49': Lobont saves Persie's shot.. amazzzing save.

48': Mutu = faster than affelay.

46': Shot Mutu from 23120301 yards away.. why?

46': game back on.

45': Half Time... dissapointing.

45': Amateurism.

45': How in the world did he miss that?????????

44': Codrea miss.. jesus christ.

39': Shot Cocis, wide again. 

37': How did he misss that??? my god. Robben just missed a perfect opportunity. wow.

35': Titi Henry almost scored for France in the other game... getting there!

34': Dangerous cross Contra, no one got on it!

33': Miss Huntelaar.. close.

30': Mutuuuuu sooo clooooose jessu.

26': I hope the French can score one and tie it up! Benzegoolll come on.

26': Ribery injured, Abidal red card. Penalty Pirlo, goal.

24': Incredible miss Mutu! Skipped off of Bouma's foot.. dammmn

23': Someone teach Nicolita how to cross PLEASEEE

21': we're defending too much! Hand ball Huntelaar.

19': Persie heads it over the goal, not close at all.

17': the atomic gypsie is fast, but can't cross... shame.

16':

15': Robben is gona get injured.

14': Chivu clinical tackle and stop.

13': Lots of possession and counter-attack tries.

9': Chivu shoots it over the goal... damn.

8': Mutu fouled in a dangerous position.

7': Offside Nicolita.

6': Afellay dribbles it out of the pitch, not too threatening.

4': Shot Marius Niculae, Looking good for us.

4': Foul Netherlands.

1': Game on!

Before Kick Off: Stekelburg startinggg yess!

Latest news from De Telegraaf! The leading Dutch news source has found out that it's highly probable that both Robin Van Persie and Arjen Robben will be in the starting 11 against Romania.

According to the Dutch newspaper, the most likely starting 11 from the Netherlands will be:

Van der Sar - Melchiot, Heitinga, Bouma, De Cler - De Zeeuw, Engelaar - Van Persie, Afellay, Robben - Huntelaar

Van Basten seems to be risking a bit by starting Van Der Sar in my opinion in a game that doesn't matter at all for them. Van Persie and Robben just came back from injuries and playing the glass figurines against our rough line-up might lead to them picking up another injury. If I was him, I wouldn't risk it, but it seems like he will. 

Another Dutch publication, Algemeen Dagblad, gave their 10 reasons why the Netherlands will defeat Romania:

1. Afellay has the chance to get revenge on Mutu after Fiorentina - PSV in the Uefa cup.
2. Van Basten isn't forgetting Huntelaar anymore, and he will score a goal to repay him.
3. Van Nistelrooy wants the top scorer prize.
4. Ovidiu Petre, one of the best midfielders for Romania is injured.
5. Ogăraru, Lobonţ and Chivu don't agree on the Dutch tactics.
6. Romania has won only once against Holland.
7. Mutu will miss another penalty.
8. Sneijder also wants to be top scorer.
9. Robben tries to score from impossible positions, this time he'll try to score from a corner.
10. Stade de Suisse is a temple for the Netherlands. 

I'd say that all of those except for 1,3,8 and 9 are false. 1,3,8 and 9 won't contribute to a win. Ruud and Sneijder are on the bench, Afellay won't do anything important, like the Fiorentina game, and Robben can try to score from a corner, but it won't happen. I was expecting a bit more creativity from the Dutch press to be honest. 

Not much time left before the big games in the group of death. I'm dieing waiting for these games to begin.

My prediction: Romania 2-0 Netherlands. 

"I live in luxury. I have so many choices for the team that sometimes I don't know what to do, that's my problem." That's what Van Basten said, who will take advantage of the chance in the last game of the group to rest most of the players in the starting 11, and to test the rest of the squad. 

"I won't risk a possible injury caused by fatigue or to leave myself without a player because of bookings. Also, who is not 100% fit will not play against Romania," said Marco Van Basten to the Dutch journalists. 

These are the possible 10 players that will be rested:

Van der Sar - he is 37 years old and has played 52 games this season.
Boulahrouz - often injured and he just played 6 games at Sevilla and the fitness level is showing.
Ooijer - has a yellow card from France and could risk suspension.
Van Bronckhorst - the left defender who is 33 years old and played 45 games this season will probably be rested after the tiring sprints against France and Italy.
De Jong - he has a yellow card from the Italy game.
Van der Vaart - he is also fatigued after 54 games this season and he ran 21.16 km at Euro so far.
Sneijder - Sneijder had a long season with Real Madrid and gathered 50 games. He also ran 21 km at this Euro and is the key player for Holland and can't risk injury.
Van Nistelrooy - he came back in april after a month of absence caused by an operation on his ankle. Van Basten doesn't want to risk injury.
Robben - he is not 100% and the doctors don't want him to push it and risk another injury.
Van Persie - after two months of absence, it is unlikely that Van Basten will risk an injury on him this game that doesn't do anything for Holland. 

Taking these into account, the possible lineup could be: 

GK: Stekelenburg
DF: Melchiot, Heitinga, Bouma, De Cler
MF: De Zeeuw, Engelaar, Kuyt, Afellay
FW: Huntelaar, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink

Insiders from the Dutch setup said that if Italy and France were eliminated, the Dutch would "rid themselves of two forces of global football, which could come back to form any time. They would avoid the probability of meeting one of them again in semi-finals."

Van Basten suggested the same thing. He was asked about the game tuesday. He said laughing that he is "interested to be first in the group." The reporter shouted back "you already are!" To which Van Basten said: "Oh really? I didn't think of this scenario. I will do that and we will choose the best possible path for ourselves." 

He also said that it's not their ambition to "lose games, but we will reflect seriously on what is best for us, not for other teams."

Chivu said in an interview for the International Herald Tribune that "it won't change much. The other 11 players will be wanting to show off their skills." I think that's just politics though. 

Also the comments of Cosmin Contra in the same article put a smile on my face for once. He said that "we are a good team. We have two draws against the most powerful teams in the world. We need to attack (against the Netherlands). We need to go hard against them."

Before the Italy game, he said he wanted to sit back and defend. I'm happy he's changed his mind after seeing what a bit of attack can do for us against these big teams. They're not used to small teams attacking them, they're always shell shocked. 

Ciprian Marica is supposed to start for Romania as the striker in the Netherlands game. He is over his injuries, and Daniel Niculae will be rested after the hard work against France and Italy. He should add a different dynamic to the game for us, him and Niculae are very different players. 

Well this is looking good for us so far. Of corse, the Dutch substitutes are good players, but we did beat them 1-0 and drew 0-0 in qualifying and they weren't playing backups. People say that the backups will play hard to get a chance in the first team and show what they can do. But they have to think in their minds that the starting 11 Van Basten used against France and Italy beat the world champions and the vice-world champions 3-0 and 4-1, so even a good game against Romania probably won't convince Van Basten to include them in the starting 11. I think the Dutch will see this as a holiday, and prepare for their game against Russia or Sweden. They'll get their chance to play the starting 11 against us after we beat Spain. 

Either way, I truly believe that France and Italy will draw anyways. And if that happens, I really don't think we'll lose 3-0 against the Dutch reserves, so we'd still move on. But we need the win to guarantee that we can move on. 

I'll be back with more as soon as I have more information, until then, ROMANIIIAAA ROMANIIIAA OLE OLE OLEEEEE. 

End Of Match: C'est tout.

88': Persie almost scores too, he rocks.

81': Affelay goes in to get a run around. Donadoni looks like a very worried man. PLEASE play like this when we play you Italy!

77': GOALLLLL van bronkhorstttt! 3-0. Game over. That's all. Perfect action and reaction by the Dutch. Amazing.

77': ITALY sooooo close! Van Persie with the counter, seems unfit.

75': Heitinga goes in to strengthen the defense. The dutch are becoming Italian.

70': Another chance for Del Piero, he's lighting the game up for Italy.

65': Del Pierooooooo makes an instant impact. I thought it was going in!

63': Del Piero coming on for Di Natale. 19 goals this season, should be starting in my opinion.

60': I love Gatusso :), so scrappy.

59': Not much significant action to be honest, just midfield battles. Grosso has done some good things since coming on, good decision. Toni just hit one to van der Saar, not dangrous enough to cause trouble.

52': My friends are distracting me and Zambrotta almost scores! Crazy chance and almost very lucky.

45': Game back on.

Half Time: Half time, Holland have been the best team so far in Euro. Can't wait to see what Spain do tomorrow.

45': Di Natale hits a bomb just over the bar. Close.

42': Vaart through ball to Nisterloy, but Buffon comes out with an amazing save with his legs.

39': Two balls on the pitch!

34': Yellow card Zambrotta.

33': Di Natale almost scores, good shot, takes two attempts for van der saar to keep it. Great game.

31': Corner taken by Pirlo, van Bronkhorst saves it off the line! Netherlands go in a counterattack, Geo cross to Kuyt, Kuyt heads it to Sneijder, and he puts it in by Buffon. GOAL Netherlands.

26': Sorry that was minute 26! Ruud still a prat.

22': Another foul, this time on Kuyt. Sneijder takes it, Buffon stops it, the play continues in the box and GOALLLLLLLL RUUD VAN NISTERLOYY! Fucking prat was offide though - hate him. Wayyyyy off.

22': Foul on Ambrosini, Sneijder catches him about 30 meters out. Pirlo takes it, too far for Toni.

19': Sniejder shot over the post. Holland are in control now. Good pace to the game.

18': O damn, Kuyt pass to Ruud, and he trips on Buffon, doesn't get to the ball and ruins the chance to score. That's where he should have dove.

15': Bad slow shot by Ruud, does no good.

13':

13': GEO kills Panucci.

12': Gatusso cross in, Toni header at bad angle and it goes wide.

10': Vaart shot after good quick passing. He's fantastic.

9': Foul Gatusso on Vaart. Italy still moving the ball best in my opinion.

6': Italy are looking good so far, very good buildup, a new chance for them.

3': Bad shot Pirlo.

3': Already more action than in the whole of Romania - France. It's depressing.

2': Ruud jumps up trying to scare Buffon. Amusing :).

Before Kick Off: Two keepers are captains. Pretty unique.

Before Kick Off: I have some faith in the Dutch. I hope it's an open game, and not as nonchalant as Romania vs France. We shall see.