Dutch National Team Climbs in Contention for European Football Title despite Flawed Group Stage

Favorable scheme

By RTL Nieuws / ANP·15 hours ago·Edit: 14 hours ago

RTL News

Despite a less than flawless group stage, the Dutch national team has risen on the list of contenders for the European football title.

Sports data agency Nielsen’s Gracenote now estimates the chance of the Dutch team becoming European champions at 11.6 percent. Only Spain (17.0 percent) and Germany (12.8 percent) would have better credentials.

Very disappointing

The Netherlands disappointed badly in the last group match they lost against Austria (2-3). National coach Ronald Koeman’s team is number 3 in the group on the ‘good side’ of the schedule. On the other side are strong teams such as Spain, Germany, France, Portugal and Belgium.

The Netherlands will face Romania in the round of 16 next Tuesday. The winner of that match will meet Austria or Turkey in the last eight.

Shocked

The Netherlands could have faced a much tougher opponent than Romania, but Ronald Koeman knows that his team will have to perform a lot better than in the lost last group match with Austria. “Otherwise we will not make it against any opponent here”, the national coach concluded.

Oranje played reasonably well during the first match against Poland (2-1) at the European Championship. Koeman could also live with the draw against France (0-0), one of the finalists of the last World Cup. But the national coach was shocked by his team during the match against Austria.

Yet, shortly after the lost match, he did not feel that he had to intervene rigorously on the way to the eighth finals. But it is almost inevitable that the national coach will take another look at what options he still has.

Depay and Weghorst together?

Is it wise to have Wout Weghorst and Memphis Depay appear at the kick-off together? Should Dumfries and Frimpong be back in the starting team and does Matthijs de Ligt deserve a chance in De Vrij’s position?

The national coach knows that his team can play much better football than it showed against Austria. He is in contention for the eighth finals. “We’re not knocked out yet,” he said. “We are still standing. In that respect, anything is still possible.”

The Dutch team is not only keeping people busy in the Netherlands, the team is also being followed enthusiastically in Ambon, as these images show:

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