Birthday boy Sneijder inspires Italian demolition
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Netherlands started their Euro 2008 campaign with an astonishing 3-0 victory against the world champions Italy, a team they had not win to in 30 years.
Influenced by Real Madrid midfielder Wesley Sneijder, who celebrated his 24th birthday yesterday, the Oranje performed a superb counter-attacking play that sunk the Italians.
That makes the Dutch lead group C following scoreless draw between France and Romania on the previous match.
For the Azzurri, last night was a terrible start for them as they were never lost by three goals in the European Championship before.
Italy hadn’t been beaten by three goals since a 3-0 defeat to Sweden in a European Championship qualifier in 1983.
Gianluigi Buffon claims it was one of the ugliest games in the last 12 years and he had to apologize to all the Italian fans.
Even so, Roberto Donadoni insists that was not the worst match for Italy under his coaching period.
Many people questioned his tactical choices by leaving Daniele De Rossi on the bench in favour of an all-Milan midfield of Gennaro Gattuso, Massimo Ambrosini and Andrea Pirlo.
There was also a big controversy following the opening goal when Ruud van Nistelrooy was considered to be onside because the Italian defender, Christian Panucci, was lying behind the goal line in pain after a collision with Buffon.
However, yesterday was a great night for Sneijder as the former Ajax star was awarded the Carlsberg Man of the Match Award for his inspiring performance.
He had an assist and scored a spectacular goal on the 31th minute.
It was "a nice present," according to Netherlands coach Marco van Basten.
The Dutch are now amongst the favourites to qualify from the "Group of Death."
Van Basten now is trying to become the first person to win European titles as a coach and a player.
As a player, he won the 1988 European Championship, the only major title for Netherlands.
Netherlands: 1-Edwin van der Sar; 21-Khalid Boulahrouz (3-John Heitinga 77), 2-Andre Ooijer, 4-Joris Mathijsen, 5-Giovanni van Bronckhorst; 17-Nigel de Jong, 8-Orlando Engelaar; 18-Dirk Kuyt (20-Ibrahim Afellay 81), 23-Rafael van der Vaart, 10-Wesley Sneijder; 9-Ruud van Nistelrooy (7-Robin van Persie 70)
Italy: 1-Gianluigi Buffon; 2-Christian Panucci, 6-Andrea Barzagli, 23-Marco Materazzi (3-Fabio Grosso 54), 19-Gianluca Zambrotta; 13-Massimo Ambrosini, 21-Andrea Pirlo, 8-Gennaro Gattuso; 16-Mauro Camoranesi (18-Antonio Cassano 75), 9-Luca Toni, 11-Antonio Di Natale (7-Alessandro Del Piero 64)
Referee: Peter Frojdfeldt (Sweden)
Statistics:
Also see:
Influenced by Real Madrid midfielder Wesley Sneijder, who celebrated his 24th birthday yesterday, the Oranje performed a superb counter-attacking play that sunk the Italians.
That makes the Dutch lead group C following scoreless draw between France and Romania on the previous match.
For the Azzurri, last night was a terrible start for them as they were never lost by three goals in the European Championship before.
Italy hadn’t been beaten by three goals since a 3-0 defeat to Sweden in a European Championship qualifier in 1983.
Gianluigi Buffon claims it was one of the ugliest games in the last 12 years and he had to apologize to all the Italian fans.
Even so, Roberto Donadoni insists that was not the worst match for Italy under his coaching period.
Many people questioned his tactical choices by leaving Daniele De Rossi on the bench in favour of an all-Milan midfield of Gennaro Gattuso, Massimo Ambrosini and Andrea Pirlo.
There was also a big controversy following the opening goal when Ruud van Nistelrooy was considered to be onside because the Italian defender, Christian Panucci, was lying behind the goal line in pain after a collision with Buffon.
However, yesterday was a great night for Sneijder as the former Ajax star was awarded the Carlsberg Man of the Match Award for his inspiring performance.
He had an assist and scored a spectacular goal on the 31th minute.
It was "a nice present," according to Netherlands coach Marco van Basten.
The Dutch are now amongst the favourites to qualify from the "Group of Death."
Van Basten now is trying to become the first person to win European titles as a coach and a player.
As a player, he won the 1988 European Championship, the only major title for Netherlands.
| Netherlands |  | 3 - 0 |  | Italy |
| Ruud van Nistelrooy 26 | ||||
| Wesley Sneijder 31 | ||||
| Giovanni van Bronckhorst 79 |
Netherlands: 1-Edwin van der Sar; 21-Khalid Boulahrouz (3-John Heitinga 77), 2-Andre Ooijer, 4-Joris Mathijsen, 5-Giovanni van Bronckhorst; 17-Nigel de Jong, 8-Orlando Engelaar; 18-Dirk Kuyt (20-Ibrahim Afellay 81), 23-Rafael van der Vaart, 10-Wesley Sneijder; 9-Ruud van Nistelrooy (7-Robin van Persie 70)
Italy: 1-Gianluigi Buffon; 2-Christian Panucci, 6-Andrea Barzagli, 23-Marco Materazzi (3-Fabio Grosso 54), 19-Gianluca Zambrotta; 13-Massimo Ambrosini, 21-Andrea Pirlo, 8-Gennaro Gattuso; 16-Mauro Camoranesi (18-Antonio Cassano 75), 9-Luca Toni, 11-Antonio Di Natale (7-Alessandro Del Piero 64)
Referee: Peter Frojdfeldt (Sweden)
Statistics:
| Shots on target : | 8 | - | 5 |
| Shots off target : | 5 | - | 11 |
| Ball possession (%) : | 51 | - | 49 |
| Corner kicks : | 3 | - | 5 |
| Offsides : | 4 | - | 3 |
| Fouls : | 16 | - | 10 |
| Yellow cards : | 1 | - | 3 |
| Red cards : | 0 | - | 0 |
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Fabulous game from Sneijder,Van der Vaart,Van Bronchorst and Ooijer.Fabulous display from the men in Oranje.
Italy,World champions really?Lets see how European champions,Greece perform today.