The unpredictable 'dark horse' bracket at Euro 2024

Austria (right) played brilliantly against the Netherlands in the group stage - Photo: Reuters

At 11pm on July 2 (Vietnam time), Romania will face the Netherlands, and then the final match of the round of 16 between Austria and Türkiye at 2am on July 3.

Don't underestimate Romania

Ahead of Euro 2024, the Netherlands are among the eight teams that bookmakers consider to be title contenders. They are also among the eight teams with the highest player values ​​​​according to Transfermarkt.

According to Transfermarkt, the total value of the Dutch players participating in Euro 2024 is 815 million euros, 9 times higher than Romania (92 million euros). But when entering the round of 16, Romania is comfortably in the top position, while the Netherlands is only in the group of 3rd place teams with good results.

The Dutch team's strength was actually questioned even before the Fussballliebe ball started rolling. They received bad news in succession with the last-minute injuries to Koopmeiners and Frenkie De Jong. Those are two of the most talented midfielders in Dutch football in the past few years. This made it difficult for coach Ronald Koeman to react in time. And he hardly had any friendly matches to test his younger midfielders.

And indeed, the hole left by De Jong - Koopmeiners was too big. The Netherlands were drawn in a very strong group with France as the favourites, and Austria and Poland as the middle-of-the-pack teams in Europe. The Netherlands were outclassed in all three of those games. They were behind Poland (but came back), controlled by France, and then convincingly defeated by Austria.

Finishing third in their group, the Netherlands were clearly no longer favourites. Their hopes were boosted by their lucky draw in the dark horse bracket, with Romania as their round of 16 opponents. The Eastern European side are one of the most exciting teams in the tournament.

Not possessing any notable attacking players, Romania still became one of the most effective attacking teams at Euro 2024. Specifically, Romania scored 4 goals - more than England, France, Belgium, Italy...

But despite being the group winners, Romania is still considered the underdog when facing the Netherlands. In the last 4 encounters, the Netherlands won all of them and scored 13 goals, conceding only 1 goal.

Statistics firm Opta believes that the Netherlands has a 62.8% chance of winning within 90 minutes of this match (Romania only has 15.3%). But with unpredictable developments since the start of the tournament, coach Koeman and his team obviously cannot be complacent.

Austria is better than Türkiye?

The final round of 16 tie is perhaps the most evenly matched. According to Transfermarkt, Türkiye, with a squad value of 324 million euros, and Austria, with a value of 237 million euros, are side by side in the rankings of the teams that have reached the round of 16. And their performances in the group stage have exceeded the expectations of experts. Both deserve to be considered the most interesting "dark horses" at Euro 2024.

Austria suffered a big loss when many stars were absent due to injury such as Alaba, Schlager... But before the round of 16, the balance of forces became more balanced when Türkiye suspended two pillars Calhanoglu and Akaydin. Meanwhile, Austria kept the strongest squad.

The value of a squad cannot fully reflect the strength of a team. Türkiye has many quality young players with great potential, so they are highly valued by Transfermarkt.

On the contrary, Austria's strength is concentrated in experienced stars like Sabitzer, Trauner, Arnautovic... These are players who are no longer highly valued, but in the international arena, they are a reliable support.

Austria and Türkiye not only achieved impressive results, they were also the most interesting teams in the tournament with their beautiful playing style. Austria was led by the German "pressing master" Ralf Rangnick with a strong, fast football philosophy. Except for the strong France team, Austria played a direct attack against both Poland and the Netherlands in the group stage.

As for Türkiye, their coach is Vincenzo Montella - a rare Italian strategist pursuing an attacking style of football. Türkiye also created a unique attacking style in the group stage, which is beautiful long-range shots.

The winner of this match will become the most promising "dark horse" of Euro 2024. And who knows, their opponent in the quarter-finals will be Romania.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/kho-luong-nhanh-dau-ngua-oo-euro-2024-20240702100130411.htm