Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Dutch thrash Italians 3-0 as Romania holds France to Scoreless Tie

The ANNOTICO Report

 

The Group of Death, Italy, France, Netherlands and Romania lived up to it's name as World Cup Winner Italy known for it's vaunted defense, and often accused of playing too tight and boring, was trounced by Netherlands 3-0, although  one goal was actually on an offside, and another was assisted in by an Italian player. One Dutch goal was achieved by the ball going the entire length of the field, touched only by a multiplicity of solely Dutch players. The Italians looked old and out of shape.

 

Fortunately for Italy , Romania was able to hold Italy's arch nemeses to a scoreless tie.

 

That which seemed promising , is looking scary.

 

Dutch thrash Italians 3-0 as Romania holds France

 

Courier Mail – Australia

Article from: Reuters

June 10, 2008

THE Netherlands pulled off the first major upset of Euro 2008 with a sensational 3-0 victory over world champion Italy while Group C rivals France and Romania drew.

Two goals in five minutes midway through the first half from Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wesley Sneijder, the first from a blatantly offside position, gave the Dutch a commanding lead they richly deserved in a match they largely dominated.

Defender Giovanni van Bronckhorst added a third in the 79th minute to clinch Netherlands' first win over Italy since the 1978 World Cup finals.

The Dutch go top of Group C, the toughest in the tournament, ahead of World Cup runner-up France who were earlier frustrated by Romania.

France started its match at the Letzigrund stadium without striker Thierry Henry, who received a knock in a warm-up game, and midfielder and captain Patrick Vieira, sidelined by a thigh injury.

Neither side made any headway against some very tight defending, with only one shot on target in the entire match -- steered straight at Romania keeper Bogdan Lobont by France striker Karim Benzema.

France coach Raymond Domenech said: "We know it is a complicated group and Romania are not there to do anybody any favours. We were nervous, we could not express ourselves fully, it's often like that in the first match.

"The situation we're in now is that every match will be a knock-out round.

"If we play with too much caution, something will be missing at the end. There are two matches left and six points to take. I'm neither pessimistic nor optimistic."

Though his strikers fired blanks, Domenech was pleased with the untroubled time had by his goalkeeper Gregory Coupet.

"The positive thing is that Greg did not have one save to make," he said. "We managed to control the match, but we were not dangerous enough."

Romania coach Victor Piturca said: "Personally I would have wanted the three points since France may no longer be at the level they used to be. You could see that today.

"Our goal was three points but in the end it was a fair result."

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23839807-10389,00.html

 

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