Ruthless Gakpo leads the way as Oranje hit top form

For the first time in 16 years, the Netherlands have made it through to a European Championship quarter-final, and a showdown with Turkey in Berlin on Saturday.

- KARL MATCHETT

For a nation that has won the Euros before, it has been an extraordinary period of underperformance in the competition, including one outright failure to qualify at all.

Given this run of non-achievement came on the back of five successive super-impressive outings between 1988 and 2004 – champions, semis, quarters, semis, semis – it makes their return now to the last eight all the more welcome, all the more important and all the more surprising.

Welcome, because of their history, their support, their colour, the nostalgia they bring and more. Important, for the nation itself: Dutch football hasn’t had a tremendous time with manager turnover, the failure to reach the 2018 World Cup and the relative lack of sustained progress at club level in continental competitions.

And surprising because... to be blunt, this isn’t a vintage group of Dutch players. There are some tremendously talented individuals, but they had yet to show they are a great team and a handful of star operators are either playing not fully sharp or missing entirely. Not to mention the fact they only finished third in their group stage.

But despite all that, or perhaps in part because of it and the way the Euro 2024 draw has opened up, they are through: 3-0 winners over Romania in a fairly one-sided match in Munich which showed both the promise of the Oranje and the improvements they still have to make to go the distance – but also where Ronald Koeman has got it right.