MATCH REPORT
ITALY 0 - 0 NETHERLANDS
Zambrotta s/o F. De Boer miss pen
Kluivert miss pen
ITALY WIN 3-1 ON PENALTIES
Talk about a game that had everything...! First of all, with the teams still just feeling each other out, Gianluca Zambrotta was sent off by the hopelessly-out-of-his-depth German referee for two yellow card offences, the first of which, as is almost customary these days, saw him take the ball clean as a whistle, then Holland were awarded a penalty as Nesta and Kluivert stood shoulder to shoulder in the area, with minimal shirt-pulling going on it must be said, but if refs gave pens for that every time, every game'd finish 9-8 for Gawd's sake.....Anyway Toldo saved magnificently to his left from Frank de Boer, and the rest of the first half was only notable for Bergkamp hitting the post with Toldo beaten all ends up.....The second half saw a magnificent rearguard action from the Italians, who conceded another penalty when Davids went sprawling over the outstretched foot of an Italian defender (Nesta again?) about an inch inside the box....Patrick Kluivert took over the responsibility from De Boer this time, possibly to throw the 'keeper, but probably because he was the joint leading scorer in the tournament and needed just one to claim the Golden Boot all for himself, and erm, hit Toldo's right-hand post with the man himself diving away to his left once more....And for the rest of the half (and extra-time) no-one could find a way through, although Kluivert had a couple more half-chances, and Italy could've scored through a couple of one-on-ones...in the end though, and probably inevitably, it came down to the first penalty shootout of EURO 2000 to decide France's opponents in the final.....it went a bit like this.....
DI BIAGIO.....GOAL! 1-0
F. DE BOER....SAVED! 1-0
PESSOTTO....GOAL! 2-0
STAM.....OVER THE BAR! 2-0
TOTTI...GOAL! (AND HOW!) 3-0
KLUIVERT......GOAL! 3-1
MALDINI......SAVED! 3-1
BOSVELT........SAVED!!!!
ITALY v. FRANCE ON JULY 2nd.....