Netherlands vs England: Which team will secure Euro finals appearance?

Just 90 minutes – or perhaps more – now stand in the way of both the Netherlands and England as the two sides vie for a spot in the UEFA EURO 2024 finals. With Spain having already booked their ticket thanks to a 2-1 win over France, all eyes will shift to this competition’s second semi-final, which will be taking place on Wednesday.

The Netherlands are back in the semi-finals of a European Championship for the first time since 2004. Arguably, the Oranje did not have the best performance during their group stage campaign, which saw them start off brightly with a 2-1 victory over Poland. However, a scoreless draw against France and a shock 3-2 loss to Austria meant that Ronald Koeman’s men only narrowly squeaked into the round of 16 as one of the best third-placed teams.

Perhaps that has turned out to be their saving grace. Finishing third in their quartet meant that the Netherlands got an easy draw in the round of 16 after Romania managed to top their group ahead of Belgium. As many expected, Romania proved to be no match for the Oranje, who cruised to a 3-0 win to secure a spot in the quarter-finals. While Turkey, who have really impressed so far in this competition, proved to be a much sterner opponent, the Oranje were eventually able to overcome a 1-0 deficit to claw their way back into that contest and secure a hard-fought, 2-1 victory to head to the semi-finals in the Euros for the first time in 20 years.

Next up for the Netherlands will be a match against England. Although the Oranje have a good track record against the Three Lions, with just one loss in their last nine meetings across all comps (W4 D4),  they have really struggled when it comes to featuring in the final four.  Indeed, the Netherlands have been eliminated in the semi-finals in all but one of their last five semi-finals ties, and will be hoping for a better result in what will be their sixth Euro semi-final on Wednesday.

England, for their part, have received – and continue to receive – their fair share of criticism due to their failure to really set the pitch alight. Nonetheless, Gareth Southgate’s troops are into the semi-finals of the Euros for the second consecutive tournament. That’s despite a very insipid group stage performance that saw England win just one of their three matches, but it was still enough to top their quartet and receive a seemingly favorable draw in the round of 16.

On paper at least, facing minnows Slovakia should have been a pretty straightforward task. Yet, England were woeful on the day, and after Slovakia grabbed an early lead, were looking quite set to suffer what would have been a shocking and embarrassing early exit. Fortune, however, smiled down on the Three Lions on that day, with late goals via Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane enough to help the team turn things around and have the opportunity to add another chapter to their Euro 2024 story.

As expected, Switzerland presented a much tougher opponent than Slovakia in the quarter-finals, but despite once again going a goal down, England were able to rally back. Bukayo Saka, who experienced great heartbreak during the last European championships, was one of the heroes on the day as he not only scored the vital equalizer, but also converted from the spot to ensure that the Three Lions are now just a match away from trying to achieve something they have long sought to: winning their first major title in nearly 60 years.

So, will England finally be able to “bring it home”? Well, first, they will need to see a way past a Netherlands side who also have been waiting quite some time to also add a trophy to their collection. The winner of this contest will take on a Spain team who have made history by winning all six of their games in this contest – and are looking like the heavy favorites to make it a lucky seven on Sunday.

But until then, all eyes will be on this contest to see whether it will be the Netherlands or England who will have the chance to compete for glory and potentially deny La Roja a chance to make further history in the showpiece final on Sunday.