On Sunday evening, the EM attracts with two strong round of 16. At 6 p.m. the Netherlands and the Czech Republic started. It was an even match for a long time.
For a long time it was an even last sixteen at this European Football Championship. But then the video referee put the Czech Republic on the road to victory against the Netherlands. The VAR intervened after a yellow card for a handball, whereupon the referee on the court looked at the pictures again and came to the end: Matthijs de Ligt from the Dutch had prevented a clear scoring chance and had to leave the field with a red. 55 minutes had been played.
The Czechs then needed 13 more minutes to take the lead. Tomas Holes headed 1-0 in the 68th minute after a free kick. Czech top striker Patrick Schick made it 2-0 ten minutes before the end and thus secured the ticket for the quarter-finals for the 1996 European Championship finalists. For Schick from Leverkusen it was already the fourth goal in the tournament. This means that only Portugal’s superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is ahead of him with five goals.
In the preliminary round, after a mixed tournament, the Czech Republic only qualified as one of the four best third-placed finishers for the round of 16. The Dutch, on the other hand, had dominated their group with three wins and strong offensive football. But in the knockout system, a weak game is enough to be eliminated from the tournament.
Czech Republic a possible semi-final opponent for the Germans
The Czechs will meet another surprise team next Saturday at 6 p.m. in Baku: Denmark. For one of the two underdogs, the EM dream will end next weekend. However, one of the two is sure to be among the top four teams in Europe.
The winner of this game, in turn, could be a semi-final opponent of Germany. For this, Joachim Löw’s team would first have to win their round of 16 against England (Tuesday, 9 p.m. in London) and the subsequent quarter-finals against Sweden or the Ukraine (Saturday, 9 p.m. in Rome).
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
