Verdict: No one expected that much of the Dutch, and it seems to have worked in their favour. Marco Van Basten, have a pint on me! Holland's tactics were utterly perfect, and for all the controversy of their opening goal, the other two were magnificent. Italy's defending was woeful, and they miss Cannavaro terribly. Mind you, they didn't play all that badly, and had plenty of chances themselves. I expect to see Grosso, Del Piero and Cassano playing against Romania.
Entertainment value: The game of the tournament so far - both teams set out to play high tempo, attacking football and it showed. No wonder Italy play catenaccio so often if this is the consequence of being flamboyant! Anyway, on the back of this the Netherlands are now every neutral's favourite team.
Heroes: The Dutch midfield were utterly, utterly wonderful. I've been talking up Sneijder all season and I thought he was the best of a great bunch. Van Der Vaart's passing was laser-guided in its precision, and the young defensive midfielder Engelaar put his more illustrious opponents in the shade. The most striking thing, though, was the willingness of all five of the Oranje midfielders to work their asses off, a work rate sorely lacking from the Italians. By the way, let's not forget Gio Van Bronckhorst's impact on the game - he looked like a Brazilian full-back going forward and an Italian full-back when defending. I don't think you can praise him any higher than that.
Villains: Donadoni should be hung up by his figgin for not playing De Rossi from the start. Gattuso and Ambrosini simply aren't mobile enough and with no defensive assistance from Di Natale and Camoranesi (unfortunately the latter didn't offer anything going forward either), Holland won the midfield battle and simply passed around and through the leaden footed Azzurri midfield.
The job ahead: Van Basten now knows that a win over France not only pretty much puts them through, but also practically knocks France out. Considering their high energy game, he must be tempted to put everything into that match to win it and make the Romania one a chance to rest players. And if the French weren't vulnerable enough, remember Van Persie wasn't fully fit, and that Robben was missing. As for Italy, they now must beat Romania, no question about it. And I hope they won't be dumb enough to pick Camoranesi.
L.
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