Romania vs Netherlands

A place in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals is on the line as Romania and the Netherlands go head-to-head at the Allianz Arena in Munich.

Romania stunned the continent with an unlikely top-table finish in a heavily competitive Group E, beating Belgium, Ukraine, and Slovakia to the punch. Edward Iordanescu’s men went unbeaten in two of their three group stage fixtures (W1, D1, L1) en route to a ‘historic moment,’ as the Tricolour manager described the country’s first appearance in the knockout stages of a European Championship since 2000. Despite starting all three matches as underdogs, the Romanians have set up this tie against the Netherlands – Europe’s fifth-best side per FIFA rankings. That’s a potentially ominous sign for Romania following a 2-0 loss to Belgium in the group phase, their sixth successive defeat against teams ranked inside FIFA’s top ten. One of those failures was a 3-0 thumping to their upcoming last-16 rivals in a friendly.

On the other hand, the Netherlands will look forward to taking on Romania in this Round-of-16 tie after winning the last four meetings between the teams by multi-goal margins. Like the Romanians, Ronald Koeman’s side accrued four points in the group stages, yet it was merely enough for progression as one of the best third-place finishers. The Oranje slumped to a 3-2 defeat to Austria on Matchday 3, provoking a mad reaction from Koeman, who’s keen to avoid another ‘appalling’ performance. Austria knocked his side down from a decent-looking five-game unbeaten streak (W4, D1), reinforcing the Netherlands’ fears of exiting the tournament in the Round of 16, as they did in the 2020 edition.