Demiral’s Consecutive Goals Advances Turkey; Netherlands secure easy 3-0 over Romania

Austria 1-2 Turkey

In a dramatic turn of events, Austria exited the tournament after their loss against Turkey in a score of 1-2. While this match may be a bitter pill to swallow for Austria, for Türkiye it paved the way to advance to the quarter-final of the tournament. 

The match started with Türkiye setting a record for the fastest ever goal in the Euro knockout stage within a minute. Merih Demiral pounces from six yards and scores the ball into the roof of the net, making the early moment of the match exciting as ever. But Austria continued on a path of harrying and pressing their way through each Turkey attack. They nearly made an equalizing score but still failed to do so before halftime.

Austria were even stronger on their new manager’s tactics in the second half. Turkey was still under pressure, but they held onto their strong defense until in the 59th minute where Demiral jumped the highest and scored into the net, his two consecutive goals for the night. 

As the match came closer to the end, Austria refused to give up. Just a minute after Türkiye’s second goal, Austria gets one back as Michael Gregoritsch easily taps the ball, giving his team hope to make it through the quarter-finals. 

However, Türkiye is as desperate as they are after their goalkeeper  Mert Günok pulled off an amazing save in stoppage time to secure the victory.

Romania 0-3 Netherlands

Netherlands made it through the quarter-finals of the Euro 2024 after their 3-0 victory against Romania. For the first time in 16 years, the Dutch were able to advance to the later stages of the tournament after their long absence. 

Romania did threaten early on with a strike from Dennis Man but it was the Dutch who still got their first goal. Cody Gakpo made the first point of the night in the 20th minute after a stunning left-side goal in the penalty area. Despite the Netherlands’ dominance in the first half, Romania had a chance to score a goal in the half time, if it weren’t for a brilliant save from Florin Niță, the Dutch goalkeeper. 

As the Netherlands made their defense and offense much better, they were able to earn another point in the 83rd minute through Donyell Malen’s close-range goal into an open net, thanks to the fantastic pass of Gakpo. But as the final whistle came close, Malen made his two consecutive goals in the 93rd minute as he carried the ball in the middle and drove into the box from the bottom left corner. 

With this match result, the Netherlands will now play against Türkiye for the chance to advance to the quarter-finals.