Football
Netherlands 2-1 Turkey: Euro 2024 quarter-final – as it happened
Key events
Nick Ames was in Berlin. Here’s his report! Congratulations to the Netherlands, who can look forward to a semi-final with England; commiserations but most importantly thanks to Turkey, who have brought so much beautiful noise and the best entertainment; thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Turkey gave everything but this time it wasn’t quite enough. Samet Akaydin gave them a deserved first-half lead, heading home Arda Güler’s delicious cross from the right, the assist of the month. They were so close to going two goals up, only for Wout Weghorst of all people to deny Kaan Ayhan from six yards. Then they tired. Weghorst then forced a corner that led to Stefan De Vrij’s equaliser, before Mert Müldür stopped Cody Gakpo from tapping home a dangerous Denzel Dumfries cross … but only by diverting the ball into the net himself. Turkey had chances to equalise, Bart Verbruggen making a late point-blank wonder save from Semih Kılıçsoy, but they couldn’t find another goal to save themselves. They’ve lit up this tournament with some gloriously entertaining football, and on another day maybe this match would have gone their way. But it’s the Dutch who set up a semi-final against England, after digging themselves out of trouble with a thrilling second-half fightback. Even better than Turkey’s game with Austria? Maybe. Perhaps!
FULL TIME: Netherlands 2-1 Turkey
The Dutch will play England in a Dortmund semi-final on Wednesday!
90 min +6: Turkey coach Vincenzo Montella is shown a yellow card. Bertuğ Yıldırım a red one. That’s not bad going by Yıldırım, who hasn’t played a minute in Germany but has still managed to get himself sent off. Passions running high as time runs out.
90 min +5: A cross into the Dutch box from the left. Van Dijk stands his ground and takes the clattering from Güler. A free kick, and Netherlands are so close to the semis now.
90 min +4: Tosun is booked for telling it as he sees it.
90 min +3: Çalhanoğlu takes a shot from the edge of the Dutch box. Dumfries slides across to block. Outstanding defence. Turkey will be wondering how they’ve not found an equaliser to send this match into extra time.
90 min +2: Nothing comes from the set piece. Shades of Günok against Austria by Verbruggen there.
90 min +1: In the first of five additional minutes, Verbruggen makes an outstanding point-blank save from Kılıçsoy, who had met a cross whipped in from the left and looked sure to score!
90 min: Gakpo slams a shot straight at Günok. Then a free kick for Turkey out on the right. Çalhanoğlu swings it in. Aktürkoğlu meets it at the far post, but flaps a header carelessly wide. It’s not as though Turkey aren’t making chances!
89 min: Semih Kılıçsoy comes on for Ayhan.
88 min: Çelik crosses from the right. Tosun heads wide left from ten yards. Turkey are pushing hard for this precious equaliser!
87 min: Jeremie Frimpong and Joshua Zirkzee come on for Simons and Depay.
85 min: Two huge chances for Turkey to equalise! Both are sensationally blocked! Aktürkoğlu crosses low from the left; Verbruggen can only tip out to Çelik, whose low goalbound drive from the right-hand corner of the six-yard box is stopped on the line by Van de Ven. Then the ball’s returned to Aktürkoğlu in space on the left. His low curler is blocked by Schouten and cleared. Unbelievable bedlam! This is Turkey!
84 min: The new subs combine immediately for Turkey, Çelik crossing from the right, Tosun sending a header powerfully but harmlessly wide right.
82 min: Akaydin and Müldür, both unfortunate in differing ways, are replaced by Zeki Çelik and Cenk Tosun.
81 min: Van de Ven and Akaydin slide in together, competing for a 50-50 ball. The Turkish defender comes off worse, completely accidentally, and it doesn’t look as though he’ll be able to continue. On comes the stretcher.
79 min: Müldür, who was sleeping and should never have let Gakpo in ahead of him for the goal, tries to make amends with a cross-cum-shot from the right. Verbruggen claims.
78 min: That was a scrappy goal, though the cross was hellishly difficult to deal with. Turkey respond by replacing Salih Özcan and Kenan Yıldız with Okay Yokuşlu and Kerem Aktürkoğlu.
GOAL! Netherlands 2-1 Turkey (Müldür og 76)
Dumfries, in space, crosses low from the right. It dribbles through the six-yard box. Gakpo gets in ahead of Müldür at the far post. Müldür attempts to regain ground, but can only divert the ball across Günok and into the net!
75 min: Depay is sent scrambling into the Turkish box by Gakpo’s pass down the left. He can never quite sort his feet out to get a shot away, and has to settle for a corner that comes to nothing. But the Netherlands suddenly look a different side. Goals, eh?
74 min: Netherlands were preparing a triple change before the goal; instead they just swap out two players. Off go Nathan Aké and Tijjani Reijnders, on come Micky van de Ven and Joey Veerman.
72 min: Did Günok need to turn that Weghorst shot around the post? Should he have done better with De Vrij’s header? Questions for later.
GOAL! Netherlands 1-1 Turkey (De Vrij 70)
Depay one-twos the corner short, then whips into the box. De Vrij, inexplicably unmarked on the penalty spot, heads powerfully down and into the bottom-right corner. The Dutch level!
70 min: Weghorst meets a deflected cross from the left at the far stick. Anything across goal and Gakpo is tapping home from six yards. Instead he attempts to score himself from a tight angle. Günok turns the shot around the post, and from the resulting corner …
68 min: The “home” fans continue to whistle Netherlands in ear-splitting style. Theirs is one of the collective performances of the tournament.
66 min: Turkey wanted a penalty, but it was a brilliant intervention by Weghorst. Nothing comes of the corner. The big man was sent on to get Netherlands back into this; he might have just kept them in the Euros in a rather more unexpected way.
65 min: Absolute bedlam in the box! The free kick breaks to Yıldız on the edge of the box. He shoots. Verbruggen parries. Ayhan prepares top slam home the rebound from six yards, only for Weghorst of all people to extend a leg from nowhere and poke out for a corner!
64 min: Gakpo pings a pass to Depay, whose burst towards the box causes a spot of discomfort for the Turks. But still Netherlands can’t get a shot away. Turkey counter through Yılmaz down the right, and Van Dijk, about to be skinned on the outside, picks up a booking for shoving his opponent to the ground. Turkey load the Dutch box for the free kick.
62 min: The Dutch stay patient. But Turkey are holding their shape, and so they’re going nowhere. An ear-splitting cacophony of whistling from the Turkish end.
60 min: Gakpo again crosses from the left. Not so good this time. Straight out for a goal kick. A few Dutch frowns of frustration. Time’s not an issue quite yet. But it soon will be.
58 min: This game is so much fun. Turkey are a joy to watch.
57 min: Depay has a whack from 25 yards. A vicious daisycutter that’s well handled by Günok.
56 min: Güler is outrageously good. From the best part of 30 yards, he takes the free kick and drives a low curler around the wall and off the outside of the left-hand post. It’s a sensational effort, and Verbruggen may well have fingertipped that onto the woodwork. Turkey don’t get the corner, though. Fair’s fair, Netherlands didn’t get theirs either. What a free kick, though!
55 min: Güler chases a Yıldız flick down the middle. He’s bowled over by Aké, who is booked and rather fortunate that De Vrij was nearby. Otherwise, he’d have been the last man, and most likely off.
54 min: Gakpo, from a deeper position on the left, swings a vicious cross into the mixer. With Weghorst lurking, hoping to smash a header home from six yards, Akaydin eyebrows out for a corner … which isn’t awarded to Netherlands, much to Weghorst’s annoyance.
53 min: Gakpo steams down the left, reaches the byline, and crosses into the box. Weghorst can’t get near this one and Turkey clear. But there’s the plan.
51 min: Aké crosses diagonally from the left. Weghorst wins a header on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. He sends the ball across the face of goal, and somehow Depay fails to connect, sliding in. He should have put the ball in the net. It wouldn’t have counted, mind, with Weghorst having been a yard offside. But there’s the plan.
49 min: … but otherwise, it’s been a slow, patient start to the second period by Netherlands.
47 min: De Vrij goes long. Depay hopes to head down for Weghorst, but his presence is enough to win a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece, but there’s a first glimpse of the Dutch mixing it up a bit.
Turkey get the ball rolling for the second half. Netherlands need to do something different, because in the first half they didn’t force Turkey goalkeeper Mert Günok into any sort of meaningful work. And so on comes Wout Weghorst for Steven Bergwijn.
Half-time postbag. “I’m finding it quite strange to watch these two teams. How is it that I’m able to immediately recognize which position everyone is playing in, and why are they moving together intelligently and utilising space in efficient ways? Perhaps I’m still confused and disoriented from trying to figure out what England was trying to do against Switzerland” – Russell Eberts
“That header – I think the approved football cliche is ‘thumping’, right? – made me happy right to my withered centre-back heart” – James Humphries
“After the pedestrian England match, this feels like both teams have been told that the Golden Goal rule is back but applies from the first minute. Tournament atmosphere can feel a bit deflated when the home nation goes out, but Turkey feel like a surrogate host” – Andy Gordon
“It’s nice to see the Turks have a good tournament, which they’ll have had even if the Dutch pull off a win. Turkey is a bit like Poland, a football mad nation that rarely has a team befitting their love of the game. Watching their fans is thrilling, and thankfully the side is too” – Kári Tulinius
HALF TIME: Netherlands 0-1 Turkey
The Dutch started the half well but Turkey were much the better side by the end of it, and deserve their lead at the break. As the teams walk down the tunnel, Arda Güler looks animated about something and Samet Akaydin and Abdülkerim Bardakcı are both required to put an arm around the young man to calm him down. Slightly strange.
45 min +1: A lot of Dutch passing. A lot of whistling. They go nowhere.
45 min: There will be two additional first-half minutes.
44 min: A bit of space for Gakpo down the right. He’s got team-mates to hit in the middle, but smashes his cross into the nearest defender, and the ball falls gently into Günok’s arms.
42 min: Bergwijn hoicks over harmlessly from 25 yards. Günok hasn’t had any serious work to do yet.
41 min: Yılmaz romps after a long pass down the left. Dumfries looks to have it covered, but Yılmaz overpowers him. He’d be one on one with Verbruggen, except he loses his footing and slips. Netherlands need to watch out, because Turkey aren’t going to stop coming at them.
40 min: Dumfries, Depay and Gakpo attempt to dink their way down the middle of the park. It’s a dangerous combination of passes, but then Gakpo wanders offside and the flag goes up.
38 min: … and the Olympiastadion is bouncing as a result. As you’d expect. Turkey fans en fête.
37 min: That was the cross of the tournament, without question. Proper leg-as-magic-wand stuff that took out the entire Dutch defence, pretty much! Güler is an assist machine! Good luck stopping him, England, if Turkey get through.
GOAL! Netherlands 0-1 Turkey (Akaydin 35)
The corner from the left reaches Güler on the right. From the edge of the penalty box, he takes a touch to make enough space, then with his less-favoured foot curls an outrageous outswinging ball to the far stick. Verbruggen, flapping, is out of the game, as are all of his defenders. Akaydin, one of three Turks lining up to take advantage, can’t miss from a couple of yards, and crashes a header home!
35 min: Dumfries ushers a ball out for a goal kick … except it had come off one of his team-mates, and it’s a gift of a corner for Turkey. And from that …
34 min: A Turkish corner on the right. Guler hits it long and Yıldız attempts to dispatch a volley into the top-right corner. Always wide, always high, but full marks for ambition.
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