Euro 2008: Dutch all set to test Italy's bench strength

STANDING ALONE: Dutch goal keeper Edwin van der Saar makes a save during a training session in Lausanne, Switzerland.

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Vienna: Italy's bench strength and adaptability will be tested to the fullest against the Netherlands, who are bidding for a second continental title at the Euro Championship.

Italy will be without their charismatic captain Fabio Cannavaro, and the Dutch side would be keen on making the most of it.

Three days after they lost captain Fabio Cannavaro to injury, goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is busy training with the rest of the Italian side in Vienna.

Buffon is expected to captain the side, while Andrea Barzagli is expected to replace Cannavaro after he tore ankle ligaments in the first training session on Monday.

While the World Champions will have to deal with Cannavaro's loss, his decision to remain with the squad to cheer his teammates should boost their morale ahead of the match against the Netherlands on Monday.

"I have always been very relaxed and I now have the possibility to live this tournament from a small distance. It would have been too hard to go back to Italy and have to watch the matches on television," Cannavaro said.

And Cannavaro's teamamtes are jubilant with his decision to stay back.

"It is an important gesture he made. I think it is important for him as well to start recovering alongside a team that he feels is his own," Daniele De Rossi, Italy midfielder, said.

Meanwhile, with the likes of Wesley Sneijder, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie and Dirk Kuyt in his line-up, Marco van Basten's team enters the tournament as one of the favourites.

Italy are their first hurdle but the Dutch were gracious about Italy's loss.

"It is very sad that a player like him (Cannavaro) has to leave the tournament through injury. You don't want that to happen to anyone, even if its your biggest rival at the moment because we play Italy next week. You just don't want to see players like that leaving the tournament," striker Dirk Kuyt said.

The current Dutch squad is rated as amongst their best ever, but they will have to guard against their tendency to self-destruct in major tournaments if they have to go all the way.