Tom Rofekamp
Latest update:
Valentijn Driessen fears that, in whatever scenario, there will be major riots after the Netherlands – Turkey. The football chief of The Telegraph does not foresee any other option, given the large number of Turkish fans in the country. The fact that it is now about a semi-final place only adds fuel to the fire, Driessen thinks. “It could end very strangely,” he predicts in the special EC podcast Kick-off the Dutch.
After the 0-3 victory of the Dutch team over Romania on Tuesday, Turkey emerged as the opponent in the quarter-finals. Ay-Yildizlilar put Austria aside 2-1, thanks in part to a phenomenal reflex from Mert Günok in injury time.
That caused a big party in many places in the Netherlands. “Now they were still together, those Dutch and Turkish fans. But I think those city centers will be renovated on Saturday, either by one or the other,” Driessen predicts on Wednesday.
The journalist thinks that the Randstad police are 'sweaty-handed'. “Of course it's gone wrong before,” Driessen is possibly referring to the riots after Ajax – Fenerbahçe in 2015. “And now against each other, at a tournament like this, in this phase…”
“It's not a group match, it's a quarter-final, with the semi-final at stake. If one of the two loses, things could turn out very strangely.”
From a tour of the ANP it appears that Dutch municipalities with a large Turkish community are already extra alert to the situation on Saturday. The eventual winner will face England or Switzerland in the semi-final.
For Turkey it would be the first semi-final place at a European Championship since 2008, when it lost 3-2 to eventual runner-up Germany. The last semi-final place of the Dutch team dates back four years: in 2004, host country Portugal was too powerful for Dick Advocaat's team with a 2-1 score.
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