Given the outstanding quality of some of the previous five games we've been treated to at these championships, the fact that these two sides produced the first scoreless draw of these championships shouldn't have come as too much of surprise. The simple fact is that we were due a duffer and between them Sweden and Turkey gave us one to forget.
Mick McCarthy might have been interested to see, for the second time this week, a side that been good enough to put the Republic of Ireland out of this competition at the qualifying stage look poor enough to travel home early from the finals. The majority of the 33,000-strong crowd at the Philips Stadium would have been less dispassionate about it. With Belgium now only needing a draw against the Turks in next week's final round of group games to progress along with Italy, both sets of fans knew they are now almost certainly going home early and both made it abundantly clear how unhappy they are about it.
On the evidence of this match, though, few could begrudge the hosts a place in the last eight for, while they may not have looked all that good against the Italians on Wednesday, at least you got the feeling they wanted it. Last night neither group of players could muster the sort of determined display that might have won a game. The fact that both coaches made so many changes to their starting line-ups may not have helped matters, but then in the case of the Turks any damage caused was entirely self-inflicted. Mustafa Denizli had said prior to the game that he would keep faith with his players, a signal it had seemed at the time that there would be no blame attributed for the defeat by Italy on Sunday. Instead, the former Galatasaray boss made five changes to his starting line-up, ripping out virtually the whole of the midfield and partnering Hakan Sukur with Arif Erdem up front.
This would have counted for much had last night's side been an improvement on the one that played in Arnhem. Far from it, though. For most of the opening stages the tactic of hitting it long to the front two meant plenty of breaking ball for the men behind, but through the first half only Okan Buruk, the scorer of Turkey's goal in the 2-1 defeat by Italy, looked capable of posing any threat, while Leicester City's Muzzy Izzet made virtually no impact whatsoever on his competitive international debut.
Not that Sweden were much better through that opening phase, with Kennet Andersson forcing the only two saves worthy of the name, the first after three minutes with a curling 25-yard shot after a short freekick, the second a short range drive from a tight angle following a neat exchange with Henrik Larsson inside the box. It was scarcely surprising that when it was announced that the Bologna striker, who had taken a hefty knock at one stage, had been replaced by Jorgen Petterson at the break the Turkish supporters greeted the news with a loud cheer.
There was certainly precious little for Rustu Recber to busy himself with despite the obvious need for the Swedes to make a breakthrough. The Turks, on the other hand, made something of a late charge and had a hat-trick of chances to take two extra points.
The best chance of the lot fell to Okan Buruk, who should have hit the target when Magnus Hedman's parried save of a Sergen Yalcin shot fell invitingly for him. And then there were two chances for Hakan Sukur to grab a winner. The second a high, curling cross from the right by Arif looked promising for a man who tends to specialise in headed goals. Disappointingly, though, he appeared to throw himself into the attempt without thinking. It was a footballing philosophy with quite a few adherents last night.
SUBSTITUTES: Sweden - Petterson for K Andersson (46 mins), A Andersson for Alexandersson (63 mins), Svensson for Larsson (78 mins). Turkey - Korkut for Davala (46 mins), Yalcin for Izzet (58 mins), Tugay for Temizkanoglu (59 minutes).
