Liveblog Euro 2008: Spain v. Sweden

Spain and Sweden sit atop group D with 3 points apiece, but nobody is calling Sweden a tournament favorite. Why not? Because they looked only slightly better than Greece in their 2-0 opening victory and Greece was using the 4-corners offense in the first half. Only a sublime strike from Zlatan Ibrahimovic opened the match up now it's rumored that Sweden will bench Ibrahimovic and it is rumored Sweden will play for the draw against Spain. Wonderful, just wonderful.

The honor and burden of favorite belongs to Spain, who along with Holland and Portugal, have been putting on offensive showcases. David Villa scored the tournament's first hattrick since 2000 against Russia in a 4-1 victory. Probably the biggest issue Luis Aragones has managing the squad is how to get all of his offensive starpower on the pitch. Cesc Fabregas was only a substitute in the first match, but brought off Fernando Torres, who the media says was miffed with his benching.

After the jump...the lineups and other bonus material...




Oksana Andersson, fiancee of Christian Wilhelmsson























Elisabeth Reyes, former flame of Sergio Ramos
























Sweden: 1-Andreas Isaksson; 5-Fredrik Stoor, 3-Olof Mellberg, 4-Petter Hansson, 2-Mikael Nilsson; 8-Anders Svensson, 19-Daniel Andersson, 9-Fredrik Ljungberg, 11-Johan Elmander; 10-Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 17-Henrik Larsson

Spain: 1-Iker Casillas; 15-Sergio Ramos, 5-Carles Puyol, 4-Carlos Marchena, 11-Joan Capdevila; 19-Marcos Senna; 6-Andres Iniesta, 8-Xavi, 21-David Silva; 7-David Villa, 9-Fernando Torres

Today's match is in Innsbruck, Austria.

And we are greeted by the dulcet tones of Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth.

Not a single Spanish player singing the national anthem. I wonder if they have any political divisions in their country.

But, Sweden they all sing save for Ibrahimovic.

I can't get the stupid formatting right for the pictures above. Oh well, I'm sure nobody noticed.

0:00 Sweden with the kick.

1:00 Early foul by Spain and the kick gets to Ibrahimovic in the box but his touch is poor. Torres on the counter gets in close but his cross is intercepted.

4:00 That's a stern looking ref. Not quite Ed Hochuli but close. Iniesta's shot goes high and left. He should have done better.

6:00 Mike Georger informs me that Spain's national anthem, La Marcha, has no lyrics. Lame.

7:00 There were about 6 passes in sequence where the ball never touched the ground. Interesting, but it doesn't amount to anything.

9:00 Nice counter by Sweden after Sergio Ramos went forward, but Ljungberg couldn't do anything with it but put a weak shot on goal.

13:00 The Swedes are tackling tough at the outset trying to knock the Spaniards around and off their game a bit.

14:00 Goal!!! Torres. 1-0 Spain. Villa wins a corner. Xavi plays it short to Silva at the top of the box and puts a shot in the box that Torres deflects into the goal. Yeah for my fantasy team.

15:00 Sweden almost immediately counters when Larsson laid it off to a streaking Elmander who can only put into the side netting.

21:00 Just a bunch of midfield possession with attempts into the box headed away by the Swedish big men.

22:00 Gets free in the box on a nice ball from Ibrahimovic but Larsson couldn't chip the keep.

24:00 Albiol on for Puyol who looks injured. This could be trouble for Spain since they already have a suspect backline.

28:00 Foul on Senna, which is a nice segue to this, my favorite Senna picture.

33:00 Tommy Smyth says Elmander can score as a striker but isn't sure he can score as a midfielder.

34:00 Goal!! Ibrahimovic 1-1.

Not the prettiest goals, but a Sweden middie defender, Stoor, crossed the ball into the 6 yard box perfectly to Ibrahimovic who had beaten Ramos. It looked like Ibrahimovic had squandered it with a poor touch but he powered through it and squeaked it past Casillas.

38:00 Villa puts a strong volley in on Isaakson but he covers it.

40:00 Sweden looks a lot better this match than it did against Greece. Although, that is not too difficult.

44:00 That was a nice play between Ljungberg and Elmander who laid it off right outside the box to Ljungberg who found Elmander on a run but the Spanish defense just got a boot in to break it up.

45:00 One added minute.

Iniesta was just leveled in the box by Elmander but no call. Incredible.

Tweet. Tweet. And, the Spaniards swarm the ref. You would have thought it was a Chelsea match.

Well, this has been a great match of contrasting styles. Spain was dominant at first but Sweden is finding their spots on the counter. Great match so far. See you in a few.

Ha! That MLB apparel commercial was funny. So authentic, a fat white guy is mistaken for a fat hispanic guy.

Apparently, on his day off Sergio Ramos was photographed in a disco with a Swedish fan. This might explain his defense in the first half. The picture published in a Swedish tabloid, Aftonbladet, is below. [Photo Credit: Aftonbladet]



46:00 Start of Second Half and I just took a P'zone. That's an Italian piss for the uninitiated.

Markus Rosenberg on for Ibrahimovic. Wow. At least they are getting production from him while injured. I am impressed by his performance while injured.

51:00 So that's Sweden's strategy? Just hack the Spanish defenders until they can't play. That sounds like something Mexico might try.

53:00 Marchenna is booked after a professional foul that slowed up Elmander on a run into free space.

55:00 Svensson is booked after a emmy worthy performance by Silva. See Kathrine Heigl Silva can earn honors even with substandard material.

56:00 Xavi with a corner that gets headed up high and Ramos, the genius, attempts a bicycle in traffic.

58:00 Fabregas on for Xavi. Iniesta off for Cazorla.

60:00 Ljungberg making a midmatch footwear change. Always the fashion model.

63:00 Somehow Spain didn't score. Villa sends a rocket in on Isaakson who spills it and Villa follows it but Isaakson stones him again, catching a knee in the face, and then Torres gets a clean shot but it's blocked by a Swedish player for a corner. The corner is not fruitful.

68:00 Senna lasers a shot from 35 and Isaakson dives to his right for the save but concedes the corner. Ramos gets a head on the corner but never had a chance.

71:00 I think 2:45 of the last 3:00 minutes have been in Sweden's half of the field.

75:00 What was the purpose of the slow motion gape of Aragones? To scare the hell out of me. I was wondering where the fly was.

76:00 Cazorla nearly picked out Silva in the box but Isaakson dove and picked it out cleanly with Silva near.

78:00 The match has really bogged down with Sweden mucking up the middle and Spain unable to unlock it.

79:00 Elmander off and Sebasion Larsson on.

Nearly a goal off of the set-piece. Svenssen was picked out and flashed the ball across the face of the goal just out of the reach of Henrik Larsson. So close.

83:00 David Villa bowls over the Swedish defender to get the ball and then doesn't know what he did and gets out his handbag.

86:00 Torres picks out Ramos on the edge of the box, but Ramos fails. Sweden concedes a corner. Henrik Larsson off for Kim Kallstrom.

89:00 Torres whips one in on Isaakson from 18 but the save was made. Needed to be higher and not a ground sweeper.

90:00 3 additional minutes.

90:00 +2 GOAL!! David Villa. 2-1 Spain. Incredible. Sweden's defense played so well for 90 minutes but just made a hash of it by Hansson and Villa beats Isaakson nicely.

Tweet. Tweet. Tweet.

Just a heartbreaker for Sweden. They played so well for the entire match to lose it in stoppage time. So organized for the entire match, but failure in the end.

In an hour, Greece takes on Russia...we'll have a liveblog of it as well.