Sweden and Denmark are through to the quarter-finals after Mattias Jonson poached late equaliser for the Swedes to send Italy crashing out of Euro 2004.
Jon Dahl Tomasson put Denmark into a first-half lead with a long range volley from 20 yards out. But Henrik Larsson restored parity from the spot before Tomasson added a second for the Danes. Jonson then scored with only two minutes of normal time remaining.
Despite suspicions that both teams would contrive a high scoring draw to eliminate Italy, there was no question that the match was played in the right spirit.
From the outset, Denmark looked the better team with Gravesen and Jensen commanding the midfield, while Tomasson always looked dangerous up front.
In contrast, Sweden were struggling to involve Larsson and Ibrahimovic and it was no surprise when Denmark took the lead.
Gravesen found Sand, who flicked the ball into the path of Tomasson and the Milan striker struck a beautiful volley over Isaksson who had strayed too far off his line.
The goal acted as a catalyst for Sweden and Denmark were thankful to goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen on a number of occasions. Even when Sorensen was beaten, the woodwork came to Denmark’s rescue.
However, just after the break, Sorensen was harshly adjudged to have brought down Henrik Larsson and the veteran striker made no mistake from the penalty spot to score his third goal of the competition.
However, midway through the half, Tomasson slammed home his second to leave the Swedes on the brink of elimination.
Yet with two minutes remaining, Sorensen dropped Christian Wilhelmsson’s cross and Jonson pounced to level the scores.
Denmark will now face the Czech Republic in Sunday’s quarter-final, while Sweden will face the runners-up of Group D – Holland, Germany or Latvia.
Denmark 2-2 Sweden
Scorers:
– Denmark: Jon Dahl Tomasson 28, 66
– Sweden: Henrik Larsson 47pen, Mattias Jonson 89
Halftime: 1-0
Teams:
Denmark:1-Thomas Sorensen; 6-Thomas Helveg, 4-Martin Laursen, 3-Rene Henriksen, 5-Niclas Jensen (2-Kasper Bogelund 46); 7-Thomas Gravesen, 9-Jon Dahl Tomasson, 15-Daniel Jensen (17-Christian Poulsen 66); 8-Jesper Gronkjaer, 11-Ebbe Sand, 10-Martin Joergensen (19-Dennis Rommedahl 57)
Sweden: 1-Andreas Isaksson; 7-Mikael Nilsson, 3-Olof Mellberg, 15-Andreas Jakobsson, 5-Erik Edman; 17-Anders Andersson (20-Marcus Allback 81), 16-Kim Kallstrom (21-Christian Wilhelmsson 72), 18-Mattias Jonson, 9-Fredrik Ljungberg; 10-Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 11-Henrik Larsson
Referee: Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)
