Koeman wants to see how the Dutch team can improve at the European Championships

With a ticket for the round of the last sixteen of the European Championship almost in their pocket, the Dutch national team is focusing on the previous group match against Austria. The Oranje will finish at least second in the group if they do not lose on Tuesday in the Berlin Olympic Stadium. National coach Koeman's team wins the group if it achieves a better result against Austria than France against the already eliminated Poland.

The Netherlands can only avoid the last sixteen in theory because, in addition to numbers 1 and 2, the four best numbers 3 of the groups also survive the group stage. Oranje is in a better position with 4 points than many numbers 3 from other groups. For example, Scotland, Albania, and the Czech Republic, the current numbers 3 in groups A, B, and F, have only collected 1 point. Slovenia, number 3 in group C, has 2 points after two matches.

The Dutch team aims to finish first or second in the group. The number 3 of the group will compete in the last sixteen against Spain or the winner of group C with England or group E with Belgium. The winner of the Netherlands group will play on July 2 in Leipzig against the number 2 of Group F, which consists of Portugal, Turkey, the Czech Republic, and Georgia. The number 2 of the group from the Netherlands will meet the number 2 of Group E with Belgium, Romania, Ukraine, and Slovakia on July 1 in Düsseldorf.

After the draw with the French (0-0), Ronald Koeman acknowledged that the Dutch team must improve themselves. He saw Memphis Depay, Xavi Simons, and substitute Joey Veerman lose the ball too often in dangerous positions. The national coach was happy with a draw and, therefore, made defensive changes in the final phase. "You didn't think that we were going to beat France 3-0 without the injured Kylian Mbappé," he parried criticism of his fighting style during a press conference shortly after the match against France.

Koeman is missing the five midfielders: Frenkie de Jong, Teun Koopmeiners, Marten de Roon, Mats Wieffer, and Quinten Timber. The rearguard is currently the best line of the Dutch team at the European Championship, with Bart Verbruggen, Virgil van Dijk, Stefan de Vrij, Nathan Aké and Denzel Dumfries or Lutsharel Geertruida. The national coach not only wants the Dutch midfield to function better but also hopes that Depay will show how important he can be for the national team. Koeman spoke with the striker for at least 15 minutes during practice on Saturday. Depay then resumed the practice session, laughing.