Netherlands outclass Romania and advance to quarter-finals

After a rather poor Monday in terms of spectacle, this Tuesday started with a duel between Romania and the Netherlands. The Dutch team came out of a rather mediocre group stage, having qualified as the best third-placed team in the French group. Oddly enough, the Romanians finished with the same number of points – 4 in total – but that allowed them to be first in group E, ahead of Belgium in particular. The Oranje – dressed in blue today – had to do better. The match started with a lot of intensity, and an offensive and aggressive Romanian team.

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Dennis Man, for example, was very active up front, and scored a shot that grazed the bar (14th). But it was the Dutch individual quality that would strike first. On the left, Cody Gakpo sent a shot close to the right post of a helpless Nita to open the scoring (0-1, 20th). His third goal in this Euro, and the start of a great performance. Romania still had some response, with a huge opportunity missed by Man (23rd), while De Vrij, alone at the fall of a corner, sent the ball into the small outside netting (26th). The match was quite lively and Dumfries was already offered a caviar to Depay in the area, but Dragusin’s decisive intervention prevented the second Dutch goal.

Cody Gakpo shines

Xavi Simons’ gang was beginning to completely dominate the game, and the PSG player missed a superb opportunity, hesitating to strike from close range at the penalty spot following a caviar from Dumfries, before completely losing control (44th). After the break, the Dutch continued to have the upper hand in the game. On a mix-up in the area, Memphis was on the verge of catapulting the ball into the back of the net but Ratiu tackled in extremis to prevent the former Lyon player from shooting the goal (54th). Romania got away with it by being only one goal behind, and Van Dijk, from a corner, narrowly missed the target (58th).

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The attacks continued and Nita had to make a great intervention on a shot from a Gakpo on fire (62nd). He even scored a second goal in the box, which was finally disallowed due to offside (63rd). Depay saw his free kick go out after grazing the right post (68th). It was a real festival, but the goal to break the deadlock was a long time coming. Veerman missed another opportunity with a flat foot that went off target by a few centimetres (73rd). It was a miracle that Memphis Depay’s team only led by one goal… Until Donyell Malen finally made the break in the 83rd. On a precious back ball from a very combative Gakpo on the spot, Malen only had to put his foot down to wrap up the match. He even offered himself a double in added time at the end of a well-executed transition. Ronald Koeman’s team outclassed their rivals – the score could have been even harsher – and will challenge the winner of the duel between Austria and Turkey in the quarter-finals.