Sid Lowe was our man in Toulouse. Read his match report:
Full time: Italy 1-0 Sweden
In David Winner’s Brilliant Orange, the art director Rudi Fuchs said of Italian football: “They seduce you into their soft embrace, and score a goal like the thrust of a dagger.” This game was a perfect example of that. It was fifty shades of stinker, with hardly any chances, and then Eder exploded into life to score a brilliant goal after a great assist from Zaza. Italy are through, Sweden probably need to beat Belgium if they are to qualify. Thanks for your company and emails, bye! Next up:
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90+5 min Sweden have a big appeal for a penalty when Granqvist goes down in the box. It was a climsy tackle by Bonucci, who also had a grip on Granqvist’s shirt. That said, there wasn’t actually much contact. You can see why it wasn’t given, and why it could have been given. And that’s it!
90+2 min Buffon is booked for timewasting.
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90+1 min Three minutes of added time.
90 min Candreva’s stinging near-post shot from a tight angle is pushed wide by Isaksson.
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It came out of nothing. Chiellini took a quick throw near the halfway line on the left, launching it long to Zaza. He leapt majestically to guide a header to Eder, who was running from left to centre. Eder vroomed infield, away from Lewicki and then between Granqvist and Kallstrom before cracking a fierce low shot into the far corner from the edge of the box.
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GOAL! Italy 1-0 Sweden (Eder 88)
Eder wins the match with a brilliant goal!
87 min This is the brightest period of the game. Maybe the players are delirious because they know the match is almost over.
86 min Marcus Berg replaces John Guidetti for Sweden.
85 min A corner to Sweden, taken by Kallstrom, is headed over by Granqvist. He had been penalised anyway.
84 min This this this from Niall Mullen. “Tournament has been ok but where it has been poor I don’t think you can blame the structure. Mostly there’s just a general lack of quality players particularly forwards. Davor Suker apart I don’t remember being that thrilled by Euro 96 despite its superior structure. Euro 2000 on the other hand...”
Euro 2000 was incredible, easily the best major tournament since the 1980s.
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82 min Parolo hits the bar! Giaccherini, loitering just outside the box on the left, curled in a beautiful ball to the far post - very similar to Iniesta against the Czech Republic - and Parolo planted a close-range header against the top of the bar. He should probably have scored.
80 min “Afternoon Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “Major football tournaments need to wake up. I suggest ‘guest teams’, say Scotland, to replace those already qualified, based on phone votes. Or an IPL style auction to include, say Messi or Grant Hanley, in your team. You read it here first.”
78 min Who will blink first? Who will fall asleep first? Sweden are making a double change, with Durmaz replacing Forsberg and Lewicki replacing Ekdal.
77 min “Conte’s plan of boring everyone to death and winning the Euros by default is pure genius,” says Evan Haas. “He’s a match made in heaven for Chelsea.”
74 min Thiago Motta comes on for Italy, replacing De Rossi.
72 min Ibrahimovic misses an open goal! Turns out he was offside, when he stretched to stab Olsson’s superb low cross over the bar from two years. Larsson almost reached it before Ibrahimovic, and he was onside so it would have counted.
71 min “This game,” says Neill Brown, “is as uninspiring as Italy’s kit is beautiful.”
69 min De Rossi is booked for a late tackle on Kallstrom.
67 min Cook us up a shot, Zlatan. We need a hit.
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66 min Lindelof goes on a wander down the right and wins a corner for Sweden. Kallstrom’s inswinger is flapped to safety by Buffon.
64 min Florenzi’s chipped cross finds his fellow wing-back Candreva, who volleys it low back into the area. There are no strikers there, however, and Isaksson dives to claim it.
63 min Italy may be limited going forward but they do know how to defend: Belgium and Sweden have had only two shots on goal against them in 150 minutes.
61 min Kallstrom denies Giaccherini the chance of a first-time shot with a brilliant tackle after a cutback from Parolo.
59 min An Italy change, with Simone Zaza replacing Pelle.
58 min Ibrahimovic flattens Eder with a naughty tackle, scraping his studs over the ball. The referee gave the free-kick to Sweden for holding by Chiellini a fraction earlier.
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57 min “Long-retired from international football admittedly,” begins Christopher Dale, “but by how much would 39 year old Francesco Totti be an upgrade on any of Italy’s current forwards?”
Never mind Totti, I suspect Sandro Mazzola is regretting his retirement.
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55 min Both sides would like to win this match, but the fact they don’t need to is evident in the relatively cautious approach of both. A bird in the hand is worth three in the bush.
53 min The ITV commentator reminds us that Sweden are yet to have a shot on target - in the entire tournament. Uefa has just granted them special dispensation to bring on Ciaran Clark as a sub in this game.
52 min “I reckon if Platini had still been in his job, the next Euros would have been the culmination of his fiendish plan,” says Adam Hirst. “Every team in Europe would have qualified for Euro 2020, and then the finals would have been played in every country. Every country would then qualify from the Group Phase for the Second Group Phase, and so on into perpetuity. Every country both qualifies and hosts the Euros, and who wouldn’t want that? They would have all continued to vote for Platini. He would have guaranteed his job for life. Meanwhile we’re stuck in the halfway house with this tournament and tedious matches like this that don’t particularly mean anything one way or the other.”
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51 min Italy win three corners in quick succession. The second might have produced a chance for Eder, but his first touch was poor.
49 min That’s a bit better from Italy. A lovely pass from Parolo down the inside-right channel finds Eder, who cuts it back to Pelle on the edge of the box. He stabs it up in the air but then volleys over the bar.
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48 min Guidetti has just visited the turf after a clash with Chiellini. It was a bodycheck, no more or less, as Guidetti made an off-the-ball run. The referee missed it anyway.
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48 min “Tournament has been poor so far,” says Victor Valkov. “Weaker teams know 3 points is enough, 2nd placers will play other 2nd placers in the RO16... terrible format.” Yeah, I’m not a fan of having third-placed teams qualify when the competition is already open to too many teams.
47 min “The 1.89 goals per game is one of the reasons it’s been a good tournament so far,” says Mark O’Neil. “There’s a lack of filler, with pretty much every goal having had an effect on the game. No late consolations or teams running up the score. Hard earned, in competitive games.”
46 min Italy, whose players have emerged with bone-dry hair, begin the second half. They are kicking from right to left. Antonio Conte, their manager, is dressed like Martin Blank: black shirt, black trousers, black shoes, black blazer, black tie.
“That little jig of annoyance by three Swedes at the exact same time just now was pure gold,” says Mac Millings. “It was like three frustrated little foot-stamping, cliche-busting Vikings, or me dancing my tiny heart out in front of two mirrors.”
Half-time reading
Half time: Italy 0-0 Sweden
Sweden will be the happier team, having dominated possession in a largely boring half. See you in 15 minutes for more tedium!
43 min “With regards to your point on the low goal rate, at 20 min, I think the potentially disappointing/tedious narrative is the lack of quality strikers in Europe,” says Ben Lake. “Like you mentioned, most games have been interesting if not high scoring, there’s been plenty of games with excellent chances spurned. Then there was Germany again in their first game and Spain in their first two games. Scoring but usually leaving it late. Lacking the strong direct presence up front means these teams tend to dominate possession against less technically capable opposition but not do anything with it. Until the opposition collectively give up from exhaustion.
“The answer is obviously the England method. Bring loads of strikers to the tournament then slowly build them into your team over the course of a game until half your outfield players are strikers. I look forward to a future when most, if not all, of a team are strikers with a sweeper keeper.”
42 min A good spell for Sweden. A loose ball almost breaks to Ibrahimovic, with Chiellini booting it away for a corner. Kallstrom curls it very deep, and the stretching Ibrahimovic heads wide after an impromptu wrestle with Chiellini. That could have been a penalty, though they are rarely given.
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40 min A bit of excitement! Ibrahimovic’s superb long pass is chested back neatly by Larsson for Guidetti, 25 yards out. He blooters it into orbit.
39 min A few minutes of possession for Sweden, albeit to no effect whatsoever. This first half has been one for the tacticians.
35 min “This half has been like England v Wales with added Ibrahimovic,” says Charles Antaki. “Actually, without added Ibrahimovic.” Yes, it’s funny how tension can turn lead into gold. That England game, Rashford and Walker aside, was objectively dreadful.
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33 min Sweden can’t afford to lose; Italy don’t need to win. We should have known it would be like this.
32 min “When Italy spawn a 1-0 lead, just watch their cynical fouling to prevent any chance of a Swedish counter attack, like they did against Belgium, with no punishment other than a yellow card, which is at that point meaningless,” says Andy Bradshaw. “A better punishment, like a 10 minute sin bin must be investigated, surely? Unless blatant cheating is actually condoned.”
30 min There has been one shot at goal all game.
27 min De Rossi is late on Ibrahimovic, the type of sliding foul that used to warrant a yellow card in the bad old days before this tournament. Kallstrom’s inswinging free-kick from a narrow position is headed over by the leaping Ibrahimovic, who was offside anyway.
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26 min Forsberg tries to run Candreva, who defends excellently and draws the foul. Forsberg looked terrific in the pre-tournament friendly against Wales, but has done the square root of bugger all so far.
23 min “Wouldn’t Sweden (and Wales and Portugal) be well advised to try using their big name players as a decoy?” says David Hopkins. “I’d love to see Zlatan/Bale/Ronaldo running off to one side of the pitch, followed by three defenders, while the ball is moved to the other side with a teammate clear on goal. Obviously the egos of the three of them wouldn’t allow it, but the confusion on the faces of the defenders would be worth it.”
22 min A corner for Sweden on the right. Kallstrom swings it in, Pelle heads clear.
20 min It hasn’t been a great game so far. The intensity has been good, the quality less so. So far this tournament has an average of 1.89 goals per game, which is odd as most of the games have been enjoyable. Maybe that’s because of the stories rather than the football.
18 min Olsson charges into space down the left but then mishits a cross over the bar. Ibrahimovic has started to play a bit, with a couple of nice passes in the final third.
14 min A clever dummy from Zlatan allows the ball to run through to Guidetti. After five seconds of huffing and puffing and scrambling, Guidetti is penalised for fouling Barzagli a fraction before Barzagli fouls Ibrahimovic in the box. It was a clumsy, zestful challenge from Guidetti, though I’m not certain it was a foul.
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12 min Zlatan watch: nothing. Nowt.
11 min “Rob,” says David Knowles, “you stole that prediction from Liam Brady and the lads on RTE!” Crime pays.
10 min Italy are starting to come into the game now. Parolo plays a good ball to Florenzi, whose right-footed shot has the sting taken out of it by Lindelof on its way through to Isaksson. Florenzi is actually playing left wing-back and Candreva right, not the other way round as advertised on Guardian.co.uk.
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8 min “Lots of Irish interest in the outcome of today’s ITA v SWE game,” writes Ger McCarthy. “Best case scenario for Martin O’Neill and his squad is an Italian victory plus lots of yellow cards leading to a weakened line-up in the Azzurri’s final group game.”
7 min “Come on,” says Andrew Hurley. “That flick by Ibrahimovic was just that - a flick. A good one, yes, but best goal ever scored?! Not even in the top 1000 or probably 10000 goals. One suspects if the name of the scorer was different the goal would be long forgotten!”
Well, I see what you mean. But. If he calculated it all in a split second, and meant to lob the defender on the line, and did so with such deft precision while facing the other way, while being bumped by Buffon, while in mid-air, and while twisting his leg in such a ligament-busting way, I think it’s an astonishing goal. Whether he did, only Zlatan knows.
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6 min Sweden have started well. Italy know from modern tournament experience - 1996, 2002, 2014 - that a win in the first game isn’t the end-all, never mind the be-all.
4 min Candreva moseys from right to left and finds Florenzi, who curls an inswinging cross straight out of play for a goalkick.
3 min “I just cannot look past a comfortable Italian win in this game,” says Jacob Burton. “Sweden are one of the worst teams I have seen at this tournament so far, which is saying something! Much like Portugal with Ronaldo and Wales with Bale, the MO for the entire squad is to get the ball to Zlatan. Stop that and you stop the threat, and if there is one thing this Italian team can do better than most others it is stifle out any attacks before they cause any problems. Also a quick shout out to Dr Jacob S who will no doubt be reading this whilst working!”
I hope he’s not a brain surgeon.
2 min Kallstrom floats a dangerous cross towards Zlatan at the far post, and Chiellini produces a wonderful defensive header under considerable pressure from Zlatan’s elbow.
2 min “Hello Rob,” says Tim Woods. “Re that quip from Sir Alex. Where exactly does it sit along the Casual Racism–Mind Games–Bantz continuum? Personally I find it quite funny, but would it be trotted out quite so often if a less popular/successful manager had said it?”
Oh, it was the 1990s; racism didn’t count then.
1 min Sweden kick off from right to left. They are in yellow; Italy are in blue.
“‘Remember when’ is the lowest form of conversation”
Twenty four years ago today, Sweden did something pretty spectacular
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Prediction Italy 2-0 Sweden
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s the Fiver
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How good is this.
Legendarisk tegning i dagens udgave af La Gazzetta dello Sport 😄👊🏻🇸🇪 #em2016 pic.twitter.com/6kYwrmIOTJ
— NC Frederiksen (@NielsChrFred) June 17, 2016
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Team news
Italy (3-5-2) Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; Florenzi, Parolo, De Rossi, Giaccherini, Candreva; Pelle, Eder.
Sweden (4-4-2) Isaksson; E Johansson, Lindelof, Granqvist, M Olsson; S Larsson, Ekdal, Kallstrom, Forsberg; Guidetti, Ibrahimovic.
Referee Viktor Kassal (Hungary)
Preamble
“When the Italians tell me it’s pasta,” began Alex Ferguson in March 1999, “I always check under the sauce.” That quote came to mind on Monday night, when Italy emphatic reminded Belgium that football is played on grass, not paper. This was supposed to be the worst Italy side for decades, maybe ever, yet they were hugely impressive and scored two fine goals. Typical Italians, right?
Well, only up to a point. The world may have nodded knowingly on Monday, as if being crap for the best part of a decade had been a Machiavellian plot, but essentially the pre-tournament doubts about Italy were right. They were poor in qualification, going forward anyway, and had a modest warm-up. With Italy, that never seems to matter: most of their best moments in international football have come after terrible build-ups or even a terrible start to the competition. They are a tournament team, the opposite of England. Don’t believe the lack of hype.
They remain outsiders to win it - France, Germany and Spain lead that field - but they have a defence who keep clean sheets in their sleep (insert your own joke here) and a manager who could inspire a slacker to run to the ends of the earth for him.
Antonio Conte might even be able to inspire Zlatan Ibrahimovic to do the same. Ibrahimovic’s goal against Italy 12 years ago has dominated the pre-match flapping of gums. When you first see the goal, it appears to be a touch of genius. Actually, it’s so much better than that. It’s a brainbusting masterpiece that combines technique, originality, imagination, chutzpah and taekwondo. It wasn’t, as we all thought at the time, a backheel; he twisted his leg so much that he was able to flick the ball with the side of his foot and thus get much greater control.
If he meant it all - and there is enough subsequent evidence to suggest he is well capable of such things - you can make a legitimate argument that it is the greatest goal ever scored. At the very least, it’s a unique moment of Zlatanic genius. Sweden could do with another today.
Kick off is at 2pm English time, 3pm in Toulouse.
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