Vikings' invasion is a worry for Italy

Up on the big screen in one of the picturesque squares of this lovely old town, hundreds of Danes watched Henrik Larsson running riot and then raised their cold beers to a lone celebrating Swedish supporter who was running among them with a daft grin on his face.

All these invading Vikings are clearly beginning to fancy their Italian job here in northern Portugal.

After their cool had been rather rattled in their goalless draw with Denmark in the searing early evening heat, Italy's much-vaunted crew had to admit today to being seriously relieved to have escaped with a point. Yet after watching Larsson's 71-second double help sink Bulgaria 5-0 in Group C's other match, coach Giovanni Trapattoni's observation that "Sweden are now going to make us sweat" seemed like an understatement.

Quite simply, if they are as listless and mediocre as they were last night, the Azzurri could find themselves on the verge of elimination after Friday night's encounter with their other Scandinavian tormentors just down the road in Porto. Trapattoni says he will make changes because "we got everything wrong and in the first half just weren't there".

For their ambition, enterprise and energy, not to mention their invading horde of good-natured, noisy fans who utterly outclassed their disappointingly few muted counterparts from Italy, Morten Olsen's usefullooking Danish side deserved victory but maybe lacked just a bit of belief that they could actually down one of the tournament favourites.

They had enough chances, though, and the choice of Villa goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen as man of the match for three critical saves did not truly reflect the game's pattern.

"We deserved to win. There's no doubt we were certainly better prepared than Italy," said Olsen.