Sneijder Hails 'Perfect' Present

The Oranje kicked off their campaign with an impressive 3-0 victory at Stade de Suisse to become the Group C favourites.

Sneijder was Holland’s star performer, creating Ruud van Nistelrooy’s opener and scoring himself with a lovely hooked shot on 31 minutes.

But the Real Madrid man hailed the win as a superb team effort, and insisted it would probably be their most significant result of the tournament.

Perfectly Important

"My first feeling is, we did it as a team," Sneijder said. "We played very well and deserved to win.

"The first game in the pool is always the important one. We won it 3-0, it has created some confidence, but we don't have time to celebrate. On Friday there is a second important game against France. The thing we have to do is win that game."

Last night’s win marked the time in 30 years the Dutch have beaten Italy, ending a streak of six losses and two draws against the reigning world champions.

Sneijder said: "It was a perfect job, it was a long time since the Netherlands won a game against Italy so this is great."

Nice Present

The former Ajax star turned 24 yesterday, and was duly gifted the Carlsberg Man of the Match Award – “a nice present”, according to Holland coach Marco van Basten.

German tactician Holger Osieck, part of the UEFA Technical Team that judges the award, revealed Sneijder’s influence both on the attack and in the scrap earned him the honour.

"There were a lot of good individual performances but I think Sneijder deserved it because he had the most impact on the scoreline," Osieck told euro2008.com.

"He had an assist, he scored himself, and in the game he had some brilliant moments – he sent in some beautiful passes, he did a lot of running. He was not just playing, he was a great fighter as well, so all in all he deserved it."

Mike Maguire