Euro 2021 Preview - Netherlands
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Our second preview is for Netherlands - while they’re not the side they were 10 years or so ago, there’s still a bit to this side.
Full Squad
Here is the squad as per UEFA.com
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Goalkeepers:
Jasper Cillessen (Valencia)
Tim Krul (Norwich)
Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax)
Defenders:
Patrick van Aanholt (Crystal Palace)
Nathan Aké (Manchester City)
Daley Blind (Ajax)
Denzel Dumfries (PSV)
Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus)
Jurriën Timber (Ajax)
Joël Veltman (Brighton)
Stefan de Vrij (Inter Milan)
Owen Wijndal (AZ)
Midfielders:
Donny van de Beek (Manchester United)
Ryan Gravenberch (Ajax)
Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona)
Davy Klaassen (Ajax)
Teun Koopmeiners (AZ)
Marten de Roon (Atalanta)
Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool/Barcelona)
Forwards:
Steven Berghuis (Feyenoord)
Cody Gakpo (PSV)
Luuk de Jong (Sevilla)
Donyell Malen (PSV Eindhoven)
Memphis Depay (Lyon)
Quincy Promes (Spartak Moskva)
Wout Weghorst (Wolfsburg)
Netherlands Preview
This Dutch side are a unique one for me.
They second in their qualifying group behind Germany. In their eight qualifying games, they won six, drew one and lost one. They lost to Germany, and drew to Northern Ireland (not ideal).
Again, similar to Belgium in the last preview - they didn’t exactly have to qualify from a group of death.
Still, they scored 24 goals and conceded seven throughout qualifications. That’s a great output no matter the competition.
Along with quals, the Netherlands finished second in their group in the Nation’s League - with Italy topping them by one point.
While they got a draw and loss against Italy, but it was the 0-0 draw against Bosnia that really cost them.
Another disappointing loss this year was a 4-2 loss to Turkey (who I actually like as a roughie to go far in this tournament).
So you can say that their form has been pretty mixed.
A reason for this might be the coaching change.
Ronald Koeman was doing a great job with the Netherlands before joining Barca, and now they have Frank de Boer taking over.
Now, I don’t know Frank de Boer as a person - but fuck me, I wish I could fail upwards like that guy.
Was at Palace for about a month before getting shown the door, then went to the MLS with Atlanta and slowly turned them into the worst team in the MLS.
And then got appointed to coach the Netherlands.
Fair play to his agent.
With all that though, they should win top spot of their group, and from there - their knockout stage route isn’t that bad. They play the best third place team out of groups D, E, and F.
That isn’t bad - sure, group F is the France/Germany/Portugal murderer’s row, but there’s no guarantee that one of those sides will be the best third placed side.
From there, they play the winner of two group runners-up (Groups A and B)
That isn’t a terrible route to the semi-finals for the Netherlands if it breaks right. And from there, who knows.
Key Players
Hobby-wise, there are a few players in the Netherlands side that I’ve got my eye on.
One is Memphis Depay.
The attacker is well known to many English fans after being shafted while playing at Manchester United when they were a bit of a shit show.
Anyway, he went to Lyon from there (in a transfer that I need to write an article about one day - basically, Depay’s outsourced a group to complile a massive data analysis to find a club that would suit his play style, ideal role, and personality)
It worked - Depay became one of the best players in France, and will now join Barcelona next season to play under Koeman - a manager who got the best out of him for the national team.
Depay is arguably the Netherlands’ best attacking threat and if they go far in this tournament, it’ll be because Depay helps get them there.
Obviously there’s a bunch of other great options that the Netherlands have - especially younger talent with players like Frenkie de Jong, Donny van de Beek, and Matthijs de Ligt.
Also, one more to potentially keep an eye on is Georginio Wijnaldum… Now, I know what you’re thinking but hear me out. In qualifying under Koeman, Wijnaldum was actually the Netherlands’ joint top scorer with Depay. And he and Koeman will be linking up at Barca after the tournament - who knows, maybe we’ll see a different role for Wijnaldum than we’re used to.
Final Thoughts
Like I touched on earlier, Holland can have a good run through to the semi finals if things break well for them.
So, with that in mind - I’d be backing them to at least get through the round of 16.
If Koeman was still in charge, I’d be a lot more confident.
With that in mind, let’s be honest here - there’s a chance that they could just fold like origami and get knocked out in the round of 16 - that wouldn’t shock me.
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Great article (especially the bit about Frank de Boer :) ), there was one last minute change to the squad however: Cillissen got left out because of Corona and was replaced by Bizot.