Monday June 14th

Denmark Put Italy Under Pressure

Italy and Denmark fought out a goalless draw in the opening group match. Denmark dominated the first half, but Italy would have taken the lead in the last minute of the half had it not been for a double save by Sörensen. In the second half Italy briefly pushed forward and Vieri had a shot on target, but Denmark looked more likely to score. Buffon kept Italy in the game with a vital save from Tomasson in the 75th minute and with 6 minutes left foiled a hard shot from Daniel Jenssen.

Sweden Thrash Bulgaria

Sweden went one better than their memorable 1994 World Cup bronze medal victory and thrashed Bulgaria 5-0 with two goals from Henrik Larsson in the space of 2 second-half minutes. Bulgaria started the match energetically and S.Petrov came close with a volley in the 16th minute. Larsson got a foot to the ball in the 21st minute, but his effort went over the crossbar. Isaksson tipped Berbatov's free header over for a corner in the 27th minute. Ibrahimovic broke through from the right and found Ljungberg who side footed the ball in for the first goal of the match. A minute later S.Petrov shot wide. Bulgaria came close to equalizing 2 minutes into the second half, but Jankovic missed the target from a free header. At the other end Ljungberg found himself unmarked in the box, but shot straight at the goalkeeper. Henrik Larsson showed why so many Swedes begged him to come out of retirement, when he scored with a brilliant diving header in the 56th minute. A minute later the ball was played across the face of the goal, and Larsson slid in to send the ball into the roof of the net and double his tally. Sweden continued to attack, and Ibrahimivic should have scored on the hour-mark with a free header. He made amends when he struck home a penalty in the 78th minute. Substitute Allbäck beat the offside trap in the last minute to send the ball passed Zdravkov for Sweden's 5th and final goal of the night.