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Blue final Azzurri top Dutch on penalties, will face 'Les Bleus'
Posted: Thursday June 29, 2000 06:16 PM
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- A water-tight Italian defense led to a flood of Dutch tears Thursday as Italy defeated the co-hosts in a semifinal overtime penalty shootout after 120 scoreless minutes at the Euro 2000 championship. The victory means Italy will meet France in the final on Sunday and the Dutch are looking for another coach after Frank Rikjaard's unexpected decision to quit. Still 0-0 after 30 minutes of overtime and shorthanded for 86 minutes after the first half ejection of Gianluca Zambrotta, the Italians won the shootout 3-1 go reach Sunday's final in Rotterdam for the first time since 1968. Including the shootout, Dutch captain Frank de Boer missed from the spot for the second time in the match and his team missed four in a row, two in normal time. With the Azzurri up three to one, Paul Bosvelt succumbed to the pressure and his saved spot kick meant the Italians rather than Oranje who made it to a showdown with World Cup holder France.
"It was a great battle against a great team," said Italian coach Dino Zoff. "We responded well to adversity. We played better with 10 men than with 11. We fought harder. "To arrive in the final is beyond the expectation of any team in a tournament like this." It was just the opposite feeling for Rijkaard who announced his resignation only minutes after the loss. "I just want thank all the players for their support," Rijkaard said. "I wanted to get results and the team deserved that." Before the shootout, the 120 minutes of action at the Amsterdam Arena were largely frustrating, with the Dutch offense unable to find the back of the net even when it was able to break through the tough, tight Italian defense. Free-kick specialist De Boer and Patrick Kluivert, a hat-trick hero in the 6-1 crushing of Yugoslavia in the quarters, both missed penalties against short-handed Italy, while Dennis Berkgamp hit the post. Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, meanwhile, desperately trying to do his part, made a brilliant save to thwart Marco Delvecchio during extra time. De Boer's penalty kick was stopped by the unflinching Francesco Toldo in the 38th minute -- five minutes after Zambrotta had been ejected for his second yellow card. Kluivert's spot kick in the 62nd minute hit the post with Toldo diving in the opposite direction and the Italians once again kept their heads above water. Unable to score rapidly, the Dutch never quite found their rhythm and soon stopped applying pressure from the flaks, with winger Marc Overmars dropping his pace and Peter Van Vossen, who replaced Boudewijn Zenden, delivering but a average performance. "In the first half we had them on the ropes. And then I miss a penalty," said De Boer, who wound up missing two. "Later we just didn't have the patience. "In the shootout, they had the psychological advantage because we had already missed two. We missed five penalties. It's very sad. We cannot finish our job. We had a great chance to win the championship and we only have ourselves to blame." Rijkaard said penalty misses by De Boer and Kluivert during normal time cost them a place in the final for the first time since 1988. "The [missed] penalties were crucial," he said. "If one would have gone in it would have meant we were 1-0 against ten men. "We just could not force a breakthrough. The end just wore us down. It took too much out of us. It was our mistake that we could not bring down this defensive wall. "Two penalties and we miss them both," Rijkaard said. "We practiced penalties almost every day and now it is clear we are not strong enough. "All this is disastrous. This is such a missed opportunity. This will take a long time to heal." In the shootout Italy's Luigi Di Biagio, Gianluca Pessotto and Francesco Totti each found the back of the net while captain Paolo Maldini missed. Kluivert was the only Dutchman to score. Frank de Boer and Paul Bosvelt saw their spot kicks solidly saved and Jaap Stam fired over the bar. It was an unhappy ending for the Dutch who failed to break down an Italian defense even after Zambrotta had been sent off in the first half. Bergkamp almost gave the Dutch a first half lead when he drifted past a defender on the edge of the area and fired a low right foot shot that thudded against the foot of the left hand post with goalkeeper Toldo beaten. Struggling to contain the Dutch midfielders, Italy's Zambrotta and Mark Iuliano were shown the yellow card within two minutes of each other for hauling down Boudewijn Zenden and Mark Overmars a long way from the Italian goal with little danger to Toldo. When Boudewijn Zenden went down in the 33rd minute it was clearly a bad foul by Zambrotta and the Italian was sent off for his second yellow card. Five minutes later the Dutch were awarded a first penalty when Kluivert had his shirt pulled by Alessandro Nesta. But Toldo guessed right and dived to his left to block De Boer's firmly struck spot kick and the shorthanded Italians remained level. Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van de Sar made his first save of the game in the third minute of the second half and didn't even need to. Fiore's shot was sailing well wide of the post but the 'keeper flung himself to his right to palm the ball away at the expense of a corner which, fortunately for him, came to nothing. At the other end, Zenden ended a slick Dutch move with a powerful left footed volley which was straight at Toldo befoe the Italians handed the host another chance from the penalty spot. Edgar Davids clearly had Mark Iuliano beaten for speed when the Italian defender stuck out a foot and upended his Juventus colleague just inside the area. This time Kluivert stepped up to take the spot kick and, although Toldo dived the wrong way, he hit the post. Bergkamp, who had a standout game against the Yugoslavs, was replaced by Clarence Seedorf three minutes before the end of normal time. After 10 minutes over extra time, Van de Sar had to pull off a stunning save when Delvecchio got clear, outpaced two defenders and fired low and hard only for the 'keeper to stick out his left foot and deflect the ball wide of the post. In the second period of extra time, Marc Overmars sent a stunning pass through to Kluivert whose first time shot rolled past the far post. Bergkamp retired from the national team after the match. Bergkamp, who scored 37 goals in 78 appearances with the Dutch team since 1990, had been expected to quit after this tournament. "I don't know why Holland can't win in a penalty shootout," said Bergkamp, whose team lost a shootout to Brazil in the World Cup '98 semifinals. "It's not the first time and it won't be the last. It's so stupid. We have only to blame ourselves." Lineups: Ntherlands - Edwin van de Sar; Paul Bosvelt, Jaap Stam, Frank de Boer, Giovanni van Bronckhorst; Marc Overmars, Edgar Davids, Philip Cocu, Boudewijn Zenden (Peter van Vossen 77th); Dennis Bergkamp (Clarence Seeford 87th), Patrick Kluivert. Italy - Francesco Toldo; Mark Iuliano, Alessandro Nesta, Fabio Cannavaro, Paolo Maldini; Gianluca Zambrotta, Demetrio Albertini (Gianluca Pessotto 77th), Luigi Di Biagio, Stefano Fiore (Francesco Totti 83rd); Filippo Inzaghi (Marco Delvecchio 67th), Alessandro Del Piero. Referee - Markus Merk, Germany. Penalty KicksItaly - Di Biagio scores. Holland - Frank De Boer misses. Italy - Pessotto scores. Holland - Stam misses. Italy - Totti scores. Holland - Kluivert scores. Italy - Maldini misses. Holland - Bosvelt misses.
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