Netherlands coach
Marco van Basten said he was happy to have done Italy coach Roberto Donadoni a
favour by beating Romania Tuesday in Berne, dpa
repoted.
Although the Dutch coach made nine changes to the team that trounced world
champions Italy and France, Romania came off second best in a 2-0 defeat at St
Jakob-Park thanks to second-half goals from Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Robin van
Persie.
Italy defeated France 2-0 in Zurich at the same time but had to rely on the
Dutch winning or drawing as well to go through to the quarter-finals where they
will meet Spain.
Van Basten and Donadoni are friends from their playing days at AC Milan, but
the Dutch coach said there had been no contact between the two during the
tournament.
"He is a friend of mine, but in a situation like that it is not good to
have contact with each other because there is too much interest between the two
countries," van Basten said.
"But in the end I am happy he is going through. Happy for him, happy for Italy."
Van Basten said he was pleased with his side's performance, saying the result
could have been higher than 2-0. His team would now analyse the next opponents,
Sweden or Russia, who clash on Wednesday, and warned that the tournament would
now take on a different flavour.
"We are facing the quarter-finals and perhaps more matches, and this will
require more mental and physical exertions. This was an excellent opportunity
to put new players in," he said.
"We are very happy that all the players on the pitch created excellent
impressions. We have 23 players who are internationals. I am very satisfied
with this, and I am satisfied that we handled these three matches so well.
"I am happy that even a game like this we played seriously, and I am proud
they have done us very well. The group is over, and the real finals are
starting now, and with finals there come different emotions, and we have to see
how we react on that."
Van Basten was also delighted for man-of-the match Robin van Persie, who
started his first match of the tournament after scoring as a substitute against
France.
"He worked hard. He had a long and difficult time without playing, and he
wasn't completely fit when the tournament started," the coach said.
"Finally he played 90 minutes. He didn't start easily, but he worked hard
and was rewarded for his work with a nice goal."