Are Sweden better off without Zlatan?

The Lion will be resting while his country visit Russia this Summer.

Sweden qualified for the World Cup without Zlatan, and now they’ll be heading to Russia without him, too. The Swedish FA has confirmed that Zlatan Ibrahimovic will not be coming out of international retirement to play for Sweden at the World Cup this summer, and for the Swedish national team, that may actually be a good thing.

Since Zlatan’s international retirement after Euro 2016, Sweden have enjoyed their best stretch of football in the last decade, including their upset over heavily-favored Italy in the qualifying playoff to cement their participation in this year’s World Cup.

The problem that Sweden had over much of Zlatan’s international career was the fact that he was such a transcendent figure compared to the rest of the squad. Sweden has always had decent players, but obviously none of them even came close to Zlatan’s world-class quality, so the attack always had to run through him.

Because of this, Sweden were always very one-dimensional and predictable, and when Plan A of “get the ball to Zlatan” didn’t work, there was rarely an effective Plan B.

But now when you watch this Swedish team, there’s a sense of togetherness among the players. I know it’s cliche, but they’re playing more as a team now, and we’re starting to see a lot of talent emerge from this squad.

The key men in attack are Emil Forsberg and Marcus Berg, who were instrumental in getting the Swedes a spot in the World Cup, scoring 12 combined goals in the qualifiers. Berg also had the 6th-most goals in UEFA World Cup qualifying, which is really a testament to how Sweden play now, considering he’s currently playing in United Arab Emirates, and hasn’t played for a club in a top-5 league since 2013 (Hamburg).

In defense, a couple of budding youngsters are proving to be just as important – Manchester United center-back Victor Lindelof, who was the Blågult’s best defender in their playoff tie against Italy, and Werder Bremen left-back Ludwig Augustinsson, who led the team in assists during their qualifying campaign.

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Sweden will no doubt have their work cut out for them in Russia this summer, drawing Germany, Mexico, and South Korea, but if they can continue to play like they have been for the past year and a half, they just might find themselves in the Round of 16.