Last night, Sweden almost produced the shock of the World Cup so far.
Had they sent the Germans crashing out it would have been a seismic moment in the competition.
Overall, they probably deserved a point. The last goal was robbery for them.
Seeing a despondent Larsson in the studio afterwards, I felt for everyone in their squad and who were supporting their team.
I wanted Germany to win the match – the danger that England might proceed through this tournament unrestricted by them or Argentina is just too much torture to bear – but I was gutted for the Swedes all the same.
They played very well. And of course there was a Celtic amongst them; Mikael Lustig.
Our right back.
The problem area at Celtic Park.
The problem area that has turned out two World Cup footballers.
And both have acquitted themselves well against the best teams in the world thus far.
I find that fascinating. I wonder if we give this squad enough credit.
Lustig went head-to-head against the Germans. Just days before, Gamboa had gone head to head against Brazil.
This is the area where we’re supposed to need strengthening – and I agree, we do – but how many other sides playing at our seeding level in Europe can say they had two right backs at the World Cup Finals, and both made an impression?
This is a curious thing for us at the moment.
We all agree that this is an area where our squad isn’t up to snuff. We all agree that something needs to give. But if we were scouting that position, in this competition, in this particular price range, we might be looking at these two particular guys. We might be looking at Lustig and Gamboa and saying “They’ll do.”