The football teams of the Netherlands and England will play the second semi-final of the European Championship tonight at 9:00 PM in Dortmund.
Spain, which was better than France last night (2:1), is already waiting for the Netherlands or England in the final.
For the second time in five years, these two European giants meet in the semi-finals, with the Netherlands triumphing 3:1 after extra time in the 2019 Nations League clash.
By all accounts, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if this much-anticipated matchup went to overtime once again, especially since five of the last eight games between these teams have ended in a draw.
The Dutch are playing their first semi-final at the Euro since 2004, while the English are fighting for a new final after losing to Italy on penalties in the last championship.
The Netherlands has shown a better game in the course of the tournament so far, but England, despite unconvincing games, is considered a slight favorite.
“For the whole nation, it is something special. We are a small country and we are in the semi-finals with England, France and Spain. We are really proud. We had to struggle, but reaching the semi-finals is a great success for us,” said Dutch coach Ronald Koeman.
On the other hand, Gareth Southgate reiterated that his team is under a lot of pressure.
“Our intention is to play with the ball, but you have opponents who try to stop you. Our team was under a lot of pressure from the start, but we did so well. We are not able to score many goals at the moment, but the last three games we have played against teams with five defenders. We’ve reached our third semi-final in four attempts, but that’s not where we want it to end,” Southgate said.
The referee of the match is the German Felix Zwayer, and it is expected that the selectors will not change the lineups too much compared to previous meetings, Klix.ba writes.
Possible lineups:
The Netherlands: Verbruggen; Dumfries, De Vrij, Van Dijk, Aké; Schouten, Simons, Reijnders; Malen, Depay, Gakpo
England: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guéhi; Saka, Mainoo, Rice, Shaw; Bellingham, Foden; Kane
