Iconic Moments in Football No.36
This week’s Iconic Moment came from the friendly between Sweden and England on 14th November 2012.
The game was the first to be played at the new national stadium in Stockholm. 49,967 were there to witness the historic match.
Sweden won the game 4-2 and those present were fortunate to see a world-class individual performance from Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Sweden forward scored all four of Sweden’s goals, the last of them would be remembered for all-time.
With the hosts leading 3-2 and the game deep into stoppage-time, a long ball was pumped hopefully downfield for Ibrahimovic to chase.
The Swede was never going to reach the ball and Joe Hart, the England goalkeeper came charging out of his box to head the ball away.
Moments before Hart reached the ball, Ibrahimovic had already begun to slow down and was assessing what to do next. Hart got underneath the ball and headed it up into the air but it didn’t go far down the pitch as he would have hoped.
Ibrahamovic had kept his eye on the ball, turned away from goal, took five steps and suddenly flung himself up in the air to try an audacious overhead kick a full 30 yards from goal.
Joe Hart was stranded at the edge of the box as Ibrahimovic’s shot flew over him. Defenders Gary Cahill and Ryan Shawcross were stood in the box and stood watching as the ball suddenly hurtled towards the goal.
Shawcross tried in vain to get to get back, sliding in and sticking out a leg to try and hook the ball away. He failed to stop the ball and ended up in a tangled mess in the goal net.
The goal was stunning, incredible and also something that was quintessentially Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He had the skill and confidence to try the outlandish and had the ability to score some stunning goals in his career. This will go down as one of the finest goals that he ever scored.
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