The Netherlands defeated Romania 3-0 to book their spot in the quarter-finals of the European Championship on Tuesday evening.
EURO 2024
Result: Romania 0-3 Netherlands
Date: 02 July 2024
Venue: Fußball Arena München
Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman made three changes after defeat against Austria in the final group game as Xavi Simons, Steven Bergwijn and Denzel Dumfries were recalled.The Oranje had somewhat of a nervy start in the early exchanges but they soon picked up the tempo of their attacks as after 20 minutes Cody Gakpo opened the scoring with a thumping shot from the edge of the box.
However, the Dutch still struggled to impose consistent dominance on the game as Romania occasionally found their way out but lacked the quality in the final third.
As the game opened up, Simons had a big chance for Koeman's charges on the stroke of half-time after he was offered space in the box but he fluffed his shot wide and the Oranje went to the break with a narrow lead.
Koeman made an attacking change at half-time, as Donyell Malen replaced Bergwijn for more impetus upfront.
The message was clear from the break that the Dutch wanted to kill the game as early as possible and on the hour-mark, Gakpo found the back of the net with another rocket in the box but the goal was disallowed for offside in the build-up by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
The Oranje pinned Romania in their own half and Malen eventually got their insurance goal seven minutes before time with a tap-in after Gakpo desperately kept a ball in play on the byline and played a square pass.
The Tricolours committed numbers going forward and were caught on a counter-attack in added time after Malen raced clear on goal, made it 3-0 with a clinical finish and completed his brace.
