Zlatan Ibrahimovic now can stop toying with the emotions of soccer fans.
Despite retiring from international soccer two years ago, the Sweden superstar recently has teased a potential return to national-team duty in order to compete at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with the ensuing “will he/won’t he?” saga grabbing headlines around the world.
Sweden coach Janne Andersson on Monday closed the World Cup door on Ibrahimovic, telling reporters why he won’t take his country’s greatest-ever player to Russia this summer.
“Ibrahimovic said no to the national team,” Andersson said Monday, per TYC Sports. “He was not going to be in the team after the (2016) European Championship, and I respected him. If you rejected the team, I do not think you should come back, I respect what he said and those who said ‘yes.’
“(Ibrahimovic) has not called me, but he’s definitely not included in the plans for the World Cup.”
So there you have it.
Ibrahimovic, 36, insists he’ll go to the World Cup but likely only will do so as a spectator or Visa pitchman.
That will be the case, barring the most dramatic of changes of heart by Andersson.
