UEFA Euro 2024 – Last 16
Romania…………0
Netherlands……..3
The Netherlands progressed to the EURO quarter-finals for the first time in 16 years with a convincing win over Romania in Munich. This marked their first appearance in the UEFA EURO quarter-finals since 2008, following a confident triumph over Romania in Munich.
Romania started energetically, mirroring their strong opening against Ukraine in Munich, and nearly took an early lead when Dennis Man curled a shot just over from the edge of the box. However, it was Ronald Koeman’s team who broke the deadlock, with Cody Gakpo cutting in from the left and unleashing a powerful right-footed strike inside the near post, securing his third goal of the tournament.
Gakpo’s goal seemed to calm the Dutch nerves. As the half wore on, they began to dominate, with Steven Bergwijn—making his first start in Germany—proving to be an excellent option down the right wing. A second goal for the Netherlands before halftime wouldn’t have been surprising, but Xavi Simons couldn’t direct his shot on target after Denzel Dumfries dispossessed Bogdan Racoviţan near the byline.
Only some last-ditch defending by Racoviţan and Andrei Rațiu stopped Memphis Depay from increasing the Netherlands’ lead nine minutes into the second half. Virgil van Dijk was thwarted by the woodwork shortly after, sending a towering header off the outside of Florin Niță’s left-hand post, before the Romania goalkeeper made a sprawling save to tip another Gakpo effort wide.
Depay’s free-kick narrowly missed the target and Joey Veerman side-footed past the far post, but Koeman’s team eventually secured the goal their second-half dominance deserved when Gakpo set up substitute Donyell Malen to score from close range. Malen then doubled his tally in stoppage time with a low finish to complete the scoring for the Dutch, who will face either Austria or Türkiye in the quarter-finals.
Line-ups
Romania: Niță; Rațiu, Drăgușin, Burcă, Mogoș (Racoviţan 38); M Marin (Cicâldâu 72); Man, Stanciu (Olaru 88), R Marin, Hagi (Alibec 72); Drăguș (Mihâilâ 72)
Netherlands: Verbruggen; Dumfries, De Vrij, Van Dijk, Aké (Van de Ven 69); Schouten (Veerman 69), Simons, Reijnders; Bergwijn (Malen 46), Depay (Blind 90’+2), Gakpo (Weghorst 84)
