New Delhi: Cody Gakpo knows how to make the big moments his own. He announced himself on the international stage with three goals for Netherlands in the World Cup and now, at Euro 2024, he is showing that it wasn’t an accident.
Netherlands started their Round of 16 game rather slowly as Romania did all the early running. They fired in the crosses, the attacking midfielders were going forward and they were mixing up the pace of their attacks as well. They were knocking on the doors in every sense of the word.
The Netherlands were trying to end a run of four consecutive defeats in the knockout stages of the Euros but they were clearly not at their best and it remained that way until the 20th minute of the game.
That is when Gakpo decided to get involved for the first time. He cut in from the left and got the ball onto his right and smashed it in at the near post. There will be questions about the positioning of keeper Florin Nita but it was a great strike.
It was his third goal of the tournament which ties him with the top scorers. Of European players, only Kylian Mbappé (9 in 10 games) has scored more goals across the last two major tournaments (2022 World Cup and Euro 2024) than Gakpo (6 in 9 games).
Those who saw him have a pretty invisible season for Liverpool in the Premier League might be wondering where this player was all season but he clearly likes the international stage.
Romania conceded just five goals in qualifying and they have shown in the tournament that they are defensively solid but it took them a while to recover from the blow.
And in that time, Netherlands took control of the game. The attacks flowed through Denzel Dumfries, who was brought into side today, and his runs down the right flank produced plety of nervous moments for the Romanians.
The Netherlands were now doing to the Romanians what the Romanians had done to them early in the game. There were firing in cross after cross into the box and should have had more goals to show for all their adventure.
Xavi Simons had a great opportunity in the 44th minute but he took one touch too many when perhaps a first-time shot could have done the trick.
A measure of the Dutch dominance could be seen in the 10 corners they won in the first half. According to Opta, only Sweden (11 vs Italy in 2000) have had more first-half corners in a European Championship match on record (since 1980).
The break was a chance for Romania to regroup but it didn’t do much for them. The Netherlands were in the mood to play. They ended up with 17 attempts on the Romanian goal and many of them came from Memphis Depay’s boots. The striker had a good game but was just unable to finish well.
However, in a knockout match, there are no points for a draw. Romania kept throwing men forward and that resulted in even more opportunities for the Dutch; opportunities that were not taken until the 83rd minute when Donyell Malen tapped it in from the edge of the six-yard box.
The goal, though, was created by Gakpo. He was running along the byline when a push from Radu Dragusin seemed to push him and the ball out of play. Only, the ball stayed in but the defence relaxed.
Gakpo used that second of relxation to cut the ball back in to Malen, who did the rest.
The Netherlands then capped off a splendid game with another goal (90’+3) thanks to a brilliant run by Malen. He took off from the half line before cutting between two defenders and finishing in style.
After the dull display last time around, Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman should be very pleased with this performance. Almost all the players got going and they played with a fluidity that was a true reflection of their talent they possess in their squad.
