By Miranda Murray
BERLIN (Reuters) – Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman did not mince his words about the performance of his team, assured of a place in the knockout stages, after their loss to Austria in their final European Championship Group D game on Tuesday night in Berlin.
“Do you have quite some time? Because I can list quite a few mistakes,” Koeman told reporters after Austria grabbed a thrilling 3-2 win over the Netherlands that sent them into the last 16 at Euro 2024 as group winners.
“Normally we have good defenders. We don’t get a lot of goals against us. Not today,” he said, describing the defensive position as running around like a headless chicken. “It was awful, very bad, so we did not control the match,” he said.
“It’s all about the responsibility to follow your man. If you watch the second and third goals – it’s too easy.”
However, he maintained some optimism about the team’s chances going into the next round.
“It absolutely has to be much better in many ways. But it is also in this eleven (players) that it can be done,” he said.
Austria topped the group on six points, with France second on five after a 1-1 draw with Poland and the Netherlands third on four. Already eliminated Poland finished with one point.
An own goal by Donyell Malen had given Austria the lead six minutes into the game but Cody Gakpo levelled shortly after half-time. The Austrians pulled ahead just before the 60-minute mark before Netherland’s Memphis Depay once again equalized in the 75th. With 10 minutes left in the game, Marcel Sabitzer secured the win for Austria and the top spot for his team.
The Dutch had edged Poland 2-1 in their opening game in Hamburg and were fortunate not to lose to a wasteful France in their second match in Leipzig, escaping with a 0-0 draw.
(Reporting by Miranda Murray; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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