How a difficult childhood helped create Zlatan Ibrahimovic the soccer god

There's a story from Zlatan Ibrahimovic's childhood that goes a long way toward explaining how a skinny, awkward boy would go on to become one of the best soccer players of his generation.

Ibrahimovic grew up poor, one of five children living in a dangerous housing project in the center of Malmo, Sweden's third-largest city. He spoke with a lisp, was self-conscious about his big nose and admits he went to school mainly for the free lunches.

When the school hired a special teacher to work with him, the added humiliation was more than he could bear.

So when the woman came out to watch him play soccer one afternoon, Ibrahimovic lined a long-distance shot off her head. A few days later the teacher quit and a lesson was learned: The world can be a cold, cruel place, but with a soccer ball at his feet, Ibrahimovic could make that world bend to his will.

"I wanted to stand up to the whole