The Netherlands, winners against Ireland (1-0), Romania which won against Israel (2-1) and Switzerland, although held in check by Kosovo (1-1) ensured their presence at Euro 2024 on Saturday, during the penultimate day of qualifying. The Dutch punched their ticket for the competition scheduled in Germany, winning by a narrow margin in Amsterdam, to secure second place (15 pts) in Group B behind France (21 pts), who won the the largest victory in its history (14-0) at the expense of Gibraltar.
Hoffenheim center forward Wout Weghorst scored the winning goal in the 12th minute for the Oranje, winners of the competition in 1988, who then held on to achieve the success they lacked, despite some dangerous incursions from their opponents . Until then, Ronald Koeman’s men have won five of their seven matches, only losing in the double confrontation against the France team.
The Dutch remain on several failed European campaigns, having not reached the quarter-finals since 2008. They had even failed to qualify for Euro-2016 in France. During the last continental meeting, the Batavians lost to the Czech Republic in the round of 16 2-0. However, they had a promising 2022 World Cup as they reached the quarter-finals, before falling to future world champions Argentina on penalties.
In Group I, Romania and Switzerland performed well, as expected. The two nations, with 19 and 17 points, are assured of finishing in the first two places before the last day.
The Swiss only needed a draw, if Israel did not win against Romania, to qualify. It was done thanks to a goal from Ruben Vargas (45 2), while Kosovo equalized in the 82nd minute through Muhamet Hyseni. In Hungary, where the other decisive meeting of the evening took place, George Puscas and Ianis Hagi allowed Romania to win against Israel, who had opened the scoring at the start of the match through Eran Zahavi.
The Romanians, who failed to qualify for the last Euro in 2021, will therefore return to this competition next year in Germany for a sixth participation. Switzerland, for its part, finished quarter-finalist two years ago.
Netherlands, Romania and Switzerland are added to the list of qualifiers for Euro-2024, which already includes Germany (host country), Albania, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Hungary, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Turkey.
