How Much Will Sweden Miss Ibrahimovic

For 15 years, Zlatan Ibrahimovic spoiled the passionate fans of Sweden with his brilliant dribbling and sensational scoring that recently led them to the Euro Cup for fifth straight time. 

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and Ibrahimovic announced his retirement after the Euro's last June. For the Scandinavian country of 8 Million, the question now becomes, who will score the goals for Sweden? 

On paper, there is on 24 goals named to the roster. To put that in perspective, Ibrahimovic had 62 goals by himself. Marcus Berg is the highest goal scorers on the team with 10, but at the age of 30 everyone has to wonder home many good years he has left. Remember, international soccer is such a tight and intense game, anything over 32 is past your prime. 

Then there comes the secondary answers of John Guidetti and Iasaac Kiese Thelin. Both were part of Sweden's U21 European Championship team that placed first last June. Despite all this, it it will be a tall ask for those two alone to fill the shoes of Swedish's best player all time. 

The duo will be baptized by fire this week when Sweden's 2018 World Cup campaign gets underway in as Sweden hosts Holland on Tuesday which can be seen live on ESPN2. 

The group also includes France, Bulgeria Belarus and Luxembourg. With the home game against the underachieving Dutch side, Tuesday's game is crucial for Sweden to at least get a draw. A loss would be a devastating blow and a uphill climb the rest of the qualifying cycle. 

Odds are against Sweden this time around. It will be very interesting to see how Sweden fairs being the underdog for the first time in awhile. 

That being said, anything is possible. The first Sweden soccer game I ever watched was their first group stage game in the 2006 FIFA World Cup against Trinidad and Tobago. They were heavy favorites that game but couldn't nudge the ball in even when T&T was down to 10 men. The relentless pressure made the game entertaining for someone like me. At the time, I rarely watched soccer but this game kept me glued to the TV. The game finished 0-0 but fortunately were still able to advance to the Round of 16. 

Since then, I have often kept an eye on how Sweden was doing in the qualifying cycles. With the ability to watch games on the computer and the amount of soccer games on TV, I rarely miss a game. 

I am quite interested to see how Sweden responds to such a big hole at striker. Generally, two to three goals over the course of the cycle can be the difference from almost finishing second to finishing fourth. More importantly,  what kind of crowd support Sweden gets and how hostile of place Friends Arena is when the the Netherlands makes the trek north. 

We knew this day was coming when Sweden became a one man team a few years ago. Ibrahimovic is no longer the bandage covering up Sweden's lack of scoring. Tuesday is the day where other players need to step up. Or else, Sweden making World Cups might become a distant memory.