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It's France vs Italy in the final
"Boring" Italy defeated pre-tournament favourites Holland on penalties yesterday (Full-time score 0-0, Italy won 3-1 on penalties)to set up a meeting with France in the final of Euro2000, to be held on Sunday night (1:30, Singapore time). Francesco Toldo proved to be the Italian hero on in the match, saving penalties during normal time as well as in the shootout. Italy spent most of the 2 hour long match with ten men as Gianluca Zambrotta was sent off early in the game for 2 fouls on Boudewijn Zenden, yet Holland, the highest-scoring mteam of the tournament, managed to lose to the Italians, solid backline and all. And when God gave the MANY chances to go ahead, Holland blew them. The Oranjemissed no less than 2 penalties in normal time. 5 Holland penalties were missed, 2 of them by the same villain, Frank De Boer. While Holland's Kluivert scored in the shootout to atone for his earlier sin, Stam skied his effort and De Boer missed, Luigi Di Biagio - exorcising his miss against France in the World Cup - Gianluca Pessotto and Francesco Totti for Italy kept their nerve. Dutch coach Frank Rijkaard, a former national defender, should be held responsible for his controversial decisions as well, subbing off Overmars, Cocu and Bergkamp, all of whom might have been able to shoot in the crucial penalties. Rijkaard quit as coach of the Dutch team just shortly after watching his team get ousted, and rightly so.
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Sukur Punch
Turkey have qualified for the quarter-finals of Euro2000,
finishing behind leaders Italy in Group B. A brace by Hakan Sukur in the 45th and 68th minutes was enough to see off Belgium, and with Italy beating
Sweden (see report below), Turkey have moved past the group stage of the European Championships for the first time in history. Belgium did not
go down without a fight, but their cause was hardly helped when they were reduced to ten men in the 84th minute. Turk midfielder Arif raced past the
static Belgian defence to chase a long ball, but was brought down by goalkeeper Filip De Wilde (living up to his untamed name)'s fist outside the penalty
area. Both men involved had to leave the field, Arif on a stretcher and De Wilde for an early bath. Arif was substituted by Osman, but De Wilde had to
hand his gloves over to defender Deflandre (pun not intended) as the Belgians had used up all their subs.
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Spotlight
We scrutinise some of the better-performing players at
Euro2000--this week it's Holland's flying left winger, Boudewijn Zenden.
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The Sin Bin
All the bad boys at Euro 2000
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All the good guys
Those who've
been banging in the goals
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Belgium
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
France
Germany
Holland
Italy
Norway
Portugal
Romania
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Turkey
Yugoslavia