NL came to play more in the second half, some great plays. wonder why they couldnt do that from the start and instead waited to be a goal down... they have a lot of attacking potential. on the other hand, they showed some defensive vulnerabilities, in particular they allowed space weirdly despite having players around the play. i guess they hesitated or failed to properly deal with the turks' crosses in particular - their strength. at some point i was going to say the turks are cross merchants since they cant build on the ground against the dutch defense, but seeing as the dutch kept struggling to clear the crosses, i guess it made them dangerous to the point where dutch defenders had to block shots from 10 yards out several times. this also proved me right again in that you have to block crosses before they come... sometimes you struggle to deal with them (not that they were always good - it was more of a weakness of the dutch defenders). a NL-ES final would be nicest football-wise.
@Icarax Spain - England will be much better. As this Spain team does not play tiki-taka *for tiki-taka's sake*, they will give Netherlands the ball, like they did with Germany. Which means Netherlands will naively attack them, Spain will score a few on the counter and end them easily. Whereas Spain playing against England's defensive game will be much more interesting. It's always better to watch the two playstyles against each other. Spain will practically be forced to play traditional tiki-taka against England and it will be interesting when and how they will switch to their Plan B. As I said, this is not Luis Enrique's Spain, which played tiki-taka without a Plan B. Luis De la Fuente's Spain is a different monster.
@Icarax also, i find it quite ironic that despite all of this bus parking by big teams (spain, netherlands, turkey, germany and portugal and france to some extent), they fail to defend what actually matters: decisive actions (usually crosses) happening against them. how many times do they want to prove me right? block for goodness sakes, dont make it harder for yourself. you have a billion men back and none are marking that dutch header. come on.
both a bit flat as all teams are at this euros, hence the low scores, but fair play to turkey for pressuring & scoring especially against a dutch side that looks quite tough to break down once they get in position (not that turkey is much worse at this). why have all the big european teams downgraded after the wc rather than learning from argentina? i understand playing a bit cautious at the international level, but all teams are too passive. if youre scared of overcommitting then what happens is you just allow opponents to advance more than they should and then you still endure pressure regardless, which is always risky. its almost like every team is relying on their opponents not being clinical, which isnt great defense - unlike what the scores are showing. the scores are low and the games are terrible because on attack the teams are lacking not only quality but also willpower, they seem to be always playing to ET. this is one way holland is flat atm, although less than most teams.
@Marbella Imo, it was the right decision. Regardless where the grey wolves gesture originated, it is now associated with the extreme right political party that was/is in the business of intimidating and even liquidating opposition. It's political nature makes it too sensitive to give a pass so he can't hide behind 'cultural heritage'. It's also possible that he has sympathy for the grey wolves. In any case, he should have known better, but Turkish people have a habit of being over-emotional.
NL came to play more in the second half, some great plays. wonder why they couldnt do that from the start and instead waited to be a goal down... they have a lot of attacking potential. on the other hand, they showed some defensive vulnerabilities, in particular they allowed space weirdly despite having players around the play. i guess they hesitated or failed to properly deal with the turks' crosses in particular - their strength. at some point i was going to say the turks are cross merchants since they cant build on the ground against the dutch defense, but seeing as the dutch kept struggling to clear the crosses, i guess it made them dangerous to the point where dutch defenders had to block shots from 10 yards out several times. this also proved me right again in that you have to block crosses before they come... sometimes you struggle to deal with them (not that they were always good - it was more of a weakness of the dutch defenders). a NL-ES final would be nicest football-wise.
@Icarax Spain - England will be much better. As this Spain team does not play tiki-taka *for tiki-taka's sake*, they will give Netherlands the ball, like they did with Germany. Which means Netherlands will naively attack them, Spain will score a few on the counter and end them easily. Whereas Spain playing against England's defensive game will be much more interesting. It's always better to watch the two playstyles against each other. Spain will practically be forced to play traditional tiki-taka against England and it will be interesting when and how they will switch to their Plan B. As I said, this is not Luis Enrique's Spain, which played tiki-taka without a Plan B. Luis De la Fuente's Spain is a different monster.
@Icarax also, i find it quite ironic that despite all of this bus parking by big teams (spain, netherlands, turkey, germany and portugal and france to some extent), they fail to defend what actually matters: decisive actions (usually crosses) happening against them. how many times do they want to prove me right? block for goodness sakes, dont make it harder for yourself. you have a billion men back and none are marking that dutch header. come on.
that should be a gakpo goal smh
Goals were never in doubt.
In erdogans face
@wawa IDIOT
Turkey win vs netherland 50% vs england 25% vs spain 0,00%
both a bit flat as all teams are at this euros, hence the low scores, but fair play to turkey for pressuring & scoring especially against a dutch side that looks quite tough to break down once they get in position (not that turkey is much worse at this). why have all the big european teams downgraded after the wc rather than learning from argentina? i understand playing a bit cautious at the international level, but all teams are too passive. if youre scared of overcommitting then what happens is you just allow opponents to advance more than they should and then you still endure pressure regardless, which is always risky. its almost like every team is relying on their opponents not being clinical, which isnt great defense - unlike what the scores are showing. the scores are low and the games are terrible because on attack the teams are lacking not only quality but also willpower, they seem to be always playing to ET. this is one way holland is flat atm, although less than most teams.
541 lol why turkey need such a defensive formation dont play allah with them?
Turkey to score.
netherlands -1
gakpo to score
Over2.5 goals
I am a big fan of Arda Güler i hope he scores.
Turkey defender Merih Demiral has been banned for 2 games by UEFA
@Marbella Imo, it was the right decision. Regardless where the grey wolves gesture originated, it is now associated with the extreme right political party that was/is in the business of intimidating and even liquidating opposition. It's political nature makes it too sensitive to give a pass so he can't hide behind 'cultural heritage'. It's also possible that he has sympathy for the grey wolves. In any case, he should have known better, but Turkish people have a habit of being over-emotional.
@Big_Boss whole turkey has sympathy with the grey wolves
2-2 netherlands is NOT gonna win.. maybe qualify with penaltys. Red card is possible
Turks out
3:2 Hard fight
Easy win vs grey wolves
@wawa FU
Turkey to progress 100%.
@Sputnik My brother! You couldn't be more wrong
2-2 90 min