Scandinavian sides kept their cool in the excruciating Portuguese heat Sunday as Euro 2004 saw another favorite stumble.
Denmark held the offensively minded Italian side to a 0-0 draw in an entertaining match that could've gone either way, before Sweden dismantled Bulgaria 5-0 in the other Group C game behind two goals from star striker Henrik Larsson.
PHOTO: AP
Playing in 33? C heat at the Dom Afonso Henriques stadium in Guimaraes, the workmanlike Danes created a host of goalscoring opportunities and might easily have beaten Italy, which finished runner-up four years ago and is considered one of the favorites here.
PHOTO: AFP
The `Azzuri' never found their rhythm and had only goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon to thank for keeping a clean sheet.
"I believe the heat affected us but that is no excuse because Denmark have to suffer the same conditions," said Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni.
In the evening game at Lisbon's Jose Alvalade Stadium, Larsson celebrated his return to the national side in style, scoring two goals in two seconds as Sweden downed Bulgaria in the highest-scoring game at the tournament so far.
The Celtic Glasgow star, who was persuaded to come out of retirement, scored in the 57th and 58th minutes. Fredrik Ljungberg opened the scoring in the 30th minute, Zlatan Ibrahimovic added the fourth from the penalty spot 12 minutes from the end and Marcus Allback the fifth with seconds to go.
Larsson's first was a brilliant diving header that will surely be a candidate for the goal of the championship. His second was a first time leftfooted drive into the roof of the net.
The two sides had met in the third-place game at the 1994 World Cup and the score was also 4-0 in Sweden's favor.
Meanwhile, England got more bad news after its 2-1 injury time loss against France when Paul Scholes, who twisted his ankle in the Group B game Sunday, was only rated as '50-50' by England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson for Thursday's game and Nicky Butt also picked up an injury in training.
"Paul Scholes is in doubt," Eriksson told reporters. "He will not practice today, maybe not even tomorrow, we will see Wednesday."
In security news, the Lisbon police praised the good behavior of 50,000 English and French fans at Sunday's match.
"I'd like to stress the great sense of fair play and civilized behavior shown by both sets of supporters, especially the England fans who showed great dignity ... and helped make the police operation a success," commissioner Alexandre Coimbra said.
No major incidents were reported, though police detained some ticket scalpers, Coimbra said. Meanwhile, a 29-year-old British man was convicted of public disorder after attacking French fans before the game and was deported, officials said.
By contrast police in England arrested more than 80 people in the hours following the game.
Disappointment at the result erupted into violence in parts of London and counties including Hertfordshire, West Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, with angry fans in some cases throwing bricks and bottles at police officers.
All eyes are now on another potentially explosive game, Tuesday's Group D clash between Germany and the Netherlands in Porto. More than 20,000 Netherlands fans are expected in the northern town for the game, and police will be on high alert as both Dutch and German fans have a reputation for violence.
In the other Group D game, it's the Czech Republic versus Latvia in Aveiro.
Host Portugal, meanwhile, has to get its soccer team back into shape before facing Russia on Wednesday, knowing that anything but victory would dash its hopes of making the quarterfinals.
In the biggest opening game upset in the history of the championships, the Portuguese lost 2-1 to Greece on Saturday and the defeat has left a trail of self-deprecation.
Now the team coached by a man who led Brazil to its fifth World Cup triumph two years ago, Luiz Felipe Scolari, simply has to beat Russia in Lisbon on Wednesday.
Police detained 14 people, including 12 England fans, a Portuguese and a Russian, during a five-hour nighttime street battle with soccer supporters in southern Portugal late Monday.
One policeman was injured and required three stitches, according to a police statement Tuesday.
Ten fans -- seven Englishman, one Irishman, one Scot and one Portuguese -- were given assistance at a medical center, the statement said.
The statement from police national headquarters in Lisbon said about 400 soccer fans, most of them English, first clashed with police in two bars in Albufeira, a coastal vacation resort about 200km south of Lisbon, at about 1am.
Police were "provoked and assaulted" by the fans in the bars, according to the statement.
The confrontation spilled into nearby streets when the fans began throwing objects at the police, accaording to the statement.
AP Television News reported the fans threw glasses, bottles and bar chairs at the police.
"Faced with this scenario of growing violence and destruction, an intervention became necessary by the riot police, mounted police and police dogs," the statement said.
Police dispersed the fans and cordoned off several streets.
The unrest ended at about 6am.
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