![]() ![]() Schick scores goals, but he also pressures defenders and makes things happen. That was another element of his impressive performance. Schick was fortunate not to give away a free kick for initially fouling De Ligt, but his persistence earned the set piece and also led to the Dutch being forced to play for more than half an hour without their best defender. Key moments turn big games, and Malen's miss proved extremely costly less than a minute later when De Ligt was sent off after VAR informed referee Sergei Karasev that the Juventus defender had handled the ball as the last defender when under pressure from Schick. It was the type of chance that his illustrious predecessors would have buried, but Malen delayed his shot and it was enough for Vaclik to block his effort before smothering Depay's follow-up. Malen missed their best chance on 52 minutes when, after being released by a Memphis Depay flick, he burst through the Czech defence and left himself one-on-one with goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik. Had they been able to call upon one of their greats of yesteryear - Marco van Basten, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Robin van Persie, Patrick Kluivert and many more - the Netherlands would have won this round-of-16 tie comfortably. There is no world-class goal scorer available to De Boer, though, and that is hurting the Dutch. They also have issues in goal, where the 38-year-old Maarten Stekelenburg is long past his best, but Valencia's Jasper Cillessen - ruled out of this competition because of a positive COVID-19 test - and Norwich City's Tim Krul will at least give De Boer a top-level keeper playing regular first-team football in the months and years ahead. But unless the Dutch can unearth a striker like Schick, who took his Euro 2020 tally to four goals in four games with his 80th-minute strike in the Puskas Arena, they will not be a serious contender in 2022 or 2024.Įuro 2020: News and features | Fixtures and bracket | Standings | Squads | Live on ESPN | VAR watch | Pick 'em Denzel Dumfries, at 25, is another who will expect to be around at Qatar 2022 and Euro 2024 in Germany. Yes, they have bright, young talent with Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt and Donyell Malen - all of whom made tournament debuts in this competition. ![]() This paved the way for Tomas Kalas to nod a corner onto Tomas Holes' head on 68 minutes at the back post.Īnd then, with 10 to spare, Shick scored his fourth goal of the tournament when set up by Holes on a punishing break to make it 2-0.You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserĬzech Republic's Patrik Schick reminds Netherlands what they're missing after being knocked out of Euro 2020īUDAPEST, Hungary - As Patrik Schick raced away to celebrate the goal that sealed the Czech Republic's 2-0 win against the Netherlands and a Euro 2020 quarterfinal date with Denmark, Dutch coach Frank de Boer gave a wistful look on the touchline - if only his team had a striker as reliable as the Bayer Leverkusen forward.ĭe Boer has succeeded in making the Netherlands relevant again by guiding them out of the group stage at Euro 2020 in the country's first major tournament since Louis van Gaal's team reached the semifinals at the 2014 World Cup, but this humbling defeat in Budapest was a reality check for the Oranje.Ĭoasting through arguably the easiest group at the tournament by winning all three games against Ukraine, Austria and North Macedonia perhaps gave many a false impression of the distance the Dutch have travelled under De Boer. LGBTQ-supporting advertising banners could be seen pitchside at various intervals, as could flags in the stands, but the theme took a backseat to the action in a match which started off balanced.Īfter a cagey first half where each side enjoyed a few, mostly-blocked chances, Matthijs de Ligt was sent off early into the second for a bizarre handball incident while heading to the ground and tussling with Patrik Schick. The tie was politically-charged, as UEFA was forced to deny reports that Dutch fans had been prohibited from entering the stadium and a fanzone in the Hungarian capital with rainbow flags, while the Netherlands' prime minister refused to attend due to the host country's conservative leader Viktor Orban passing a law on the spread of information on homosexuality to minors. An organized and ruthless Czech Republic outfit set up a quarter-final date with Denmark by punishing a stunned 10-man Netherlands team in their 2-0 Euro 2020 last 16 win at the Puskas Arena in Budapest.
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