A sensational quarterfinal has been set up at Berlin’s Olympiastadion on Saturday as the Netherlands and Turkiye collide.
Both of these teams are incredibly well supported in Germany and their fans have been probably the best of the tournament so far.
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Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side breezed past Romania in the last 16 as their attacking machine has clicked into top gear. Cody Gakpo was superb, Memphis Depay and Xavi Simons purred and the Netherlands’ midfield is now growing in confidence in front of a solid back line. Nobody has really talked about them winning it all, but the Dutch look divine and the final step they must take is being more clinical because they’re creating so many chances.
Turkiye battled and dragged themselves into the last eight for the first time since 2008 as Vincenzo Montella’s side beat Austria in the last 16 thanks to two set-piece goals from Merih Demiral. But Demiral has since been handed a two-game ban by UEFA for a gesture he made after the game which UEFA said “violated the basic rules of decent conduct, for using sports events for manifestations of a non-sporting nature and for bringing the sport of football into disrepute.” Teenage playmaker Arda Guler was sublime as he leads a young generation of attackers who have so much quality on the ball. Turkiye have two key players out through suspension but they do have captain Hakim Calhanoglu and center back Samet Akaydin returning from suspension for this game.
How to watch Netherlands vs Turkiye, stream link and start time
Kick off: 3pm ET, Saturday (July 6)
Stadium: Olympiastadion, Berlin
How to watch on TV, stream in USA: Fox Sports
Netherlands team news, focus
Steven Bergwijn started on the right against Romania and proved extremely useful in creating space for Denzel Dumfries to cause havoc. But Donyell Malen came on for him and scored twice. Still, it seems like that Koeman will stick with the same starting lineup against Romania as the Dutch put in their best performance of the tournament by some distance. The balance was spot on and in Gakpo they have a winger in fine form who is focusing on one thing: getting to goal as quickly and directly as possible.
Turkiye team news, focus
What a gutsy win it was by Turkiye against much-fancied Austria as they have been roared on by their incredible fans wherever they’ve played in Germany. The quality of Guler, Yilmaz and Yildiz was matched by the brilliant defending of Kadioglu, Demiral and Bardakci with Ayhan also leading by example in midfield. Montella will be forced into three changes as Yuksek, Demiral and Kokcu are suspended but Akaydin and Calhanoglu should come straight back in after they were suspended for the win against Austria. With Guler’s deliveries, Turkiye will be extremely dangerous from set-piece situations.
Netherlands vs Turkiye prediction
The Dutch should have too much quality in attack for Turkiye but there’s something about the spirit of Montella’s side which tells you they could easily pull off an upset. It will be chaos and Turkiye will prevail. Netherlands 1-2 Turkiye.