Italy defeats France | Enters Quarters

France has been outset in the Euro 2008 as they were forced to go out of the tournament by the World champions Italy. Italians advance to the next round by a sound display of 2-0 over the world cup runner ups.



Andrea Pirlo put Italy in front with a penalty kick in the 25th minute after Eric Abidal was red-carded for a foul on Luca Toni, and Daniele De Rossi made it 2-0 with a deflected free kick in the 62nd.

Italy will now face Group D winners spain who are having a great tournament so far. We can be assured a great display of football there.

France’s night began badly when winger Franck Ribery was taken off the field on a stretcher after injuring his left leg in challenge on Gianluca Zambrotta. Ribery fell awkwardly in the seventh minute after tracking back to pressure Zambrotta.

No stopping the Dutch

The dutch rested some of their key players but even then it was too much for Romania as they were eliminated from Euro 2008.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar helped the Dutch backups send Romania out of the European Championship on Tuesday with a 2-0 win, a result which allowed Italy to join the Dutch in the quarterfinals.


Huntelaar, the replacement for Ruud van Nistelrooy, killed off much of the suspense hanging over the game by tapping in a cross from Ibrahim Afellay in the 54th minute. Robin van Persie added the other in the 87th with a strong solo effort on left wing against a strangely listless Romania, playing its biggest game in eight years.

“This says a lot. This is not a ‘B’ team,” said Van Persie, one of the few regulars to play. “We have one group, 23 players. We are as good as equals.”

“It was considered by far the toughest of the four groups. I am proud and happy we have won three games, nine points and scored nine goals,” Dutch coach Marco van Basten said.