Dossena omission causes Italy's worst defeat since 1970.

When scouseglactico Andrea Dossena was omitted from the Italian aquad for euro2008 eighteenfive told you it would be a monumental catastrophe. You just can't leave world-class players of that calibre out of your squad and expect to win games at a major tournament.

Holland, on the other hand, didn't make the same mistake. They included Liverpool sensation Dirk Kuyt and he proved the catalyst in the Netherlands 3-0 destruction of Italy. Kuyt, playing to the right of the Dutch formation, was lively all game and was the better of the the three players, which included Wesley Sneider and Rafael Van Der Vaart, that played in behind the unnoble steed Ruud Van Horseface. Setting up two goals Kuyt was UEFA's man-of-the-match and earnt the praise of David Pleat who described him as "one of the best defensive strikers the world has seen."

the great irony of the night was that if Dossena was included, like most Italian newsagents agreed he should have been, then he would have been the one to mark Kuyt. With Dossena reputation as someone who can completely shut down the opposition's right flank, he could have quite easily kept Kuyt quiet and there's one rule that every international coach knows when you play Holland. Keep Kuyt quiet and the game is pretty much yours.

The Netherlands also kept a clean sheet, which is a testament to Kuyt's tracking back and in spite of Edwin Van Der Sar who looked decidedly average and whose dodgy clearances almost gave Italy one or two goals.

The Dutch deserved the victory though with their application of total football, which was invented in the 70's by Bob Paisley and subsequently borrowed by the Dutch. The only blight on the game was horseface's cheating which saw him stumble in an attempt to win a penalty early in the game then minutes later he tapped the ball in from and offside position, whilst an Italian player was lying over the goal line with a potentially life threatening injury. Most players would have done the decent thing and kicked it out of touch.

Most decent players don't play for sugar cubes and live in barns though.