Zlatan ruled out of playing Brazil friendly
Sweden captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been ruled out of Wednesday's friendly against Brazil on Wednesday after picking up a minor foot injury during club duty for Paris Saint-Germain last weekend.
"Zlatan won't be playing tonight. His foot hasn't improved as much as we had hoped," said Marcus Allbäck, assistant coach for the Sweden national football team in an interview on svenskfotboll.se on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old striker, a recent PSG signing from AC Milan, misses out on a chance to add to his 33 goals in 80 international matches and the opportunity to take on Brazilian teammate Thiago Silva, who also moved from the San Siro.
The iconic Swede scored twice on his league debut last Saturday as he led a PSG comeback against Lorient in a match that finished 2-2 but picked up a sprained footin the process.
Sweden coach Erik Hamrén is also missing Galatasary marksman Johan Elmander as he opts to lead the attack against the South American giants with Hamburg's 25-year-old Marcus Berg.
Berg was not included in the Euro 2012 squad that failed to progress beyond the group stages but has scored five goals in 19 appearaces at senior level after coming up through the Swedish youth ranks.
The friendly will mark the final match to be played at the Råsunda stadium in the suburbs of Stockholm and the venue where Brazil famously defeated Sweden 5-2 in the 1958 World Cup, with two goals from a 17-year-old Pelé.
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"Zlatan won't be playing tonight. His foot hasn't improved as much as we had hoped," said Marcus Allbäck, assistant coach for the Sweden national football team in an interview on svenskfotboll.se on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old striker, a recent PSG signing from AC Milan, misses out on a chance to add to his 33 goals in 80 international matches and the opportunity to take on Brazilian teammate Thiago Silva, who also moved from the San Siro.
The iconic Swede scored twice on his league debut last Saturday as he led a PSG comeback against Lorient in a match that finished 2-2 but picked up a sprained footin the process.
Sweden coach Erik Hamrén is also missing Galatasary marksman Johan Elmander as he opts to lead the attack against the South American giants with Hamburg's 25-year-old Marcus Berg.
Berg was not included in the Euro 2012 squad that failed to progress beyond the group stages but has scored five goals in 19 appearaces at senior level after coming up through the Swedish youth ranks.
The friendly will mark the final match to be played at the Råsunda stadium in the suburbs of Stockholm and the venue where Brazil famously defeated Sweden 5-2 in the 1958 World Cup, with two goals from a 17-year-old Pelé.
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