“In the beginning, the first games were different because I felt I can do it much better than them, obviously,” Zlatan Ibrahimovic said earlier this week. “And I still do.”
Two days later, Sweden qualified for the last 16 of the World Cup as group winners. They have already overachieved; few expected them to get out of a group that also contained Germany and Mexico, having failed to qualify at all for the last two tournaments.
They failed to reach South Africa and Brazil despite the fact Ibrahimovic was enjoying his peak years. Two years ago he failed to get them out of their group at the Euros, despite the fact two thirds of the bloated tournament were given passage to the knock-outs.