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Germany national football team
World Cup | Qualifiers
Oct 16, 2012 at 7.45pm UK
 
Sweden national football team

4-4

Zlatan Ibrahimovic: 'We were cowardly in the first half'

Ibrahimovic: 'We were cowardly in the first half'
© PA Photos
Zlatan Ibrahimovic says that Sweden gave Germany too much respect in the first half, before staging a thrilling comeback.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has described Sweden's comeback from 4-0 down against Germany as "one of the best" nights of his career.

Erik Hamren's men looked well beaten when Mesut Ozil scored in the 55th minute, but the Paris Saint-Germain striker scored a goal that sparked a spirited fightback with 30 minutes remaining.

The 31-year-old believes that Sweden surrendered the initiative in the first 45 minutes, and could hardly put their second-half transformation into words.

"I do not know if it is possible to explain. After 4-0 and I don't know how long was left, half an hour, 35 minutes, so there were not many who would have believed how the match ended, but we did it," he told Kanal 5.

"There were 11 other players who came out in the second half, we played in a completely different way. I think we were too cowardly and had too much respect [for Germany] in the first half. But we got out, got the first and we gained more and more confidence. The second, the third and in the end we scored the fourth.

"I cannot describe it. You see the entire bench run towards the players, everyone is extremely happy and the fans were fantastic today. Individually, it's not the biggest thing I have done before, but as a team it's probably one of the best."

Sweden still trail Germany by three points at the top of Group C in the World Cup qualifiers.

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Group A

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Netherlands Netherlands32107
Q Senegal flag Senegal32016
3 Ecuador flag Ecuador31114
4 Qatar Qatar30030

Group B

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Q England flag England32107
Q United States USA31205
3 Iran Iran31023
4 Wales flag Wales30121

Group C

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Q Argentina Argentina32016
Q Poland Poland31114
3 Mexico Mexico31114
4 Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia31023

Group D

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Q France France32016
Q Australia Australia32016
3 Tunisia Tunisia31114
4 Denmark Denmark30121

Group E

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Q Japan Japan32016
Q Spain Spain31114
3 Germany Germany31114
4 Costa Rica flag Costa Rica31023

Group F

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Q Morocco Morocco32107
Q Croatia Croatia31205
3 Belgium Belgium31114
4 Canada Canada30030

Group G

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Q Brazil Brazil32016
Q Switzerland Switzerland32016
3 Cameroon flag Cameroon31114
4 Serbia Serbia30121

Group H

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Q Portugal Portugal32016
Q Republic of Korea South Korea31114
3 Uruguay flag Uruguay31114
4 Ghana flag Ghana31023


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