Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Oranje Crush

For the World Champs, it was the beating of a lifetime. Yesterday Netherlands whupped Italy in the European Cup soccer finals 3-0. It's the first time Italy EVER allowed three goals in a Euro cup match. The three goals topped the total (two) that Italy allowed in SEVEN matches in the World Cup in 2006, and of those two, one was a penalty (which the taker should score) and one was a fluke deflected into the Italian net by an Italian defender. All told, yesterday's match was a complete rout.

Good for the Dutch. They play some of the most exciting soccer (not an oxymoronic concept) in the world and dominated the match from the 10 minute mark of the first half to the end. Unlike World Cup '02, where they were screwed, or World Cups '90, '94 and '98, where they lost on penalties, the Italians took a beating.

As a semi-Italian, I'm shocked. But at least the match was interesting, unlike all too many Euro tournament matches that reach new depths of dullness (see Euro '04). Go Oranje!

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