Netherlands' Ruud van Nistelrooy (left) celebrates with teammate Dirk Kuyt after scoring the opening goal during the group C match between the Netherlands and Italy in Bern, Switzerland, at the Euro 2008 European Soccer Championships in Austria and Switzerland yesterday. The Netherlands won 3-0. - AP

BERN, Switzerland (AP):

Spremuta D'Orange read a sign hanging at one end of the intimate Stade de Suisse, which translates roughly to "freshly squeezed orange juice."

Right idea, wrong colour.

The aged Azzurri got splattered at the European Championship, not the Oranje.

On a night when Orange Crush ruled, the Netherlands defeated Italy for the first time since the 1978 World Cup, a stunning result in a sport dominated by the traditional powers. Ruud van Nistelrooy and birthday boy Wesley Sneijder scored in the first half and Giovanni van Bronckhorst added a late goal in a rousing 3-0 victory yesterday.

"It was one of the ugliest games in the last 12 years," Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon said. "In the name of the entire team, I think I have to apologize to all the Italian fans."

A shocker

Never before had the Azzurri lost by three goals in the Euros. Italy hadn't been defeated by three goals since a 0-3 defeat to Sweden in a European qualifier in 1983.

Nine of Italy's 11 starters were 30 years old and up and injured captain Fabio Cannavaro was sorely missed.

Two years ago in, Germany, was a time of "vino e rose," when Italy allowed two goals in seven matches - one a penalty kick, the other an own-goal - and returned home with a fourth World Cup title, erasing memories of the latest match-fixing scandal to mar Serie A.

This time, the Italians are grouped with the Dutch, France and Romania in what appears to be the most difficult group.

"The game started out badly and ended even worse," Italy coach Roberto Donadoni said. "We were naive on the counterattacks."

Held to a draw

France, which lost to Italy on penalties in the final in Berlin two years ago, were held to a 0-0 draw by Romania in an earlier Group C match.

France looked a lot like the team that was held to a 0-0 draw by Switzerland in its opening World Cup game two years ago.

"Maybe the French are bored with playing at the highest level and let us Romanians win a point," Romania coach Victor Piturca said. "My players are exhausted."

Playing without captain Patrick Vieira and record scorer Thierry Henry, France dominated possession but failed to penetrate the Romanian defence, which was led by Gabriel Tamas. Usual defender, Cristian Chivu, played in a midfield role as part of a conservative formation drawn up by Piturca.

Facing a similar task in Germany in 2006, with one point from one match, France coach Raymond Domenech was trying to look on the bright side.

"It's important not to lose to a direct opponent, so you can say it's positive," Domenech said. "It was not easy."