Everyone suspected Denmark and Sweden would finish with a 2-2 tie and knock Italy out. No one really believed it when it happened.
Antonio Cassano went on a long run of celebration after scoring Italy’s winning goal three minutes into extra time against Bulgaria, convinced he had put the ailing Azzurri into the last eight of Euro 2004.
When he was told the Danes and Swedes had tied 2-2 in the other Group C game, he burst into tears.
Because Italy had tied with them both — 0-0 against Denmark and 1-1 against Sweden — Giovanni Trapattoni’s men had to beat the already eliminated Bulgarians and hope that the other game ended anything other than 2-2.
That was the scoreline that would definitely put them out and that’s exactly what happened.
Jon Dahl Tomasson, who coincidentally plays for Italian champion AC Milan, twice put the Danes ahead. Each time the Swedes hit back through a Henrik Larsson penalty and a Mattias Jonsson leveler in the final minute.
Despite pre-match fears that the Danes and Swedes would deliberately play for a 2-2 tie to knock the Italians out, coach Giovanni Trapattoni did not suggest that game was fixed.
”Despite that everybody was talking about that, there is a sports ethic and I believe it was like that [ethical],” Trapattoni said.
”Until I see the goals, I’m hesitant to believe it was a fix.
Certainly, that result could raise some doubts, but I remain convinced that, in general, sporting ethics prevail.
”We are leaving the championship with our heads up,” he said.
”We deserved victory against the Swedes.”
Even though the Italians played poorly by their lofty standards, they hit back after conceding a penalty in the final minute of the first half. Martin Petrov scored from the spot kick but Simone Perrotta started the fightback with an equaliser three minutes into the second half of a game played for long stretches in heavy rain.
Although Cassano’s late winner gave the Italians a victory they just about deserved, it wasn’t enough. The damage had already been done in the two tied games against the Danes and Swedes and the tie in Porto ended another Italian dream of a title they last won on home turf in 1968.
Despite all the pre-game publicity suggesting the Danes and Swedes might contrive a 2-2 tie, UEFA said it saw no reason to question the result.
”There isn’t anything there at all,” said UEFA spokesperson Rob Faulkner. Asked if UEFA, the governing body of European soccer would investigate the result, he replied: ”Absolutely not.”
Runner up four years ago to France, the Italians have gone out in the first round in the second time in three Euros having also failed to qualify in 1992.
After also failing to reach the quarterfinal of the last World Cup, the statistics made bad reading for the country that won three World Cups but has won nothing since 1982.
Instead, Sweden and Denmark have made the last eight along with defending champion France, England, Portugal, Greece and the Czech Republic.
So far, the quarterfinals, which begin on Thursday, are Portugal-England, France-Greece and Czech Republic-Denmark with Sweden waiting to see which other team emerges from Group D from Germany, the Netherlands and Latvia.
The Germans meet the Czechs in Lisbon and the Dutch face outsider Latvia in Braga.
Despite having just two points from two ties, the Germans have a one point lead over its two rivals. – Sapa-AP