Oranje advance to the quarter-finals after a convincing 3-0 win against Romania
The Netherlands advanced to the quarter-finals of the European Championship of 2024 on Tuesday with a convincing 3-0 victory against Romania in the Allianz Arena in Munich. Donyell Malen came off the bench to score twice after Cody Gakpo had given Ronaldo Koeman’s side the lead. Oranje will face either Austria or Turkey in the next round.
Even though Romania started the match the better of the two sides, it was the Netherlands who took the lead after 19 minutes. Cody Gakpo scored his third goal of the tournament. The winger had hardly touched the ball before receiving it on the wing and scoring by using what is becoming a trademark move for him: cutting inside before firing at goal. The goal went in via the hands of Romanian goalkeeper Floriń Ńita.
The goal turned the game on its head as Oranje took control, with Romania now seeming much more fearful of the Dutch attack. It probably should have been 2-0 in the 26th minute when a corner by Memphis Depay found Stefan de Vrij at the far post, but the center-back’s header went into the side netting.
Koeman’s team kept on attacking and dominated the rest of the half. Another opportunity was missed shortly before halftime when Denzel Dumfries took advantage of a mistake by Romanian substitute CB Bogdan Racovitan, who had come on earlier due to an injury to left-back Vasile Mogos, to lay the ball off to Xavi Simons in the box. Simons took too long to get his shot off, as it trickled wide.
The halftime score was 1-0 to the Netherlands.
The second half continued as the first half had finished, with Koeman’s side having another chance in the 54th minute. Again, it was Dumfries who was causing danger on the right wing. The Inter Milan full-back crossed the ball to Donyell Malen, who had come on at halftime to replace an injured Steven Bergwijn. Malen’s sliced effort went to Depay in the box, but his shot was blocked before being cleared from the goalline.
Depay’s corners continued to cause danger for Oranje. Captain Virgil van Dijk met the cross this time, but his header went out via the post.
Oranje kept creating chances, but the ball would not go in. Joey Veerman came off the bench and should have scored, but his side-footed effort went wide of the far post.
The second goal finally came in the 83rd minute. Gakpo was the architect again. The winger kept working and got his reward when he kept the ball in and played it back to Malen, who was in front of goal, for an easy tap-in.
Malen got his second of the game and Oranje’s last goal in injury time when the winger dribbled past two Romanian defenders before smashing it into the net from close range.
It was the cherry on top of a great performance by Oranje, who will find out in the evening whether they face Austria or Turkey in Berlin on Saturday in the quarter-finals.
