Zlatan Ibrahimovic retired from international football after Sweden’s dismal exit from Euro 2016 but, as we all know, he did not go away. He carried on playing for Manchester United and LA Galaxy and was pretty dominant in the buildup to this World Cup too.
The will-he-won’t-he go to the World Cup question was a feature in Swedish media throughout this spring, often fuelled by comments from the man himself. Janne Andersson, the Sweden coach, kept a dignified silence throughout the brouhaha but it was quite clear that he had no interest in recalling the former captain.
Ibrahimovic was a wonderful player who carried the national team on his shoulders for more than a decade. Without him, they would not even have qualified for the European Championship in France two years ago.
Once Ibra (and the coach Erik Hamren) left, Sweden had to change. They could no longer rely on a world-class player, so they turned to the only thing that could bring success: the collective.
Andersson, who had taken the unfancied IFK Norrköping to the Swedish title in 2015, was appointed as Hamren’s successor the following year and has had a clear plan: build from the back and demand that his players work hard for each other.
When Andersson got the Sweden job, one of his former players, Emil Salomonsson, summed him up by saying: “He is a really good guy and an extremely good coach. He has a good philosophy and thoughts about how to create togetherness and how to build a team. And he has been successful. He won the title with Norrköping, that was at the highest level in Sweden, and he achieved that success by building a team.”
With Sweden he has had to build a team too – and somehow he has got them to the last 16 of a World Cup, where they face Switzerland on Tuesday. There are no stars (apart from maybe RB Leipzig’s Emil Forsberg) any more. The two forwards are Marcus Berg, who plays for Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates and Ola Toivonen, who doesn’t play for Toulouse. The key midfielder has been Sebastian Larsson, who was relegated with Sunderland in 2017 and spent last season with Hull City in the Championship (although he is suspended for the game against Switzerland).
The quality of the players should not, on paper, have been enough to beat the Netherlands in their qualifying group, nor Italy in the play-offs, but it did.
In Russia they have overcome obstacles too. The midfielder Jimmy Durmaz was racially abused online after giving away a late free-kick against Germany but that only made the players’ bond stronger. This is all about the group now, not the individual.
After the game against Mexico, which Sweden won 3-0 to set up the last-16 tie against Switzerland, Andersson said: “I almost feel like crying. Bloody hell, we did that well.
“It is incredible really. Did you see how much the boys ran? I am proud, I am happy, I am satisfied and a little bit emotional. We have a gameplan and they do not stray from it one millimetre. It is wonderful to see, they work so hard together.”
Andersson is a fascinating character, his calm exterior belying a furious temper. He was incensed by how some Germany staff behaved after the 2-1 defeat, running to the Sweden bench to clap in their faces, and his spark has transmitted itself to the players.
He has had a go at opponents and at referees. Pictures of him on the touchline have been made into memes in Sweden, Andersson’s face red with anger, eyes wide open.
“Let’s just put it this way,” he said at the weekend. “I don’t get angry because the fun of it. I think that every time I have been angry it has been justified. But then I have to admit I don’t always feel that proud when I see pictures of myself looking like a monster.
“But like I’ve said before, it would have been worse if I had stood there looking dead. It is just my way of being.”
