In educated circles of Europe, Soccer players aren't held in very high regard. The stereotype is much the same that American football players enjoy: they're thought of as strong, unintelligent, louts. I have no desire to debate the accuracy of these opinions. However, their is one player who is doing an excellent job of embodying these stereotypes. His name is Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Zlatan was born in Sweden to a Bosnian father and Croatian mother. His football career has taken him to Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona and now Milan. When on form, he's capable of some of the most amazing, acrobatic goals you've ever seen. Few players are as good at breaking scoreless ties as Ibra - as he lunges past defenders with a long, flexible stride.
Yet lately, he's been making headlines as often for his actions off the field as on. In Barcelona, he seemingly couldn't adjust to coach Josep Guardiola's scheme.
His agent, Mino Raiola, painted European sports journals with one bombastic statement after another, assuring the Guardiola wasn't as perfect as people thought, that coach had problems with himself and that it was more likely Guardiola would leave Barca than Ibra.
As Ibra left Barcelona at a firesale price, he made numerous statements to the media calling Guardiola such hurtful names as "Philosopher." Apparently, thought is not valued in Zlatan's camp.
Now on Milan, Ibra continues to make headlines. Check out the first video below, where Ibra kicks his teammate. He's yet to release a good explanation for his actions. His teammate, Rodney Strasser, didn't seem happy about it either. If it was a joke, it went over poorly.
On Wednesday, Ibra el Ogro began to endear himself to his new fans. He scored 2 goals to lead Milan to a 2-0 victory over French squad, Auxerre.
Then just in case you were beginning to like this guy, he got into it with Champion's League winning coach and current commentator Arrigo Sacchi. Sacchi said that on Ibra's first goal, he wouldn't have scored if he didn't have size 47 feet. It sounds like he intended it as a compliment, "Hey Ibra, you're really big, perfectly adapted to delantero" or something like that.
Ibra took it as an opportunity to rip into Sacchi, saying that some people talk too much and Sacchi is one of those people. When the lead commentator said Sacchi was trying to give him a compliment, Ibra let him know that he didn't appreciate him saying that Ibra wouldn't fit in at Barcelona. The exchange goes on for a while. It wasn't comfortable television.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is an awesome soccer player - but I wouldn't want him on my team. The fact that he's left every squad he ever played for with an argument leads me to believe that he's incapable of getting along with people - morale poison for any team that signs him. That he's the Terrell Owens of European soccer. But hey, what do I know. Judge for yourself, watching the awesome videos below.
I watched the top video and thought, Only a high person would do something so ludicrous as kick somebody without provocation or think it was funny. Of course next he saunters over to Ronaldinho and I thought, Yeah, he's totally getting high. Put those two together and you've got the work ethic of a 12th grader in June.
ReplyDeleteHahaha! "The work ethic of a 12th grader in June." That's so good that Ray Hudson is getting jealous.
ReplyDeleteImagine the Hippie Hopie that could be produced with those two.
I do think Zlatan may get high sniffing his own ego.