With resilience and luck, the Netherlands beat Turkey in the quarter-finals

A thrilling night of football at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium saw the Netherlands passive and vulnerable for long periods. But a strong second-half performance ultimately saw Turkey win 2-1. The Netherlands are back in the semi-finals of the European Championship for the first time since 2004. On Wednesday night, England will face England in Dortmund, where they beat Switzerland on penalties.

Twenty minutes before kick-off, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan waved to the red and white crowd from the stands. Cameras were clicking everywhere. He had cancelled a visit to Azerbaijan – officially to support the team. But talk of the wolf salute – Turkish defender Merih Demiral was banned for making the controversial gesture in the last 16 against Austria – was said to be the main reason.

The quarter-final in the German capital was like a national festival for Turks. Berlin is home to at least 250,000 Turkish immigrants, the largest Turkish community outside Turkey. Fans gave the wolf salute in the city and on the pitch – teams and supporters alike felt they had been wronged by the suspension. When Dutch captain Virgil van Dijk came on at 8:15 to warm up, an infernal flute concert began.

Sloppy first half

The Netherlands started strongly, facing a dancing and partying crowd. A minute later, a red flaming torch landed on the stadium’s cinder track, just before Depay missed a good chance. The Netherlands had huge spaces. Italy’s national team coach Vincenzo Montella, who was in Turkey, gave various instructions with the help of a translator, but he does not speak Turkish.

Orange exploited it moderately. It was too sloppy and things went wrong once the attackers got the ball. Xavi Simons had a tough time, as did left winger Cody Gakpo, who was caught out on multiple occasions. Turkey played more compactly through the back line, gradually gaining more control over the Netherlands. After about twenty minutes, it broke out with increasing frequency and danger.

The build-up to the match spoke volumes about the Netherlands’ sloppy attitude. It started with Tijani Reynders needlessly losing the ball in midfield, before national team coach Ronald Koeman turned angrily towards his bench. Meanwhile, Virgil van Dijk had to do everything he could to prevent Baris Alper Yilmaz from scoring. Dutch errors added fuel to the fire for Turkey.

Moments later, Stefan de Vrij nonchalantly passed the ball to attacker Steven Bergwijn, who was defending. He didn’t count on it and lost the ball, after which Turkey could immediately take over. Shortly afterwards, right-back Dumfries needlessly gave away a corner, under the impression that it would be a back-pass for the Dutch.

The corner was cleared first, but the great Turkish player Arda Güler (19) then put the ball in again with his right foot. Tailor-made for three tall Turkish players at the far post, Reinders and Bergwijn could only watch. Samet Akaydin leapt over everyone and headed in: 1-0.

The Turks looked relentless and gave it their all, including Arnhem-born left-back Fedi Kadioglu, but in a campaign that is roughly divided into two halves, they seemed to waste a lot of energy early on.

Emergency Weghorst

Koeman was on to the emergency floor at half-time, bringing in substitute hitter Wout Weghorst for the disappointing Bergwijn. Weghorst had to provide more punching power as the Dutch attack was helpless against the Turks’ strong coverage.

The Netherlands were increasing the pressure. The longer they had the ball, the louder the Turkish fans’ whistles became. But initially it didn’t lead to a big chance being missed. Guler took a beautiful free kick, which curved steeply and hit the post. Lying on the ground, Weghorst did his best to stop Kaan Ayhan from grabbing the rebound and making the score 2-0.

Moments later, Weghorst himself came close to the goal, but the ball went just wide. In the ensuing corner, Depay briefly combined with Schutten. Depay crossed from the right, his best cross of the tournament so far. Defender de Vrij headed the ball perfectly, away from goal, completely free, and it landed hard: 1-1.

The Netherlands immediately tried to push forward. On the pitch, Schutten won the header duel and Simons broke through Dumfries on the right. He sent a beautiful and compact cross through the 16-meter area to the left winger Gakpo. He knew how to drop the ball in, like a tango with his opponent Mert Müldür. According to UEFA’s report afterwards, he scored an own goal: 2-1 to the Netherlands.

Within six minutes, the Dutch had turned the game around. Koeman raised his hands and disappeared into his pockets. At the same time, a Turkish player pulled a shirt over his head. The area with Turkish fans suddenly became quiet.

Night rescue

But the most exciting period had not yet begun. Substitute Miki van der Ven blocked Zeki Celik’s shot into the empty net to equalize the score. Gakpo broke out a little later and could have made a decision, but shot into the knee of goalkeeper Mert Günok. In this way, the game continued to fluctuate back and forth – almost every attack ended in a chance.

The rescue of the night came from goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, one of the youngest and calmest Dutch players on a wild night of football. Just as extra time was about to end, a stray ball landed on Semih Kilissoi’s right knee. Verbruggen, with his excellent reflexes, dove to his right in time.

He screamed for a moment because of the discharge. The two substitute goalkeepers, Justin Bijlow and Mark Fleks, were the first to run towards Verbruggen after the final whistle.

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