BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -Following is reaction after Austria beat Netherlands 3-2 in their Euro 2024 Group D clash in Berlin on Tuesday:
Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman: “I am ultimately responsible. I put this team together because I thought it was the best. But that wasn’t the case. I’m also disappointed in myself that we’re starting (games) like this. I thought the beginning was a poor performance, but not the entire match. We knew that they play with high backs, so we indicated: close that passing line. Then the back zone must hold. But if one or the other doesn’t happen, this is what you get. During the match I also tried to say that central defenders should pick up the emerging backs. The communication was also one of the bad things, especially at the beginning of the match.”
Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk: “We started the match weakly, in possession of the ball and in our duels. Then you are behind the game. We lacked energy. We talked about it at halftime. This is incomprehensible, at a finals tournament. I have no explanation for this at the moment. We all have to do a lot more for this is bad. If we want to achieve something at this European Championship, something has to change very quickly. We are all responsible for this.”
Netherlands forward Cody Gakpo: “We were not happy. Hard words from the coach and the players. Maybe sharpness, we still have to see it again. If we knew, we would change it. We didn’t start well, not sharp. We didn’t get around to playing football. It went better in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.”
Netherlands midfielder Jerdy Schouten “We didn’t get the pressure on properly, so the field looked very big. They took full advantage of that. It wasn’t good tactically. We dealt with it a lot, but we couldn’t put the pressure on. They played a little differently than the game before. (Marcel) Sabitzer was higher and when I followed, the midfield became very big. If I didn’t do that, problems would arise somewhere else. “We were all bad. The national coach (Ronald Koeman) could have substituted all 11 of us.”
Austria striker Marcel Sabitzer: “If you beat the Netherlands and win the group, then you can’t be that bad. For us, the most important thing was to advance, and we managed that. Now we need to calm down, clear our heads and then keep attacking. In football, things often happen quickly, you have ups and downs. I think that’s normal. The question is how you deal with it.
“I’ve worked very well in the last few days, the team supports me very well. When you win like that, win the group, score the winning goal, it doesn’t get any better than that. I give everything for the team, always want to help with assists and goals, and if that happens as a side effect, it’s very nice.
“You can see that we rotate through the team and nothing is missed, everyone knows their position and what they have to do.”
(Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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