The Netherlands started high and low in the group stage, and after reversing Poland and drawing with France, they lost to Austria in the final round and missed out on winning the group. Then the third group instead of the orange team came to the bottom half, and easily sent Romania back to their hometown in Group E, the Netherlands opponent in the round of 8 was Turkey, in the case of conceding a goal first, De Vrij equalized, Gakpo made an own goal, and the Netherlands successfully entered the semi-finals with a 2:1 comeback.
Turkey played a dark horse battle with Austria in the first round of the knockout round, and after a wonderful battle between the two sides, Demiral's brace helped Turkey qualify; Calhanoglu, the number one core of this game, returned to the main lineup after suspension, and the two young talents of Güller and Yildiz continued to start. The Dutch side continued the starting combination of the previous game, with Depay, Bergwijn and Gakpo leading the attacking line; Harvey Simons, Schouten, Reinders make up the midfield; Ake, Virgil van Dijk, De Vrij and Dumfries lined up at the back, with goalkeeper Februhen.
After the opening, the Netherlands took the lead, Depay cut inside in the first minute and shot high, and in the sixth minute, Depay received a cross knock from Dumfries in the penalty area and turned and shot low and was blocked; After withstanding the Netherlands' three-board axe, Turkey gradually regained the initiative, and in the 10th minute, Kadioglu held the ball on the left side and pushed forward a cross, and Ozcan responded with a long-range shot from the outside; Then Baldakic's cushion and Güller's shot failed to hit the woodwork. In the 35th minute, Calhaoğlu took a corner kick and was cleared, Güller immediately crossed after observing the penalty area, and 3 Turkish players at the back post were outflanked together, and Akayden headed the goal, 0:1!
Interestingly, Turkey have scored a total of 8 goals since the start of this European Championship, 4 of which have come from their defenders, in addition to Akayden in this game, Demiral who scored twice against Austria in the 1/8 finals and Mirdil who scored in the opening 25 minutes against Georgia in the first round of the group stage. In addition, this is also the atonement of Akayden, who scored an embarrassing own goal in the second round of the group stage.
As soon as he returned in the second half, Coman made a decisive substitution, Weghorst removed Bergwijn; In the 55th minute, Güller hit a direct free kick 26 meters away from the goal and went straight to the goal, but unfortunately it hit the post and popped up! In the 64th minute, Calhaoğlu caused chaos from a set-piece, and Yildiz's long-range shot from outside the area was blocked by Februhen.
In the 70th minute, Depay crossed a tactical corner kick, and De Vrij jumped high on the dry ground to attack the net, 1:1! It was De Vrij's first goal at the European Championship and his first major goal for the Netherlands in 10 years, with his only previous goal coming against Spain in the first round of the 2014 World Cup group stage.
After the equalizer, the morale of the Netherlands soared, in the 76th minute, Weghorst retreated to make the ball, Dumfries quickly followed up on the right side, and Gakpo outflanked Baldakic's own goal, 2:1! The Netherlands scored two goals in six minutes to achieve a comeback. In the remainder of the game, Turkey launched a final comeback, but with a save from Februhen and a limit clearance from Van der Veen, the Netherlands finally held on to the win 2-1.
In this way, the Netherlands, ranked 7th in the world, won 2-1, and after Spain, France and England, got the last ticket to advance to the top 4; This is also Tulip's return to the top 4 of the competition after 10 years. As for Turkey, they are also out of the tournament with Switzerland, and all the dark horse teams in this European Championship have also been announced.