Romania vs Netherlands Preview

Romania and the Netherlands will battle for a place in the quarterfinals of the 2024 European Championship this Tuesday when both sides face off at the Allianz Arena.

Romania qualified for this stage of the tournament by finishing top of their group ahead of more illustrious opponents like Belgium and Ukraine. But that top finish came with a narrow margin as they ended with four points as other members of Group E. Yet, a superior goal difference, which was greatly helped by their 3-0 win over Ukraine in their first group game, ensured that they are heading into their first knockout game in the European Championships for the first time since 2000.

Edward Iordănescu’s side have earned themselves a date with the Netherlands – Europe’s fifth-best team according to FIFA rankings. They will certainly be hoping to leave a better impression than they did when losing 2-0 to Belgium in the group stage which was their sixth consecutive defeat against any of FIFA’s current top-ten nations.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands booked their place at this stage by finishing as one of the best third-place teams in the group stages after taking just four points from their group. Their last outing saw them lose as marginal favourites to Ralf Rangnick’s Austria (L 3-2), ending their five-game unbeaten run (W4, D1) in competitive football.

After describing that performance against Austria as “appalling” and “awful”, head coach Ronald Koeman will be going to great lengths to prevent a repeat performance and you only have to go back to the previous European Championships to be reminded that the Dutch are by no means certainties to get through to the quarterfinals as they fell to a shock Round of 16 loss to the Czech Republic in 2021.