Euro Wrap, June 9th

Review and video from Romania 0-0 France and Netherlands 3-0 Italy.

Who would have thought, after the draw for the Group o’Death, that this was how the first day of Group C games would end? Who foresaw Romania shutting down France for a defensive nil-nil draw, and Italy getting slaughtered by the Dutch?

A lot of folks thought that favorites France and Italy would claim their spots at the top of the table today. Instead, this group has been blown wide open.

GROUP C	June 9th, 1800 CET, Zurich (Switzerland)
Romania 0 VS France 0

France is supposed to have a potent attack. How can they not score with players like Nicolas Anelka, Thierry Henry, Franck Ribery and Ligue 1’s leading scorer Karim Benzema?

But Henry is injured, and Romania’s defense managed to make Anelka, Ribery, Benzema (and sub Bafetimbi Gomis) completely ineffective. Samir Nasri managed a little spark when he came on late in the game, but even he couldn’t break down the Romanian defense.

Kudos to Christian Chivu and his men for a well-fought game. The defense was solid, and players like Adrian Mutu and Daniel Niculae made things interesting whenever Romania got the chance to counter-attack.

This game is going to give France coach Raymond Domenech a lot to think about between now and the next match on Friday. And he’d better come up with answers, or he’s going to need to polish up his job-search skills. (I hear Lyon has an opening.)

As I said in the liveblog, it’s not unusual to see France not score in open play lately. But they at usually at least manage to play pretty. From a France fan’s perspective, this was just ninety minutes of ugly.

France Team Blog
Romania Team Blog

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GROUP C	June 9th, 2045 CET, Berne (Switzerland)
Italy 0 VS Netherlands 3   van Nistelrooy 26′, Sneijder 31′, van Bronckhorst 80′

A Dutch demolition, no two ways about it. The Azzurri looked flat and not anything like world champions today, with a porous back line and a midfield which hadn’t a prayer of winning the center of the pitch.

The first goal was controversial, with Christian Panucci on the ground hurt on the sidelines keeping Ruud van Nistelrooy on (who would’ve been well offside otherwise), but it’s really a moot discussion, because the Oranje deserved their victory. Their attack was potent, but more than anything they took advantage of the nearly unfathomable amount of space the Azzurri offered up on the counterattack. Twice striking a blow after being gifted acres and acres of space to build up an attack.

Wesley Sneijder was fantastic, Ruud van Nistelrooy was ever so dangerous, even if he enjoyed paying tribute to Pippo Inzaghi often, but perhaps the Man of the Match goes to Edwin van der Sar, who made some clutch saves when the game was still somewhat up for grabs, and didn’t allow any momentum for the Italians whatsoever. A one goal lead with minutes still left on the clock makes the outlook very, very different.

This is a massive result both in the standings and for the confidence of the Dutch, who were missing some key members of the attack, but never let it show. If this is how they’re going to play, they must be favorites to go through. As for Italy, well, it’s clear Roberto Donadoni has some work to do and only a couple wins will likely save their tournament, though it’s probably too late to save his job.

Netherlands Team Blog
Italy Team Blog

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(AP Photo/Niklas Larsson)