Zlatan conquers America!
World class Soccer comes to the US.
The book I am reading right now, Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman, strikes me as Vonnegut-witty in many ways. Chuck Klosterman does not believe Soccer will ever be great in the US. Listen!
….people continue to tell me that soccer will soon become part of the fabric of this country, and that soccer will eventually be as popular as football, basketball, karate, pinball, smoking, glue sniffing, menstruation, animal cruelty, photocopying, and everything else that fuels the eroticized, hyperkinetic zeitgeist of Americana….
….The truth is that most children don’t love soccer; they simply hate the alternatives more. For 60 percent of the adolescents in any fourth-grade classroom, sports are a humiliation waiting to happen. These are the kids who play baseball and strike out four times a game. These are the kids who are afraid to get fouled in basketball, because it only means they’re now required to shoot two free throws, which equates to two air balls. Basketball games actually stop to recognize their failure. And football is nothing more than an ironical death sentence; somehow, outcasts find themselves in a situation where the people normally penalized for teasing them are suddenly urged to annihilate them. This is why soccer seems like such a respite from all that mortification; it’s the one aerobic activity where nothingness is expected…..
….A normal eleven-year-old can play an entire season without placing toe to sphere and nobody would even notice, assuming he or she does a proper job of running about and avoiding major collisions. Soccer feels “fun” because it’s not terrifying—it’s the only sport where you can’t fuck up….
Zlatan magic LA Galaxy
Yet, the last two weeks my head have spun around soccer, following both Peru and Sweden’s training games, where Peru won against both Croatia (2-0) and Iceland (3-1) and Sweden lost (1-2) against Chile and (0-1) Romania. Sweden is strangely playing without 37 year old superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic, after he retired from the national team two years ago and now just started a new career in Los Angeles Galaxy in the US.
You can hardly have missed Zlatan’s début even if you are only vaguely interested in soccer. Zlatan came from the bench a bit jetlagged with only 20 minutes left of the game and made the last two goals as LA Galaxy turned around the 0-3 game against Los Angeles FC, winning with 4-3. The equalizer was incredible.
It seems he may just be the kind of injection that proofs Mr Klosterman wrong.
Now everyone in Sweden is talking whether Zlatan will be playing World Cup for the national team or not. I am getting a bit obsessed as well checking Zlatan news almost daily. He will certainly be needed if Sweden shall have a chance against Germany and Mexico in the World Cup.
Today, Zlatan commented about Cristian Ronaldo’s amazing bicycle against Juventus in Champion’s Leage. First see Ronaldo’s goal.
Then listen to cocky Zlatan.
and have a look at the 40 meter bicycle he is referring to.
It shall be interesting to follow Zlatan conquering the US – and fingers crossed that he will be playing the World Cup.
The Swedish coach Janne Andersson will present the World Cup squad on May 15. The coming games in the MLS will be decisive I think.
My heart also pounds for Peru of course, who has had a fantastic streak of 8 games now without loss and are ranked 11th in the world. They have qualified to the World Cup for the first time since 1982.
Just found out that the last preparatory friendly before the World Cup for Peru and Sweden is actually against each other on June 9 in Gothenburg, hopefully with Zlatan.
Both my Peruvian daughters, 8 and 11, have said they will route for Sweden.
Speaking about books, a few years ago, I read Zlatan’s biography – I am Zlatan. Very entertaining and highly recommended.