Euro 2008
2008-06-09 - Italy vs Holland
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Italy
The World Champions will be hoping to emulate the French side of 1998 and 2000 by following the World Cup win with another at a European Championship. Roberto Donadoni has attempted to have the Italians play a more expansive type of football since replacing Marcello Lippi as the national team manager but this approach means they are slightly more vulnerable at the back.
After a poor start in their qualifying group when the Italians picked up 1 point from the first 6 available, the World Cup holders managed to win the group with their 9-2-1 record where they scored 22 goals and conceded 9. Italy were in the same group as France, Scotland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Georgia and the Faroe Islands. I dont think Italy will want to leave progression for the quarter finals of this tournament until the last game as they will meet France again since only managing 1 point from the 2 games in the qualification stage.
The Azzuri have played 3 friendlies in preparation for this tournament and finished with 2 wins and 1 loss. They did manage to beat fellow participants Portugal at home but were defeated in Spain by a single goal. Italy have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of those friendly games and also in their last 2 qualification games.
The mood coming out of the Italian camp is one of confidence and they feel they will be strong enough to move into the quarter finals and beyond this year. The Azzuri have brought over an extremely experienced side and their players seem to think they can exploit any Dutch weaknesses.
Christian Panucci will be a late decision for this game after tweaking a tendon. Fabio Cannavaro was recently ruled out of the tournament through injury.
Holland
Holland are looking to emulate the side of 1988 and bring this trophy back to the Netherlands. Marco Van Basten leads the Dutch into battle and will be hoping to add his image to another European Championship after making such a mark with THAT volley in the final against Russia in 1988.
In a strange little twist, this group consists of 2 pairs of teams that met in the qualification for the tournament. Holland qualified in 2nd place to Romania in their group including Bulgaria, Slovenia, Albania, Belarus and Luxembourg, and the Dutch finished with a 8-2-2 record. They scored 15 goals and only conceded 5 in those 12 games. Holland will have been disappointed that they failed to score in 2 games against fellow qualifiers Romania, and the fact they only picked up 1 point from 6 against them.
Holland have played 5 friendlies since they qualified for this tournament, and have had some impressive results. They had a 4-1-0 record during those games which included a 0-3 win in Croatia and 3 clean sheets. However their defensive vulnerabilities could be gauged from their 3-4 win in Austria when they were 3-1 down.
Van Basten has admitted he has some selection issues to iron out before this game but will be hoping to exploit the whole left in Cannavaro's absence. His Dutch side play a very rigid style that has received some criticism, notably from Johann Cryuff, but a defeat in this first game could be disastrous.
Arjen Robben is out after injuring himself in training and joins fellow left winger Ryan Babel on the treatment table. Mario Melchiot is also likely to miss out as is Robin Van Persie who recently returned to training. Wesley Sneijder is also available for selection.
Head to Head
The 2 sides have met twice in the last 8 years. Italy famously knocked out Holland in the semi final of this competition in 2000 after a penalty shoot out. The most recent meeting saw Italy run out 1-3 winners in Amsterdam in 2005.
Prediction
These 2 nations are 2 footballing giants and I think this will be a close contest. Both teams will not want to lose the game and I think both coaches would not be too disappointed with a point apiece at the end of the game.
Italy may be the World Champions but I think their style of play leaves more spaces for opponents and any team that has the class of Ruud Van Nistelrooy up front can score goals. Holland have been solid defensively in qualifying but while they have 3 clean sheets in their last few friendlies, I feel the goals conceded against Austria shows some vulnerability.
I feel both defences are capable of being breached and favour a low scoring draw.
The Pick :
Italy 1-1 Holland
