Ronald Koeman makes a substitution immediately at half-time. Presenter Gert van 't Hof makes an appointment in the studio of the NOS announced that national coach Steven Bergwijn will be replaced by Donyell Malen. Furthermore, Rafael van der Vaart states that he is pleased with the performance of the Dutch team in the first half of the match against Romania, despite the 'weak start'.

After the strong start of the Romanians, the Dutch took control. This immediately led to a goal. The preparatory work of Jerdy Schouten was excellent. He cut out his man and found Simons with a great pass between the lines.

Simons then served Gakpo, who found his man, outwitted him and unleashed a devastating shot into the near corner: 0-1. It was his third European Championship goal, with the Liverpool striker also scoring three goals at the previous World Cup.

Van 't Hof makes it clear during the break that Bergwijn will be taken off. “Donyell Malen is getting instructions from Patrick Lodewijks (the goalkeeper coach, ed.). He will come on for Bergwijn, who was already limping a bit.”

At the same time, Van der Vaart says that he thinks Bergwijn is playing well. “We started dramatically again. I thought: is it going to be another day like that? But luckily that goal came and then the Dutch team really started playing well. There was peace. Schouten good, Reijnders good, I think Bergwijn is playing very well on the right, that pairing with Dumfries.

“It looked like something again, that was great to see. Dumfries just kept going, although the cross could be a bit better now and then,” said Van der Vaart.

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