Pierre van Hooijdonk saw the Dutch team turn the quarter finals around in the final phase on Saturday night. A 0-1 deficit was undone thanks to a good header by Stefan de Vrij and an own goal by Mert Muldur. Van Hooijdonk does not understand why Koeman is holding on to a pairing in the Dutch team.

“the Dutch has shown resilience. You need a bit of luck,” Rafael van der Vaart begins during the review of the NOS. “What a wonderful ending. With some acrobatics you reach the semi-finals.”

According to Van Hooijdonk, the Netherlands played 'on their last legs'. “A great second half. Turkey was immediately pinned down in their own half, which did not immediately result in big chances.”

The former striker saw that Ronald Koeman's tactical changes were effective. “You see Gakpo, he suddenly gets better. Memphis too, purely and simply because you play with a deep striker in terms of structure.”

Van Hooijdonk hopes that the Dutch national coach will not start with the same starting eleven during the semi-final against England. “I do not believe in a combination with Memphis as a deep striker and Xavi Simons as number 10. They do not complement each other. That is nice against Romania, but against the better countries that is not enough.”

“With Memphis in the point of attack, you need a running number 10, Xavi Simons is not that. Memphis got better when Weghorst was in the Turkish sixteen. Then you always have someone in front of the goal,” concludes Van Hooijdonk.

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