The Italy we saw against Holland was very different from the Italy which won the World Cup in 2006. The team was rarely in the game, the coach managed to get all his decisions wrong, the players were weak and basically, those who like me support Italy, are in for a tough summer. In fact I don’t know what the easiest way of being humiliated is; i.e. not to qualify (like the English) or play as the Italians did against Holland.

If the performance of Italy against Holland is the showcase of what Italy can do best, then all Italians and their supporters are in for suffering. I don’t recall such a humiliation in any competitive match at this level.

Van Basten’s boys gave a wonderful performance. The second goal of the match was a true example of perfect football. Van Der Saar seems to be still enjoying the grace he was blessed with during the Champions League Final against Chelsea. His save on Pirlo’s free-kick (the one which preceded the Dutch third goal) is a clear example of what I refer to.

Donadoni’s choices proved to be extremely bad. How can one leave Del Piero on the bench? On the other hand, Van Basten presented a team which was perfect for more than 70% of the match.

Apart from the disaster on the pitch, there was also another major difference in Italy’s performance. I refer to the post-match resoluteness. It is a fact that the first goal of the Dutch was not regular. The referee decided that the fact that the position of Christian Panucci, off-the-pitch, kept Van Nistelroy on-side and thus the first goal was allowed. Had it been in other times, Italy would have put all the blame on the referee and that incident (I still think that the referee should be sent home). This time round, Italy took responsibility for the disaster and in pure Italian elegance Gianluigi Buffon, who is replacing Cannavaro as captain, asked for forgiveness.

There is a lot that needs to be done, if Italy is to move on in the tournament. Nothing is lost yet but typically of Italy things got complicated so much that must win their next match against Romania.

Italy’s nightmare started… Holland can start to dream.