After a goalless draw between France and Romania in the opening game of EURO 2008 Group C, football fans were in for a pleasant treat as Holland crushed world champions Italy 3-0. Marco van Basten's men left the Italians no chance and Roberto Donadoni seemed helpless against the uniform Dutch display throughout the 90 minutes. Man of the Day: Giovanni van Bronckhorst The former Barcelona and current Feyenoord fullback gave a virtuoso performance against the Italians in Bern. After clearing the ball off his own goal line, Gio ran almost half the length of the pitch before providing Kuyt with a pinpoint cross that the Liverpool man cushioned to Wesley Sneijder for Holland's second goal. Van Bronckhorst completed the rout for the flying Dutchmen when he headed home from close in the 79th minute. Special mention goes out to goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, Sneijder and Kuyt. Play of the Day: Van der Sar denies Pirlo Manchester United keeper Van der Sar made sure Holland shut out their Italian opponents on Monday. With the score 2-0 for the Dutch, Pirlo unleashed one of his trademark free-kicks, but his effort was denied by a sublime save from Van der Sar who dived at full stretch to keep out the ball. His save allowed Holland to counter attack and score their third and final goal. Quote of the Day: Roberto Donadoni Commenting on his team's crushing defeat against Holland Donadoni said: "If we're not optimistic we should go off on holiday instead of taking the flight to Zurich (where they will play Romania in the second group game)". Trick of the Day: Donadoni's Plan Backfires
Gio was the man! For the first time an Italian coach has opted to play with a 4-3-3 formation. But it was so unfortunate for Donadoni to have seen his bold attempt go down in flames. Donadoni decided to field three holding midfielders in Pirlo, Gattuso and Ambrosini to handle the creative Dutch midfield and stop them from delivering the goods to Ruud van Nistelrooy. However, the result was that Van Basten outwitted him with a series of changes to his starting line-up that put all the pressure on the Azzurri. Local Media Headlines Dutch newspapers celebrated their team's trouncing of world champions Italy in their early edition on Tuesday. "Bellissimo Orange!!" read the headline of daily De Telegraaf which described the encounter as a "dream game" and their players as "heroes". Financial paper Het Financieele Dagblad posted the story on their main page under the headline "Stylish start". Italian media showed no mercy on Donadoni and his men. "Ouch. What a blow!" read the banner headline on the front page of Gazzetta dello Sport, adding: "Holland gives us a lesson." La Repubblica newspaper criticized the Donadoni's lineup and the lackluster defense. Calcio Italia magazine kept it simple yet very effective, saying: "Azzurri Crash in Bern". French media was not any nicer as newspaper voiced their frustration from the goalless stalemate against group outsiders Romania. Sports daily L'Equipe described the draw as "disappointing", noting that Les Bleus will have to play for maximum points against Holland and Italy if they were planning on moving forward.
