Euro Cortado #17: Okay, I'll say it... Turkish delight!

The dark horses of 2021 have upset the dark horses of 2024, as the sea of orange celebrates victory over the sea of yellow

There is always one team who impresses in the Group Stage before falling flat on their faces in the knockouts, while one Group Stage stumbler suddenly clicks into gear come the Round of 16.

In Austria’s loss to Turkey, we definitely saw one of those scenarios play out, while the Turks will have a huge say in whether or not the Netherlands are the team who have hit form at just the right time.

Settle in for the round-up of the last day of Round of 16 action with a hot cup of Euro Cortado.

Turkey moist when cooked properly

A European Championship in a German-speaking country where Austria bow out earlier than they hoped, the rain lashes down and Turkey are the talk of the tournament - it’s great to be back in 2008!

For the first time since Austria/Switzerland when they reached the last four, Turkey are into a quarter-final at a major tournament after beating the Austrians 2-1.

It was a match that promised a lot - one of the most impressive teams so far against a team that throw the kitchen sink at their opponents in every game - and for once, such a match lived up to the hype.

A winner-takes-all encounter played in a win-or-die fashion in the driving rain, with two sets of passionate fans roaring on. It was intense, frenetic football from start to finish.

Start to finish is no understatement; Merih Demiral broke the deadlock with the first of his two goals after 57 seconds for the fastest Euros knockout stage goal ever, then in second half injury time, goalkeeper Mert Günok produced the save of his career to deny Christoph Baumgartner.

Cue all 22 exhausted players dropping to the ground and bedlam in the stands at full-time.

Rather than simply review the games, the very loose idea of Euro Cortado is to explore what we learnt from each match, and after some very questionable defending against Portugal either side of all-out-attack against Georgia and Czechia, what we now know about Turkey is that they can actually defend and keep a solid structure when needed.

Vincenzo Montella’s men, marshalled by a back three of Demiral, Kaan Ayhan and Abdülkerim Bardakcı, dealt with wave after wave of late Austrian pressure to secure their passage, but also stifled them at source over and over again in the first half. They were resolute and organised against the same team they shipped six to earlier this season - and who in their right mind expected that?

But enough about structure - let’s just go and watch the highlights of that match again!

Where did it all go Wrongnick?

Austria’s failure to break down that Turkish back line in the pouring rain, followed by Günok’s wonder save, means their wait for a quarter-final place at a major tournament will extend to over 70 years.

And what a chance they had this time. In form coming into the finals and many people’s team of the group stage, the highly-organised Austrians were meant to brush the heart-over-head Turkey aside.

So, what happened?

Austria profited from bright starts in their wins against Poland and the Netherlands, going ahead inside nine minutes in both, but this time, they were on the receiving end of a very early goal.

That seemed to shock Ralf Rangnick’s men, who then struggled to find their rhythm in the first half, often looking too one-dimensional in attack, always looking to take players on rather than build patient attacks. Often, it looked as if they were trying (and failing) to beat Turkey at their own game.

Once they did pull a goal back, they began playing their best football and probably would have found a way to equalise had there been a few more minutes of stoppage time added on.

For all their exciting yet clinical football, a team who cannot settle or find belief until they have scored is deeply flawed. We all said “well, it is France” when they were defeated in their opener, but given how France haven’t impressed at all, in retrospect it seems like Austria suffered the same problem.

Also, for all the praise he has rightly received, I believe the decision not to start Florian Grillitsch and Michael Gregoritsch was a bad one from Rangnick. Grillitsch has impressed throughout, and Gregoritsch - who pulled a goal back yesterday - looked a cut above Marko Arnautović in every match Austria played in Germany.

A bright Orange new start

The start of the knockout stages was meant to be a hit of the reset button for the big names who plodded through the group stage. Yet it didn’t turn out to be for Belgium, England or France, though the latter two seem quite content carrying on with the old ways.

But finally, one team did go to the Euro 2024 Wellness Centre and treat themselves to a fresh, new start.

The Netherlands had a mixed group stage - using a #BigManUpTop to get them out of trouble against Poland, before being unfortunate with a VAR call against France. Then, against Austria, they looked out of sorts in both their tactics and defence and were somewhat lucky to reach the last 16 at all.

But all credit to the much-criticised Ronald Koeman, he made the right changes to his starting XI, changing to a 4-2-3-1 formation, with the impressive Tijjani Reijnders and Jerdy Schouten holding, allowing an attacking four to run free and cause havoc for the Romania defence.

And as they had promised they would, the experienced Dutch players - in particular their defence - stepped up and looked far more organised.

They missed a hatful of chances after Cody Gakpo - a man growing into this tournament - gave them a first-half lead, before adding some polish with two late goals from Donyell Malen, the first after some mesmerising close control from Gakpo.

Malen came off the bench yesterday and made a positive impact, proving to be the perfect example of Dutch improvement, after he started against Austria, scored an own goal and was later taken off.

Romania’s issue before the tournament was scoring goals, and it turns out their three against Ukraine was the exception that proved the rule. Since then, they have managed one penalty in three matches and rarely looked like threatening, though their fans at least threatened their goalkeeper Florin Niță’s concentration by throwing trainers into the area!

But in 90 minutes, the Netherlands have gone from being a prime target for an upset, to being a team no one will be wanting to face. Who knows, maybe they can do something special in Germany, as they did 36 years ago?

Is Austria vs Turkey the match of the tournament thus far? Will the Netherlands push on and beat Turkey in the last eight, or was yesterday’s performance from the Dutch more to do with facing a poor Romania team?

Anthony Tomas is a football writer and commentator, who writes for Flashscore and World Soccer Magazine.