Ibrahimovic breaks English hearts

ONE CENTURION, six debutants and England’s fifth-youngest player of all time — but it was Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic who scored four to wreck Roy Hodgson’s unbeaten start as manager.

When skipper Steven Gerrard exited the Friends Arena 17 minutes from the end of this Stockholm friendly, the visitors were feeling rather pleased with themselves.

Goals from Welbeck and Danny Steven Caulker had overturned an early deficit, Raheem Sterling for one had impressed and others were preparing for the start of their international careers.

But Ibrahimovic had a nasty surprise in store.

Capitalising on Ryan Shawcross switching off, Ibrahimovic rammed home a leveller, before finding the bottom corner with a precise free-kick six minutes from time.

And the coup-de-grace came in stoppage time when, he moved onto a wayward clearing header from Joe Hart, he sent an overhead kick sailing into an empty net from fully 25 yards.

Jose Holebas ensured the Republic of Ireland ended 2012 without the victory they craved as Giovanni Trapattoni’s youngsters were beaten 1-0 by Greece.

Holebas’ sweet 29thminute strike was enough to leaveTrapattoni’s detractors with enough ammunition to maintain their opposition to his continued presence at the helm heading into March’s crucial World Cup qualifiers against Sweden and Austria.

Northern Ireland’s World Cup qualifying campaign lies in tatters despite record goalscorer David Healy securing a last-gasp equaliser against minnows Azerbaijan at Windsor Park.

Rauf Aliyev scored a screamer to give the Group F minnows their goal.