Group C

Italy remain in the competition by the skin of their teeth after a 1-1 draw with Romania. The Italians set camp in the Romanian half and came close with a 9th minute Del Piero header, but Romania looked dangerous at times with Mutu having his shot foiled by Buffon in the 15th minute and a deflected free kick from Chivu coming off the post 5 minutes later. Lobont was kept on his toes towards the end of the first half, but was finally beaten in stoppage time by a Toni header only to be rescued by the offside flag. Ten minutes into the 2nd half Zambrotta attempted to head the ball back to his keeper and was punished by the opportunistic Mutu who gave Romania the lead, but a minute later Italy were back on level terms when a corner was headed back across the face of goal for Panucci to knock over the line. Lobont made a diving save to keep out a header from De Rossi in the 75th minute, but the save was overshadowed by a brilliant save in the 81st minute when Buffon stopped Mutu from the penalty spot to keep Italy in the competition.(Italy 1 Romania 1)

The Netherlands finished top of group C after a glorious 4-1 triumph over France. Dirk Kuyt headed in from a corner-kick in the 9th minute to give the Dutch a lead which van der Sar preserved in the first half by saving from Govou with his legs in the 23rd minute and getting down in the 35th minute to save a Franck Ribery strike from inside the box. Tierry Henry lobbed the ball over van der Sar and the bar in the 53rd minute and saw his team go 2 down 6 minutes later when Robbed raced down the left and delivered the ball for van Persie to force in past Coupet. Van der Sar palmed away a shot from Ribery in the 61st minute and 2 minutes later at the other end Coupet got down to save from Robben. France got back into the game in the 71st minute when a shot from Sagnol was guided in by Henry's deft touch, but a minute later Arjen Robben smashed the ball past Coupet from a tight angle to restore the 2 goal lead. Coupet denied van Nistelrooy's looping header in the 83rd minute, but could not prevent the 4th when Wesley Sneijder turned and curled the ball in off the bar with a splendid shot from outside the area in stoppage time. (Netherlands 4 France 1)