Regarding the rest, I acknowledge that I probably didn't know enough about the Swedish national team to make some of the claims I made, and it sounds like I have underestimated the lack of quality in the rest of the side (I've never thought they were as bad as some suggested when I've watched them, but I haven't seen too many matches). I maintain he's not their best player of all time though, I still think someone like Nils Liedholm should be held in higher esteem given what he achieved. It strikes me as odd that a player of Liedholm's talent, who won Olympic gold (a much bigger deal in the 50's) and led Sweden to a world cup final would not be considered the greatest footballer the country has ever seen, but maybe there's a recency effect.
There's a big difference between some of the national teams Liedholm and Ibrahimović played in. The former has the likes of Hamrin (one of the greatest winger-forwards in football history - who finished 4th in the
1958 Ballon D'Or), Gunnar Nordahl (one third of Gre-no-li), Agne Simonsson, Nacka Skoglund, Gren (another third of Gre-no-li), Bengt Gustavsson, Ake Johansson, Orvar Bergmark (arguably the top European fullback of the era):
It was essentially an all-star team, with some of the greatest footballers in the history of their national team playing at the same time - many of them made Ballon D'Or shortlists (as you can see in the Hamrin link: 6 players in the Top 25). Contrast that with Zlatan's teams, and the difference is stark. IMO, comparing Ibrahimović and Liedholm's collective achievements is a pointless exercise given that not only is there are vast era/qualitative differential, it's hard to offset the importance of the chemistry between Liedholm, Green, and Nordahl. Plus, you won't find a lot of evidence to support Liedholm in the form of footage outside of the time when he was already past his peak (like the 1958 World Cup where he was admittedly great), and a lot of it is based on narrative (which can be embellished, or underrated). The easiest solution would be to place them on the same broad level - one for the modern/post-modern era, and one for the war/post-war era.
@The Stain is always adamant that Zlatan's their best ever. He's a homer, though.
@Annahnomoss might have a more balanced opinion regarding this.