ITALY v SWEDEN

Italy 2 Sweden 1

Poor Sweden! No, not poor Sweden - it serves them right, imo! They "tried" a bit tonight, but really left their efforts til far too late. They were unlucky, I guess, in not having all their early first half endeavour rewarded with a goal. Alas . . . Larsson's consolation goal though (which had us on the edge of our seats for a while - if only, the Swedes could've added another) was very well taken - and it's good to see him fit again.

The Italians, however, march ever onwards. They played (understandably) a non-full-strength team tonight - but were still able to field Del Piero and Montella up front! DP had an excellent game; his goal was *muah*. I doubt that Zoff will exclude him from their quarter-final. Perhaps the Italians aren't producing amazing football, but I am fancying them more and more, as each day passes.

I HATE those shirts though!

Maldini picked up a knee injury; we can see how!	Welcome back, Henrik!
Del Piero: back to (nearly) his best??

Today, I am also putting a match report from The Times at the bottom of the page (and that of the Turkey/Belgium game). This isn't because I am being lazy, but because I am beginning to get confused and am bog-eyed tired!! Last evening I spent watching mainly the Italian game (commentary in German) and also keeping an eye on the other game, which was on a different telly!! In fact, I might well put their reports on daily from now on - and then it's not just my slanted views which will form a record of this tournament (The Times is only slanted towards England!).

Teams and things

ITALY (3-5-2): 12 F Toldo (Fiorentina) - 2 C Ferrara (Juventus), 6 P Negro (Lazio), 15 M Iuliano (Juventus; sub: 5 F Cannavaro, Parma, 46min) - 11 G Pessotto (Juventus), 7 A Di Livio (Fiorentina; sub 18 S Fiore, Udinese, 64), 14 L Di Biagio (Internazionale), 16 M Ambrosini (AC Milan), 3 P Maldini (AC Milan; sub: 13 A Nesta, Lazio, 41) - 19 V Montella (AS Roma), 10 A Del Piero (Juventus). Substitutes not used: 1 C Abbiati (AC Milan), 22 F Antonioli (AS Roma), 4 D Albertini (AC Milan), 8 A Conte (Juventus), 9 F Inzaghi (Juventus), 17 G Zambrotta (Juventus), 20 F Totti (AS Roma), 21 M Delvecchio (AS Roma).

SWEDEN (4-4-2): 1 M Hedman (Coventry City) - 14 O Mellberg (Racing Santander), 3 P Andersson (Bayern Munich), 4 J Bjorklund (Valencia), 8 T Gustafsson (Coventry City; sub: 19 K Andersson, Bologna, 75) - 7 H Mild (IFK Gothenburg), 17 J Mjallby (Celtic; sub: 15 D Andersson, Bari, 55), 9 F Ljungberg (Arsenal), 13 M Svensson (Brondby; sub: 11 N Alexandersson, Sheffield Wednesday, 51) - 20 H Larsson (Celtic), 18 Y Osmanovski (Bari). Substitutes not used: 12 M Kihlstedt (SK Brann), 22 M Asper (AIK Solna), 2 R Nilsson (Helsingborgs), 5 T Lucic (AIK Solna), 6 G Sundgren (Real Zaragoza), 10 J Pettersson (1FC Kaiserslautern), 16 A Andersson (Aalborg), 21 M Allback (Orgryte).

Referee: V Melo Pereira (Portugal).


Match Report from "The Times"

ITALY preserved their 100 per cent record after Alessandro Del Piero's run and clubbing shot in the 88th minute brought a third consecutive victory at Euro 2000. By then, Sweden were all but eliminated, in any case. However, the serenity of the winners, before a quarter-final in which they may face England, was marred by concern for Paolo Maldini, their captain, who limped off injured.
With group B already won, this game was a leisure pursuit for Italy, but Sweden - making a great improvement on their performance in the goalless draw with Turkey - made Dino Zoff's team work hard. They play as if a stopwatch is running and, with furious regularity, they made and, generally, missed chances.

It was a maddening trait, particularly as Italy interrupted to score in the 38th minute, when Del Piero's corner was headed in at the near post by Luigi Di Biagio. Sweden were crestfallen. Having fallen behind, they could give up obscure calculations about their means of reaching the last eight. Hope was gone. It was galling, too, that they had not taken the initiative.

At a corner kick, in the ninth minute, Angelo Di Livio had cleared Johan Mjallby's header from the goal-line and there was an even more clear chance nine minutes later. Henrik Larsson glanced possession to Freddie Ljungberg, who briefly lost his footing, recovered his balance and tried to finish with a fastidious clip of the boot that jabbed the ball just wide.

Yet Italy's counter-attacks were ominous. Gratifying though that may have been, Zoff cared far more deeply about the injury to Maldini. This was his captain's 108th appearance and both men will hope that his next outing is not delayed. The left back injured his knee in a challenge with Larsson in the first half and despite trying to continue, had to be substituted. "It does not seem too serious, but we have to wait and see," Zoff said afterwards.

Italy conceded an equaliser in the 76th minute, when a poised Larsson took a neat pass from Kennet Andersson, the substitute, to round Francesco Toldo and roll in his first goal since breaking his leg. However, he and his team-mates may leave Euro 2000 in a good mood. The midsummer festival, with equal measures of drink and dancing, is coming up in Sweden. Not such a bad time to go home.