Wednesday, 17th October, 2012
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been hailed for inspiring Sweden to a 4-4 draw away against Germany, by the side’s coach Erik Hamren.
Sweden suffered a truly horrible start against Germany in their 2014 World Cup qualifier, after a quickfire Miroslav Klose double put them 2-0 down after just 15 minutes played.
relatedNewsStoryThe situation then got even worse after tall defender Per Mertesacker made it 3-0 with only 39 minutes gone.
As the second half started, Sweden were looking to get back into the game, but it had to get worse for the visitors before it would get better, as Mesut Ozil scored Germany’s fourth.
Then the fightback began, with Ibrahimovic leading from the front and scoring Sweden’s first in the 62nd minute, heading home after a cross from Kim Kallstrom.
Only two minutes later, Kallstrom was crossing again, this time for Mikael Lustig to fire past German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
At 4-2 it was game on and Sweden’s comeback continued as Johan Elmander sent a low finish into the net to make it 4-3, with still 14 minutes left to play.
Sweden left it late to find a final leveller though, with Rasmus Elm making it 4-4 in injury time and giving his side an extraordinary share of the spoils.
For Hamren, there is no doubt that a large portion of the praise must go to Ibrahimovic who, the coach revealed, fired up the players with a half-time talk.
"He is our captain and our best player", said Hamren of Ibrahimovic.
"His goal was fantastic, but the pass that provided it was too.
"We needed him to regain that energy and he showed the way for the rest of the team. Momentum was gained and the players around him picked themselves up to help.
"He gave a very good speech to the players at half-time and he showed his class.
"He led his team as a great captain should do."
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