Long live football! Love live the Dutch

This was the moment last night that Real Madrid and Holland's Wesley Sneijder finished off the perfect team goal that had flashed from a goal line clearance at one end to the Italian net at the other in less than 15 seconds and made it 2-0.

The politics of European soccer changed. A seismic shift in the tectonic plates of the beautiful game. And the Italian house came down. After decades of catenaccio, strong arm defence, niggling, nasty midfield, histrionic gamesmanship, sharp incisive striking, the Dutch showed there is another way to play. To play and to win. This was the first Dutch victory over Italy since the 1978 World Cup.

The Dutch express of the early 90s was derailed at Wembley by Terry Venables England at Euro 1996 - 12 years and 10 days ago - with four goals two from Alan Shearer and two from Teddy Sheringham. Last night was the renaissance. After more than a decade of paranoia, schizophrenia, introspection, valium, Proxac and other nuerosis like fear of flying, a Dutch side emerged from its cocoon to show why they are one of the spiritual fathers of world soccer. Like the Brazilians, they bring another dimension to the modern game. Even if beating Italy was a one – off, they left their mark. Dutch football was here on June 9, 2008. Enjoy.

They were lucky. The Italians were unlucky. After so many offsides that have been down to the width of an elbow, a toe, a lock of hair, Ruud Van Nistelrooy was offside by an avenue, a motorway, the Atlantic ocean of space. As the Daily Telegraph put it, he was almost in Austria. But the flag stayed down. The goal stood. Apparently the fact that Christian Panucci was comatose knocked off the picth by his own goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon meant Fifa regulation 11, sub-clause 11 passed apparently mysteriously five years ago, says he was played onside. This must be the first time such a rule was actually enmforced. Throughout, the Swedish referee Peter Fröjdfeldt, was supremely lenient and let the game flow to increasing Italian chagrin in the second half. Sweet revenge for all those teams over the years that have suffered from over zealous refereeing as the Italisn strove to break up a game.

The victory was no more than the Dutch deserved after rolling the Italians back, like so much bedding back on themselves And for once the Italians to whom playing from the back was never an issue, were undone.

In a sense the mood of the match surrounded the superbly fit RuudVan Nistelrooy. In the 18th minute he burst through, caught his foot on the diving Buffoon but instead of falling as he might have done in the old days at Old Trafford he struggled gainfully for his footing and caught the ball on the byline but missed the chance of a penalty or an open goal. After the second goal, he could have had another bursting past the muscle of Marco Materazzi but only to shoot at Buffoon who saved it with an ankle.

And then there were two goals of sublime team play. Both came from goal line clearances. Giovanni van Bronckhorst, saved at one end, sprinted the length of the field crossed to the dynamic Dirk Kuyt who sent an angled ball in for an inspired conversion by an on rushing Wesley Sneijder. The second came after Edwin Van De Saar had saved brilliantly from a 30 yard free kick by Andrea Pirlo. The ball spiralled in the air was booted clear to another orange shirt. Again Van Bronckhorst was quickest up the field and set up Kuyt, who was denied by Buffon, but recovered, and chipped across the box, where it was headed in by Van Bronckhorst.

This is not strictly a team like those of Johan Cryuff or Ruud Gullit of the days of total football. It was a team in almost a mirror inversion of the Jose Mourinho Chelsea. Where Mourinho with his defensive mind set stuffed the midfield and moved forward like a tank with midfield runners and flying wingers and the brute brilliance of Drogba, here Van Basten had only two in the midfield, Nigel de Jong and the massive Orlando Engelaar holding the play, breaking it up and bringing everyone else into the game. It was a 4-2-3-1 formation. When the Dutch broke they did not attack down one side of the field, but both sides at once. They crossed from one side of the pitch to the other for both goals while running the length of it and could have come in from either side.

It was some stuff. And they ran. My did they run. By the end they had run Italy ragged despite the subtle beautiful threat posed by the substitute Del Piero towards the end. But even then players like Boulhrarouz who had looked clodden and out of his depth in the Premiership filled in at the right back slot which has become such a strange poisoned chalice at Chelsea and played with the heart of a lion or like a boulder rolled into the doorway of the defence. There was another ex-Chelsea right back on display in Panucci who again looked another class to his days at Stamford Bridge, except when he went missing for the offside goal.

And Italy were unlucky, not just for the first goal but on another day they might have scored but even if the result had been 3-3 it would not have altered the reality that here was a team capable and willing to depose the champions. Italy were good which makes the victory all the more important. Compared to the vapid French a few hours ealier Italy had tenacity, flying full backs that ran to the byline, they had in Luca Toni a big centre forward in Drogba fashion who was always going to be troublesome. The obituaries on them can wait. At 10/1 they are not a bad bet to still win the championship, especially after such a rude wake up call. If they have the legs in this ageing team, they probably have the nous and the acumen.

And then there were the fans too. Two thirds of the stadium ws orange. The Dutch were dressed in wigs and painted faces so much so the authorities had issued a warning about smoking (and this the Eurioopean country that discovered and introduced tobacco in the 1600s). They were there because they wanted to see it. They saw it. They sang: Always Look On the Bright Side Of Life.