Euro 2008 - Romania's quarter-final dream dies

Eurosport - Wed, 18 Jun 09:20:00 2008

Romania's Euro 2008 quarter-final dream died as they lost 2-0 to the Netherlands with goals from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Robin van Persie.

FOOTBALL Euro 2008 Netherlands striker Klaas Jan huntelaar celebrates scoring against Romania. - 0

A win for Victor Piturca's side would have guaranteed progression, while a draw would have been enough if the match in Zurich between World Cup finalists Italy and France also ended in stalemate.

However optimism turned to trepidation then despair as first Ajax man Huntelaar then Arsenal's Van Persie finished clinically either side of half-time.

Romania made a fist of it in the opening stages, playing with caution while threatening on occasion, yet as the half wore on a Netherlands side which had hammered both the Italians and French in previous games took control.

Given the quality on show in their side it was hard to believe that Marco van Basten had made nine changes from the 11 that won the 'group of death' with such ease: a strike-force of Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben and Huntelaar was enough warning for Romania that their passage would not be guaranteed.

Romania have a superstar of their own in Adrian Mutu, the Fiorentina striker who missed a now crucial penalty against the Azzurri late on in the second round of matches as well as scoring. The cards just did not fall in his favour against the Dutch, though it was not for the want of trying.

After only four minutes Mutu played a dangerous ball into the box, half-met by Banel Nicolita; the ball looped up and Caledonian Thistle forward Marius Niculae banged a volley just wide of the near post to get their fans going.

There was little in the way of goalmouth action for some time as the Netherlands kept the ball without finding a final pass and Mutu sought to advance down the left from deep, with Cristian Chivu, Nicolita and Cosmin Contra all guilty of wasting chances to put in a good cross.

Dutch midfielder Orlando Engelaar showed them how to do it with a floated ball to the back post for an unmarked Van Persie, who stretched and directed the ball a couple of yards over.

With the game in Zurich still goalless, Romania remained in pole position to qualify as Mutu first controlled a long throw and turned to flash a deflected shot across goal - Wilfred Bouma doing well to block - then ran into space to unleash a bullet of a shot a couple of yards wide of the near post.

In between times the news came through that Italy had taken the lead, quieting the Romanian fans behind the goal in a stadium awash with orange.

On the stroke of the half Paul Codrea shot over from 12 yards after Razvan Rat had pulled back from the by-line, but that was by that time a rare forage forward as the Netherlands imposed their forward play upon the match.

Robben missed a guilt-edged chance following an excellent lay-off by Huntelaar, slipping the ball past goalkeeper Bogdan Lobont - and somehow also the post with the goal gaping.

There was another warning minutes into the second period as Van Persie controlled a lofted ball and turned to earn space, his low shot from eight yards somehow turned behind by the impressive Lobont.

On 54 minutes the breakthrough came when Engelaar's attempt to reach a low Ibrahim Afellay cross effectively worked as a dummy and Huntelaar was behind him to direct the ball into the bottom corner with a firm touch.

Amid several changes was the bold attacking move by Piturca of Nicolae Dica on for Codrea, yet the Steaua Bucharest forward threw away the last vestige of hope by chipping a poor pass straight through to Edwin van der Sar's replacement for the night Maarten Stekelenburg with four team-mates screaming for it in the box.

Italy had scored a second by that time, which meant Romania needed two themselves for the win.

With three minutes left Van Persie controlled a Demy De Zeeuw free-kick with his chest and remained on his feet to smash the ball inside the near post and rub salt into Romania's wounds. They had come so close to making it through the hardest group at the finals, yet fallen at the final hurdle.

For the impressive Dutch - still with a 100 percent record - either Sweden or Russia await in the last eight.

Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport

Comment 34 - 53 of 53

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  1. As much as I hate to say it: the Italians will kn0ock-out the Dutch in the semi-finals and will become european champions. They only needed this chance to escape the group stage.

    From Vlad B, on Thu 19 Jun 10:53AM

  2. Emil, I don't hate Pitzurca, I just think that he is the major reason for a ridiculous game with Holland. He chose to bring Banel in the first place; why??? You talk about coruption, can't you see he's part of it??? How much did Becali pay him to have Banel (Nicolita) err...running on swiss fields?
    Besides, he has no imagination, no strategy, no nothing!! Just read Chivu's declaration, to see the great tactics they applied. I wouldn't have minded a loss: Holland is by far the best team here! But if at least they would have played!!! Show some footbal! Show some thought...Of course foreigners thin that Ro team is rudimentary: they only saw them now, here, playing...tzurca! That's why i am upset with and don't want to hear about Pitzi anymore: he had enough talented players, with lots of potential, and he just didn't know how to valorify them! He did not prepare this CE, why did he come then??? That's why I think that he's incompetent, low morale, and he would better resign!
    As for the group C, I think the two real teams that deserved to go forward were Holland and Holland's reserves! All my respect goes for them , and I hope they will kick azzuri out should they meet them again in the semifinals!! Hup Holland hup!!

    From ottonescu, on Wed 18 Jun 9:32PM

  3. If I'm vanBasten, I should be thinking, "maybe we should let the Romanians win. This way there is no chance of the possibility of facing either Italy or France a 2nd time. Though neither of these two have done particularly well in this tourney, the Dutch have a better change of getting by Romania again than either of the other two sides (from an historical persepctive, anyway.) Dumb move, Marco.

    From flookiepookie, on Wed 18 Jun 9:10PM

  4. Ottonescu I really don't know why everyone hates Piturca. After he left, Romania failed to qualify since 2000. Now he's back and we made it to the Euros. We lost but its OK. It was a tough group, and everyone expected us to finish in 4th place and 0 pts. We showed we can play. But with Banel Nicolita?? are you kidding me?? every opportunity that he had in the 1st half was messed up by him. I reckon seeing Mutu arguing with because the ball was passed to Banel instead of Mutu ahahaha.

    For all you foreigners who have no idea about romanian soccer. We have players with great deal of potential, but that does not mean they will play. Fotball is corrupted as much as current GOV who tried to replace basescu LOL.

    Most players are from the Bucharest teams...no matter what level skill...

    A perfect example I can give is Gheorghe Craioveanu. He was the top scorer in the Rom. League playing at Universitatea Craiova, at that time they were looking very strongand have won the league....but he was also top scorer 2 seasons in a row, and the National Team coach at that time Anghel Iordanescu (another @#$%) did not take him to US 94 world cup LOL....it is still the same "who i like" thing going on in our soccer....we never have the best romanians playing for our national team, and its a shame, because we could have done maybe a lil bit better. if we would have started the Holland game like we did with Italy maybe things might have been better....but I guess thats what happens when Nicolota plays....look at the match again...he runs but for what??? I see him sometimes all by himself running I dont know where LOL...

    Nothing has changed. We have 2 assholes such as: Mitica Dragomir and Mircea Sandu. They should be banned from any sport....

    Thank You all. Now that Italy has given a fresh start...I am really pulling for them to win...

    From Emil P, on Wed 18 Jun 3:30PM

  5. "He who laughs last laughs best." Dedicated to all romanians who took every opportunity to rubbish Italy. Keep dreaming

    From goldpibe, on Wed 18 Jun 2:30PM

  6. Romania is good but not too good.Holland let us to win but we was too interested of the other match Italy-France and at break when players heard about the score 1-0 for Italy they fall mentaly.Congratulations Italy and Holland(i hope you will be in the final).And i am from ROMANIA too.

    From grassu a, on Wed 18 Jun 11:06AM

  7. Piturca should resign for only a @#$% like him could not see the dutch tried anything except an own goal to help the romanians score.

    From Luca Lucian, on Wed 18 Jun 10:14AM

  8. Marco Van Basten has a LOT of sotrng, succesful, famous players. Let's stop the joke that they are young, half-unknown and hungry. They are "just" great football players, playing for great international teams, well paid just as (or more than) the Italians, the Germans and so on. There is just a fantastic generation + Van Nistelrooy of the previous one. Huntelaar is targetted by half Europe, and he is the 6th choice forward!!! Did Barcelona offer 30 milions for Di Natale? Did Chelsea offer 50 millions for Perrotta? Real Madrid got Cassano more or less for free, and sent him back soon after. Only Toni, Grosso, Zambrotta and Cannavaro played for big teams outside Italy, none of them was an expensive transfer.
    Presently Italy has some champions, but without one among Toni, Pirlo, Cannavaro and Buffon there are serious problems.
    Anyway, I think Italy played decently against Holland, and the outcome became obvious only with the theird goal, occurring 30 seconds after Pirlo's free kick, that is usually a goal under "human" circumstances. Even the second happened just after Van Bronkoost saved on the line. About the first, it has been discussed long enough. I just say that VN honestly admitted he cound not believe it was onside. Toni should have scored in front of VdS.

    OF COURSE we thank Holland today! Not only they were "correct", they also managed to win, unlike Italy and France, that were motivated enough. I think a possible new Hollad-Italy would not be obvious. But Spain is a HUGE hurdle for us without Pirlo and Gattuso (and of course Cannavaro)!!

    From Giovanni T, on Wed 18 Jun 9:31AM

  9. romania showed the best defensive football in this group.... i think they missed a crucial player like goian...he would have solidified the defence.. they should exit the euro 2008 experience with heads up as they had reached to bring one point from wc 2006 finalist (italy and france) and the only team to have conceded less from the netherlands (lol)....about the game,.. their passing was not that good and apart from few attacks and shots, they didnt do that much...!

    From Chris, on Wed 18 Jun 9:13AM

  10. With the array of young football stars in Serie-A- and the so called Bundesliga i really don't know the main reason why it's difficult for Italy and Germany to bring out two solid unbeatable squad. I'm so sick and tired of the kind of players Italy, France and Germany brought to this tournament. Ha! ha!! ha!! Look at what Marco Van Basten did, he picked young and energetic players from clubs around the world, trained them together to understand eachother and now they are achieving good results, yeah! that's what we call a good coach! not a coach that recycles players for donkey years. You gotta feature players who can change situations not players who will cause disaster. In fact......

    From samikel101

    From samikel101, on Wed 18 Jun 8:48AM

  11. No matter how tougher the knockout stages of this euro 2008 might be i'm 100% sure that the Netherlands will still beat the Italians whenever they meet again. Gone are the days when football favours big names but these days it's all about reality and bringing in determined and purposeful players not tired legs like France, Germany and Italy. The Germany and Italy are just being lucky and they'll soon be trashed. As for the french, they have the worst performance in this tournament, there's no doubt about it and the only suggestion is that their coach should be sacked with immediate effect. Coach Raymond Domenec never takes his time to correct his players anomalies but always put the blames on referees and linesmen, that's not a good coach!

    From samikel101

    From samikel101, on Wed 18 Jun 8:27AM

  12. The romanians have made euro unpredictable...being the dark horse of the tournament...they have put a twist in the euros...but as we know their luck just ran out...

    From fadzly_duece87, on Wed 18 Jun 8:21AM

  13. CONGRATULATIONS HOLLAND! CONGRATULATIONS FOR OPEN AND FRANK AND HONEST FOOTBALL..YOU ARE THE BEST TEAM IN EURO 2008 SO FAR..BUT!!!! SPECIAL ATTENTION TO TURKS:)))MAMMMA MIAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

    From vahittekin, on Wed 18 Jun 8:10AM

  14. Well, here's a Dutchman.. You all have to know that we Dutch are very surprised by the Oranje squad. Of course.. there are always those optimistics who say Holland will win the European Championships. Well, I'm not that sure. Still we have a big chance b/c we have a great team. Not under estimating the Germans, Portugans and don't forget the Italians. Still.. they are there.. and they'll be very dangerous. As always.. It amazes me very much that the Italians are belonging (as always) to the most-hated squad. Ah, believe me, I don't like them as well. I'm just curious what the reason might be for that hate.. hehehe And for me.. as long as Oranje plays as they should I can have it when they lose.. I'm for nice and atrackting football/soccer. Btw The Rumanians should have risked all.. their last chance! I don't understand that. Maybe they didn't believe in themselves..

    Gerrie

    From Nol Angar, on Wed 18 Jun 8:05AM

  15. Am I the only one who saw two different Dutch teams tonight? In the first half it looked like they were inviting Romania to score, its defenders "losing possesion of the ball" quite often while taking extreme care to "miss" a couple of clear chances. After half time though, the Dutch were merciless and faught as if this was the final (most likely some of these young players finaly got a green light to go prove themselves).
    As for those representing my country, they've proven that Piturca was wrong. You can't play like a smart cat all the time and expect you can switch into a tiger at will, when needed. Generation Choke!

    From Easy R, on Wed 18 Jun 6:23AM

  16. wat a waste man!no offense 2 italian fans but italy n france are very strong. holland could haf eased the competitions by sending reserve players 4 the match n go to some coffeeshop 2 watch the struggle between france n italy.i mean if holland lost, france n italy's effort would haf been down the drain. italy should really thank holland 4 their win. u know wat i mean.

    From lakz2020, on Wed 18 Jun 6:05AM

  17. Holland ofcourse will win the EURO 2008 title (I predicted this from the biggining)
    Quarteri-final:
    Holland-Russia 3:1
    Semi-final:
    Holland-Spain 2:0
    FINAL:
    Holland-Portugal 4:0
    (Uzbek predictor)

    From spylord1053, on Wed 18 Jun 4:55AM

  18. they showed that it dosn't matter who play . they are the best team of tournament .

    From goca, on Wed 18 Jun 3:36AM

  19. For Emil P, Banel has no fault, he played what he knew best: jogging (mult si fara sens, uneori in contrasens:))
    The fault is Pitzurca's, he should admit it, take responsability and resign!! With a trainer with a mentality of a loser, you can't expect much from the team, leave alone having high hopes!!!
    Apart for that, maximum points for Romanian fans!!! :)))) Good job!!!!

    From ottonescu, on Wed 18 Jun 12:32AM

  20. Dear Christine P,
    I completely agree that in order o qualify, you have to show some football. Some of the Romanian players, taken separately, do know what that means (see Mutu, whom Fiorentina loves because he SCORES, and for whom AC Milan is willing to pay some money to have in the team). Trouble number one there is Piturca, the trainer....Seeing his "tactics" I guess the verb "to win" doesn't belong to his vocabulary..
    On the other hand, the "great"azzuri also play mostly in defence and have a lot of luck as well...They showed nothing so far, just that they are whining ladys - I wonder if they complained to United Nations as well..From this so called "death group" (errr...maybe b/c 3 out of 4 teams were dead...?) only Holland deserves not only to qualify, but to get the title as well!
    And to end this, I hope to see Spain-Italy, 4-0, and out with the drama queens!!!

    From ottonescu, on Tue 17 Jun 11:59PM
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