gary69
Registered User
I think it was 1.5 hours before the game and news started to get out just before kick-off. Players only found out at half time and by then it was also pretty clear that it was terrorism and not football related. Belgian police wanted the game to go on as inside the stadium deemed the most safe, which is why Swedish fans still seems to be inside the stadium.
Remains to be seen if Swedes in particular was the actual target or if it was just a coincidence, but that seems to be the theory right now as there is a clip going around where the suspect claims he got revenge by killing 3 Swedes. For those that are not aware there has been an increased threat level towards Sweden after a bunch of quran burnings during the summer
The shooter has been killed (died on his way to hospital). He was appaently illegal immigrant of Tunisian background, who had been in jail in Sweden too.
Still I wonder when the police thought it was safest for everybody to stay inside the stadium, then why not the play the 2nd half too. Nobody from players/staff even knew who the shot ones were, were they football tourists who had just arrived to Belgum for the match, people of Swedish background living in Brussels or something else.
BTW, didn't the shooting happen around the same streets were most of riots at Euro 2000 occurred?
It seems to me the match was only abonded because the people shot were wearing Swedish NT shirts. If they were shot without the shirts, I doubt the match would have been abandoned. Also. there have been fans stabbed to death before other matches without matches beem postponed, let alone abandoned after the match has already started. I doubt that all the matches in every UEFA country will be postponed in the future either, if there is a shooting in the host city in unclear circumstances before or during a match.
At least all the parties (BEL, SWE, AUT, UEFA) seem to agree about letting the result stay at 1-1, which is sensible decision in the circumstances.
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