June 11, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 06, 1429

VIENNA, June 10: The Netherlands lit up Euro 2008 on Monday with a landmark performance to stun world champions Italy 3-0 while their wonderful fans delivered an example of colourful, noisy but peaceful support.

It was the Netherlands’ first win over the Italians in nine attempts spanning 30 years — their last success coming in the 1978 World Cup — and Italy’s worst-ever defeat in a European Championship.

It also put the Dutch in early control of the fearsome Group ‘C’ after France were earlier held to a 0-0 draw by unfancied Romania in a dire game in Zurich.

“I’m happy and proud but it is only a first step,” said Dutch coach Marco van Basten, a winner of the championship in 1988 as a player, in a news conference.

The Italian team could only apologise and promise to lift their game.

“On behalf of my team mates, I feel I must apologise to all the fans; they, like us, did not expect this result,” Italy skipper and goal-keeper Gianluigi Buffon said.

On Sunday, there had been 157 arrests of mainly German fans after aggressive exchanges with their Polish counterparts in Klagenfurt but up to 40,000 Dutch, clad in their traditional orange attire, swarmed all over Berne without a hint of trouble.

After a day of drinking and singing in the Swiss capital, Dutch spirits were further lifted once the game got underway.

Their opening goal by Ruud van Nistelrooy after 26 minutes was clearly offside but there was no question about the second five minutes later, a beautifully constructed effort that began with a clearance from their own goal-line.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst planted an inch-perfect diagonal ball for Dirk Kuyt to nod back into the path of Wesley Sneijder, who finished accurately and acrobatically.

Italy had more of the game in the second half, with Luca Toni and Fabio Grosso going close but the Dutch sealed their hugely impressive win with another length-of-the-field break that began with a save by Edwin van der Sar and ended with Van Bronckhorst heading home in the 79th minute.

The 3-0 defeat was Italy’s worst tournament loss since the 4-1 reverse to Brazil in the 1970 World Cup final and it left coach Roberto Donadoni scratching his head.

“We let them score goals and we played naively, though the first goal looked as if it was clearly offside,” he stated.

The game was in sharp contrast to the drab affair earlier in Zurich, where France, World Cup runners-up two years ago, looked desperately short of ideas against a Romanian side who packed their defence and were delighted with a point.

France, without injured striker Thierry Henry, were toothless in attack and though Franck Ribery saw plenty of the ball, there was precious little creativity in midfield.

France were also without captain Patrick Vieira but fears that the experienced midfielder would miss the whole tournament eased when French officials said he should be fit to face the Netherlands on June 13.

Despite the poor result and flat performance, France coach Raymond Domenech said little had changed.

“It will be a battle until the very end, we’ve known that from the start,” he expressed. “I would have preferred to win 10-0 but football is not like that. Playing the Dutch and Italy won’t be easy but it won’t be easy for them either to play France.”

In other injury developments, Poland, who opened up with a 2-0 defeat by Germany on Sunday, discovered that they will be without captain Maciej Zurawski for their two remaining group games and possibly the rest of the tournament, if they progress, after suffering a thigh injury in the game.—Reuters