Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s unavailability for a major Sweden game would usually be a matter of national anguish. However, not so much these days. Sweden’s confidence in their all-time leading goal-scorer, possibly the greatest player in the country’s history, has diminished with the emergence of a talented crop of forwards roughly half his age.
Nineteen-year-old forward Anthony Elanga is enjoying a standout season at the senior level, no less than with Manchester United. Twenty-one-year-old Dejan Kulusevski is proving to be a revelation at Tottenham since his transfer in the January window. Then there’s 22-year-old Alexander Isak, whose dynamic performances during the European Championship last year have caught the attention of many.
Suddenly, Sweden’s entry into the World Cup qualifiers playoffs against the Czech Republic on Thursday without the enigmatic brilliance of 40-year-old Ibrahimovic is not as daunting a task as it might have been in the past. Ibrahimovic is suspended for the game in Stockholm and, if Sweden wins, he might not be fit to start in the match against Poland on Tuesday, which will determine a spot in the tournament in Qatar as he is recovering from an Achilles tendon injury.
However, Sweden’s coach, Janne Andersson, still sees Ibrahimovic playing an important role next week. “He can contribute with his experience here,” said Andersson. “I see him as a middle leader who can push, guide, and give tips to the younger players, so he has an important role even if he doesn’t play on Thursday. I can say that I have the utmost confidence in him in that role.”
Since Henrik Larsson led the attack ahead of Ibrahimovic in the early 2000s, Sweden hasn’t been blessed with such strong offensive options. Having an icon like Ibrahimovic to mentor the young attackers in the country makes the situation even better.
Especially since players like Kulusevski, Elanga, and Isak can relate to Ibrahimovic and his journey to play for the Swedish national team. Just like Ibrahimovic was born in Sweden to immigrant parents from the former Yugoslavia, Kulusevski was born in Sweden to parents of Macedonian descent. Elanga was born in Malmo – like Ibrahimovic – and his father is a former football player from Cameroon. Isak is the son of Eritrean parents who moved to Stockholm in the 1980s due to the long civil war in East Africa.
“Zlatan opened doors for us in Sweden that nobody can imagine,” said Kulusevski. “He really helped all the boys… kids who were on the outside, showing them that everything is possible. When he started mentioning my name as a player, I felt like a kid at Christmas. I also admire,” Kulusevski added, “that he’s 40 years old and can still do what he does, scoring goals. It’s an honor to play with him.”
Elanga is in the senior Sweden squad for the first time after breaking into the United team, despite a list of illustrious forwards at the English club, led by Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcus Rashford, and Jadon Sancho. His fearlessness has stood out this season, and Andersson is glad to have Elanga on board, as the teenager could have chosen to play for Cameroon or even England, where he moved at the age of 11 with his mother and sisters.
Elanga probably won’t start against the Czechs, and Andersson doesn’t feel pressured to play the youngster just to “lock him in” for the Swedish national team. “I don’t reason like that – he said that Sweden applies to him, 100%. I trust what he told me,” said Andersson. “If we’re talking about someone like Anthony, if we were chasing a game, we could bring him in (the team). If we’re defending and counter-attacking, we can use him that way too. Will he start? He won’t, unless something unforeseen happens. But he definitely can step in for us.”
Isak seems to be a lock at center-forward. Playing alongside him will be Emil Forsberg, a Leipzig forward who has been the team’s standout attacker for some time, especially when Ibrahimovic was retired from the national team in 2016-21.
Ibrahimovic may still retire from the national team if Sweden loses to the Czechs. Or perhaps after the World Cup, if Sweden makes it there. “I’ll keep going as long as I can, as long as I can deliver results,” he said on Tuesday. “I don’t want to regret it when I leave. I want to maximize while I can. You have that fear of what will happen afterward.”
However, there are unlikely to be many tears shed when that happens. After all, Sweden’s attack seems to be in a very good place even without him.