Group C has turned out to be the most exciting of the four groups. In the early kickoff, Denmark impressed with a 2-0 win over Bulgaria. It was good to see Jesper Gronkjaer score one of the goals, the midfielder having missed the start of the contest due to the death of his mother. Bulgaria had a player sent off, and became the second side after Russia to be eliminated.

But which other team will fail to reach the knockout stages remains to be seen. Italy, who had been held to a 0-0 draw by Denmark in the first match, vastly improved their performance, and outplayed Sweden in the first half of their encounter in Porto. They went in 1-0 ahead at half time, and perhaps deserved to be further ahead. The temperature had a lot to do with the quality of the football. At 18C, it was possible for the players to maintain a high workrate for the whole game, and the standard of football was the best seen in any match so far in this tournament.

In the second half, Sweden started to have a bigger say in the match, and Italy's first half dominance receded. It culminated in a deserved equaliser for Sweden on 84 minutes, when after a mad scramble in the Italian goalmouth, Ibrahimovic flicked the ball behind himself with his back to goal, and although Vieri was standing on the line, the ball went over his head and into the goal.

In truth, the Italians had already made enough chances to have won the game, but the Swedes, still buoyant from their 5-0 thrashing of Bulgaria, refused to lie down, and fully deserved their point. It sets up the closing matches in this group nicely. Assuming that Italy manage to beat Bulgaria, it means Sweden meet Scandinavian neighbours Denmark knowing that only one of them is going to progress. I'm already looking forward that that one.

10:46:51 PM