Julius OkorieAll is now set for next set of battle at the ongoing Euro 2024 Championship in Germany. After concluding the round of 16 fixtures Tuesday, the quarterfinal clashes take the centre stage from Friday with Hosts Germany pitched against Spain and Portugal against France, in what promises to be survival of the fittest in both matches.
Netherlands and Turkey on Tuesday clinched the two last tickets of the quarterfinals after sacking Romania and Austria respectively.
Netherlands booked their place in the quarterfinals, despite missing a hatful of chances, with a 3-0 win over Romania in Munich.
Ronald Koeman’s side had 23 attempts on the night, but it was a fine Cody Gakpo strike in the first half and a late double from half-time substitute Donyell Malen that sealed their place in the last eight in front of 65,012 spectators at the Allianz Arena.
Gakpo has been the Dutch talisman of late and he added his third goal of the tournament when he took a touch inside Andrei Ratiu and hit a crisp strike that beat goalkeeper Florin Nita at his near post.
As a result, he became just the third player to score three or more goals at two different major tournaments for the Netherlands, along with Johnny Rep and Dennis Bergkamp.
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Turkey on their part cruised into the quarters with goalkeeper Mert Gunok contributing in no small measure to the success after making an extraordinary late save against Austria.
Turkey’s Merih Demiral scored the quickest goal in the history of the European Championship knockout stages before adding another to put the game out of the reach of Austria. Merih Demiral first goal against Austria came in 57 second under first minute of the encounter, with the second goal coming in the 59th minute. No doubt the first minute goal contributed in fast-tracking Austria’s exit from the tournament.
Austria had gone ahead inside the first 10 minutes in their previous two matches but were on the receiving end in the clash against Turkey.
Austria flung so many crosses into the penalty box late in the game but the last one was the key one. As the clock ticked over to 94 minutes, Baumgartner did everything right, heading hard and low to the goalkeeper’s right. Gunok was up to the challenge.
“If you’re behind with two goals, then things aren’t any easier,” Rangnick said after the game. “The team tried everything. We then scored one goal and we had enough time to achieve a draw.”
“It’s difficult if you have Gordon Banks in goal,” he added, comparing Gunok’s stop to Banks’ famous save against Pele at the 1970 World Cup.
After pushing Austria and Romania to the exit door, Netherlands and Turkey will now clash in one of the quarterfinal clashes on Saturday to see who advances to the last four.
Full Euro 2024 Quarterfinal Fixtures:
Friday, July 5
Spain Vs Germany
5 p.m.
Portugal vs France
8 p.m.
Saturday, July 6
England Vs Switzerland
5 p.m.
Netherlands vs Turkey
8 p.m.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
