Finally, world champions Italy stepped up to the occasion and scraped through to the second round after beating foes France 2-0 in their Group C encounter on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Holland coach Marco van Basten did not let former teammate Roberto Donadoni down and handed Romania a 2-0 defeat even though he fielded a second string side. Man of the Day: Daniel De Rossi The Italy midfielder was used by Donadoni as a fringe player in the first two games, but 'when the going gets tough, the tough get going', and that is what the Roma midfielder did exactly. De Rossi gave an amazing performance against France and his tireless effort in midfield literally disconnected France's frontline from the rest of the team. Efforts from France's defense and midfield could not reach offensive duo Thierry Henry and Karim Benzema who were left stranded my De Rossi and his midfield teammates. De Rossi's capped the night by scoring Italy's second goal from a fierce long range free-kick that took a deflection to seal the victory for the Azzurri. Goal of the Day: Van Persie's second for Holland While all eyes were on the France-Italy clash, the Dutch were doing their magic yet again against Romania. Robin van Persie struck home the second for Holland only three minutes before the final whistle, dashing Romania's hopes of a comeback. The Arsenal player, who spent most of last season on the sidelines nursing an injury, showed some uncharacteristic strength and stamina to score Holland's decider. Van Persie collected a Demy de Zeeuw free-kick in the Romanian area and shook off defender Cosmin Contra before beating keeper Bogdan Lobont with a dazzling shot from a tight angle.
Romania were no match for Holland's reserve team Save of the Day: Gianluigi Buffon A lot of people attribute Italy's success of reaching the second round to the Juventus keeper. Buffon was Italy's best player in the 3-0 defeat to Holland and managed to keep Italy in contention by denying Adrian Mutu's penalty against Romania. Buffon continued his class-act against France and kept his team in charge of the situation when he produced an amazing save in the 74th minute. France were pushing forward to reduce the two-goal deficit and Benzema looked like he was going to bring France back into the game when he unleashed a powerful curling drive that was met by an equally impressive save from the fully stretched Buffon. Had Benzema managed to score, France would have been motivated to score a late equalizer that would eliminate Italy. Play of the Day: Donadoni's prayer Right after Benzema missed a first-half free kick for France, the camera caught Roberto Donadoni looking to the sky with his hands against each other and thanking God for the miss. His prayers definitely paid off as things could not have gone much better for Italy. By the 24th minute France had lost Franck Ribery to injury and Eric Abidal who was sent-off. Meanwhile the Dutch did their part by beating Romania. Quote of the Day: Raymond Domenech Out of all the things that Raymond Domenech could have been talking about after the game, the French coach decided to answer a question about his future in a personal way. "My future? The only plan I have is to marry Estelle," Domenech said, referring to his partner Estelle Denis who is a television journalist. Domenech's future with Les Bleus has become uncertain following the defeat, yet he decided to be more philosophical. "There are beautiful things in life," Domenech told reporters. "In difficult moments, you want to tell people you love them, you want to say the things that matter."
