Here’s Paul MacInnes’s report from Munich
Cody Gakpo opened the scoring for the Dutch before Donyell Malen scored two late on reach the quarter-final
Tue 2 Jul 2024 14.13 EDT
First published on Tue 2 Jul 2024 10.30 EDT- Full time: Romania 0-3 Netherlands
- GOAL! Romania 0-3 Netherlands (Malen 90+3)
- GOAL! Romania 0-2 Netherlands (Malen 83)
- VAR! Gakpo's effort is ruled out
- GOAL! Romania 0-2 Netherlands (Gakpo 63)
- Second half: Romania 0-1 Netherlands
- Half-time: Romania 0-1 Netherlands
- GOAL! Romania 0-1 Netherlands (Gakpo 20)
- Romania v Netherlands is go ...
- Romania v Netherlands line-ups
- Round of 16: Romania v Netherlands
![Netherlands' Donyell Malen (18) celebrates with' Xavi Simons (7) after scoring his side's third goal.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c544aeb18325c90aa5b32d9a4541bfb17c85cee4/290_59_2692_1615/master/2692.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none)
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- Full time: Romania 0-3 Netherlands
- GOAL! Romania 0-3 Netherlands (Malen 90+3)
- GOAL! Romania 0-2 Netherlands (Malen 83)
- VAR! Gakpo's effort is ruled out
- GOAL! Romania 0-2 Netherlands (Gakpo 63)
- Second half: Romania 0-1 Netherlands
- Half-time: Romania 0-1 Netherlands
- GOAL! Romania 0-1 Netherlands (Gakpo 20)
- Romania v Netherlands is go ...
- Romania v Netherlands line-ups
- Round of 16: Romania v Netherlands
Worth noting that the Romanian goalie kicked away one of those trainers as Malen slalomed past the other to score his second goal. Very odd scenes.
Cody Gakpo speaks to the Uefa on-pitch interviewer, a Scottish gentleman: “We played a good game and showed a good reaction from the last one. We are very pleased. We needed a reaction and this was a step in the right direction. We talked a lot about aggression and intensity. The physio told me last night I would score and I ran over to him. Happy I could assist Donny with his goal, and a good game overall.”
Real skill and composure in that final goal from Malen, especially with an unwanted pair of trainers on the field.
Donyell Malen had to avoid a pair of trainers on the pitch as he showed ice-cold composure to put the Netherlands 3-0 up 🤣👟 pic.twitter.com/Q2bLY6Zwjn
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) July 2, 2024
Full time: Romania 0-3 Netherlands
The Netherlands advance to the quarter-finals, while Romania go home. It was an emphatic win for the Dutch in the end but they were still sweating as the game entered its final seven minutes, just before they scored their second goal.
GOAL! Romania 0-3 Netherlands (Malen 90+3)
Malen scores again! The Netherlands break upfield with Malen on the ball. He chops inside two chasing defenders on the edge of the Romania penalty area and pulls a low shot into the bottom left-hand corner. It’s full time in Munich.
90+1 min: We’ll have four minutes of added time and but for his side’s at times astonishing wastefulness in front of goal, one imagines Ronald Koeman will be very pleased with this performance. They famously won this tournament in Germany in 1988 and a repeat of that victory is well within the realms of possibility.
89 min: Barring a late miracle, Romania are going to go out of this tournament but can do so with the collective head held high. They’ve really given it a right good go in this tournament and were just one kick of a ball away from equalising in this match until six minutes ago.
86 min: Wout Weghorst is on for the Netherlands. Gakpo makes way after another good performance. He’s joint top of the official Euro 2024 Golden Boot standings with three but will have to go some to catch up with Own Goals, who are disappearing over the horizon with nine.
GOAL! Romania 0-2 Netherlands (Malen 83)
The Netherlands doubnle their lead. Gakpo ferrets his way along the byline, with Dragusin on his case. The defender thinks the ball’s gone out of play and relaxes slightly, but it hasn’t. Gakpo pulls it back to Malen, who prods home from the edge of the six-yard box.
![Donyell Malen (C) of the Netherlands celebrates scoring.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/130cbc145de35211e362f876c6560229b160f0f6/0_0_3017_2061/master/3017.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none)
82 min: Now Romania try to break upfield but Alibec is very harshly penalised for a high boot and a promising attack breaks down. Stanciu gets booked for his very justified complaint. And finally, the Netherlands get their second goal …
81 min: The Netherlands break upfield with Malen on the ball. He plays a rubbish pass out to Gakpo, who has to pause his run to control the ball. He eventually sorts his feet out and unleashes a shot that is heroically blocked.
80 min: Denzil Dumfries has been booked for time-wasting.
78 min: Dragusin rides to the rescue for Romania, leaping to deny Depay a good chance in the air. The lesser-spotted Tottenham January signing has been outstanding today.
76 min: Joey Veerman becomes the latest Dutchman to miss a decent chance, rolling a low shot just wide of the far post. I’m surprised to see him back on the pitch considering how critical his coach was of him after the Netherlands’ defeat at the hands of Aiustria. Ronald Koeman isn’t backwards in coming forwards when it comes to publicly pointing his Big Finger of Blame.
71 min: Some substitutions to tell you about. Joey Veerman and Micky van de Ven are on for the Netherlands, with Schouten and Ake making way. Alexandru Cicaldau, Denis Alibec and Valentin Mihaila are on for Romania. Hagi, Dragus and Marin head for the bench.
70 min: Marin was booked for the shove on Xavi Simons which led to that free-kick. He’ll miss the next game if Romania can somehow win this game.
69 min: With no Romania draught excluder in place at a free-kick, Memphis Depay sends a free-kick under thge leaping defensive wall. Nice try but not today. Wide.
66 min: Ake flicked a cross forward and Gakpo reacted quickjly to roof the ball from close range. He was clearly offside.
VAR! Gakpo's effort is ruled out
It’s as you were. Romania dodge the latest in a hail of Dutch bullets. It’s like the apartment scene in Pulp Fiction.
GOAL! Romania 0-2 Netherlands (Gakpo 63)
Finally! Moments after having a shot saved superbly by Nita, Cody Gakpo scores his fourth goal of this tournament but there’s a check for offside.
![Cody Gakpo (C) of the Netherlands scores a goal that was later disallowed by VAR due to offside.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/20efeb9bc3508bfab8e2d8bd16cf94961ad8c848/0_0_2831_1932/master/2831.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none)
61 min: Moments after that goalmouth scramble, in which Racovitzan also hooked a shot off the line, Donyell Malen missed a good opportunity to increase the Netherlands’ lead. He didn’t cover himself in glory in the their last game and has just incurred his manager’s wrath again.
60 min: Romania win a corner and the ball is played short(ish) to Haji. His whipped cross is put out for another corner by Dumfries and Virgil clears the next inswinger.
58 min: Virgil van Dijk knocks a downward header from a corner against the upright and the ball goes wide. The Dutch are really struggling to score the second goal that would alkmost certainly put this game to bed.
56 min: Reijnders pulls a shot from distance wide. I need to see a replay of that goalmouth scramble – it looked like the Netherlands were peppering the Romania goal and I’m not quite sure how they didn’t score.
54 min: Dumfries runs on to a ball in behind down the inside right and pulls the ball back into the Romania penalty area.Depay is about to bury it but Andre Ratiu stops him with a brilliant last-ditch tackle. There’s a bit of a scramble but the ball somehow ends up in the grasp of Romania goalkeeper Florin Nita. The Netherlands could pay dearly for this profligacy of theirs in front of goal.
51 min: The Yellow Sea parts as Reijnders goes on a slaloming run upfield. The Dutch midfielder unleashes a low shot and Bogdan Racovitzan flings himself in the way of it. The ball hits his elbow but his arm was well tucked in by his side. Dutch cries for a penalty fall on deaf ears. The handball law is already crazy but if that had been given, the game would officially be gone to hell in a handcart.
47 min: De Vrij is sold short by a terrible pass from a team-mate and fouls Stanciu as he lunges for the ball. Free-kick for Romania, wide on the left. Stanciu whips the ball into the mixer but Burca can’t quite get his head to it.
46 min: The Dutch have made a change, bringing on Donyell Malen for Steven Bergwijn, who I thought was excellent in the first half. He might be injured. It’s a like for like swap.
Second half: Romania 0-1 Netherlands
46 min: Play resumes with Romania kicking off.
Half-time: Romania 0-1 Netherlands
The Dutch go in at the break with a one-goal lead and should really be further ahead. They’ve been all over Romania since scoring their goal and Edward Iordanescu has a big job to do in the next 15 minutes if his side are to turn this game around.
45+2 min: Dennis Man unleashes a shot towards the Dutch goal from distance after good work by Hagi, who had pounced on a Van Dijk error. It’s straight at Bart Verbruggen.
45+1 min: That was a wonderful chance for the Dutch to double their lead. If Dumfries had rolled a more gentle pass into the path of Simons, the winger could have buried the ball past Nita without hesitation.
44 min: Oh Xavi!!!! While trying to shepherd the ball out of play, Racovitzah is robbed by Dumfries, who plays the ball to Simons in acres of space in the Romania penalty area. There’s a bit too much zip on the pass and by the time Simons has the ball fully under control, he’s swarmed by defenders and can only send a feeble shot wide of the far upright. Romania dodge another bullet.
42 min: The Dutch win their 10th corner of the game but Memphis Depay sends this one sailing out of play with a half-decent effort to curl the ball straight into the Romania goal. He’d spotted Nita off his line and tried to catch out the Romania goalkeeper.
41 min: The Netherlands continue to send cross after cross after cross into the Romania penalty area, which the men in yellow are defendingh fairly desperately. They deserve immense credit for digging in but another goal could really knock the stuffing out of them and lead to a rout.
39 min: The substitute is immediately spun by Memphis Depay, who picks out Simons at the byline. His rabona pull-back is put out for another Dutch corner, which the PSG man takes. Romania clear again.
![Xavi Simons plays a Rabona kick](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/4433524273d6c077f676aefdefd4e2a364b70cb3/0_0_3277_2185/master/3277.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none)
37 min: Already without their suspended first choice left-back, Nicusor Bancu, Romania lose his replacement. Bogdan Racovitzan comes on and slots in at centre-back, with Andrei Burca moving to left-back.