Oranje Blitz

Van the man celebrates his opener with his teammates and fans

What a match! In one of football's most delicious match-up, it certainly didn't disappoint. Two distinctly different systems at work - The flamboyant Dutch and the organised Italians. In the end, the Dutch proved to be too much for the Italians as the Azzuri had no reply to the way the Orange men had been playing. The Italian defence is just as clueless in stopping the rampage. They were outclassed and outplayed time and time again by the Dutch attackers.

Of course, Italy had been touted as favourites for the match due to their status as World champions. There were many supporters of Italian footie around me but personally, I don't really fancy them.(partly cos they gave Deutschland the boot at the WC) At the international stage, I'm a fan of two countries, one being Nederland because of the brand of creative footie that they play and the other being ironically, their bitter rivals, Deutschland whom I regard as a solid balanced team with a strong determined spirit.

I had earlier predicted that Nederland would overcome Italy with a scoreline of 1-0 or 2-1 but I certainly didn't expect them to romp past at 3-0. In any case, I was delighted with the way the proponents of Total Football had won the match and proved to football skeptics that the game is not just about a straightforward game of 22 behind a ball.

Ruud van Nistelrooy opened the scoring with a rather controversial offside goal but UEFA ruled later that it is valid. The reasoning given was that although Panucci has been off-field as a result of the momentum, he is still considered to be in-game and as a result, his position ahead of van Nistelrooy played him onside. The second goal which followed after the first was a beauty and a testament of the particular distinct Dutch style of counterattacking. From an Italian corner, the ball is cleared away from the Dutch lines and almost immediately afterthat, waves of Orangemen started to sweep across the field in terrifying speed. It started with van Bronckhorst who passed it to van der Vaart. Vdv then planted a superb long range pass back to van Bronckhorst who then crosses it to Kuyt and Sneijder finishes it with style from a volley. From an Italian corner to a Dutch goal..lol. The third one is rather impressive too and again it is a component of counterattacking which the Italians dreaded so much on that night. Van der Sar made a superb save from a Pirlo free kick and the Orangemen were off and away again in pushing towards the Italian goalpost. The Oranje weaved a set of crafted moves which ended with van Bronckhorst heading the ball into the net to make it 3-0.

Italy has been well known to play a short passing and slow build up game. Opponents often find it hard to match up with them because they retain the ball most of the time all the way to the final third where apply a finishing. The Dutch playing style disrupted their traditional rhythm and the Italians were often thrown into disarray the moment counterattack occurs. As such, it is common to see the Italians retreat in panic. Sometimes, there are up to 3 blue shirts chasing after 1 orange fella. The agile silky movements of the Dutch made the Italians look like Ah Peks or grandpas on the ball. Italy is one hell of a juggernaut of physical superiority but Nederland made up the shortage with a keen flair on the creative manipulation of the ball and speed. Honestly, defence has not been the main highlight of the Oranje but for them, attacking is a form of defending. Look at the amount of times van Bronckhorst has pushed upwards and being a constant pain to the Italian defenders even though he was the left back. When the Dutch defence has being breached (which is quite often..haha..and sometimes done in deliberation for counterattacking purposes), they always have one solid person to depend on who have time and time again denied the Italians with his classy saving skills - van der Sar. Nederland would have conceded goals if not for the giant between the posts whom in my opinion, is comparable to the influence that Oliver Kahn had on the German team.

As for the other match, it's a bore 0-0 draw between France and Romania. By overcoming Italy, Nederland has one foot foot into the quarter finals since on paper and theoretically, they shouldn't have problems in dispatching Romania (cannot be guaranteed cos Nederland actually had trouble with Romania during the qualifiers). Anyways, Italy would need to work hard to win the remaining two matches if they wanna go through. As for the Oranje, they have Les Bleus as their next opponents for another delicious encounter.