The two 2006 World Cup finalists were fighting for Euro 2008 survival in this game, after both teams had lost to the Netherlands and drawn against Romania this game was anyone’s to win. Neither team went in favorite, so this game really was very open.
France started extremely badly, their midfield star Ribery getting a nasty injury which caused the French to make an early substitution. Not a good sign.
To make matters worse, Italy were playing tremendous attacking football, and Luca Toni was looking very threatening. There were several good opportunities for Italy, but it was only on the twenty fifth minute when Luca Toni was brought down from behind by Eric Abidal, and Italy had a penalty. Too add insult to injury for France, Abidal was also sent off. Pirlo kept his cool to convert for the Italians: an excellent penalty in to the top corner.
The Italians looked increasingly likely to score, and were appalled when the referee failed to stop play for an injured Italian player, and Pirlo received a yellow card for fouling to let the injured player receive treatment, and then the referee stopped the game for an injured French player!
In the second half the Italians still looked more likely to win, piling pressure on the French defense who started to look very tired, especially considering they were one man down. It was no real surprise when on the sixty second minute, a thirty yard free kick resulted in a cruel deflection off Thierry Henry which went passed his own goal keeper to make the French two goals down.
The Italians maybe should have got another goal or two, with Luca Toni looking very strong, but France held on to keep the score line low.
Overall a good game from Italy’s point of view, and they are through to the quarter finals, but the French will be upset at going out of the competition this early.
After the two teams first games were on the complete opposite on the spectrum, both teams were eager to impress. Italy especially wanted to win this game, as anything other than three points would slash their chances of qualifying dramatically.
The game kicked off, and it was extremely intense, Italy looking like they could score any minute for the whole first half, having chance after chance and finding Romania’s weakness which the French couldn’t find: the air. Romania failed on multiple occasions to clear Italy’s crosses, resulting in Luca Toni and his attacking companions missing a couple of good chances. Italy also had other good opportunities including hitting the post and having a header disallowed for offside, although it was a bad decision, and it looked like Friday the 13th was going to be unlucky for Italy.
That isn’t to say Romania didn’t have any chances though, hitting the post, having a one on one and hitting a scorching free kick from a long distance, although their poor attacking record means it was no surprise they didn’t score in the first half.
Out for the second half, and in similar fashion to the first half, the game is end to end football, it is clear fairly soon after the kick off that Romania want to win this game just as much as Italy.
Then, on the fifty fifth minute, a poor header from Zambrotta back to Buffon meant that former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu could run on and take full advantage of the Italian mistake, slotting the ball above a helpless Buffon and in to the roof of the net.
And, before we could even watch the replay of the goal, Italy were pressing and got a corner at the other end, and after a superb cross and a nifty header toward goal, Christian Panucci poked the ball passed the line.
Italy kept pressing, desperate to get a second, although just before the eighty minute mark, a tug in the Italian penalty area resulted in a rather harsh Romanian penalty. After countless Italian protests, Romanian goal scorer Mutu stepped up to take the penalty, knowing a win would knock Italy out the competition. He drove it hard to Buffon’s left, but Buffon re-adjusted his jump and knocked it onto his leg with his right hand, and the ball went out for a corner.
Overall a good game with plenty of action, and Italy were extremely unfortunate not to get the win, but now there is a lot of pressure on both sides, especially Italy, to get through to the next round.
Before kick off, the general opinion seemed that Italy were going to walk this game, with the Netherlands missing key players due to injury, such as Mario Melchiot, Ryan Babel and Arjen Robben, with Robin Van Persie just passing a very late fitness test.
In the first couple of minutes, both teams seemed very eager to make a good start, especially after France’s shock draw against Romania. After around five minutes Holland started to dominate the game, putting Italy’s’ defense under immense pressure, and it was obvious Italy were missing their usual captain, Fabio Cannovaro.
After twenty minutes, Italy conceded a corner. As the ball flew in, Buffon reached out and punched the ball, landing at Sneijder’s feet. He then whacked the ball and Ruud Van Nistelrooy converted it into the bottom corner. Van Nistelrooy was quite far offside, and Italian players were understandably appalled, Luca Toni getting booked for his arguments.
Italy soon found their feet though, forcing the Dutch back into their own half where they conceded a silly corner. The ball came across and Van Bronckhorst blocked off the line, before running the whole length of the field before making a perfect cross, straight to Dirk Kuyt who headed back into the six yard box for Wesley Sneijder to volley past Buffon.
Just minutes later, Dirk Kuyt played a perfect through ball to Van Nistelrooy, who took it round the Italian goalie but appeared to be caught. Van Nistelrooy stayed up (just about) and crosses the ball back into the middle to no avail, but if he had gone down it would have undoubtedly been a penalty. The Netherlands go into the changing rooms well on top, and Italy didn’t look like coming back from two goals down.
The second half wasn’t any less exciting. Italy started well, but once again Holland started to take control, passing the ball around and playing some extremely good football. There was almost nothing to choose between the two teams, until Pirlo took a curling free kick from the edge of the area which Edwin Van Der Sar superbly saved, before throwing it up the field, for new substitute Robin Van Persie to thread the ball through to Dirk Kuyt who shot from the edge of the box with Buffon making a fantastic save. The Liverpool striker then crossed the ball back in and Van Bronckhorst had an easy header to make it three nil.
After that there really was no way back for Italy, although they had a couple of opportunities that would have gone their way on another day, they failed to score.
It was definitely the most entertaining match of Euro 2008 so far, with fluent football from both sides and some amazing team goals, but it is the Netherlands that came out on top, and, judging by this performance, they certainly have the ability to win the competition.
This is the day every soccer fan is waiting for, the day when teams in the “Group of Death” compete. Group C had all the world excited, it includes Romania, France, Holland and the world champions Italy. It is truly the “Group of Death”, and the highlighted match today is Holland vs Italy, ofcourse Italy are declared the favorites by all analysts, but I think they were remembering Italy 2006 when they came up with that assumption.
Italy 2006 is different than Italy 2008, manager, players, tactics, its not the same Italy. What adds more pressure on Italy is that Cannavaro is injured and wont play, he is ofcourse the rock they need in the backline, also Panucci might not play.
What adds pressure on Italy also is the goal they have set before the start of the competition, they want to go for the double, like France who won World Cup 1996 and Euro 2000. And they deserve to dream, but I really doubt they will be able to achieve this.
But on the other hand things are not going so well in the Holland camp too, Robben picked up a groin problem Saturday, he will be replaced most probably by the young PSV player Ibrahim Afellay. Lets not forget that also Seedorf wont be playing after he was pulled out of the squad for personal problems. Ryan Babel also got injured and been replaced by Khalid Boulahrouz. Van Persie is not fully fit and also might miss the match, but most probably will be featuring next matches.
The players I will be watching are the Holland’s Goalkeeper Van Der Sar, he is an extraordinary Goalkeeper and he always surprises me. He will need to step up and be ready as his defense is having problems. In Italy I will be watching Luca Toni, he did score 39 goals for his club Bayern Munich this season and everytime I underestimate him he scores, Italy will need him to be in form to be able to bypass Holland tonight.
So both sides have problems, but it sure looks like it will be a win for Italy, it will be a huge shock if Holland win, but I think it will be a great achievement by them if they were able to get a draw. If things go as usual Italy should be able to pull a 2-1 win, but because this match has both sides weak in defense line, I expect something like 4-2.
After the two teams first games were on the complete opposite on the spectrum, both teams were eager to impress. Italy especially wanted to win this game, as anything other than three points would slash their chances of qualifying dramatically.
This is the day every soccer fan is waiting for, the day when teams in the “Group of Death” compete. Group C had all the world excited, it includes Romania, France, Holland and the world champions Italy. It is truly the “Group of Death”, and the highlighted match today is Holland vs Italy, ofcourse Italy are declared the favorites by all analysts, but I think they were remembering Italy 2006 when they came up with that assumption.
The players I will be watching are the Holland’s Goalkeeper Van Der Sar, he is an extraordinary Goalkeeper and he always surprises me. He will need to step up and be ready as his defense is having problems. In Italy I will be watching Luca Toni, he did score 39 goals for his club Bayern Munich this season and everytime I underestimate him he scores, Italy will need him to be in form to be able to bypass Holland tonight.