Classy Holland stun Azzurri to top group of death
Ruud van Nistelrooy was deployed as a lone striker
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Monday, 09, Jun 2008 10:38
Holland stunned Italy with a 3-0 victory in Group C of Euro 2008.
In the game of the tournament so far, goals from Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder, and Giovanni Van Bronckhurst gave the Dutch a shock victory.
The win puts Marco Van Basten's side in charge of the group of death, after France's 0-0 draw with Romania earlier.
Holland's preparations were dominated by in-fighting and Van Basten sprung a shock by starting with Chelsea defender Khalid Boulahrouz, while the Azzurri started with Luca Toni as the lone striker.
In a lively opening, the world champions created the first chance with dangerman Toni heading inches wide.
This sparked the Dutch into action with van Nistelrooy failing to get a shot on goal when sent through while Sneijder lashed a volley over the bar.
And the Real Madrid duo combined to give the Dutch the lead in controversial fashion on 26 minutes. Gianluigi Bufon palmed Sneijder's free-kick with van Nistelrooy poking in the ball from four yards out, with replays showing the striker was off-side.
There was nothing controversial about Holland's second goal five minutes later. In a shining example of Total Football, van Bronckhorst cleared a corner off the line before sprinting down the other end to cross for Dirk Kuyt, to tee-up Sneijder who volleyed past Buffon.
Van Nistelrooy had the chance to wrap up the game before half-time when sent clear by a sublime through ball from Rafael van der Vaart, but his shot was deflected over the ball by the onrushing Buffon.
At the other end, Udinese star Antonio Di Natale was a constant threat and tested Edvin van der Sar with a couple of long-range efforts.
Italy came desperately close to putting themselves back in the game at the start of the second half with Andrea Pirlo curling a free-kick into the side-netting while substitute Alessandro del Piero's low strike was saved by van der Sar.
Manchester United keeper van Der Sar continued to foil Roberto Donadoni's men, with a stunning point-blank save to keep out Fabio Grosso's ferocious effort.
Van der Sar started the move which lead to Holland's third goal on 80 minutes when he made a stunning save to keep out another Pirlo free-kick. Van Bronckhorst raced upfield and set-up Kuyt whose shot was saved by Buffon, but the Liverpool striker then crossed for Van Bronckhorst to head in from six yards.
Van Basten's side continued to dazzle in the closing stages with substitute Ibrahim Afellay's rasping effort clipping the crossbar while Arsenal's Robin Van Persie hammered a left-effort effort agonisingly wide.
In stoppage time, Antonio Cassano's shot from six yards was deflected wide to sum up a miserable evening for the Italians.