Zlatan Ibrahimovic, star forward today with Barcelona and, following an illustrious career from his youth in a Malmö ghetto-like neighborhood to soccer fame and riches, has declined this time around to join the Swedish national team, in which he has been a major game-winning force for nearly a decade. In the recent issue of Café magazine, he broke silence on his motivation, albeit simply by saying, "I lack motivation, pure and simple."
Of course, the magazine's 20th anniversary issue, with Zlatan on the cover, is expected to sell to considerably more females than usual since the sports star has also become on of the twenty best known Swedish male personalities, even though, still living in his home town but in a considerably upgraded abode, he is a devoted father and family-builder with his female accompaniment, Helena Seger.
Right now, having missed out on qualifying for the world cup this summer, Sweden's national soccer team is undergoing a transformation, starting with a new coach and doubtlessly a roster of young and internationally unknown players.
Zlatan, as he is called by his first name most commonly, said in the magazine that the player material was Sweden's problem with the nation's losses. Frankly, he said, Sweden simply doesn't have many good players at the moment. He mused that eleven players like himself were needed to come into first place internationally, and right now, not a single Zlatan was on the Swedish soccer team.
Regarding his absence, he pleaded with fans, "Playing at my level is no easy picnic. It's damned hard work and your body takes a lot of ironing. Sometimes you need a pause to reflect on physical and mental health."

Source: Café magazine