Live from Euro 2004
Larsson fires up Group C passion
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| Sweden's striker Henrik Larsson celebrates after scoring a goal againsy Bulgaria, 14 June 2004 during their opening match of the European Nations football championships at the Jose de Alvalade stadium in Lisbon. Sweden and Bulgaria are competing in Group C with Italy and Denmark. |
Henrick Larsson returned to the fray Monday to help Sweden hammer five goals past Bulgaria after their group C rivals Italy and Denmark had drawn a 0-0 blank earlier in the day in what now looks to be a tough group.
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| Bulgarian Striker Zoran Jankovic (L) reacts,14 June 2004 during their opening match of the European Nations football championships at the Jose de Alvalade stadium in Lisbon. Bulgaria and Sweden are competing in Group C with Italy and Denmark. AFP PHOTO PAUL BARKER |
Sweden next take on Italy, while Bulgaria, although beaten 5-0, had shown great verve before perhaps undeservedly slumping so badly, giving plenty of food for thought to either Denmark or Italy.
Larsson scored a quick-fire double in the space of a minute to effectively kill off Bulgaria and demonstrated just why all of Sweden had been desperate for him to come out of international retirement to lead the drive for glory in Portugal.
Freddie Ljungberg had given the Swedes a first half lead while a 78th-minute penalty from Larsson's strike partner Zlatan Ibrahimovic, awarded after Ljungberg was brought down by Vladimir Ivanov, and a last-minute strike by Marcus Allback completed the rout.
The pattern of the match could well have been very different but for English referee Mike Riley's decision to deny the Bulgarians what looked like a certain penalty after only six minutes.
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| Denmark's goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen (L) catchs the ball after a kick by Italy's forward Alessandro Del Piero (R), 14 June 2004 at Henriques stadium in Guimaraes, during their Euro 2004 group C football match at the European Nations championship in Portugal. AFP PHOTO Mladen ANTONOV |
Martin Petrov, who played after passing a late fitness test, showed why the Bulgarians were desperate for him to be ready by wriggling clear of Lucic and firing in a deep cross that Zoran Jankovic volleyed narrowly wide early on too.
The Italy Denmark clash was marked by some magnificent goalkeeping from both Gianluigi Buffon for Italy and Thomas Sorensen for the Danes, who romped all over Italy's midfield in the first half. The Italians, many people's tournament favourites, completely failed to get into their stride, with lone striker Chritian Vieri ploughing a lonely furrow up front.
All four teams in Group C won thier Euro 2004 qualifying groups suggesting any one of them has the mettle to go on and carve out their own destiny in the remaining matches.