The picture to the left has nothing to do with football, it's just a picture of interest I think. It depicts the death of the Swedish king Gustav Adolf der Grosse at the battle of Lützen in 1632. Gustav Adolf was short-sighted and during the battle of Lützen he did not use glasses even though it was available, it wasn't the style for a great nobleman to wear them. This proved fatal as he got separated from his forces and was killed. Gustav Adolf was born in 1594, the son of king Karl IX and Kristina of Holstein- Gottorp. He became king in 1611 at the death of his father and immediately took charge of the government. During virtually all his life he had to fight battles. He is probably most renowned for his tactical and strategic skills in warfare which included among other things reconstruction of the artillery-forces which was far ahead of his time. During his reign Sweden rose from being a small and obscure country at the outskirts of Europe to a power second to none. He filled the power-void created by the confusion in Russia and his successors managed to maintain the conquests he orchestrated for nearly a century.