‘Thanks, anyway’

Swedish newspapers lamented their team’s Euro 2004 exit on penalties against the Netherlands but stopped short of blaming captain and d...

Swedish newspapers lamented their team’s Euro 2004 exit on penalties against the Netherlands but stopped short of blaming captain and defender Olof Mellberg whose decisive spot kick was saved by Edwin van der Sar. “The party is over,” read a headline in the tabloid Expressen on Sunday next to a picture of dejected Swedish supporters in the Algarve stadium in Portugal. Euro 2004 “did not turn into a repeat of the fantastic World Cup summer of 1994 when the… team became national heroes,” the newspaper added.

“Losing a European Championship quarter-final on penalties is just too unfair to be true,” said the regional

daily Goteborgs-Posten.

“So close, so close. So bitter, so bitter. So terrible, so terrible,” wailed the tabloid Aftonbladet. “A bitter, terrible fight which Sweden did not have the stamina to win.”

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“A Swede walked first off the field, straight into the terrible history books of blown penalties,” wrote columnist Johan Esk, referring to Mellberg’s missed spot kick.

The Sunday papers were forgiving, though, of Sweden’s team and their captain who had played well. The headline on the daily Dagens Nyheter’s Euro 2004 column said: “Thank you anyway, Mellberg — thanks for everything you and the team gave us”.

5 REASONS WHY THE MATCH WENT PHUT…

• Two teams with similar styles of play, meaning there was little by way of inventiveness

• A terribly crowded mid-pitch where the ball hovered for most of the match

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• Sweden’s ultra-defensive tactics met with excessive Dutch caution as both teams played just one striker upfront

• Though some chances were created, poor finishing let both teams down

• The refereeing didn’t help, with hardly any advantages given and the game stopped every few seconds