Surprise teams Austria, Romania, and Turkiye are all in action during round of 16 play at Euro 2024 on Tuesday. The Netherlands faces Romania, and it’s Austria vs Turkiye. Our panelists offer their predictions as the round of 16 carries on in Germany.
Romania vs The Netherlands (Tuesday in Munich)
Steen Kirby: Razvan Marin (Caligari) and Romania have performed well to reach the knockout stages of Euro 2024, a win over Ukraine and a draw with Slovakia were enough to place in this matchup against a talented but underperforming Netherlands team. The Dutch have been inconsistent performers at Euro 2024, they conceded early only to go on to defeat Poland for their only group stage win, a respectable scoreless draw against France put them on 4 points, but conceding three goals in a match that got quite open against Austria resulted in them finishing third in the group after a 3-2 defeat.
Having a backline that features Nathan Ake and Virgil Van Dijik is a big advantage for the Dutch in this one, Romania would struggle to play 120 minutes scoreless and get this to penalties, so they would need to try to go forward and get goals, the trouble for the Netherlands is an inexperienced patchwork midfield and the fact the striker Memphis Depay has not performed well. Ronald Koeman really needs to consider changes if this side is going to perform well in the knockout stages, but this is a weaker portion of the draw and you would still expect this Dutch side to have enough quality to pressure Romania and come away winners. Prediction: Netherlands 1 Romania 0
Ben Gray: Before a ball was kicked in Germany, if you’d have been told this was a round of 16 fixture, we bet you would not have expected that, of the two, it was Romania who’d topped their group.
The Tricolours have reached the Euros knockout stages for only the second time, previously doing so in 2000, finishing first in Group E, despite the fact all four members of the quartet ended-up on four points.
Edward Iordănescu’s side largely achieved this by hammering Ukraine 3-0 in their opener, Nicolae Stanciu and Răzvan Marin scoring from long-range, before Denis Drăguș secured the points with a tap-in, although this was followed by a 2-0 defeat to Belgium five days later.
Nevertheless, Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Slovakia, Răzvan Marin converting an inch-perfect penalty in Frankfurt, saw both teams celebrating in the pouring rain come full time, as Romania topped the section by virtue of goal difference.
Almost exactly 30 years ago to the day, Romania beat Argentina 3-2 at the Rose Bowl to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for the very first time, with Anghel Iordănescu, father of current head coach Edward in charge back then, so can they now pull off en equally huge upset here?
Netherlands meantime, despite an underwhelming display in Germany so far, kick off as massive favourites in Munich, finding themselves on gentler side of the draw, with a golden opportunity to repeat what they achieved at Euro ’88 by winning this competition on German soil.
Ronald Koeman’s side won their opener, coming from a goal down to beat Poland 2-1, but have failed to claim victory since, holding France to a respectable goalless draw, before Tuesday’s chaotic 3-2 defeat to Austria condemned the Oranje to a third place finish.
So, Holland are probably lucky to have avoided a juggernaut in the last 16, but their performance levels will have to improve if they’re to go much further. To date, Netherlands have won nine of 13 encounters with Romania, including each of the last four, with the Tricolours’ sole victory coming in a qualifier in Constanţa in 2007, before the Dutch won their sole major tournament encounter 2-0 in Bern the following summer.
In short, most would expect Holland to prevail to prevail at Allianz Arena, setting up a quarter-final showdown with Austria or Türkiye in Berlin on Saturday night. Prediction: Netherlands 2 Romania 1
Austria vs Turkiye (Tuesday in Leipzig)
Steen: Playing at Red Bull Arena, the home of Austrian owned and operated Red Bull Leipzig feels like a good omen for Austria, but they will still be at the disadvantage of the fact Turkish fans are extremely passionate at Euro 2024 in Germany and their shade of red will likely dominate the arena. Turkiye entered Euro 2024 with low expectations and already surpassed them, wins over Georgia and Czechia were respectable, and a loss to Portugal was frankly expected from the group. Their 6 points would have been enough to win a different group.
Austria topped a group featuring regular World Cup participants Netherlands, France, and Poland, Austria has not been a world football power consistently so it was quite the feat to narrowly lose to France and then defeat the other two teams in the group consecutively. Ralf Ragnick is playing some of the most tactically compelling and relevant football at Euro 2024. There is talent on the field for both teams like Marcel Sabitzer and Arda Guler, and both teams have shown they know how to score goals, Austria are conventional favorites but I don’t feel a rout is imminent and extra time is possible. Prediction: Austria 2 Turkiye 1
Ben: In terms of entertainment, it’s very possible that the best round of 16 tie at Euro 2024 will be saved for last, with both of these two nations viewing this match-up as a golden opportunity to reach the last eight.
Before a ball was kicked, few predicted that Austria would top their group, above former winners France and Netherlands, but they achieved just that, making them, possibly, the most-impressive team we’ve seen at this tournament so far.
Ralf Rangnick’s side were narrowly defeated 1-0 by France in their opener, Maximilian Wöber the scorer of an unfortunate own goal, but they’ve bounced back with successive victories in Berlin subsequently.
First, Das Team defeated Poland 3-1 in the German capital before, on Tuesday, beating Netherlands 3-2, also at Olympiastadion, with Romano Schmid and Marcel Sabitzer on target in a famous victory.
This is Austria’s 11th appearances at a World Cup or Euros, but only the second time they’ve managed to top their group, previously achieving this at Argentina ’78, so can they now reach the European Championship quarter-finals for the very first time?
As for Türkiye, this is the first time they’ve made it to the knockout stages of any competition since Euro 2008, co-hosted by Austria, famously beating Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals in Vienna back then, before a narrow 3-2 defeat to Germany in the last four.
This summer, the Crescent-Stars commenced their campaign with a 3-1 victory over Georgia, Mert Müldür, Arda Güler and Kerem Aktürkoğlu the scorers, before a 3-0 hammering at the hands of Portugal brought them very much back down to earth.
Nevertheless, Vincenzo Montella’s team managed to beat Czechia 2-1 at Volksparkstadion on Wednesday night, Hakan Çalhanoğlu and then Cenk Tosun with stupendous second half strikes, securing second spot in Group F.
In the stands, the huge Turkish diaspora in Germany means it’s felt like a home tournament for this team so far, although the excited Austrian support will have something to say about that in Leipzig.
Türkiye have won seven of their last 11 encounters with Austria although, when they clashed in a friendly at Ernst-Happel-Stadion as recently as March, Das Team ran out 6-1 winners, the hosts’ biggest win since 2019 and the visitors’ joint-heaviest defeat since 1987.
Thus, most expect Rangnick’s team to prevail at Red Bull Arena, thereby returning to Berlin on Saturday for a quarter-final clash in which they could face Netherlands again or, potentially, Romania. Prediction: Austria 3-1 Turkey
Main Photo Credit: IMAGO Images Copyright: xEibner-Pressefoto
