ROMANIA V NETHERLANDS PLAYER RATINGS: DRAGUSIN 8, HAGI 5; GAKPO 9, MALEN 8
The Netherlands swept into their first European Championship quarter-final since 2008 as Donyell Malen scored twice in a 3-0 win over Romania in the last 16 on Tuesday.
Cody Gakpo gave the Dutch an early lead but they were unable to convert pressure into a crucial second goal until the Liverpool forward set up Malen with seven minutes remaining in Munich.
Romania were gritty but outclassed, lacking the quality to punish their opponents' profligacy before Malen added his second on the counter in stoppage-time.
The victory put the Oranje on course for a quarter-final clash with Turkey, who beat Austria 2-1 on Tuesday, in Berlin on Saturday.
Ronald Koeman's side will need to improve their effectiveness in front of goal should they wish to emulate their manager, who was a player for the Dutch when they won the 1988 Euros on German soil.
“Sometimes it's difficult to explain why you play badly and why you reach a high level,” said Koeman. “Today the start was hard, but we eventually found our game and caused them problems. Maybe one critical point was that it took too long to score the second goal. We caused Romania big problems with our attacking.
“We have great talents in the team. Of course you need to win something – then people will compare it with 1988. Football has changed since then. You've seen in the last few games that everyone has had problems to continue in the tournament.”
Dutch defender Danzel Dumfries added: “We learnt our lessons from the Austria game. We had a lot of conversations last week. I think we did very well, especially in the pressing, especially in ball possession. So we’re very proud because we came back from the Austria game, where we were not happy with our performance, and did very well.”
As for Romania and their magnificent fans, a memorable tournament has come to an end. They finished top of an incredibly tight Group E – when all four teams ended on four points – with their opening 3-0 win over Ukraine the highlight with manager Edward Iordanescu believing “it could be new beginning” for the bond between the team and supporters.
“Today we ended a great story, which we started two years ago,” said the coach. “We continued that story here in Germany along with the fans of the national team. 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.
“Romanians need to believe in themselves. If they do, they can produce fantastic things. They need to develop and grow the new generations. They need to take inspiration from these boys and have them as role models, because they gave all they had. These are lessons that we can use. This bond between Romanian people and the national team – it could be a new beginning.
“We tried to surprise the Netherlands and I think we did well until the 20th minute. We wanted to cut their pressure, their connections and their line of passes. We were intense and we created the first big chance.
“But they have quality and managed to imbalance us with their [first] goal. All three goals came from individual actions. Players at top clubs know how to deliver moments.”
