Italy held to 1-1 draw, The Nedtherlands dominate France

Death must be an exciting thing, because the "Group of Death" is so exciting that I'm constantly on the edge of my seat.  The two World Cup finalists could be ousted by the proverbial underdog, Romania, and Holland is undeniably the most entertaining team I have seen in a while.  

Romania and Italy played to an eventful, controversial, and entertaining draw.  Italy thought they exorcised their demons when Luca Toni scored a fantastic header to the top corner.  However, the linesman ruled him offside.  The replay clearly showed that he was onside, but the goal didn't stand and the score remained level.  Adrian Mutu made the Italian faithful cringe when he latched onto a through ball and buried it in the back of the net.  Italians didn't have to wait more than a minute for the equalizer though, as Christian Panucci put Giorgio Chiellini's flick in to the Romanian net just a minute after Mutu gave Romania the lead.  The referee was again the culprit when he called a penalty against Italy in the 81st minute.  Mutu stepped up but Buffon was up to the task.  He dived by the ball, but his trailing hand hit the ball, and the danger was over.  Italy must be disappointed with their 1-1 tie, and Romania ecstatic with their destiny in their own hands.

As back and forth as the Italy Romania match was, it was nothing compared to the Dutch and The French.  The Dutch won 4-1 over the French, and the French were to put it lightly, ripped to shreds.  The Dutch truly achieved "Total Football" in their past two games.  With their victory they clinched first place in the group, and a match with the second place team from group D.  Dirk Kuyt, Robin Van Persie, Arjen Robben, and Wesley Sneijder all scored in dramatic fashion propelling the Dutch to the quarterfinals.  

France and Italy will play next tuesday, and so will Romania and The Nedtherlands.  If France and Italy tie, then all Romania needs is a point to advance.  If Romania wins, they are through.  If Romania lose, then the winner of France and Italy will go through.  If France and Italy are tied after regular time, they will go to penalties to determine a winner.   

I hope you enjoy this fantastic day of soccer. It doesn't get better than this.  As always, leave your thoughts below in the comments section.

The Tale of Two games

With Group C or the "Group of Death" kicking off today, it was going to be a great day of football.  The two games were worlds apart.  Romania and France was a boring game, and The Nedtherlands vs. Italy was an exciting match.

France were the favored side, but didn't play like it.  Romania had strong defense, and limited the good chances of the potent French lineup.  Romania had few good chances, but limited all strong chances for France.  The French will be dissapointed not to take maximum points from their game against the weakest team in the Group.  Romania will be pleased with the point, and will look forward to playing Italy who were thrashed by The Nedtherlands.

The Dutch had a tough road to qualify for the nock-out stages.  They had to beat the two finalists of the 2006 World Cup, and a underrated Romania.  The Nedtherlands got the perfect start.

Ruud Van Nistelrooy scored in the 26th minute when he was clearly offside.  Buffon cleared a free kick, that was shot back in.  Van Nistelrooy deflected it in, and the replay showed that a blind man would have seen he was offside.  However, Christian Panucci had crashed into Gigi Buffon on the initial clearance, and was lying behind the goal.  He played Van Nistelrooy onside, and Van Nistelrooy punished the Italians with a collected touch in.

The Dutch didn't put their foot off the gas, and they scored a brilliant goal courtesy of Wesley Sneijder.  The Dutch went on a counter attack, and swept the ball into space on the left.  The ball was played to the right, and back into a sprinting Sneijder who put the ball by an onrushing Gigi Buffon.  

The Italians began to play better, and the game started to level out.  However, in true Dutch fashion, Les Oranjes didn't stop trying to score.  Another counter attack saw the Dutch charge up the field, and Dirk Kuyt struck a ball that was saved by Buffon.  He collected the rebound and sent the ball into the box.  Giovanni Van Brockhorst was wide open and he didn't waste his golden opportunity.

The Dutch fans were delirious, and they should be.  The Nedtherlands beat the World Champions Italy 3-0.  Italy were thoroughly dominated, and Roberto Donadoni needs to do some serious thinking about his lineup for his next game against Romania.