Dutch find their rhythm to reach first Euro quarters since 2008

MUNICH — The Netherlands could be peaking at just the right time.

The Dutch team reached its first European Championship quarterfinal in 16 years with a 3-0 win over Romania on Tuesday, delivering its best Euro 2024 performance so far in the process.

Cody Gakpo broke the deadlock in the 20th minute, and substitute Donyell Malen scored two late goals to send the Dutch to their first Euro quarterfinal since 2008.

"I think the whole performance today was outstanding, and that's what we need in order to have a chance of continuing in this tournament," coach Ronald Koeman said. "This is the level. If we go below that level, then we don't reach the final."

The Netherlands had missed a plethora of earlier opportunities to add to the lead, with captain Virgil van Dijk hitting the woodwork. It was, nevertheless, a much-improved display compared to its disappointing group stage performance, which ended with a 3-2 loss to Austria.

Koeman's side will now progress to a quarterfinal with Turkiye in Berlin on Saturday.

Merih Demiral scored both Turkiye's goals in its 2-1 win over Austria on Tuesday, including the opener after just 57 seconds, while goalkeeper Mert Gunok pulled off one of the saves of tournament deep into injury time to ensure the result.

"Even today, the start was difficult. Romania were really aggressive, but finally we found our ball position.

"What we created was good football. Maybe one critical point was that it took too long to score the second goal.

"It's difficult to explain why one time you play badly, and the next time you are really sharp from the beginning."

It was nevertheless a match to remember for Romania and its loud mass of yellow-clad fans, who have lit up the tournament.

It was only the second time Romania had qualified for the knockout stage at a European Championship, and it did so as group winner.

The bouncing yellow wall at one end of the stadium gave its team such a magnificent send-off — singing and applauding the players long after the final whistle — that it was almost as though Romania had won the game.

"Today, we ended a great story, which we started two years ago. We continued that story here in Germany along with the fans of the national team," Romania coach Edward Iordanescu said.

"The team gave a great effort, but there is some sadness.

"We wanted more, but we gave our all. Thank you to my lads, the supporters and Romanians everywhere in the world who supported us."

Romania had dominated possession until Gakpo's goal, but never really tested Netherlands goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen. Instead, the opener came when Xavi Simons surged forward before finding Gakpo on the left. The Liverpool forward cut inside the blue-haired Andrei Ratiu and fired into the near bottom corner.

It was Gakpo's third goal of the tournament, making him joint top scorer alongside Germany's Jamal Musiala, Georges Mikautadze of Georgia and Slovakia's Ivan Schranz.

"We tried to surprise the Netherlands today, and I think it worked well until the 20th minute," Iordanescu said.

The goal seemed to give the Dutch confidence and they had several chances to extend their lead. A huge section of their orange-clad fans thought they scored again six minutes later, when Stefan de Vrij was allowed a free header on a corner, but he planted it just wide of the right post, rippling the side netting.

A combination of good goalkeeping from Florian Nita and wayward finishing from the Dutch kept Romania firmly in the match until seven minutes from time.

Van Dijk also saw a header come off the right post in the second half and Gakpo had a goal chalked off for offside, but turned provider when he managed to just keep the ball in play, under pressure from Radu Dragusin, and prodded it back from the byline for Malen to poke home.

The Dutch capped a dominant performance in stoppage time when Simons released Malen on a surging run from the halfway line, before cooly slotting the ball past Nita.

Not only did Malen have to dodge the Romanian defense, which had rushed back to frantically try to close him down, but he also had to cut around a shoe on the field — presumably thrown by a Romanian fan behind the goal.

Nita kicked away another shoe, presumably its partner, as Malen was bearing down on his goal.

Agencies via Xinhua