Holland got past Sweden on penalties. Edwin v.d. Sar, the Dutch keeper, was amazing in the penalties, diving the right way every time, stopping one and having at least one near miss. I recall last fall he stoned Arsenal, when playing for his club team Fulham, to a 0-0 draw at Highbury to the admiration of all involved. While Sweden goes home to the akavit and herring, it can take some comfort in having the best kit of any team in the tournament.
While The Netherlands, sporting the Nike uni-look, had a very spiffy crest on their left shoulder blade with both the Swedish and Dutch flags celebrating the game, the Swedish uniform, by Umbro, was style itself. The collar even had a line of yellow on blue with a yellow line up and down at the back forming the Swedish flag. The blue numbers on the yellow also had a yellow line in the middle giving it a real 1976 Montreal Olympics look. Natty.
The TSN commentators kept calling the game a chess match. This is fitba longo for snooze fest. I am hoping tomorrow’s Czechs v. Denmark will be a little more robust.