The first phase of the 2024 European Championship group stage has all ended, many giant teams have performed unsatisfactory, and there are also many dark horses that amaze the football world, in Group E, as the lowest value team in the entire European Cup, Romania can beat the world's third-ranked European Red Devils Belgium, and advance to the top of the group, becoming an unexpected dark horse for fans, on this match day, Romania met the uncrowned king of the Netherlands in the 1/8 finals, judging from the strength of the two sides on paper, The Dutch team has a clear advantage, and in the last 4 times they have faced Romania, they have not only won all, but also scored 13 goals and conceded only 1 goal. After the start of the game, the Dutch team created a lot of good scoring opportunities, among which Gakpo performed eye-catchingly, and with his passing, the Netherlands advanced 3-0!
In order not to give Romania a chance to cause an upset, the Netherlands set up a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Verbruggen coming on as the starting goalkeeper, Dumfries, De Vrij, Van Dijk and Ake forming the backline, Schouten and Reinders in the back, Xavi Simons in the middle, Bergwijn and Gakpo on either side, and Depay as the single arrow.
After the game officially started, the Dutch team took the initiative at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, while Romania could only rely more on defensive counter-attacks to create a threat to the uncrowned king's goal, and in the 14th minute, Dennis Man cut inside on the right flank, and suddenly got up to hit the goal, but unfortunately the ball was slightly over the crossbar.
6 minutes later, Gakpo, who plays for the English Premier League giants Liverpool, used almost the same way as Dennis Mann to help the Dutch team break the balance on the field, dribbling the ball on the left side to face the defenders, Gakpo suddenly cut in, created an angle for himself to shoot, and then suddenly got up and hit the near corner to sink vigorously, although the Romanian goalkeeper made a save, but was powerless to prevent the ball from entering the net, the Netherlands took a 1-0 lead, and 20 minutes also set a record for the fastest goal in the knockout round of the European Championship in the Netherlands.
In the 25th minute, the Dutch corner kick was taken, and De Vrij at the back point hit the goal with a header close to the goal, grazed the post and went out of the bottom line, allowing Romania to escape, before the end of the half, the Dutch team once again missed the goal, Dumfries completed a steal on the opponent's baseline, and passed the ball back to Harvey Simons, but the latter was obviously unprepared, adjusted too much, and wasted a great opportunity to shoot.
After returning to the field, the Dutch team still controlled the initiative, in the 54th minute, Depay in the penalty area, received a cross from the side of his teammates, but unfortunately the close shot, was blocked by the Romanian goalkeeper, teammates' subsequent follow-up opportunities, did not take advantage of it, the Dutch team missed a great opportunity to end the suspense of the victory.
In the 63rd minute, the Dutch team's cross from the side caused chaos in front of the Romanian goal, and Gakpo, who was in hot form this time, stabbed the ball to help the team extend the lead, but it was clearly in an offside position, resulting in the goal being disallowed, and 10 minutes later, Gakpo played the ball in the box, and substitute Wellman pushed the far corner wide of the post.
In the 83rd minute, after Gakpo took the ball, he hit the bottom line and then swept the ball to the goal, Mullen stabbed and made a contribution, the score came to 3-0, at the last moment of the game, Mullen counterattacked and rode alone, and the score was fixed at 3-0.