FOOTBALL COLUMN • The final scene in Bruce Almighty, where Jim Carrey’s character wraps up his newscast with his new catchphrase: Be the miracle, continues with a close-up of the homeless man holding a sign, this time with the fitting message: “Armagedon outa here.” As the face zooms in, the vagrant transforms into God the Father played by Morgan Freeman, who smiles and claps his hands twice, after which the lights go out and Patti LaBelle starts singing the gospel song: ’Are you ready for a miracle’. A brilliant ending!
No one was really ready for a miracle on Monday morning when Sweden faced Tunisia in their opening match of the World Cup, but that’s exactly what happened—everything went Sweden’s way. Three longshots slipped by the Tunisian goalkeeper’s large gloves by just a few teasing centimeters, and a disallowed goal was approved after a VAR review.
When you played football as a kid, and even later in league matches, the term “toe-poke” was something no one wanted to be associated with, but Alexander Isak managed, thanks to his big toe, to be the catalyst for two of Sweden’s goals. First when he intercepted a defender’s ball possession and assisted Gyökeres, who didn’t miss, and then with a quick touch passed the ball on to Svanberg’s goal, thus overturning the offside ruling.
Tunisia—nicknamed the Eagles of Carthage—with their best player and captain, who of course is named Hannibal (the jokes write themselves), put pressure on Sweden at the start of the second half, encouraged after a late goal in the first, signed by this very Hannibal, who delivered a perfect cross onto the head of a “flying eagle.” Hannibal then had two dangerous longshots, one that Nordfeldt picked up easily and one that he had to punch away.
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The match brings to mind Euro 2004, where the Swedes won the opening game 5–0 against Bulgaria and Zlatan backheeled the equalizer against Italy into the top corner. Then we fell in the quarterfinals after penalties against the Netherlands, the country Sweden will face next on Midsummer’s Day. Holland (as we usually say) are big favorites and surely feel pressured to win since they only managed a draw against Japan. However, the Swedes are probably already through to the next stage thanks to their big win and won’t have to play with their backs against the wall, but the higher up you finish in the group, the easier the opponents you’re likely to get in the knockout stage. So let’s hope for a few more points. The time of miracles is not over yet.