Early morning on July 7th, after the Netherlands team reversed Turkey 2-1 to enter the European Cup semi-finals, Dutch head coach Koeman defended the team’s fighting spirit. He said: “The outside world often questions whether we lack fighting spirit, but the players have given the most powerful response with their actions.”
Despite falling behind in the game, the Netherlands team eventually reversed the situation thanks to Stefan de Vrij’s goal and an own goal from the opposing team.
Next, the Netherlands team will face England in the semi-finals. When asked if he was proud of the team’s achievements, Koeman chose to focus on the outside world’s misunderstanding of the players’ fighting spirit.
“This is indeed significant for the whole country,” he replied. “We are a small country, but we have reached the semi-finals along with England, France and Spain. We are proud to have the opportunity to play in the semi-finals.”
“Tonight’s game was indeed extremely tense and exciting, we showed a strong fighting spirit, but sometimes we are criticized, (believing) that compared to other countries, we seem to lack this spirit. The players’ performance in the second half, and even in the last five minutes, powerfully demonstrated our fighting spirit. Maybe you feel this pressure more through television than I do on the bench. We passed the test.”
Koeman also said: “The match against England will be a tough one, we are very happy to be able to reach the semi-finals. This is an amazing achievement. We reached the semi-finals, which is beyond everyone’s expectations. We started well, if Memphis Depay could have scored at the beginning, then everything would have been clear. But after conceding, we were a bit slack. This is a result of the whole team’s efforts.”
Koeman also said that he hoped to face Spain in the final, as they had already played France in the group stage. However, he also reminded that it is not the time to think about this yet. “It is too early to ask this question now, we must first prepare for the semi-finals, but I hope to face Spain in the final, because we have already played against France in the group stage.”
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