The Netherlands has punched its tickets to the UEFA European Championship semifinal for the first time since 2004 and silenced doubters along the way.
Holland took down Turkey, 2-1, in Saturday’s quarterfinals matchup in Euro 2024. It was a dramatic victory for the Dutch, who came back from a 1-0 deficit by scoring two goals in a six-minute span. The first came off a header from Stefan de Vrij in the 70th. The second was technically an own goal by Turkey’s Mert Müldür in the 76th minute, though Netherlands’ Cody Gakpo made a play on the ball to help score the goal.
As it prepares for its semifinals matchup, the Netherlands has seemingly come a long way from where it started the tournament. It finished in third place in Group D, beating Poland with a late goal before drawing France and losing 3-2 to Austria. Several Dutch legends criticized their team through play, with captain Virgil van Dijk receiving the brunt of it due to a perceived lack of leadership.
The “FOX Soccer Now” crew of Jimmy Conrad, Melissa Ortiz and Ari Hingst believe the Netherlands has slowly progressed through the tournament, with Conrad thinking the Austria match was an anomaly.
“I would say, outside of the Austria game, they’ve managed every situation pretty well,” Conrad said of the Dutch. “Even for good portions [of that match], they were down 1-0 against Austria and they made it 1-1. Down 2-1, made it 2-2. At that point, you think, ‘OK, let’s just get the draw, call it a day.’ They couldn’t manage that. That’s where they got heavily criticized afterward.
“But in every other game, they seemed [to be in control]. Sure, they gave up the first goal today. But they managed and found a way. Whether it was through subs, a change in tactics or urgency, they climbed their way back in. I think it’s important when you’re a team going through a tournament that you have to be a team that can be fluid and adapt to any situation.”
Ortiz agreed, believing that Saturday’s match legitimized the Dutch’s win in the Round of 16.
“There were a lot of questions even in their performance against Romania, in which they won, 3-0,” Ortiz said. “We didn’t know that day if the Netherlands were very good or if Romania were just very bad. After seeing this performance, I think the Netherlands has been growing more and more throughout the tournament. They definitely shut up their critics, as well. Some of the legends had said they didn’t have any energy, spark, motivation or want in their game. Virgil van Dijk was solid in his performance.”
“We saw a complete performance from the Netherlands,” Conrad added. “We were asking for one and they gave us a full 90 against Romania, in particular. So, we know the evidence of that.”
Hingst believed that there was a notable difference with Holland’s performance on Saturday. She pointed to Gakpo’s effort on the game-deciding goal and the multiple blocks recorded on shots from Turkey in the 85th minute as a sign its players were willing to grind it out.
“We hadn’t seen any of this willingness to defend, but also the willingness, like Gakpo, to score a goal,” Hingst said. “You go in there and it might hurt. Soccer’s physical at times, it can hurt at sometimes. But this time, they showed me that they’re still in it, they want to do it, they showed the emotion and I think they’re starting to play better as well.”
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However, Hingst also marked that the fact that the Netherlands had to lay it all out defensively in the final minutes leaves her with a bit of concern moving forward.
“They allowed too many chances,” Hingst said. “The defense is not solid enough, yet. [Nertherlands goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen] needed [to make] a lot of good saves in the last couple seconds of the game. So, defensively, I’m not 100% convinced of this Dutch [team].”
Turkey had more shot attempts than the Netherlands did in Saturday’s match (15-11) and it got dangerously close to tying the game two minutes into stoppage time. But as Holland survived and advanced, Conrad thinks it might have one of the quotients to win the championship as it prepares to take on England.
“When I think about the Dutch team, they seem to go to the bench very quickly,” Conrad said. “So, if something’s not working, pulling the trigger [right away]. He took out Joey Veerman in the game against Austria because it wasn’t working. It was like, 30 minutes in.
“But it seems like the Dutch are relying on 17, 18 players, which is important if you’re going to win a tournament because you can’t do it with 13 or 14.”
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