Swedes Stun Italians With Late Equalizer
June 19, 2004
A feat of goal-scoring artistry by Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic secured a tie for Sweden, stunning an Italian side that played admirably without their star player.
The young striker, who has already turned heads at this tournament, looped a ball into the back of the net with the back of his heel. The goal in the 85th minute evened the game at 1-1, putting Sweden in first place in the Group C standings.
"He scored a great goal," Italian coach Giovani Trapattoni told Italian television. "I thought he deserved another. He's young and has plenty of room for improvement."
Italy had to settle for their second tie in a row, and trail Denmark and Sweden, who both have four points. The two face off on June 24. Any one of the three teams can still make it into the quarterfinals.
Italians start strong
The goal turned around a game that was sure to go to the Italians, who performed well without star player Francesco Totti. The UEFA, European soccer's governing body, banned Totti for three matches after he spit on a Danish player.
His replacement, Antonio Cassano, provided creative spark on the left side of the field in a game that started at a lively clip.
The Italian midfield combined well to create chances down the middle of the field. Striker Christian Vieri appeared before the Swedish goal in the 3rd minute but couldn't get a shot off before Andreas Isaksson smothered the ball at his feet.
Five minutes later, Simone Perrotta's shot was fisted away by Isaksson. The Swedes began to counter. Freddie Ljungberg, who scored Sweden's first goal of the tournament in the last game, passed back with his heel to set up striker Ibrahimovic. But the youngster shot over the bar.
Cassano scores
The Italians took over the rest of the half, with del Piero and Vieri both getting good chances on the ball. In the 37th minute, Christian Panucci turned and crossed nicely from the right side. The ball found the head of a diving Cassano, who popped it into the left corner of the net.
Swedish coach Lars Lagerbäck poured on the offense in the second half, substituting in almost exclusively offensive-minded midfielders and wingers.
Offensive-minded Swedes get their reward
The substitutions seemed to be working. Sweden pressured strong on the Italian goal. But their first serious shot on goal came late in the 78th minute when Italian keeper Gianluigi Buffon dove to block a rifle shot from newly-substituted Marcus Jonson.
Two minutes later, it was Jonson again, sailing a header over the crossbar after a nice cross from Henrik Larsson. Sweden kept it up against one of the best defensive backfields in the world.
Then, in the 85th minute, the ball popped free in front of the goal. As Buffon ran out, Ibrahimovic, his back to the goal, met the ball in mid-air and kicked it in.
Sweden: Andreas Isaksson; Mikael Nilsson, Olof
Mellberg, Andreas Jakobsson, Erik Edman (Marcus Allback
77); Christian Wilhelmsson (Mattias Jonson 67), Tobias
Linderoth, Anders Svensson (Kim Kallstrom 55), Fredrik
Ljungberg; Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrik Larsson.
Italy: Gianluigi Buffon; Christian Panucci, Alessandro Nesta, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta; Gennaro Gattuso (Giuseppe Favalli 76), Andrea Pirlo, Simone Perrotta; Antonio Cassano (Stefano Fiore 70), Alessandro Del Piero (Mauro Camoranesi 82), Christian Vieri.