Marco van Basten believes Holland have earned the right to dream of glory at Euro 2008 after their 3-0 demolition of world champions Italy kicked the tournament into life.
Holland s first win over the Italians in three decades and Italy s heaviest defeat in 25 years has left the Dutch in control of a group of death that also includes France and Romania, whose turgid goalless draw could not have been further removed from the exhilarating encounter served up here on Monday evening.
For the Dutch coach, the manner of the victory was every bit as important as its unlikely scale.
To beat the world champions playing football to the last minute it was for us a very nice game and also a historical game, he said. We have never beaten Italy by three goals.
If …