After the Netherlands were already going through, a draw would have guaranteed them first place, and there were rumors that they might let Romania win intentionally so that France and Italy were both out for the knock out stages. Romania had been playing well, after drawing with both World Cup finalists they needed either a draw in this game and the France v Italy game, or to beat the Netherlands to go through.
Neither team started particularly well, the Dutch team that had nine (yes nine!) changes looked very nervous, which was surprising due to them already being through. The closest the first half came to producing a Romanian goal was a couple of self made opportunities by former Chelsea star Adrian Mutu, where as Holland’s best opportunity fell to Arjen Robben who looked hasty and poked the ball past the post.
The second half is when a much needed goal came, and it went for the Dutch. A low cross from Afellay was calmly converted by star striker Huntelaar, and the Romanians were punished for not taking the game to Holland.
The next goal came very late in the second half, and once again fell for the Dutch. Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie skilled out the Romanian defender, leaving him literally in tangles on the floor, before smashing the ball in to the near top corner to ensure the Netherlands one hundred per cent win rate was kept intact.
Overall, not a brilliant game, with the Romanians being too conservative when they really should have pushed on the Dutch defense. Tonight’s results mean that the Netherlands top the group with nine points, the Italians come second with four points, Romania come third with two points, and France lose the group with just one point.
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.
REAL MADRID ARE THE CHAMPIONS WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
What can I say, there is no words in the world that can describe my feelings, the match was a big thriller.
A dramatic match thanks to the penalty which was granted to Osasuna on the 80th minute where we saw Patxi Puñal score in the middle of the goal. Just in the last 5 minutes of the match Robben and Higuain gives Real Madrid the title and crushes the dreams of Villareal and Barcelona.
YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!
REAL MADRID WINS THE SPANISH LEAGUE
El Real Madrid “Merengue” …. Campeón de Liga 31 2007/2008
Watch the Goals and more after the jump….
We are the champions baby, we are the CHAMPIONS…..
Although I knew that today Real Madrid could’ve won the league if Villareal stumbled, I still didn’t watch the match because of another political live TV show. Anyway, Real Madrid are the champions even if we still need to wait until next week.
I watched the highlights and goals, I heard that Real Madrid should’ve won the match with a higher score. Anyway, the goals were nicely scored. Saviola on the 13th minute, Robben on the 78th minute and Higuain on the 81st minute of the match.
Real Madrid will be playing their 3rd match in Champions League Group C, 2nd in the table with 4 points playing against Olympiakos who is 1st with 4 points. Real Madrid is suffering from a number of injuries specially the left wing with heinze and robben out between 3 to 6 weeks. Schuster has a tricky game here, Olympiakos is in good shape with no serious injuries and the winner here will be top of the table. I believe schuster needs Robinho’s services tonight in the left wing and they should just put the alleged partying issue and returning late mistake to be dealt with later and focus on this game. Personally I will be watching Olympiakos striker Lua-Lua, he already scored 3 goals in 5 matches in the local league. I believe he will have his Champions League first goal this season tonight.
The expected formation (4-1-3-2): Casillas, Salgado, Sergio Ramos, Metzelder, Marcelo, Diarra, Robinho, Guti, Sneijder, Raul, Van Nistelrooy.
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.
Real Madrid will be playing their 3rd match in Champions League Group C, 2nd in the table with 4 points playing against Olympiakos who is 1st with 4 points. Real Madrid is suffering from a number of injuries specially the left wing with heinze and robben out between 3 to 6 weeks. Schuster has a tricky game here, Olympiakos is in good shape with no serious injuries and the winner here will be top of the table. I believe schuster needs Robinho’s services tonight in the left wing and they should just put the alleged partying issue and returning late mistake to be dealt with later and focus on this game. Personally I will be watching Olympiakos striker Lua-Lua, he already scored 3 goals in 5 matches in the local league. I believe he will have his Champions League first goal this season tonight.