EURO 2024 Talking Points: Demiral The Turkish Hero As Dutch Find Scoring Boot

On Day 19 of EURO 2024, we witnessed the conclusion of the final round of 16 games before a two-day break, and they certainly lived up to expectations.

Here are our talking points after Dutch and Turkish performances in Germany.

Dutch shows attacking strength

After three uninspiring group games, the Netherlands appeared to have finally found their form with a resounding 3-0 victory over Romania to advance to the quarter-finals.

In those group games, they struggled to create chances, and much was made of their wasteful finishing as they finished third in the standings.

Facing Romania, the Netherlands seemed to be approaching its peak performance. Cody Gakpo, especially, shone brightly, netting a strong near-post in the first half and assisting Donyell Malen for another late in the game.

Gakpo, now leading the tournament’s scoring charts, remained a constant threat. It wouldn’t be surprising if he increased his goal tally before returning to his club football.

However, the driving force behind their attacking prowess was the midfield’s strength and dynamism. Malen injected energy in the second half, contributing two goals, while Tijjani Reijnders delivered one of his standout performances for the Dutch team.

His tireless runs sliced through the Romanian defense repeatedly, leaving a lasting impression.

It feels like Ronald Koeman, after much tinkering, has found his best XI and if they play like that again, they will be a threat in EURO 2024’s latter stages.

Demiral leads Turkey with performances at both ends of the pitch

Tournament football sometimes finds unlikely heroes and as he was being pushed by his jubilant teammates towards his fans, Merih Demiral cut a surprised figure.

But the center-back was the match-winner in Turkey’s 2-1 win over Austria, scoring both goals from corners.

He showed his side the way, but Turkey produced their best performance of the tournament to sink what was many people’s dark horses in Austria.

Demiral was nearly flawless with 17 clearances, 13 duels won, and six interceptions. He owed a debt of gratitude to his goalkeeper Mert Gunok for an outstanding toward the end to maintain the 2-1 scoreline. Nevertheless, Turkey’s key performance was marked by defiance and bravery throughout the match.

Ralf Rangnick’s men can consider themselves unlucky not to have least taken it to extra time given they had nearly two more goals in the expected goals metric, but their main striker Marko Arnautovic was ineffective during the game marked out of it by Turkey and then missing those clear-cut chances when the ball ran his way.

In the quarter-finals, Turkey will be up against the Netherlands, requiring yet another exceptional defensive performance to secure a spot in the semi-finals for the first since 2008.