Target reached but Dutch want more

Despite the Netherlands achieving their pre-tournament objective and qualifying for the semi-finals of the UEFA U-21 Championship, coach Foppe de Haan is looking for more from his improving side.

A 1-0 victory in their Group B decider against Italy, sealed through substitute Daniel de Ridder's 74th-minute header, means the Dutch will play France for a place in the final tomorrow, while the Azzurrini are left to reflect on missing out on the KO stages for the first time since 1998.

De Haan told uefa.com: "We had to beat Italy because we wanted to play in the semi-finals, and that was our aim before the tournament.

"After the bad game against Ukraine we were left with a big problem but we regrouped and rediscovered ourselves.

"We played very well in the first half. At half-time, I saw the Italy trainer looking angry while I had a good feeling.

"France have a lot of quality. But, we have done what we wanted to do in this tournament even though we should never be satisfied with what you have."

Italy, the title holders, were 16 minutes away from reaching the semi-finals before Giorgio Chiellini's defensive flick deflected off the head of de Ridder and into the net.

The 1-0 scoreline, combined with Ukraine's subsequent deciding goal against Denmark, left Italy in third place and out of the tournament.

"We didn't play for the draw and our start to the game showed that," Italy coach Claudio Gentile said.

"After their goal we created two clear openings which we missed - one of them would have been enough to have us all speaking about a different outcome. But, we have to accept the result because we know in football sometimes just one small thing can change everything."

Juventus centre-back Chiellini said: "It was a poor goal to concede from what was their first chance of the match. We played well but Holland got the semi-final berth."