Netherlands Cruise Past Romania to Reach Euro 2024 Quarter-Finals
Cody Gakpo’s early strike and Donyell Malen’s late brace seal a convincing 3-0 victory for the Netherlands over Romania, securing their spot in the UEFA Euro 2024 quarter-finals.
Gakpo saw his low drive beat Florin Nita on the strength of 20 minutes to calm Oranje nerves and they were in the lead from then on.
The Liverpool man saw a potential 2nd goal ruled out before Virgil van Dijk hit the woodwork, but good work late on fired substitute Malen to make it 2-0.
Malen added another spark in stoppage time. The Netherlands will head into Saturday’s quarter-final tie against Austria or Turkey with confidence, with a potential semi-final clash with England still in the cards.
The Netherlands started hesitantly and were lucky to see Dennis Mano’s 20-yard drive go over the bar, but the Oranje went ahead in the 20th minute.
Cody Gakpo cut inside Andrei Ratiu before firing in from the left and Florin Nita probably did better when the ball flew past him at his near post.
The Netherlands grew in confidence from there and dominated for the remainder of the first half, going close to a second goal when Denzel Dumfries forced a mistake from Bogdan Racovitan before Xavi Simons equalized, but the RB Leipzig man took too long to fire wide.
The Oranje’s pressure continued after the restart as Ratiu’s desperate save prevented Memphis Depay from firing into the gaping net before Van Dijk sent a low header against the post just before the hour mark.
Depay then called Nita into action with a furious 25-yard strike before a VAR review denied his brace as he was called offside after nudging home following a scramble in the area.
Joey Veerman went even closer when he found space on the left side of the box and curled his shot wide, but Ronald Koeman’s side had seven minutes remaining.
Gakpo brilliantly kept the ball in play under pressure from Radu Dragusin, with Malen turning home his low cross for a clear goal.
With Romania down, Malen doubled his tally at the death when he raced in on the break before driving into the bottom left corner.
Netherlands Player Ratings
Bart Verbruggen – 7/10
Denzel Dumfries – 8/10
Stefan de Vrij – 7.5/10
Virgil van Dijk – 7.5/10
Nathan Ake – 7.5/10
Jerdy Schouten – 7/10
Tijjani Reijnders – 7/10
Steven Bergwijn – 6.5/10
Xavi Simons – 8/10
Cody Gakpo – 9/10
Memphis Depay – 7/10
Substitutes
Donyell Malen – 9/10
Micky van de Ven – 6.5/10
Joey Veerman – 6/10
Wout Weghorst – 6.5/10
Daley Blind – N/A
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