Much of the credit for the entertainment produced in the Sweden-Bulgaria clash must go to a six-year-old boy who wasn't even in the stadium. It was Jordan Larsson who pleaded with his father Henrik to resume playing international football for Sweden after a 110,000 person petition - including the signature of the Swedish Prime Minister - had failed to persuade him to come out of retirement. After almost an hour, Sweden were 1-0 up somewhat fortuitously, and just holding on against a resurgent Bulgarian team who were playing some good football. But then along came Larsson to stun the Bulgarians with two superb goals in the space of 71 seconds. He spurned the chance to score a hat trick when Sweden were awarded a penalty, letting his teammate Ibrahimovic have the honour of converting it. Now, how did a guy with a name like that come to be playing for Sweden? Whatever, the Bulgarians were by now totally demoralised, and their miserable night was completed when Marcus Allback made it five.

To be honest, Sweden are not a bad side, but 5-0 flattered them. Had Larsson not scored those two quick goals and demoralised the Bulgarians, we could have been looking at a very different final scoreline. But he did, and all of Sweden has reason to be thankful to a little boy of six who persuaded his Daddy that his country needed him. I doubt there will be many nicer stories than that in the rest of the tournament! And the goals weren't bad, either. But can Sweden go on and win Euro 2004? I doubt it, but if they do, I know of a little boy who deserves to go up and collect the Cup!

10:57:46 PM    

Holland may be playing Germany tomorrow, but there was only one topic of conversation in the Netherlands today: how did England manage to drag defeat from the jaws of victory? The match drew 63% of the available TV viewing audience in the Netherlands, almost as big a percentage as in England itself. No doubt there were a few smiles north of the border, so perhaps now is a good time to mention that I'm half Scots, so only half of me is hurting. I see the next England match on Thursday is an early kick off, so I'm going to miss that as we have a social function at Radio Netherlands. Perhaps it's just as well. I don't think I could stand another couple of hours like last night.

Now, the idiot of the week award has to go to a Dutch player, I'm afraid. Striker Ruud van Nistelrooy has upset the Germans by saying in an interview that Dutch people still think of the World War II when Holland play Germany. I'm sure his remarks were quoted out of context - at least, I hope so - but they were still stupid and, in my experience, not even accurate. The Dutch people I know are simply reacting in the way any small nation does when it's in competition with a much larger neighbour. Spain and Portugal, England and Scotland, Germany and Holland - the list goes on. Most Dutch football fans were born long after the War ended. Of course those who lived through it will have their own private thoughts - but for a Dutch soccer player to try and link tomorrow's game with political and military events that took place 60 years ago is disingenuous, and hurtful to many people in both nations. Footballers aren't paid to be diplomats or PR men, but they should be given basic training to prevent embarrassing incidents such as this.

My work schedule doesn't permit me to see the early kick-offs live, but apparently I didn't miss much by not watching the group C clash between Denmark and Italy. It finished 0-0, and by all accounts the two goalkeepers were outstanding. It's a pity one of them isn't English!

8:06:27 PM