All Euro 2008 Results and Analysis

[TranceFusion]

Netherlands Formation 4-2-3-1
Van der Sar (cap) - Boulahrouz, Ooijer, Mathijsen, Van Bronckhorst - Engelaar, De Jong - Kuyt, Sneijder, Van der Vaart - Van Nistelrooy

France Formation 4-2-3-1
Coupet - Sagnol, Thuram (cap), Gallas, Evra - Makelele, Toulalan - Govou, Ribéry, F.Malouda - Henry

Identical formations. The referee is the one who got attacked by a Danish fan during Denmark 3-3 Sweden in the qualifiers last year.

[TranceFusion]

I've been reading a lot of critics from French fans against Malouda. I guess that now he proved that he shouldn't be in the starting line-up vs Italy.

NEDERLAND KICK ASS!!!

[Genesis]

Judging by how things are looking, the Netherlands have a good chance at
the title, let alone getting to the quarter finals.
Impressive performance so far.

[TranceFusion]

[Fawzi]

[TranceFusion]

What a performance by the Dutch... what a BRILLIANT performance!!!
You don't top "the group of death" and score a 3-0 and 4-1 against Italy and France just like that! The offensive power of this rejuvenated team is terrifying with talented players like Sneijder, Van der Vaart, Kuyt, Van Persie, Robben, 5 young and strong players accompanied by the older but still dangerous Ruud Van Nistelrooy. The midfield is also quite good with Engelaar!
What to say about this game... once Kuyt scored i simply knew that Holland would win. I didn't have even 1% of doubt that the victory wouldn't be at the end of the game. After a wonderful performance against the world champion Italy, the Dutch Dynamite does it again with an even greater performance against the finalist of the World Cup! And the Dynamites tonight were named: Kuyt, Van Persie, Robben, Sneijder. Scoring early in the game gives you a great advantage. It relieves the pressure on the team and gives it the chance to wait for the rival to come out and then attack. France tried to do something in the 2nd part of the first half but it ended at 1-0. The second half was going to be much much more entertaining! The Dutch were terribly quick in counter-attacks. When you have players like Robben and Sneijder you can't afford giving them space to show all their skills! They showed how quick and efficient they are in counter-attacking with the 2nd goal by Van Persie (who was out most of the season). Whereas the French, despite having Evra in the starting line-up and Henry in attack, were a disappointment in defence. They reduced the score with Henry but only one minute later Robben scored a simply mag-ni-fi-cent goal from a very tight angle with 2 defenders on him!! France thought it could get a 2-2 when Henry scored, but Robben's goal killed any hope left in the French squad. Ruud Van Nistelrooy could score the 4th goal (and the 2nd for him in this Euro) with a lobbed header but Coupet managed to put the ball out in the last moment. The last minutes of the game showed that it would end at 3-1, with 3 points and the 1st place for Holland (no matter what results will be in the last group games). But Sneijder wanted to give a gift one last time to his fans. The Madridista got the goal, made a 360 degrees turn and sent a beautiful and slightly curved shot that landed right under the bar (it actually touched it a bit)!!!
2 breath-taking goals by Robben and Sneijder (2 Madridistas), a big score against a team that is among the favorites for the final victory and a beautifully earned first place. Holland made of the group of death a peace of cake group!
Also, maybe it's a sign? The 4 scorers of Holland play in the English and Spanish leagues the 2 strongest leagues of Europe.

The Dutch Dynamite is more than ever the number one favorite for the final victory after such performances against 2 of the world's top football nations. It's not the case of Germany though, and definitely not France! But there's still one game left and we will see who of the 2 eternal rivals deserves to go to the second round, France or Italy.
Romania has now a BIG chance to pass to the second round. Their fate is in their hands since all they need is a victory against Holland, which is already qualified and certain of finishing first. Therefore the coach Van Basten can rest his top players and give a chance to the reserve squad.

Netherlands 4-1 France
Kuyt 9'
Van Persie 59'
Robben 72'
Sneijder 92'
----------
Henry 71'

Romania 1-1 Italy

GROUP C - Standings
1- Holland: 6 points, +6
2- Romania: 2 points, 0
3- France: 1 point, -3
4- Italy: 1 point, -3


EDIT:
Roonaldo i agree, i wouldn't expect Romania to have such a chance to qualify although no one can underestimate a team that won... against Holland (!) and topped the qualifying group. France disappointed me A LOT, Italy too but they played better than France in both games. Can't wait for the clash of the Latin Europeans!

[JAD]

allez les blues

[tareknaj]

Robben's goal after few seconds of henry's goal >>> nd Sneijder 's goal was also.. hehe

[ram12]

[TranceFusion]

[tareknaj]

[rob]

[M&R]

[A-Cube]

France 1 - Netherlands 4

I can start out by saying how well the Dutch played and how much they deserved to win...but I just want to comment on the French team that is not worth representing the great institution that is the French football...I still don't get why Domenech insists on playing Sagnol and Malouda...the first one was clearly not the right choice against the speed and athleticism of the Dutch team...Sagnol kept insisting on going up and try to deliver the ball as if he was an offensive midfielder...it just worked once during 90 minutes!!!On the 2nd and 3rd goal where was Sagnol to cover the right flank??There was literally no one to defend the side and with a guy like Robben capable of running the 100M in 12 seconds you cannot expect to recover in time to avoid the goal...the 2nd goal was a positioning error by Sagnol and the 3rd goal was just dreadful...apparently Sir Willy was still celebrating his assist that he forgot to get back and gave Robben enough space to kill the game...as for Malouda...what can you say on a guy that couldn't get a pass straight??who kept losing the ball to the opponent??who couldn't get back on defense to help his teammates??I say this player is not worth being in this tournament...the French team is between 2 phases...2 generation colliding...time has come to dump the old guard(at least the bad ones) and give the new players a bigger role...I have been saying for ages that Lassana Diarra deserves to be the right defender on this team...so does Bakari Sagna...Malouda should take a break and leave his position on the field for Frank Ribery and finally give Samir Nasri the position of attacking midfielder that belonged to the greatest attacking midfielder of his generation(or for a fact the greatest attacking midfielder of all ages...Zinedine Zidane)...Henry is still a sure value of this team though his missed lob on Van Der Saar could have changed the game...something is missing in this team but it's big time Domenech dumps the weakest links if he wants to avoid the humiliation against the Squadra Azzura...I can honestly say I'm not very optimistic about it...France has the potential to win against any team but as I said: something is missing...on the more positive side we saw good games from Evra Govou and Ribery...the only 3 players to have really shown some positive performances yesterday...as for Gomis...I can firmly say that this guy is either too young or just isn't first-class material...

As for the Dutch I just need to say Chapeau Bas...they played extremely well from the start to the end...and rightfully deserved the game though the score-line doesn't really reflect the reality of the game where the French played well at times...but it was only at times...this team has proved to be the best so far in this competition but showed some defensive weaknesses...the Dutch defense can be broke down...Italy proved it and so did France...but they have the goalkeeper of the year and that is enough to guarantee you a clean sheet most of the time...there were no deceptions on this team and I hope this will be Netherlands' year because they really deserve it...

And Kamil you want to talk about referee-ing errors?? how about that hand in the surface that kept the ball from going into the goal at the start of the 2nd half ...but referees are human-beings and it was not a good angle to judge whether Ooijer stopped the ball with his hand or body...

So from my part congratulations Netherlands...the last phase looks very promising...and I think the Dutch will play a good game against the Romanians...if you were in their shoes who would you choose to meet later on??a team that you failed to score a goal against in the qualifying phase or a team that you beat with a 3-goal margin??

[rob]