The European Championship’s Group of Death, Group C, is set to kick off its second phase of games today, with Italy desperate to record a win against Romania while France looks to slow down the red-hot Dutch.
Italy faces Romania in the first game (noon, ESPN2) while the Netherlands and France square off in today’s second match (2:30pm, ESPN2).
Italy will be in attack mode, which could make for a fun match. Well at least it would if not for Romania’s plan to defend with numbers behind the ball. Alessandro Del Piero gets the call today to try and crack Romania’s defense.
The Netherlands-France match should be an exciting one. France would prefer a win today but a draw wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. The Netherlands want a win to move a step closer to clinching the Group and potentially avoid a quarterfinal with Spain.
If you will be watching today’s matches, and will be online, please feel free to share your thoughts on both matches in the comments section below.
Enjoy the soccer.
WOW!
Besides the goal, the game has been cagey, which is of course a soccer-sophisticated term for “dull”
Kuyt! On a corner (who scores off a corner in Europe these days?!?) YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!
Btw, Netherlands: 1-Edwin van der Sar; 21-Khalid Boulahrouz, 2-Andre Ooijer, 4-Joris Mathijsen, 5-Giovanni van Bronckhorst; 17-Nigel de Jong, 8-Orlando Engelaar; 18-Dirk Kuyt, 23-Rafael van der Vaart, 10-Wesley Sneijder; 9-Ruud van Nistelrooy.
France: 23-Gregory Coupet; 19-Willy Sagnol, 15-Lilian Thuram, 5-William Gallas, 13-Patrice Evra; 10-Sidney Govou, 20-Jeremy Toulalan, 6-Claude Makelele, 7-Florent Malouda; 22-Franck Ribery, 12-Thierry Henry