Goor's happy families

Bart Goor hammers home his goal

Two superb goals either side of half-time by Bart Goor and Emile Mpenza gave Belgium an opening victory in Group B against Sweden.

The game also included a candidate for goalkeeping blunder of the season from Belgium's Filip de Wilde which handed Johan Mjallby a goal of gift-wrapped proportions.

And Goor, the tournament's opening scorer, was delighted with Belgium's 2-1 victory over Sweden in a thrilling opening match to Euro 2000.

Mpenza: "Impressive performance"

The Anderlecht star admitted: "It was a very difficult game. We worked very hard.

"We did not start too well and we were a little bit nervous because we had a lot of problems with Sweden's long ball game.

"Kennet Andersson was always a great threat to our defence. Then after half an hour we started to get a grip on the game and the timing of my goal was perfect, just before half-time.

"After an ideal start to the second half with that quick goal by Mpenza, Sweden gave us a lot of problems. But we worked hard to re-establish our grip on the game."

Baby

Goor, who dedicated his goal to his recently born son Robert, added: "I was really pleased with my goal."

Sweden's Fredrik Ljungberg was disappointed with the defeat and said: "It was a huge advantage for Belgians playing at home but we'll really have to play a lot better in our next match in six days time.

"Belgium deserved to win. That's all I can say."

But the Arsenal midfielder, who missed a golden opportunity to level after a good ball from Daniel Andersson, later added: "I should have scored from Daniel's ball.

"The goalkeeper made a save but I should not have let him."