Brilliant Holland Put Italy To The Sword

Holland secured their first victory over Italy for 30 years with a superb counter-attacking performance that takes them two points clear in Group C after the first game.

After watching France struggle to a drab 0-0 draw with Romania, Holland and Italy both knew this was their chance to make their mark.

It was a clash of two very different styles. Holland's slick passing and movement were met by Italy stout defence. Having said that, Italy were slow coming out of the blocks and Holland walked all over them in the first half.

Ruud Van Nistelrooy scored a deserved opening goal for the Dutch, when he tapped in Sneider's wayward shot on goal. There were big shouts for offside as Van Nistelrooy was slightly offside. However, Italy only had themselves to blame for failing to deal with the cross effectively.

I can only assume the linesman had Panucci in mind when failing to put his flag up. Panucci was lying outside the pitch after clashing with Buffon, when trying to clear the ball and was apparently hurt.

I still think it was bad call.

In an interview after the game, Dirk Kuyt admitted the goal was offside and the goal scorer Van Nistelrooy himself thought it was offside, but when the linesman kept his flag down, they went on with their celebrations.

The second goal arrived only five minutes later and what a beauty it was. Funnily enough, it all started with an Italy corner. Van der Vaart then recieved the ball, from the clearance and he sent Van Bronchorst free on the left hand side. Having only two people to aim at, he picked out Kuyt superbly, who in turn headed the ball square for the on-running Sneijder, to put the Dutch deservedly 2-0 up.

In the second half, Italy saw more of the ball inevitably but couldn't capitalise on their dominance. After watching Toni squander Italy's best chance, one just knew it wasn't going to be their day.

This was the case again when Grosso got in behind the Dutch defence and latched on to a pinpoint Pirlo pass but saw his shot saved by Van Der Sar. Italy's frustration grew even bigger when Pirlo's freekick looked to have been going in, but for an amazing save from Van der Sar again.

Imediately after that, Holland went on another counter-attack, and after Kuyt had missed a sitter, he got a second bite at it and he crossed a lovely ball in for Van Bronchorst to head home.

3-0 and the Dutch sent a clear message—"This is our trophy for the taking, and we're going to bring it home."

Holland played without the injured Arjen Robben and only introduced Van Persie late on. With those two fit again, they can look ahead to a very promising tournament. Huntelaar didn't even get a look in.

So there we have it. The first heavy-weight clash out of the way and what a treat it was.

Holland 3-0 Italy - video link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/euro_2008/7445299.stm