Well for me this game started off really well, I was in a pub with some friends of mine in Poole and I just had some really delicious garlic prawns with sourdough bread and home-made mayonnaise.
My first pint of Stowford Press cider was going down extremely nicely and I was waiting for my home cooked fish and triple cooked chips (I did decline the mushy peas, I substituted a nice green leaf salad instead).
This arrived and was delicious together with my 2nd pint of cider.
Then things started to go downhill, the traffic was not as good as I was hoping for, everything was being dug up (serves me right for choosing a different route home) and there were some complete knob heads crawling around the a31 like everyone didn't have a game to report on!
After I made my way home on the long and winding dual carriageway from Poole to hear that absolutely nothing had happened in the 24 minutes of the game that I had missed before I got the TV switched on and indeed, nothing else happened for the rest of the first half.
The second half started in much the same manner, I have to say, Sweden probably had the best chances but the game was just crying out for a decent striker, for either side really.
Eventually, some bloke I hope never plays for Southampton fired a shot straight at the Swiss goalkeeper and a Swiss defender stuck his foot out and made sure it was directed into the top corner of the net instead of straight into the belly of the goalkeeper where it was headed. 1-0 Sweden and then the pressure really came from Switzerland, except it kind of didn't, I mean they had a lot of the football but ultimately, there was only one half chance that needed a good save and a couple of great crosses that nobody was really on the end of.
The Stoke muscle Midget ran around like a flea on a dog, not really creating much and not really being particularly threatening (please let this just be press bollocks, we don't want him at Saints) and the two standout players in the game did their thing, Rodrigues for the Swiss looked excellent but nobody could get anywhere near what he was providing in the box, likewise, Grankvist (SP?) Was everywhere making sure no shots were unblocked and no headers were unheaded for the Swedes.
Did Sweden deserve to get through, yes… are they worthy of a quarter-final place, not really… but I can't say Switzerland were either.
Ultimately, the best TEAM won the day but it wasn't game of football to be relishing looking at your recordings for if you didn't get a chance to see it already.
edit: just remembered, funniest line, commentators said "the Swiss will be looking at their clocks now"… This was with about two minutes to go of extra time… In commentator humour that's pretty good!
