(Football news) Netherlands were relegated to an unexpected third place in Group D, but Edward Iordanescu’s team prevailed in a very competitive Group E to secure a date with them.
The order of the contestants in the Allianz Arena was not what was anticipated, but few would have cried foul if they had been told prior to the tournament that one of Romania or the Netherlands would win their groups and the other would squeak through in third place.
Romania, Ukraine, Belgium, and Slovakia all won one, drew one, and lost one match to finish with four points apiece, marking the first occasion in the history of the men’s European Championships that all four teams in a section had the same amount of points.
However, thanks to their astounding three-goal success over Ukraine and score draw with Slovakia on the final day – where Razvan Marin struck his second goal of the tournament from the penalty spot – Romania’s superior goals scored tally saw the Tricolours emerge victorious from the section.
In doing so, Romania ended a 24-year exile from the knockout stages of major tournaments, having last progressed beyond the group stage of a European Championships in 2000 before falling at the first hurdle in the 2008 and 2016 editions.
The Tricolours did not need to traverse a last-16 battle that year, though – instead going straight through to the quarter-finals and falling to Italy’s superiority – but they suffered defeat at this stage in the 1934, 1938, 1990 and 1998 World Cups, so history is firmly against them.
In fact, only at the 1994 World Cup have Romania won a knockout match at a major tournament – achieving a momentous 3-2 triumph over Argentina in the last 16 of that tournament – and their quest to prevail in a post-group stage game at the Euros remains unfulfilled.
Triumphing in just one of their last seven games in all tournaments does not provide Romania with much scope for optimism either, but the Tricolours’ upcoming foes have not hit the heights expected of them in Germany thus far, underlined by their third-place saving grace.
After relying on Wout Weghorst – literally the big man up top – to complete their comeback against Poland, Ronald Koeman’s side were left to rue Xavi Simons’s controversially disallowed goal in their scoreless stalemate with France before coming out on the wrong end of a 3-2 scoreline versus Austria on June 25.
Twice Oranje fell behind to Ralf Rangnick’s side, and twice they pegged Das Team back, but an 80th-minute Marcel Sabitzer strike ensured that Austria would unexpectedly top Group D, demote France to second place and leave Koeman’s men to qualify as the best bronze medallists.
However, the Dutch should no doubt reflect on the positives of avoiding being in the same knockout section as Belgium, Spain, Germany and Portugal in the knockout rounds, and with Italy now clearing out their lockers, the Netherlands are the only team left in their eight-nation path to have won the men’s European Championship.
While history is not exactly in Romania’s favour this weekend, Oranje are also fighting some demons of major tournament past, having lost each of their last three knockout matches at the European Championships; only Yugoslavia – from 1968 to 2000 – have lost four on the spin.
Nevertheless, Oranje have been subjected to defeat in just one of their previous 13 ties with Romania – going down 1-0 in a Euro 2008 qualifier – but they rectified those errors with a 2-0 triumph in the finals that year, in what remains their sole major tournament battle to date.
Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Robin van Persie scored the goals on that occasion, which marked the beginning of a four-game winless run for the Dutch against the Romanians, most recently easing to a 3-0 friendly success in November 2017, a goal rush sparked by current number nine Memphis Depay.
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