified for the quarter-finals after completing a 4-0 rout of German club Bayern Leverkusen in the first leg of the last 16 round. Ibrahimovic was on target twice in the match, with the Swede scoring yet another sensational goal with his second effort. The first was a penalty. The second leg will take place in the second week of March and it has already been spoken of as a formality, but Ibrahimovic failed to accept such comments saying that PSG will remain professional despite this massive advantage.
After spending lots of money in the last few transfer windows, doing well in the Champions league will be the ultimate motive for PSG. Ibrahimovic, who will not be seen at the World Cup 2014 after his Sweden team failed to qualify, has been one of the best strikers in Europe this campaign. He has scored more than 30 goals in all competitions. January signing Yohan Cabaye scored the fourth goal of the match, while Blaise Matuidi, whose future at the club continues to remain uncertain, opened the scoring.
Ibrahimovic was at the centre of everything good done by PSG. After the match, manager Laurent Blanc praised the centre forward.
“I think we had a good start. After three minutes, we scored a goal, then we played our game, created chances and scored a second and a third, so there were a lot of spaces to play and we did good, very good. We have to play the second leg like we did today. We have a big advantage absolutely, but still we have to be focused and play our game and let’s see what happens in the second game,” said Ibrahimovic.
The 32-year-old is expected to head the FIFA Ballon d’Or award ceremony next season.
Paris St Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been one of the best players in the French league so far after plundering 17 goals in the league alone. It has helped PSG top the table with a five-point advantage over Monaco, who have also spent huge amounts of money in the last transfer window. Ibrahimovic was one of the big name arrivals in 2012, but he was expected to be marginalised this season after the signing of Edinson Cavani from Napoli. The Uruguay star was brought to the club for more than £ 60 million.
However, Swedish striker Ibrahimovic has continued to dominate the headlines in terms of scoring and assisting. He was recently given the Puskas Goal of the Year award 2013. He received this award for the incredible goal against England. The former AC Milan and Inter Milan striker said that he is extremely happy to receive the award. He also paid tribute to Lionel Messi, who finally lost out to the incredible streak of winning the last four FIFA Ballon d’Or awards after his competitor Cristiano Ronaldo scooped this coveted prize at this year’s ceremony.
According to Ibrahimovic, Messi is an extraordinary player, who he had the pleasure of playing with. At the time of leaving Barcelona, the 32-year-old criticised Guardiola for giving too much attention to Messi.
“Messi is extraordinary. He does things only seen in videogames. I saw his second goal against Getafe and it was incredible, magical. He’s back and he looks hungry. I really enjoy watching him play. That goal deserved to win the award. One always tries to score incredible goals and it’s very tough. I was just lucky enough to pull it off. I’m still disappointed at missing the World Cup. Everybody wants to be at a tournament like that,” said Ibrahimovic.
The future of Sweden manager Erik Hamren is in major doubt after his team were knocked out of the World Cup qualifying rounds by Portugal. Sweden were taking on Portugal in the play-off round that would see the winner go through to the World Cup finals. Sweden were coming into the match with the presence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is regarded as one of the finest strikers in the world. Portugal for their part had Cristiano Ronaldo, who is one of the players on the shortlist to win the FIFA Ballon d’Or award.
This match was hyped up as the contest between Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic, but it was the Portuguese who came out on top after scoring only four goals in the tie. He scored the only goal of the game in the 1-0 win in the first leg, which was followed by a thrilling 3-2 victory for Portugal in the second leg. Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in response to Ibrahimovic scoring two goals. As a result of this defeat, Portugal go through to the World Cup finals 4-2 on aggregate leaving Hamren to think long and hard about his future.
“Today it’s too early to talk about [my future], I’m just too disappointed. I just want to go to bed and stay there. But we’ll have that discussion in a short while. It’s a fantastic job, but we’ll see,” said the disappointed Swedish boss after the match. Ibrahimovic said that he will not be watching the World Cup, which will be held without his presence.
His contract with the Swedish national team comes to an end in a few months time, and it looks like they will not be renewing the contract after the failure to reach the World Cup. Hamren chose not to talk about his future after the match.