The Netherlands in the semi-finals – beat England – Dagsavisen

The orange-clad ones were in trouble for a long time at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. The game went too slowly against a close Turkey, but then came the change of pace that changed everything.

Stefan de Vrij equalized after 70 minutes, and shortly afterwards Gakpo scored the winning goal through Turkey’s Mert Müldür.

Gakpo was initially given the goal, which made him the championship’s top scorer on his own before the semi-finals, but was later switched to own goal.

That means Gakpo is still one of four players with three total hits.

On Wednesday, the Netherlands will play the semi-final against England in Dortmund. This is the first time in 20 years that a Dutch team has made it this far in the EC play-offs.

Elevated

Turkey took the lead through Samet Akaydin ten minutes before the break. The centre-back was taller and got his head on a swing from the super-talented Arda Güler (19).

– They are queuing there, the Turks! exclaimed expert commentator TV 2, Brede Hangeland.

The score came after a good Turkish period. Turkey’s defensive tactics seemed to pay off against the struggling Dutch before breaking loose.

​​​​De Vrij got loose in the box and headed a ball from Memphis Depay, and six minutes later the decisive situation came. Denzel Dumfries hit a cross that Gakpo headed into Müldür and into the net.

Stopped out

At the break, the Turks had many chances in pursuit of 2-2, but the ball would not go past the strong Bart Verbruggen in the Dutch cage.

Turkey had to do without Merih Demiral in defense as a result of a two-match suspension. He was penalized for celebrating controversially after his two goals in the 2-1 win over Austria in the round of 16.

He made hand gestures that allegedly imagined two wolves. It is a celebration that has been interpreted as a symbol of the nationalist and far-right Turkish organization “The Gray Wolves”.

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FACT

EC men’s play-offs, Saturday’s quarter-finals:

Netherlands – Turkey 2-1 (0-1)

70,091 spectators in Berlin.

Goals: 0-1 Samet Akaydin (35), 1-1 Stefan de Vrij (70), 2-1 Mert Müldür (own goal 76).

Referee: Clement Turpin, France.

Short yellow: Xavi Simons, Nathan Aké, Virgil van Dijk, Wout Weghorst, Netherlands, Cenk Tosun, Vincenzo Montella, Turkey.

Red card: Bertug Yildirim (90), Turkey.

Netherlands (4-2-3-1): Bart Verbruggen – Denzel Dumfries, Stefan de Vrij, Virgil van Dijk, Nathan Aké (Micky van de Ven from 72.) – Tijjani Reijnders (Joey Veerman against 72.), Jerdy Schouten – Steven Bergwijn (Wout Weghorst from 45.), Xavi Simons (Joshua Zirkzee against 86.), Cody Gakpo – Memphis Depay (Jeremie Frimpong against 86.).

Turkey (5-4-1): Mert Günok – Mert Müldür (Zeki Celik 81st), Kaan Ayhan (Semih Kilicsoy 88th), Samet Akaydin (Cenk Tosun 81st), Abdülkerim Bardakci, Ferdi Kadioglu – Arda Güler, Salih Özcan (OK, Yokhan 76), Ken Yildiz ( Kerem Aktürkoglu fra 76.) – Baris Alper Yilmaz.

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