Oranje stage a comeback to set up England semi-final.
Ronald Koeman’s team overcame a 1-0 deficit to defeat a spirited Crescent-Stars side with two second-half goals. Stefan de Vrij’s equaliser and an own goal by Mert Müldür six minutes later transformed potential defeat into victory for the Netherlands, edging them past Türkiye in their UEFA EURO 2024 quarter-final in Berlin.

The excitement was tangible as each nation contested their first EURO quarter-final in 16 years. Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman had instructed his players to “keep the ball and take the sting out of the game” in the early stages. They nearly deflated the Türkiye bubble in the opening minute, only for Memphis Depay to miss a promising opportunity.

The Crescent-Stars gradually found their footing in the match, effectively limiting the space that the possession-hungry Oranje desired and capitalising on the set-piece threat that had served them well in their round of 16 victory against Austria. Their breakthrough came indirectly from such a dead-ball situation, with Arda Güler whipping a half-cleared corner to the back post for Samet Akaydin to head in off the bar.

The Türkiye coach, Vincenzo Montella, had emphasised the importance of his youthful team needing to “control our emotions,” and they seemed more collected than the visibly unsettled Dutch squad for the rest of the first half. The break allowed Koeman to regroup the Oranje, and bringing Wout Weghorst into the attack indicated a more straightforward strategy for the second half.

Line-ups
Netherlands: Verbruggen; Dumfries, De Vrij, Van Dijk, Aké (Van de Ven 73); Schouten, Simons (Zirkzee 87), Reijnders (Veerman 73); Bergwijn (Weghorst 46), Depay (Frimpong 87), Gakpo
Türkiye: Mert Günok; Mert Müldür (Zeki Çelik 82), Kaan Ayhan (Semih Kılıçsoy 89), Samet Akaydin (Cenk Tosun 82), Abdülkerim Bardakcı, Ferdi Kadıoğlu; Barış Alper Yılmaz, Salih Özcan (Okay Yokuşlu 77), Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Kenan Yıldız (Kerem Aktürkoğlu 77); Arda Güler