Ever since I was a kid I always loved Henrik Larsson. Watching him score fantastic goals for Celtic and Sweden in the Euro and World Cup. After Larsson's retirement in 2009 after Sweden's dismal World Cup qualifying run,(they missed by a point). The spotlights have shifted to the infamous Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Zlatan combines power, pace, cleverness, flare, and sensational goal scoring into to one 6'5 super human. You can argue the fact that Ibra doesn't seem to show up in big games for Sweden, but for Barca, Inter, Juventus, and Milan, he has.
Zlatan was raised in Malmo, Sweden to Bosnian and Croation parents. Which has sparked an international debate over which country he should/should have played for. But in the end he was trained by Swedish trainers and grew up in the foreign infested slums of Malmo.
He is somewhat of an idol for Swedes. The only major known Swedish player around the world, we take pride in him. Of course Elmander, and Kallstrom are also known, but not internationally recognized. Zlatan is 29 and has signaled he might come to the states after his four year contract is up in Milan.
Henrik will always be my Celtic Braveheart from generations past but Zlatan is here now and is taking Sweden and Europe by storm.
No comments:
Post a Comment