THE Netherlands pulled off the first major upset of Euro 2008 with a sensational 3-0 victory over world champion Italy while Group C rivals France and Romania drew.
Two goals in five minutes midway through the first half from Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wesley Sneijder, the first from a blatantly offside position, gave the Dutch a commanding lead they richly deserved in a match they largely dominated.
Defender Giovanni van Bronckhorst added a third in the 79th minute to clinch Netherlands' first win over Italy since the 1978 World Cup finals.
The Dutch go top of Group C, the toughest in the tournament, ahead of World Cup runner-up France who were earlier frustrated by Romania.
France started its match at the Letzigrund stadium without striker Thierry Henry, who received a knock in a warm-up game, and midfielder and captain Patrick Vieira, sidelined by a thigh injury.
Neither side made any headway against some very tight defending, with only one shot on target in the entire match -- steered straight at Romania keeper Bogdan Lobont by France striker Karim Benzema.
France coach Raymond Domenech said: "We know it is a complicated group and Romania are not there to do anybody any favours. We were nervous, we could not express ourselves fully, it's often like that in the first match.
"The situation we're in now is that every match will be a knock-out round.
"If we play with too much caution, something will be missing at the end. There are two matches left and six points to take. I'm neither pessimistic nor optimistic."
Though his strikers fired blanks, Domenech was pleased with the untroubled time had by his goalkeeper Gregory Coupet.
"The positive thing is that Greg did not have one save to make," he said. "We managed to control the match, but we were not dangerous enough."
Romania coach Victor Piturca said: "Personally I would have wanted the three points since France may no longer be at the level they used to be. You could see that today.
"Our goal was three points but in the end it was a fair result."