The fact that the 1994 World Cup final was contested between Brazil and Italy was no great shock, although the identities of the two nations that those footballing powerhouses had to defeat in the last four was a cause for much surprise.
While Sweden and Bulgaria had some talented players between them, simply progressing beyond the group stages would have been viewed as a successful campaign for both.
© Getty Images
However, the Swedes advanced through a group that contained both Brazil and Russia, before knocking out Romania on penalties, whereas even more impressively the Bulgarians - spearheaded by Hristo Stoichkov - had beaten Argentina 2-0 in the group stages and then knocked defending champions Germany out in the quarter-finals.
Their good runs were ended one match away from the final, but they still had another encounter left to play for the right to finish third - a game that was hosted at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena 21 years ago today.
The performances of the two teams had suggested that a close encounter was on the cards in front of 91,500 supporters, but it was anything but that as the Scandinavians blew their fellow Europeans away during the first half.
There were just eight minutes on the clock when Tomas Brolin rose highest at the back post to head Klas Ingesson's cross beyond the reach of a stranded Borislav Mikhailov in the Bulgaria goal.
On the half-hour mark it was 2-0 as Brolin turned provider with a quick pass through for Hakan Mild, who was able to stab the ball in, despite being confronted by Mikhailov.
Next to get the better of Mikhailov - in the 37th minute - was Feyenoord striker Henrik Larsson as he beat the Bulgaria offside trap. From there, he darted around the advancing keeper and calmly slotted the ball into an unguarded net.
The scoring was then completed two minutes later, with a hapless Mikhailov at fault. He raced off his line to meet Stefan Schwarz's cross from the left flank, only to be beaten to the ball by Kennet Andersson, who had the simple task of nodding in his fifth goal of the competition.
So upset was Mikhailov with his performance during the opening 45 minutes, he refused to come out for the second half and was subsequently replaced between the posts by Plamen Nikolov.
To the international novice's credit, he kept a clean sheet after the restart, although the damage had already been done as Sweden held out to claim the bronze medal.
Sweden: Ravelli; Nilsson, P Andersson, Bjorklund, Kamark; Schwarz, Ingesson, Mild; Larsson (Limpar), Brolin, K Andersson
Bulgaria: Mikhailov (Nikolov); Ivanov (Kremenliev), Tzvetanov, Houbtchev, Kiriakov; Yankov, Letchkov, Balakov; Kostadinov, Stoitchkov, Sirakov (Yordanov)
