Netherlands - Romania (11pm tonight): Can the orange storm drown out the opponents?

THE DUTCH TEAM … HAS A LUCKY TIME

It seems that coach Ronald Koeman has not yet determined the optimal lineup for the Netherlands. He dropped midfielder Joey Veerman after the Netherlands lost to Poland in the opening match; then brought Veerman back in the final group match, only for the Netherlands to lose to Austria. Sometimes he used Simons in the central midfield role, sometimes he used Simons on the right wing of the attack, sometimes he did not use him. Jeremie Frimpongs or Donyell Malen are also players who "appear and disappear" when people look at Koeman's starting lineup.

It seems that coach Koeman's trust is only placed in half of the squad: Van Dijk, De Vrij, Nathan Ake in defense and Memphis Depay, Cody Gakpo in attack. This is already a lot, considering the situation of Dutch football lacking stars for a long period, causing this once very famous team to be regularly eliminated from the World Cup and EURO. And with so many names in the main squad, the Netherlands is at least superior in terms of force compared to Romania. The Dutch football world once called on Mr. Koeman to drop Depay, but the performance in the group stage showed that he made the right choice.

Will Romania (left) be swept away by the Dutch "orange whirlwind"?

Romania were considered even lower than Ukraine before the EURO started. They surprisingly beat Ukraine 3-0 in the opening match, thanks to that they took the top spot in the group when for the first time in the history of EURO, a group ended with 4 teams with 4 points. The reward for the best sub-index in the group is that Romania "got" to meet the Netherlands, while Slovakia and Belgium had to face England and France in the first knockout round.

Is Romania scary?

This is the first time in 24 years that Romania have appeared in the knockout stages of a major tournament (most recently a quarter-final defeat to Italy at EURO 2000, when Romania's greatest ever player, Gheorghe Hagi, was playing). It has been 30 years since Romania's only major tournament knockout win: beating Argentina to reach the quarter-finals of the 1994 World Cup - a time when Argentina were embroiled in the Diego Maradona doping scandal and expelled from the World Cup.

That said, Romanian football is not at the level that many people imagine. If they get past the group stage, they will have completed their target. Notable in the Romanian squad are central midfielder Ianis Hagi (son of Gheorghe Hagi) and Razvan Marin in attack. The Netherlands is also not as strong as their football tradition. But now, just need to overcome Romania and the journey to go further for the Netherlands becomes much wider, with the next opponent being Türkiye or Austria.

T H A N T H A N D ...

The Netherlands played a bit lackluster, but they will "wake up" in the knockout round. Romania, like Slovakia and Georgia, rely on collective strength and passion but lack a star to decide the match. I was impressed by Xavi Simons' wide range of activities and dynamism. Hopefully he will shine to help the "Orange Storm" advance with a 2-1 victory.

Tieu Bao (recorded)

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ha-lan-romania-ao-tho-nhi-ky-rat-kho-luong-ai-cung-co-the-tien-xa-185240701222404472.htm