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| Teams | Pld | +/- | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
 Portugal | 1 | 2 | 3 |
 Czech Republic | 1 | 1 | 3 |
 Switzerland | 1 | -1 | 0 |
 Turkey | 1 | -2 | 0 |
| Teams | Pld | +/- | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
 Germany | 1 | 2 | 3 |
 Croatia | 1 | 1 | 3 |
 Austria | 1 | -1 | 0 |
 Poland | 1 | -2 | 0 |
| Teams | Pld | +/- | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
 Netherlands | 1 | 3 | 3 |
 France | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Romania | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Italy | 1 | -3 | 0 |
| Teams | Pld | +/- | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
 Greece | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Sweden | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Spain | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Russia | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Marco van Basten, Netherlands coach
You could say that I'm proud. I'm proud that we won against the world champions, and at the way we played football tonight, scoring three goals and playing until the last minute. It was a historic result because in the past we have never beaten Italy 3-0 – this was a serious performance. The players responded in a wonderful way and played like a team, showing amazing spirit. If we play with this quality we can have nice dreams. Until the very last minute we tried to play proper football, and made life difficult for the Italians. In spite of their pressure we continued playing and I have to congratulate my team for pushing on and scoring.
We cannot talk of a new era, we have won one game – the first in our pool. I'm very happy to beat a big opponent but we have only taken one step. If you have the spirit we had tonight you're able to do nice things, but there are a lot of other good teams here. In several areas we were better than the Italians but they have many good and experienced players in their team. I'm convinced they'll recover as they have too much class not to. This is only one game, and we will prepare in the same way for the others. If we lose to France, we have problems again. This is only the first step, and we'll have to see if we can repeat it against France and Romania.
Roberto Donadoni, Italy coach
When we went 1-0 down things got complicated and for the second we were not quick enough to recover our positions after the corner. We looked strong physically and created a few chances but it wasn't our night. I think the Netherlands played as well as we expected them to. We knew they were capable of creating chances and making life difficult for us and that's what they did but we made mistakes and paid for it. It started badly and ended up worse but this is already history and we need to think about the next game against Romania. We need to recover physically and mentally so we can put things right straight away.
If we're not optimistic we should go off on holiday instead of taking the flight to Zurich. The players need to put this defeat behind them, understand the mistakes we've made. As of tomorrow we'll start working on them so they don't happen again. We were naïve at conceding goals on the counterattack. We took a corner and were not attentive enough afterwards. We didn't defend properly. Obviously in the light of this result, we're happy that France and Romania drew. It's to our advantage but also shows that Romania are a team who'll make it difficult for us.
Anelka chance
Victor Piţurcă's side, appearing in their first major finals for eight years, restricted Les Bleus to a handful of half-chances as the two-time European champions struggled to impose their quality on proceedings. Nicolas Anelka was guilty of missing the game's clearest opportunity when he headed Franck Ribéry's cross over in the first half, but with Thierry Henry confined to the substitutes' bench, Raymond Domenech's men lacked a cutting edge and rarely put the well-organised Romanians in serious difficulty.
Cagey start
These teams boasted two of the meanest defensive records in qualifying and from the opening exchanges it was obvious the contest would be tight. France monopolised possession early on yet rarely threatened Bogdan Lobonţ's goal as Mirel Rădoi, Răzvan Cociş and Cristian Chivu tenaciously closed down space in front of their back four. With Henry still not fully fit, Anelka and Karim Benzema started in attack for the first time, and both fired in wayward shots during a cagey first ten minutes.
Instant response
Daniel Niculae had been given the task of leading Romania's front line on his own and succeeded in posing problems to Lilian Thuram and William Gallas. In the 16th minute, the striker, who plays in France with AJ Auxerre, might have done better than drag his shot wide after Adrian Mutu's deft knockdown. The French response was instant, though, Claude Makelele releasing Florent Malouda through the middle, only for Lobonţ to sprint off his line and deny the Chelsea FC winger.
Frustration
That would prove the only time the pacy France forwards got in behind Romania's canny defenders. Ribéry and Benzema began interchanging positions without much joy, although the FC Bayern München playmaker did lay on a golden chance for Anelka on 33 minutes. After playing a corner short, Ribéry's cross found the Chelsea striker unmarked but he headed over. Anelka vented his frustration four minutes later by blasting into the side-netting from an impossible angle, as Benzema's calls for a cross went unanswered.
Mutu free-kick
Both sides began the second period in more attack-minded fashion. Malouda was the first to threaten, bursting past Cosmin Contra but shooting over the crossbar, before Romania enjoyed their best spell. Chivu's influence was growing and when his slide-rule pass found Mutu, the ACF Fiorentina player was felled by Willy Sagnol on the edge of the box. But as the France fans held their breath, Mutu directed his free-kick disappointingly into the wall.
Vocal fans
Despite the attempts of the vocal Romanian supporters to suck the ball towards Grégory Coupet's goal, Les Bleus finished in the ascendancy. Ribéry's low centre from the right reached Benzema unmarked just inside the penalty area but his first-time shot was straight at Lobonţ on 57 minutes. The Lyon youngster then miscued another right-footed attempt after latching on to Anelka's header. Bafétimbi Gomis and Samir Nasri were introduced for the closing stages, yet neither succeeded in making inroads, as Romania held firm until the very end.
