Just in case anyone needed reminding, the Dutch know how to play football. Clicking back into gear after a stumble against Austria, the Netherlands brushed aside the challenge of Romania – literally in the case of Cody Gakpo bursting beyond Radu Dragusin to set up the decisive second goal – and head into the quarter-finals in form.
This was a vindication for coach Ronald Koeman, whose selection was spot on and his substitutions even more so. For their opponents, this still counts as a good tournament, and their fans made one heck of a noise.
However, the gulf in class between Romania and the Oranje in blue was clear and only grew larger as the game went on. Donyell Malen scored a brace in the last 10 minutes after coming on at half-time, consolidating a first-half lead delivered clinically by Gakpo.
Romanians had the first 20 minutes, driven on by the support prized so much by coach Edward Iordanescu. Unfurling a banner that read “give everything for the final” (this may be a loose translation) they were not in the mind to go home. The players were of the same persuasion it seemed and began the game at a furious pace. Led by Ianis Hagi who sustained an early cut to the head that left him wearing a bandage and a hairnet, the Ena Sharples of the Carpathians, they crafted the best of the early chances. But much like a famous resident of Transylvania, the apparently dormant Dutch woke up when the Romanians least desired it.
The opening goal came in the 20th and it was a delicious move, begun by the unassuming Jerdy Schouten. His little pass ran only 10 yards, but it bisected the Romanian midfield entirely and found Xavi Simons in a pocket of space. Simons spun and released Gakpo out wide. The Liverpool forward took Andrei Ratiu towards the touchline then cut back away, took a touch across the corner of the box and drilled a low shot inside Florin Nita’s near post. Could the keeper have saved it? Perhaps, but at 125kph, at least it was over quickly.
Koeman spoke afterwards of his satisfaction with his team’s “ball position”. It sounded like ball possession at first but he meant what he said; the spaces and places in which his team picked up the ball and made use of it. His midfield played like a unit here after being a rabble against the Austrians and Koeman had especial praise for Simons, returning to the starting XI and adapting to a new role for this team between the lines. His link-up with the confident, strong and well-drilled Gakpo was key.
Source – Donyell Malen double sinks Romania to put Netherlands in last eight | Euro 2024 | The Guardian
