Anger in Panama with statements by Zlatan Ibrahimovic
The Panama team rejected being the “punching bag” for its rivals in the World Cup, as Swedish soccer legend, and now commentator, Zlatan Ibrahimovic recently said.
The former forward of Juventus, Inter, Milan, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United, recently stated in a program on the American network Fox Sports that Panama will be the “punching bag” for England, Croatia and Ghana, all of them members of group L.
The comments of Ibrahimovic, known for his ability to argue, reached Panama’s headquarters in Toronto, where the Canaleros will debut on Wednesday against Ghana.
“We are focused and we have an objective that is to do things in the best way, it is football and we go game after game, we are going to win, which is what we want to do,” Panamanian defender Jiovany Ramos said this Sunday, when asked at a press conference about Ibrahimovic’s statements.
“Zlatan being Zlatan,” the Canalero forward Ismael Díaz ironically said the day before, who nevertheless showed himself to be a fan of the Swedish forward.
In group L “we have Panama, unfortunately, in this group I think they are going to be the punching bag,” said Ibrahimovic, to the surprise of the other guests.
“England and Croatia will fight for first place and Ghana could make it difficult for them and take away some points, but I don’t see Panama (…) I don’t want to be disrespectful, but this is difficult, there are three teams already confirmed,” added the Swedish star.
“We are not afraid of anyone and we want to compete with the team in front of us, we believe it and I am completely sure that we are going to do very good things in this World Cup,” said Díaz.
The physical trainer of the Panamanian team, Christian Beguer, also commented on the Swede’s statements in a program of the Panamanian Football Federation. And when asked about the rivals that Panama will face, he did not hesitate to joke: “Zlatan already said it is a complicated group.”
“I don’t agree with what he said about us being a punching bag because watching the training sessions the truth is that I’m calm, but it’s a very complicated group due to the status of the other teams,” Beguer said.
