match 1:
Zürich - Letzigrund - Switzerland
ROMANIA 0 - 0 FRANCE
Entertainment value: 2.5 / 5
match 2:
Bern - Stade de Suisse - Switzerland
HOLLAND 3-0 ITALY
Zürich - Letzigrund - Switzerland
ROMANIA 0 - 0 FRANCE
Entertainment value: 2.5 / 5
match 2:
Bern - Stade de Suisse - Switzerland
HOLLAND 3-0 ITALY
van Nistelrooy 26
Sneijder 31
van Bronckhorst 79
EV: 4 / 5
Two matches that contributed to 2 firsts of the tourney. The 1st draw and the 1st 3-0 win. After their matches, this group certainly is living up to its billing as the Chalice of Death.
In the 1st match of the night, France and Romania played out a dull goalless draw that had me sleeping for some parts of the match. Credit to Romania, they refused to roll over and lie ripe for the picking by the French team. France were totally outwitted despite having man-to-man the better players. As a collective unit, each individual failed to play his part. The match is noted for both teams' willingness to play short quick passes but goals win games not passes.
Romania came into the group as the dark horses with no chance, some say (me included), of progressing let alone win a single point. But the coach certainly let his actions bite our words with a tactical masterstroke frustrating the French throughout. Some attractive approach play was impressive too and though there was without the final product, it augurs well for the future of Romania to match one of the biggest teams in the world.
France's problem is that they probably have too much individual talent sprayed across so many clubs that they can't gel as a team. They also do not have that leader to look up to someone in the mould of Vieira (who did not play) or perhaps even Henry (injured) despite his indifferent club form. Anelka and Benzema were the main strikers but Anelka and Benzema are too similar. Ribery is better coming from central instead of deployed out wide (much like how Steven Gerrard is not effective when he used to be utilized like so). Malouda simply does not look the part and having two destroyers (Toulalan & Makelele) in the same team meant that the full-backs must ably support the forwards which to a certain extent was evident but not effective. Expect the coach to ring the changes for Holland's game.
Pre-match talk in Match 2. Italy is the current World Champions but they are traditional slow tournament starters. Holland has not beaten Italy for 30 years at a major tournament. Two young rookie international coaches line up alongside each other. Captain Cannavaro's absence - who is big enough to stand in? - in spite of Italy's renowned world-class defence, the defenders chosen for Italy's squad do not look to have the necessary expertise to carry on that tradition.
Post-match talk - Holland handed Italy's biggest defeat at European Championships' history. Italy need to work out on some serious issues:
a. to beat France as failure to qualify will mean humiliation for the World Champions to get knocked out at the 1st hurdle
b. the Italian defence must prove there is life after Cannavaro
c. tactical naivety must be sorted out as the AC Milan midfield trio is devoid of creativity apart from Pirlo who is creative but is not the traditional playmaker, plying his trade from deep, not in the 'hole'
d. use in-form Del Piero and Cassano as starters not subs
The Dutch were fortunate that van Nistelrooy's strike which gave Holland the lead wasn't ruled out for offside. But not denying them the victory, they over-ran the Italians midfield and defence. van Basten's team selection was spot on as Holland finally has the one saviour in Sneijder who carried on his supreme club form for his country and impaling the rivalry between van Der Vaart as it is clear Sneijder CAN deliver. Expect more 5-stars performance in the tournament from the man who celebrated his 24th birthday with a goal.
It took Italy's returning hero Del Piero to finally spark Italy's offense but still the chance did not come till the 75th minute when Toni had a wonderful opportunity to pull to a 2-1 deficit. Instead, when van Der Sar palmed away an Italy goal-bound free-kick, Holland were in 7th heaven as they scored the 3rd goal to kill off Italy's challenge. It was not to be Italy's night when even the simplest chance at the end failed to see the back of Holland's net. As stated earlier, they must work out some issues before the Romania match or else...I will be unhappy with the 'fill-in-the-blanks' scenario.
akim - the Italian fan
In the 1st match of the night, France and Romania played out a dull goalless draw that had me sleeping for some parts of the match. Credit to Romania, they refused to roll over and lie ripe for the picking by the French team. France were totally outwitted despite having man-to-man the better players. As a collective unit, each individual failed to play his part. The match is noted for both teams' willingness to play short quick passes but goals win games not passes.
Romania came into the group as the dark horses with no chance, some say (me included), of progressing let alone win a single point. But the coach certainly let his actions bite our words with a tactical masterstroke frustrating the French throughout. Some attractive approach play was impressive too and though there was without the final product, it augurs well for the future of Romania to match one of the biggest teams in the world.
France's problem is that they probably have too much individual talent sprayed across so many clubs that they can't gel as a team. They also do not have that leader to look up to someone in the mould of Vieira (who did not play) or perhaps even Henry (injured) despite his indifferent club form. Anelka and Benzema were the main strikers but Anelka and Benzema are too similar. Ribery is better coming from central instead of deployed out wide (much like how Steven Gerrard is not effective when he used to be utilized like so). Malouda simply does not look the part and having two destroyers (Toulalan & Makelele) in the same team meant that the full-backs must ably support the forwards which to a certain extent was evident but not effective. Expect the coach to ring the changes for Holland's game.
Pre-match talk in Match 2. Italy is the current World Champions but they are traditional slow tournament starters. Holland has not beaten Italy for 30 years at a major tournament. Two young rookie international coaches line up alongside each other. Captain Cannavaro's absence - who is big enough to stand in? - in spite of Italy's renowned world-class defence, the defenders chosen for Italy's squad do not look to have the necessary expertise to carry on that tradition.
Post-match talk - Holland handed Italy's biggest defeat at European Championships' history. Italy need to work out on some serious issues:
a. to beat France as failure to qualify will mean humiliation for the World Champions to get knocked out at the 1st hurdle
b. the Italian defence must prove there is life after Cannavaro
c. tactical naivety must be sorted out as the AC Milan midfield trio is devoid of creativity apart from Pirlo who is creative but is not the traditional playmaker, plying his trade from deep, not in the 'hole'
d. use in-form Del Piero and Cassano as starters not subs
The Dutch were fortunate that van Nistelrooy's strike which gave Holland the lead wasn't ruled out for offside. But not denying them the victory, they over-ran the Italians midfield and defence. van Basten's team selection was spot on as Holland finally has the one saviour in Sneijder who carried on his supreme club form for his country and impaling the rivalry between van Der Vaart as it is clear Sneijder CAN deliver. Expect more 5-stars performance in the tournament from the man who celebrated his 24th birthday with a goal.
It took Italy's returning hero Del Piero to finally spark Italy's offense but still the chance did not come till the 75th minute when Toni had a wonderful opportunity to pull to a 2-1 deficit. Instead, when van Der Sar palmed away an Italy goal-bound free-kick, Holland were in 7th heaven as they scored the 3rd goal to kill off Italy's challenge. It was not to be Italy's night when even the simplest chance at the end failed to see the back of Holland's net. As stated earlier, they must work out some issues before the Romania match or else...I will be unhappy with the 'fill-in-the-blanks' scenario.
akim - the Italian fan