Even if it ranks 7th in the FIFA ranking and it kind of beat us where it caught us, the “Mechanical Orange” can be categorized anyway, just not invincible. What has already been seen, right at Euro 2024.
Ronald Koeman, the Netherlands coach. PHOTO: Facebook
The national team trained by Ronald Koeman (61 years old) started the tour strong, 2-1 against Poland, but then lost from the rotation: 0-0 against France and 2-3 against Austria. This latest result left Koeman, in office from January 2023, reeling.
“Our performance was terrible! Some of those on the pitch played badly in certain aspects… We had to chase our opponents and that didn’t happen. There were many mistakes. We didn’t defend well. There were too many spaces for the opponent. We weren’t aggressive, we lost the ball a lot, especially at the beginning of the match. I played very very badly“, said the Dutch coach.
And the defensive vulnerability of the national team, which Koeman referred to, represents “Achilles’ heel” for batav football. Which is a paradox, when we see that in the current national team there are defenders like de Ligt (Bayern Munich) or van Dijk (Liverpool). However, the problem is not an individual one, but belongs to the entire defensive block. Chapter where the Dutch also suffer from a very large offensive appetite for total football, since the time of the late Johan Cruyff.
In today’s football, however, the spaces left in the own half can be exploited by opposing teams. And here is Romania’s chance, a national team that knows how to strike on the counterattack, as it has already demonstrated in this final tournament, in the match against Ukraine (3-0).
Euro 2024, the table of the best
June 29 (Berlin, 19.00): Switzerland – Italy
June 29 (Dortmund, 22.00): Germany – Denmark
June 30 (Gelsenkirchen, 19.00): England – Slovakia
June 30 (Koln, 22.00): Spain – Georgia
July 1 (Frankfurt, 19.00): France – Belgium
July 1 (Frankfurt, 22.00): Portugal – Slovenia
July 2 (Munich, 7 p.m.): Romania – Netherlands
July 2 (Leipzig, 22.00): Austria – Turkey
Lot of Romania
*Goalkeepers: Niță (Gaziantep), H. Moldovan (Atletico Madrid), Târnovanu (FCSB)
*Backs: Rațiu (Rayo Vallecano), Mogoș (CFR Cluj), Drăgușin (Tottenham), Racovițan (Rakow), Rus (Pafos), Nedelcearu (Palermo), Burcă (Al-Okhdood), Bancu (Universitatea Craiova)
*Midfielders: Sorescu (Gaziantep), M. Marin (Pisa), Cicâldău (Konyaspor), R. Marin (Empoli), Stanciu (Damac), Șut (FCSB), Olaru (FCSB), Man (Parma), Mihăilă (Parma), I Hagi (Alaves), Coman (FCSB)
*Forwarders: Drăguș (Gaziantep), Pușcaș (Bari), Alibec (Muaither), Bîrligea (CFR Cluj)
