Ronald Koeman and the threshold of history with the Dutch team at EURO 2024

Ronald Koeman won the European Championship as a player. Now he is on his way to repeating that feat as manager of the Netherlands.

The "Orange whirlwind" will meet the "Three Lions" in the semi-finals of EURO 2024. Photo: Dutch Football Federation

36 years ago, Ronald Koeman scored against the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) in the semi-finals of EURO 1988. Now, the Dutch coach will lead his players in another semi-final with the goal of writing history. In two periods leading the national team, Koeman brought the "Orange Storm" back after years of being lost. For the first time, after the Dutch team missed EURO 2016 and the 2018 World Cup, the 61-year-old strategist led Oranje back to a major tournament in the EURO 2020 qualifiers. In this reunion, he and his students are on the threshold of the first final in a major tournament after a decade. "I think for Dutch football, this is something special. We were underestimated before the tournament and to be in the semi-finals with England, France and Spain is something to be really proud of," Ronald Koeman shared.

Ronald Koeman happy after the Netherlands team beat Türkiye. Photo: Dutch Football Federation

The Dutch coach has been criticised for not being able to find the best squad after the group stage. However, Koeman is very good at finding the right personnel changes at the right time. This helped Oranje to come back against Turkey in the quarter-finals. Koeman did not have the services of key midfielders like Frenkie de Jong or Teun Koopmeiners in this tournament. It is not surprising that the Dutch team has limitations in controlling and carrying the ball. In addition, with wrong experiments like the choice of Joey Veerman against Austria, the former Barca coach knows how to change as soon as he sees the problem. In the match against Türkiye, the Netherlands was completely deadlocked in the first half when the opponent took the lead. Right at the beginning of the second half, Koeman withdrew Steven Bergwijn and brought on Wout Weghorst. This change helped Oranje play more directly and launch many crosses when there was a tall target striker in the penalty area. Weghorst's previous four appearances at EURO 2024 lasted just 44 minutes. However, the match against Türkiye lasted 45 minutes. That was when Koeman realized that the opponent defended deep with a large number of players and he needed another plan to find an equalizer. "If things don't go well, you need to change. We need to know who the substitutes are, what they can do and how they fight to change the game," Koeman said after the match against Turkey. In addition, the starting players also showed a bright face at EURO 2024. Koeman's three main strikers, Memphis Depay, Cody Gakpo and Wout Weghorst, all had a difficult season. However, all of them still showed positivity and played much better in club colors.

Although not rated too highly before the tournament, the Dutch team has advanced to the semi-finals of EURO 2024. Photo: Dutch Football Federation

Although the EURO 2024 version is not the best Dutch team in history, the quality of the squad is also lower than the generation of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder or Robin van Persie. However, this makes the achievement of reaching the EURO 2024 semi-finals of Koeman and his students even more impressive.

Laodong.vn

Source: https://laodong.vn/bong-da-quoc-te/ronald-koeman-va-nguong-cua-lich-su-cung-doi-tuyen-ha-lan-tai-euro-2024-1364108.ldo