Euro 2008 : Group C

The first match in this group was between France and Romania. There is only one word that can describe this match. "Boring". It produced the tournaments first goalless draw. The match was very dull with neither of the teams taking charge. Both of them lacked any quality finishers. Romania had a better defense which the mild attack of French could not penetrate. The second half did start on a promising note, but failed to produce anything substantial. Romania showed some promise but have unfortunately found themselves in a tough group. France seem to be maintaining their previous records of having more drawn matches than lost matches, trying to just scape through the next stage. After watching this game, I would hope that neither of these teams qualify for the knockout stage.

The second match in this group between Netherlands and the reigning World Champions Italy was such a great contrast to the earlier match. A thrilling match to say the least. Holland proved too good for the world famous Italian defense [ probably they missed Cannavaro more than what they expected ]. Though the first goal was definately a mistake by the linesman, it was the second goal that proved the dominance of Dutch. Undoubtedly the best goal seen so far in this tournament. I hope this match wakes up the Italians and hopefully they can come down hard on the other 2 teams in their group.

Though this group was touted as the group of death, the French game definately disproves this. After the first match, I can see that Holland and Italy are the strong favourites to qualify from this group. It would be a tough choice to pick the semi finalists from this group. If they maintain the same momentum, I would put my money on Holland than on Italy.