Fighting it out for a place in the Euro 2024 semi-finals, the Netherlands and Turkey meet at Berlin’s iconic Olympiastadion on Saturday evening.
Victory would set up a clash with either Switzerland or England in the final four, and after coming through the previous round in contrasting fashion, both teams will fancy their chance of progressing.
Match preview
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Despite an unconvincing start to their latest European Championship campaign, the Netherlands have safely secured a place in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals – and they now have an eye on the Henri Delaunay trophy, which is just three wins away from their grasp.
Ronald Koeman‘s side find themselves among the favourites in the so-called ‘weaker’ half of the draw, having only emerged from Group D in third place following victory over Poland, a stalemate with France, and an eventful 3-2 defeat to Austria.
Handed a relatively kind last-16 tie against Romania, the Oranje ultimately ran out 3-0 winners, and it could easily have been more: they had 50 touches inside the Romanian area – the highest number recorded by a Netherlands team on record.
The Dutch broke the deadlock courtesy of Cody Gakpo‘s 20th-minute strike in Munich, and after passing up a series of chances, it was then left to second-half substitute Donyell Malen to bag a late brace and finally seal the deal.
Now, Koeman is honing in on repeating a feat from his playing days, when he was part of the squad that produced the nation’s only major men’s trophy to date: a European Championship winner in 1988, the former Barcelona boss is intent on doing it all again 36 years later as head coach.
With Xavi Simons starting to fulfil his potential, and Gakpo picking up two ‘Man of the Match’ awards and battling it out for the Golden Boot, Oranje fans are starting to dream; however, Saturday’s opponents have already proven their mettle.
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Kicking off their last-16 contest with the European Championship’s fastest-ever knockout round goal, Turkey were quickly on course for the quarter-finals when they met fellow dark horses Austria on Tuesday.
Having only scored twice in 47 previous international appearances, centre-back Merih Demiral then doubled his tally during the course of one match – but the Austrians bit back and were within a whisker of taking a pulsating game into extra time.
Only a moment of Mert Gunok magic denied Ralf Rangnick‘s team the chance to take the tie into an additional period, as Turkey’s goalkeeper flew across his goal to make an incredible last-gasp save that seemed to defy all logic.
The Crescent-Stars were missing captain Hakan Calhanoglu following their disciplinary meltdown against the Czech Republic during the group stage, but Real Madrid star Arda Guler stepped up and again showed his promise as an integral cog in his national side.
The latter joined Kenan Yildiz in a young starting XI selected by Vincenzo Montella – marking the first time that two teenagers had ever started together during the knockout phase – but Turkey’s Italian coach now has more suspensions to deal with; furthermore, several players will walk the tightrope of being one booking from missing out on the semis.
First, though, they must make it past the Netherlands – who they met twice in qualifying for Qatar 2022, with both nations emerging triumphant on home turf – to reach the Euros’ final four for just a second time in Turkish football history.
Following a superb start in their exciting 3-1 win over Georgia, then dismal defeat to Portugal, and a late victory over the Czech Republic, Montella’s men came up with another thriller in Leipzig, so neutrals will expect to be entertained again this weekend.
Netherlands European Championship form:
Netherlands form (all competitions):
Turkey European Championship form:
Turkey form (all competitions):
Team News
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After his team’s fluent performance in the win over Romania, Ronald Koeman is likely to select a very similar XI on Saturday night, with Bart Verbruggen in goal and Virgil van Dijk captaining the side from centre-back.
However, Steven Bergwijn was substituted at half time due to an injury and has since trained alone, so either Jeremie Frimpong or Donyell Malen – the latter of whom made a big impact after emerging from the bench – could link up with Denzel Dumfries on the right flank.
New Aston Villa signing Ian Maatsen, only a late call-up to the squad as injury cover, has been laid low by illness and did not travel with his teammates to Berlin; PSV midfielder Jerdy Schouten has overcome some muscular stiffness, though, and should be passed fit to play.
Two men sure to start up front are Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo – scorer of three goals in four Euro 2024 appearances so far – and Memphis Depay, who is just four strikes short of Robin van Persie‘s all-time Oranje record (50).
Across the 2022 World Cup and these Euros, the only European player with more goals to his name than Gakpo (six) is France captain Kylian Mbappe (nine).
Four men would misses the next match if booked: Dumfries, Malen, Schouten and Joey Veerman.
Meanwhile, Turkey can welcome back influential skipper Hakan Calhanoglu, but two more midfielders must now serve a suspension: Orkun Kokcu will miss out on playing against the country of his birth, and Ismail Yuksek is sidelined after receiving two bookings.
Furthermore, Tuesday’s hero Merih Demiral has been been sanctioned by UEFA for controversially celebrating his second goal with a ‘wolf salute’, which is associated with Turkish right-wing extremist movement the ‘Grey Wolves’, receiving a two-game ban.
Just back from his own suspension, Fenerbahce defender Samet Akaydin should fill in for Demiral at the back, alongside Galatasaray’s Abdulkerim Bardakci.
Discipline has been an issue for the Crescent-Stars this summer, as their tally of 18 yellow cards at Euro 2024 so far is second only to the Czech Republic’s beaten finalists of 1996 in European Championship history. In fact, Turkish teams have now picked up at least two cards in each of their past 24 major tournament matches.
Notably, 19-year-old duo Kenan Yildiz and Arda Guler are among no fewer than eight men at risk of missing a potential semi-final, but boss Vincenzo Montella will not be mulling over such matters ahead of such a crucial contest.
Netherlands possible starting lineup:
Verbruggen; Dumfries, De Vrij, Van Dijk, Ake; Schouten, Reijnders; Malen, Simons, Gakpo; Depay
Turkey possible starting lineup:
Gunok; Muldur, Demiral, Bardakci, Kadioglu; Ayhan, Yokuslu; Yildiz, Calhanoglu, Yilmaz; Guler
We say: Netherlands 2-1 Turkey
The Netherlands boast a fine track record in the last eight of major tournaments, having progressed from five of their past seven quarter-finals – although they memorably lost via a penalty shootout to Argentina at Qatar 2022.
Both the Oranje and Turkey can be explosive in attack and vulnerable in defence, so even with the stakes so high on Saturday night, goals are likely to arrive sooner or later.
Though the Crescent-Stars will be backed by a huge ‘home’ following in Germany, where many fans of Turkish heritage reside, their Dutch rivals seem to be finding some rhythm and may just edge an even encounter in the capital.
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