Netherlands vs Turkiye is the fun quarterfinal at Euro 2024 that the fans are excited to see, while England fans await Switzerland in the quarterfinals with a sense of dread. Our panelists predict who will reach the semifinals at Euro 2024 in Germany.
England vs Switzerland (Saturday in Dusseldorf)
Steen Kirby: A purple patch of play saw England survive against Slovakia in extra time, as they played from behind the majority of the round of 16 match, only for Jude Bellingham to have the ball fall at his feet in the dying seconds when it looked like England would crash out of Euro 2024. Harry Kane then added a goal immediately in extra time through Ivan Toney, the substitute, and an exhausted Slovakia, who had already turned away from attacking since early on, could not recover. That was the “barest of margins” that kept Gareth Southgate’s chances of repairing his reputation as England manager alive, as fans of the Three Lions can still chant that the trophy is “coming home”. England’s two goals in three minutes of open play matched their total from the entire group stages, but those two goals masks the fact that this side was still playing sideways and hopelessly failing to create true scoring chances.
Switzerland didn’t have such stress in their life, goals from Ruben Vargas (FC Ausburg in Germany) and Remo Freuler (Nottingham Forest) helped them tamp down an extremely disappointing Italy side as the margin between the two teams was a chasm. Yann Sommer (Inter) in goal and Granit Xhaka (Leverkusen) in the midfield are their leaders as this is a well coached team that has great chemistry and plays well together. I don’t see them conceding easily and England continues to not inspire confidence. This is Switzerland’s moment to rise. Prediction: Switzerland 1 England 0
Ben Gray: Having been seconds away from one of the most ignominious defeats of their entire history, England’s hopes of winning a first-ever Henri Delaunay trophy are still very much alive, but their performance levels will need to improve in Düsseldorf.
Gareth Southgate’s team rather stumbled out of the group stages, winning only once and scoring just twice, but were still expected to ease past Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen last Sunday evening.
Well, this certainly wasn’t how it played out, with the Falcons taking the lead mid-way through the first half at Arena AufSchalke and, as the tie entered injury time, the Three Lions were panicking, still yet to have a single shot on target.
That all changed in the 95th minute; Kyle Walker’s long-throw was flicked on by Marc Guéhi, before Jude Bellingham pulled off a bicycle-kick, usually reserved for movies, to spare England’s blushes.
This forced extra time, less than a minute into which England struck the decisive blow; Eberechi Eze’s scuffed shot into the ground found Ivan Toney who directed his header towards Harry Kane to nod in the winner.
So, the Three Lions have now reached, at least, the quarter-finals at four successive major tournaments for the first time ever, with the Euro 2020 runners-up seeking to appear in the last four of this competition at back-to-back editions for the first time too.
Well, to achieve this, they’ll have to overcome a Switzerland team who’ve been very impressive this summer, notably beating Hungary and holding Germany to a draw during the group stages, before swatting Italy aside a week ago; Remo Freuler and Ruben Vargas on target at Olympiastadion.
Euro 2020 was the fact time the Swiss had featured in a major quarter-final since 1954, but Murat Yakın’s team have managed to get here again, now dreaming of appearing in the last four at a World Cup or European Championship for the first time ever.
England are unbeaten in 13 meetings with Switzerland, winning each of the last five, a sequence that dates back to 1981. This’ll be only their fourth clash at a major tournament, with England prevailing 2-0 in Bern during the 1954 World Cup, they played out a 1-1 draw at Wembley in the opening match of Euro ’96, before the Three Lions were 3-0 victors in Coimbra during Euro 2004. Thus, this is without doubt their biggest-ever clash, so who will prevail at Merkur Spiel-Arena? Prediction: Switzerland 2 England 1
Netherlands vs Turkiye (Saturday in Berlin)
Steen: A Dutch lineup that roared to life after two static performances in the group stages, The Netherlands crushed Romania 3-0 in one of the more lopsided games in the tournament and now face underdog Turkiye in front of a hostile crowd for a spot in the semifinals. Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo is favored to take the Golden Boot while his forward teammate Donyell Malen from Dortmund scored twice against Romania.
Newcomer Bart Verbruggen from Brighton has been excellent in goal and their backline is great, the weakness in the Dutch midfield is unlikely to be exploited by Turkiye, Merih Demiral who plays in the Saudi league scored twice and then the Turks held on valiantly against a talented and motivated Austria side, winning 2-1 in the round of 16 and defending a 1 goal lead for 25 minutes. With that said, Turkiye conceded 21 shots and an xG of over 3 against Austria, this is not the quarterfinal we “should” have had, and if the Netherlands plays up to par they will be the team in the semifinal despite the fact this crowd will be heavily partisan for Turkiye. Prediction: Netherlands 2 Turkiye 1
Ben: These two teams will both view this as a golden opportunity to reach a rare major tournament semi-final, so who will be celebrating come full time in Berlin?
Euro ’88 winners Netherlands are featuring in the last eight of this competition for the first time since 2008, despite only finishing third in Group D, their sole group phase win coming over Poland.
So, the Oranje were probably fortunate to face Romania on Tuesday, ultimately claiming a resounding 3-0 victory in Munich, with Cody Gakpo breaking the deadlock, before Donyell Malen struck twice in the final eight minutes to rubber stamp victory. This is Holland’s 15th quarter-final tie at a major tournament, winning ten of the previous 14, but they were beaten by Argentina at this stage in Qatar 18 months ago, so can Ronald Koeman lead his nation into the semis?
In contrast, Türkiye are aiming to reach just a third major semi, beaten by Brazil in Saitama in 2002 before falling to Germany in Basel at the Euros six summers later. In fact, since the later, the Crescent-Stars hadn’t even got out of their group at any tournament, changing that with victories over both Georgia and Czechia last month.
Even so, Vincenzo Montella’s team went into Tuesday night’s tie against Austria as big underdogs, but Merih Demiral was the unlikely scorer of a brace, converting two Arda Güler’s corners, the first of which came just 57 seconds in, sparking wild scenes of celebration in Leipzig and beyond. Given the Turkish diaspora in Germany, Türkiye’s matches have felt like home games, which’ll continue to be the case in the capital.
To date, Holland have won six of 14 encounters with Türkiye, losing four, their most-recent clashes coming during World Cup qualifying three years ago, with the Dutch beaten 4-2 at Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadı, before exacting revenge with a 6-1 slaughtering at Johan Cruijff Arena. This’ll be their first-ever encounter at a major tournament, so who will prevail at Olympiastadion, thereby facing England or Switzerland in the semi-finals? Prediction: Netherlands 2 Turkiye 1
Main Photo Credit: Photo by Manuel Blondeau/ AOP.Press IMAGO Images
