EURO DAY BY DAY

bravo to Czech rep and Portugal (a good start)

bRAVO Croatia (although not too impresive )
Bravo Germany ....bravo podolski

with a great dutch referee Pieter vink.

netherlands rocks

beat world champion

by 3-0

Marco van Basten believes Holland have earned the right to dream of glory at Euro 2008 after their 3-0 demolition of world champions Italy kicked the tournament into life.
Holland's first win over the Italians in three decades and Italy's heaviest defeat in 25 years has left the Dutch in control of a 'group of death' that also includes France and Romania, whose turgid goalless draw could not have been further removed from the exhilarating encounter served up here on Monday evening.
For the Dutch coach, the manner of the victory was every bit as important as its unlikely scale.
“To beat the world champions playing football to the last minute — it was for us a very nice game and also a historical game,” he said. “We have never beaten Italy by three goals.
“If you think we were without players like Arjen Robben and Ryan Babel, the players reacted in a wonderful way. They fought like a team and if the spirit is like it was tonight, with all the quality we have, we can have nice dreams.”
There was an element of good fortune about the Dutch opening goal, Ruud van Nistelrooy appearing to be in an offside position when he turned in Wesley Sneijder's ferociously struck shot mid-way through the first half.
That inevitably transformed the pattern of the match and the Dutch exploited the opportunity to pick off their opponents on the counter-attack with two end-to-end moves that resulted in goals for man-of-the-match Sneijder, five minutes after van Nistelrooy's opener, and the equally outstanding Gio van Bronckhorst, ten minutes from the end.
“Hopefully we can preserve the spirit we displayed on the pitch tonight and continue in the same vein against France and Romania,” added van Basten.
“It only the very first step and we know very well that we are back to square one if we lose against France in our next match.”
Long before the Dutch opened the scoring, it was apparent that Italy would miss the commanding influence of their injured World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro in their defence.
Marco Materazzi took Cannavaro's place in the centre of defence but filling the former world player of the year's boots was to prove beyond the Inter Milan veteran, who was substituted ten minutes into the second half.
Despite a defeat which will put him under severe pressure, Italy coach Roberto Donadoni voiced confidence that his players could turn things around.
“The game started badly for us and ended up worse but it is already history,” said van Basten's former team-mate at AC Milan.
“We made mistakes and paid for them but now we have to look forward to the Romania game, which is going to be critical now.”
Donadoni rejected suggestions that his squad had approached the match lightly. “I don't think there was any complacency. Winning the World Cup is not a sufficient goal for us and we have been working very hard and professionally in preparing for this tournament for the last two years.
“The result was not good, obviously, and we are not happy about it but we are going to work to ensure we react to it and improve.”
Donadoni declined to criticise Swedish referee Peter Frojdfeldt over the decision to allow van Nistelrooy's goal, and the official was backed up by chairman of Austria's refereeing commission.
Gerhard Kapl said Peter Frojdfeldt had been “100 percent correct” to award the goal because injured Italy defender Christian Panucci had played the striker onside despite being behind the goalline and out of action.
There was no debate about Holland's second goal, which provided evidence that Total Football is alive and well in the Netherlands.
Having cleared Andrea Pirlo's corner off his own line, van Bronckhorst immediately sprinted forward to pick up a pass from Rafael van der Vart on the left and send in a cross that Dirk Kuyt knocked down for Sneijder to smash past Gianluigi Buffon.
Italy did not get going until Alessandro del Piero and Antonio Cassano entered the fray in the second half and the Dutch had Edwin van der Sar to thank for keeping out Fabio Grosso's low drive and one of Pirlo's trademark freekicks with a couple of superb saves.
As the Italians pressed however, gaps appeared at the back and the Dutch took advantage with another counter-attack of breathtaking fluency that finished with van Bronckhorst nodding in Dirk Kuyt's chip with their opponents' defence in utter disarray.
Poor starts in major tournaments are nothing new for Italy but, on this evidence, a World Cup and Euro double looks a tall order for Donadoni's men.

Holland's 30-year wait for a victory over Italy ended in glorious fashion here on Monday as Marco van Basten's side rampaged their way to a 3-0 defeat of the world champions.

A clearly offside goal from Ruud van Nistelrooy may have kickstarted the rout but there was no doubting that the Dutch, superior in every area, fully deserved a victory that was completed by Wesley Sneijder's close-range strike and a late breakaway goal by the outstanding Gio van Bronckhorst.

Uncharacteristically shaky in defence, the Italians were given a painful reminder of the importance of their World Cup captain Fabio Cannavaro, who was ruled out of the tournament after suffering an ankle injury in training last week.

Marco Materazzi took Cannavaro's place in the centre of defence but filling the former world player of the year's boots was to prove beyond the Inter Milan veteran, who was humiliatingly substituted ten minutes into the second half.

Italian coach Roberto Donadoni said his men had to move on and look forward.

“The game started badly for us and ended up worse but it is already history.

“We made mistakes and paid for them but now we have to look forward to the Romania game, which is going to be critical now,” Donadoni said.

The Dutch themselves were exultant.

“It's a great start for us. We must keep going now,” said striker Dirk Kuyt.

“We've given everything we've got and it's a great result for us. But it's the first match and there's another two tough matches to come.”

Regarding the controversial first goal, Kuyt told ITV television: “We were waiting for the flag but it didn't come. But we showed with the second and the third goal that we deserved to win today.”

The first clear indication of the extent to which the Italians would miss Cannavaro came after quarter of an hour, when van Nistelrooy got in behind Materazzi only to be let down by a heavy first touch as he attempted to go round Buffon.

Materazzi made partial amends by heading Sneijder's free-kick from the left over his own bar. But there was no such let-off for the Italians when Rafael van der Vart swung in a similar delivery from the opposite flank minutes later.

Buffon could only the palm the ball away at his back post and when the ball was rolled back to Sneijder the midfielder unleashed a fierce low drive that van Nistelrooy turned into the net from four yards out.

As the striker was clearly offside, the ensuing protests may have been justified but their only result was a yellow card for Luca Toni.

Five minutes later the Italians found themselves in deeper trouble after a move that suggests Total Football is alive and well in the Netherlands.

Having cleared Andrea Pirlo's corner off his own line, van Bronckhurst immediately sprinted forward to take possession once more in the acres of space that had opened up down the left.

The Barcelona defender's cross was knocked down by Kuyt from beyond the back post and Sneijder, having stolen a yard on Materazzi, lashed the bouncing ball in between Buffon's left glove and the near post.

The world champions could offer little in response, their one real moment of menace before the break coming when Antonio di Natale's volley bounced through the legs of Khalid Boulahrouz with the result that Edwin van der Sar needed two attempts to smother the ball.

Van Nistelrooy should have extended the Dutch lead a minute before the break after Sneijder's superb pass once again put him in behind Materazzi.

From just inside the box, the striker pushed his shot towards the bottom corner only to see it ricocheted off Buffon's leg and up over the bar.

Within ten minutes of the restart, Donadoni had decided radical surgergy was required for his malfunctioning back four.

Materazzi was hauled off, Fabio Grosso introduced at left-back with Gianluigi Zambrotta switching sides to allow rightback Christian Panucci to move into the centre.

Alessandro Del Piero was also thrown into the fray and the Juventus forward's prodding helped the Italians finally display some of their true quality.

But after Toni had lifted their best chance of the night over the bar, van der Sar produced superb stops to keep out Grosso's low drive and one of Pirlo's trademark freekicks in quick succession.

Inevitably gaps were being left at the back and the Dutch took advantage with another counter-attack move of breathtaking fluency that finished with van Bronckhorst playing the overlapping Kuyt into space inside the box.

Buffon blocked the Liverpool striker's shot but he was able to collect the loose ball and chip it into the area for van Bronckhorst to head home.

Poor starts are nothing new for Italy but, on this evidence, a World Cup and Euro double looks beyond Donadoni's men.

Spain crushed russia by 4-1
david villa scored hattrick and a goal by fabregas
bravo espana .......bravo villa

Bravo Sweden >>>

Zlatan Ibra Rocks

Portugal Really rocks

crush czech 3-1 ,CR7 on fire

too bad for the host , out from euro

Bravo Turkey >>

Croatia - Germany 2-1
bravo to Croatia ,
germany should replace the goal keeper ( i think)

jens lehman is not a good keeper anymore

what a late penalty for austria

both euro hosts almost out from championship

iTALY - Romania 1-1

I think that was the battle between 2 goal keeper ,buffon Vs lobont .
Bravo for both keeper ...

italy again played sucks football

WOOOOOOOOOWWWW Netherlands..

crashing France ..

4 sensational goals... must see those goals...

My team is gonna win EURO 2008

van basten really a brilliant coach , robben goal , and sneijder goal remind me of van basten years ago ...

torres and villa !!!! again

beat sweden 2-1

The defending Champion Out from euro

Russia Rocks

HERE TO POST RELATED TO EURO MATCH

colinco wrote:

Check out this vid of Marco van Basten

NICE VIDS THANKS

poor czech ... from winning to defeated ..

salute to turkey whose play with the great spirit

no surprised ,germany and croatia step up to the nex level ...
but the surpised was joachim loew sent off

germany beat up portugal 3-2
its not a surprised if we look from germany tradition on big tournament.
what the surprised was ,they can stop ronaldo ,and did a really good job on match tempo ..

salute to joachim loew, it was a different performance from germany ..