At half-time, the match against an emotional Turkey was not looking good for Ronald Koeman and his boys. In the hellish atmosphere created by the more than 50,000 Turkish fans who filled the stands of Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, the Netherlands had to come back from a goal down against a team that, under the leadership and audacity of Arda Güler, had taken control of the match. “We are often criticised for not reacting after being behind on the scoreboard, but we reacted. It has been criticised that other countries play more with their heart, but we showed a lion’s heart. We are a small country and we have to be proud to be in the semi-finals,” said Ronald Koeman with satisfaction. The general feeling among the coach himself and his players is that they had fulfilled their role as a team. “We showed resilience and that we are mentally strong. We can do something special,” said midfielder Reijnders.
After the uproar caused by Koeman’s statements in which he harshly criticised midfielder Veerman, the Dutch national team seems to have calmed down and re-armed itself mentally and football-wise. “When you see how everyone reacted, to make a save, a block or a tackle… We all did it together. We all want to make our dream come true and we are one step closer. I am proud of these lads,” added captain Virgil van Dijk.
“After the 2-1, I thought that Turkey would still have one or two great moments in the game, but we had six goalkeepers!” said Verbruggen enthusiastically after the efforts of Weghorst, Van de Ven and Dumfries, who prevented Turkey from equalising 2-2 with their well-timed crosses. “That gives you a great feeling as a goalkeeper. Every block of their shots was celebrated as if we had scored another goal,” said the goalkeeper.
Koeman’s players paraded through the mixed zone at the Volksparkstadion, exuding optimism and team spirit. The Veerman situation had already been softened by the coach himself, who had already given the PSV Eindhoven midfielder a chance in the round of 16 tie against Romania. With the score at 1-0 and the game still open, Koeman ordered Veerman onto the field. “Of course he knew he had been through a difficult moment, he did well,” Koeman praised. At half-time against Turkey and with the need to overturn the goal against them, the tactical talk that the Dutch coach gave resonated with his players. Veerman himself told Dutch media outlet Soccer News what Koeman had said in the locker room at half-time: “He told us that we should not be so careless with the ball and that we should play on the wings.”
“We showed a lot of character. We fought hard and won. We did very well. It was either the last few minutes of the season or it was the semi-final. We fought hard for that,” added top scorer Gakpo.
With his spirits uplifted, Koeman said he preferred Spain in the final: “We have already played against France in the group stage, but England first.” The duel against Southgate’s team, which is playing poorly, will be a classic, but Koeman is not overconfident: “They have good players. We will play in Dortmund, one of the most beautiful stadiums to play in. We are in the semi-finals and nobody expected that.”
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