Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk has called upon his side to rediscover their "will to win" ahead of their Euro 2024 last-16 meeting with Romania on July 2.
Despite boasting a talented squad, the Dutch have so far struggled in the tournament. Drawn in Group D alongside Austria and heavyweights France, the Netherlands finished just ahead of a lacklustre Poland and qualified as one of the four best third-placed sides.
The Dutch had a thorough postmortem after losing their final group game 3-2 to Austria on June 25, and "harsh words" were said, with van Dijk's assessment of the team's attitude at the tournament of particular concern. He had also made an astonishing admission that perhaps they had overestimated their own ability.
"A lot had to be said and we had to analyse a lot," he said. "It was not the tactics where things went wrong. It was mainly the will to win, so we have talked about thatand with harsh words."
Added forward Memphis Depay: "We must ensure that we learn from our mistakes. We had discussions and criticised each other, and it is normal that there is friction if the results do not go as you want them to go. It's logical that there will be irritations.
"But that's behind us now. There's a good spirit among the group and we are looking forward."
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