Good Week, Bad Week: Sweden's sweet revenge

Yeah yeah, winning the European Under-21 Championships against all expectations, odds and sense is pretty good, we suppose, but the real victory for the Swedish youngsters came after the final whistle. For they have confirmed themselves as absolutely expert grudge-holders as well, and Good Week, Bad Week is all for that sort of thing.

Those of you with good memories may recall that Sweden only scraped through to the finals, beating France in a two-legged playoff with a late winner. In that game, France defender Layvin Kurzawa, after scoring the goal that he thought had knocked Sweden out of contention, ran up to striker John Guidetti and saluted him with some vigour. Of course, when the Swedes won that tie, they returned the favour, because what sensible human wouldn't?

One wonders what Kurzawa was thinking this week, after the Swedes beat Portugal in the tournament final, and saw them reprise their salute celebration on the podium after receiving their trophy.

As you can see, even coach Håkan Ericson got involved. And that's the real quiz.

When you're leaving a club like Roma, one of the better sides in Serie A, in favour of United Arab Emirates titans Al Jazira, there's not much point in being coy about things. You aren't going for the fine and noble history of the league, the stature of the club or the high standard of football; you're going for the fat stacks of cash.

And there's nothing wrong with that. It is, as we know, a short career, and Gervinho is playing in an era in which even the relatively mediocre can make off with enormous sacks of coin, cackling into the night at the glorious serendipity of things. Milk it for all it's worth, Gerv.

So we therefore salute Gervinho for really going hog wild with the compensatory demands when negotiating his move to Al Jazira, for according to the Gazzetta dello Sport not only did he insist on the customary beefy salary, but also that accommodation for his entire family be thrown in too, accommodation that should also include a private beach, as well as a number of plane tickets to be provided and – get this – a helicopter to be at his disposal at all times.

Hats off to you sir. Hats off, and swimming trunks on.

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Take note, Thierry Henry and Robert Pires. THIS is how you do a smart-arse penalty routine.

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A lovely goal, and a heart-warming story to go with it.

At the Cerebral Palsy World Cup, England's Matt Crossen, who suffered a stroke at 22, went on a mazy run and scored this lovely old dink in their 2-0 win over Ireland. And then he had this to say:

“There was bad patches, especially having a stroke so young. There’s always bad times but you just have to keep going. That’s what I kept telling myself and that it would be worth it at the end. And scoring a couple of goals in the World Championships has proved that.

“It’s been an unbelievable experience. I never want it to end. I want them to just come in and say ‘this is the group stage starting again’.”

“We’ve shown that disability doesn’t mean you can’t do something – look at us. We play sport, just ignore it. You’ve still got ability regardless of anything that’s going on.”

Man, it sure is misty in here...

Being caught plagiarising is never a good look. The careers of assorted disgraced journalists like Johann Hari, Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass will provide neat evidence of that. The difference here is they were all caught cribbing someone's else's work, but Samuel Eto'o has been rumbled copying his own.

For when Eto'o left Sampdoria this week he wrote a goodbye letter to the fans expressing his appreciation for their support in his time in Genoa. Which is very nice, the only trouble being that it was more or less identical to the one he wrote after leaving Everton in January.

You can read the entire thing here. It's pretty shameful.

But I guess when you're an international jet-setting footballer, you'll do anything to save a little bit of time.

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Just let it go, man. Let it go.

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Now, when you're one of the most reviled men in world football, under investigation for whopping amounts of corruption and have felt the cold hand of the law on your shoulder more times than is comfortable for anyone, you might want to keep a relatively low profile and not get involved in anything that might look bad.

Not if you're Jack Warner, who has hired one Edward Fitzgerald QC to fight his extradition to the United States. Fitzgerald's other clients include one Myra Hindley.

Of course, there's nothing technically wrong with employing a lawyer with a rather 'interesting' past client list, and by the nature of the profession such lawyers are likely to have encountered some rather unsavoury characters in their careers.

But come on Jack. It just...well, it doesn't look great, does it?

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We're probably all familiar with the 'players looking miserable after signing for a new club' theme. In most situations, you can offer an excuse: a bad camera angle, photographer caught them off guard, in a slightly odd mood for any number of reasons not related to their choice of club.

However, that only works if it's one player, but River Plate unveiled six new signings this week and...well, they all looked thoroughly miserable.

So, to Javier Saviola, Pablo Aimar, Lucho González, Tabaré Viudez & Nicolas Bertolo...cheer up a little bit, eh?

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It's a tough gig, being a referee, particularly in lower divisions that one might sometimes describe as quite 'spicy' and a little lawless.

Particularly Mr Alexandru Tunaru, who took charge of a low-level Romanian Cup match between Arsenal Malu and Union Springs, firstly awarded a slightly questionable free-kick, then an even more questionable penalty.

And then...well...all hell broke loose, as you can see....