|
STOCKHOLM, June 23 - Newspapers in Scandinavia on
Wednesday cheered -- some even gloated -- Denmark's European
championship 2-2 draw with Sweden which saw both teams through
to the quarter-finals. "Nordic triumph!" cried the main headline on the front page
of the sports section of Sweden's leading daily newspaper,
Dagens Nyheter. Most dismissed any notion of a Scandinavian conspiracy to
rig the result, which ensured both teams qualified at the
expense of Italy. "The Italian nightmare came true and turned into Nordic
European championship bliss," Dagens Nyheter said. The Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet called it a "magic
result on a night of magic". "The time of miracles isn't over. The seconds were ticking
away, Sweden were trailing 2-1...(but then) Mattias Jonson's
magical 2-2 shot sent Sweden to Saturday's quarter-final,"
Svenska Dagbladet said. The Swedish regional daily Goteborgs-Posten described the
encounter as a "thriller" and Sydsvenska Dagbladet, another
regional newspaper, said: "The Nordic dream came true". Tuesday June 22 "was a crazy, crazy night which we'll have
to live with forever," wrote the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet's
soccer columnist Simon Bank. "Even if eternity brings an ice age, and a new world arises
from that ice age, and that world burns down, even then a Luigi
or a Pietro will sneak up behind (us Scandinavians) and scream:
'Due a due?! (2-2)," he wrote, referring to the Italian
conspiracy theory that Denmark and Sweden would contrive a 2-2
draw. The Swedish tabloid Expressen said Jonson's 89th-minute
equaliser had brought about "the improbable finish" and that
Sweden and Denmark had qualified for the quarter-finals after
"an incredible result". Denmark's leading daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende
celebrated their goalscorer. "With his two goals against the arch rivals from Sweden, Jon
Dahl Tomasson took Denmark further in the European championship
tournament," Berlingske Tidende said. The Danish daily Jyllands-Posten dubbed the match an
"intense and dramatic battle". The Danish tabloid EkstraBladet quoted Denmark central
defender Martin Laursen, who is moving to England and Aston
Villa from AC Milan, as saying: "I can't help but say: 'Ha!'...
The Italians are out, having talked before the tournament about
whom they would meet in the final."
|
