Koeman praises Simons after dominant display against Romania – DutchNews.nl

Netherlands head coach Ronald Koeman has said his players will need to repeat their performance against Romania if they want to make further progress in Euro 2024.

Oranje stepped up a gear from their sluggish display against Austria in the final group match as they dominated their opponents and created a string of chances, although it took until the 82nd minute for Donyell Malen to seal the game with the second goal.

Cody Gakpo caught the eye as he scored the opening goal and created the second with some deft footwork on the goal-line, but Koeman singled out Xavi Simons, who played in a deeper role and was involved in the build-up for two of the goals.

“I thought he was absolutely the best today,” Koeman said. “Tremendous. In his positioning, his drive, how aggressively he wins the ball.”

The international media were full of praise for Gakpo, with German tabloid Bild describing his goal as a “Turbo-Tor” while Romanian sports paper Golazo said: “He constantly troubled us, created chances, scored and made decisive passes.”

Italy’s Gazetta dello Sport said the Dutch were “clearly dominant” against a “fearless” but limited Romanian side, while Spanish paper Marca said Oranje should now be considered one of the tournament favourites.

Marca said Barcelona’s pivotal midfielder Frenkie de Jong, who missed the tournament with an ankle injury, would “no longer be remembered” after the performances of Gakpo, Simons and Malen.

Problems on right

Only French paper L’Équipe struck a critical note, saying Koeman “still hasn’t solved his problems on the right,” where Steven Bergwijn was replaced by Malen at half-time and noting that the Borussia Dortmund striker missed several chances before bagging his two late goals.

“We were much better on the ball and I think our performance generally speaking was excellent,” Koeman said. “This is the level we need if we really want to do something at this tournament.”

The Dutch now play Turkey in the last quarter-final on Saturday evening in Berlin, after the Turks dispatched Austria 2-1 with two goals from Merih Demiral.

However, former Feyenoord midfielder Orkun Kökçü, who was born in Haarlem, will miss the game after he picked up a second yellow card of the tournament.

“It’s incredibly tough,” he said. “But I’m mostly incredibly happy that we’re through and I have confidence in my team-mates to play a good match against the Netherlands.”