The Netherlands have emerged as legitimate Euro 2024 title contenders
The Netherlands continued the Round of 16 at Euro 2024 with a convincing 3-0 win over Romania to advance to the quarterfinals.
On the latest edition of "FOX Soccer NOW," Wes Morgan expressed how the win showed that the Netherlands have what it takes to go the distance in this tournament.
"Finally, we've seen the Netherlands that we all could see on paper emerge," Morgan said of the win against Romania. "There's been a lot of criticism around the Netherland team about their performances in the Group Stage. It hasn't been where we expected it to be. Going into this game, I thought it was going to be a lot tighter, but they came out with real purpose. They were determined to 'okay, let's quiet the critics and put on a show.' From start to finish, barring the first 10 minutes when it was pretty even, it was all Netherlands."
Melissa Ortiz concurred with the bullish narrative around the Dutch.
"I absolutely do [think the Netherlands can make it to the final]," Ortiz said. "That's why you use the Group Stage. You hope to get those nicks out in the Group Stage, for that specific reason, so that when the time really matters in these knockout rounds, you're set to go and you make those tactical changes. You have those moments in leadership, too. You get those wake-up calls in Group Stage where someone like [Virgil] Van Dijk can really rally up the troops. And if you look at their potential path to the final, they're about to go against the winner of Austria and Turkiye, and then, if they win that, go on to play England or Switzerland. I think the road is actually quite advantageous for this side if they have a performance like today. …
"They were just clearly dominant from defense to attack [against Romania]. I do think that they have the potential to make it to the final."
Cody Gakpo broke the ice with a goal in the 20th minute for the Netherlands. Later, Donyell Malen scored goals at the 83' and 90'+3 marks of the game to put it out of reach. At the same time, it felt like the Dutch could've had double the goals, as they applied pressure from start to finish and failed to capitalize on a plethora of scoring opportunities.
The Netherlands got off 22 shots, including six on goal, whereas Romania got off five shots, including just one on goal. They also out-passed Romania, 430-184, and had the ball for the majority of the game.
Prior to the Round of 16 win, the Netherlands beat Poland 2-1, played France — who were without superstar Kylian Mbappe — to a scoreless draw and lost to Austria in the Group Stage, 3-2. They previously beat both Canada and Iceland in a pair of friendlies, 4-0.
The Netherlands will play the winner of Turkiye-Austria on Saturday (3 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).
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