Cassano takes his chance

With England striker Wayne Rooney demonstrating so vividly the fearlessness of youth 24 hours earlier, Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni gave Antonio Cassano the freedom of the Estádio do Dragão as the Azzurri attempted to prove that they could tick without Francesco Totti, their suspended talisman and the man around whom their UEFA EURO 2004™ ambitions were built.

Loudest cheer
The clamour for Cassano's inclusion against Sweden tonight began long before it transpired that Totti had spat in the face of Denmark defender Christian Poulsen during the sides' opening 0-0 draw, an action which would earn the forward a three-match ban and create an opening behind Christian Vieri which Cassano, his AS Roma protégé, would fill. Indeed, the most significant cheer in Guimarães on Monday came when the 21-year-old replaced Alessandro Del Piero with 26 minutes to play.

Delicious flick
The tifosi in attendance in Porto saw the two line up together against the Swedes, a combination possessing the guile, skill and resourcefulness to guarantee the Sweden defence a more troublesome evening than that experienced in the 5-0 defeat of Bulgaria. So it proved from the off, with Cassano dashing any fears of stage fright with a delicious flick which almost set Vieri free in Italy's opening attack.

Threatening attacks
Prosaic against Denmark, Italy purred in the early exchanges, with Cassano at the hub of a series of threatening attacks. In the fourth minute his instinctive flicked ball over the Sweden defence released Vieri for the first of a series of chances which would fall the No9's way; the second seeing him head over on 18 minutes after Cassano had glided beyond a yellow back line stood oak-like with arms aloft to pick out Vieri with a teasing cross.

Opening goal
Described by Trapattoni as "the future of Italian football", Cassano moved firmly into the present by opening Italy's account in Portugal in the 37th minute with a deft header into the corner of Andreas Isaksson's goal. His only other international goal had come on his debut, an audacious lob against Poland in November 2003. He almost ended the half with another, only to find Isaksson equal to a second headed effort.

Apprenticeship server
The small Italian element at the home of FC Porto had seen it all before, Cassano having been on the cusp of greatness since first turning out for AS Bari as a 17-year-old. His talent was such that Roma paid the asking price of €28.5m to tempt the prodigy to the Stadio Olimpico, where he has since served as an apprentice to Totti - the fallen master whose face said it all as it frequented the Dragão's giant screens.

Standing ovation
Cassano continued to toil for 25 minutes of the second half until Trapattoni called time on an impressive tournament debut and replaced him with Stefano Fiore, earning a standing ovation from his countrymen in the stands as he slowly made his way into the arms of a delighted Trapattoni. However, his substitution served to galvanise Sweden, who took advantage of the extra time and space afforded their defenders to build from the back.

New order
In the end it was Sweden's own wunderkind, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who kept them at the pinnacle of Group C, displaying all the audacity of Cassano - eight months his junior - to draw Sweden level with a flicked finish. With Rooney taking centre stage last night and two fledgling internationals doing so here in Porto, EURO 2004™ continues to usher in a new European order.