The European championship is over for the Dutch national team. The team of national coach Frank de Boer played a disappointing eighth final against the Czech Republic and eventually had to bow 0-2. Tipping point in the match was a red card for Matthijs de Ligt, who made hands around the penalty area of the the Dutch with a Czech in his back. After the game, the the Dutch players are mainly looking for explanations for the elimination. “It seemed like we were a bit tired, I don’t know why,” Frenkie de Jong told the newspaper NOS.
Just like a number of teammates, De Jong was quite invisible against the Czech Republic, while earlier this tournament he showed that he could take the team in tow. “I don’t know, I think we didn’t play well in the first half either,” De Jong responds to the elimination. “It seemed like we were a little tired, I don’t know why. It was a tough game. I agree it was empathetic. Maybe this was the biggest game of some of the careers. But our game didn’t come through off the ground. After the red card, it only got more difficult.”
The the Dutch squad was unable to make a fist in attacking terms and did not even fire a shot on target before half-time, a statistic that was ‘achieved’ for the first time in this European championship. “We were tactically well prepared,” says De Jong. “Sometimes you have those days… The first half wasn’t good enough. It’s not that we gave a lot away, we don’t create much ourselves. After the break we get a good chance. But after the red card you know “It will be a lot more difficult. We didn’t really break free. I didn’t really get free either. It felt heavy. It was not our best game.”
De Jong denies that the elimination is due to underestimation. In the run-up to the duel with the Czechs, it was mainly about a possible quarterfinal against Denmark and the subsequent semifinal. “No, we were really fully focused,” said De Jong. “We knew it was going to be very difficult, so it’s not.” De Jong also does not attribute the defeat to De Ligt’s red card. “Matthijs has a lot of personality. It is very clever of him that he comes directly in front of the camera. But it is not only his fault. In the first half we also played below our level. You can also do much better with ten men , certainly against the Czech Republic.”
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Due to the loss, the the Dutch squad returns to the Netherlands on Monday. “In the end it was a bad tournament”, De Jong concludes without a doubt. “If you go out in the eighth finals, it’s never good. I don’t know if we threw the Dutch school overboard. I think we played well. We were also the team with the most goals, so we played offensively. The Dutch school is not always 4-4-3, as long as it is offensive and I think we have tried that.”
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