Netherlands suffered their first defeat at a major tournament since their final group stage game of Euro 2012 (1-2 v Portugal), ending a run of 10 games between the World Cup and European Championships without losing.Czech Republic have won five of their last seven games against the Netherlands, including both of their meetings in this run that came at the European Championships (3-2 at Euro 2004 and 2-0 here).Netherlands are the first side to win 100 per cent of their group stage games (3/3) before losing in 90 minutes in the first knockout round since the Dutch themselves at Euro 2008 (1-3 v Russia).Image: Schick celebrates with Holes after scoring the second goal That is very sour.' Netherlands lose their shine - Opta stats Then you get knocked out in the last 16 against the Czech Republic. 'These Euros were a golden opportunity, so to depart in this way is very painful. I got a slight push and fell, after which I handled the ball.'Īsked if he was being too hard on himself, De Ligt added: 'You know what, ultimately this moment changed the game, and I cannot get away from that. I let it bounce, which was not a good decision. We had the game under control and then such a ball comes. 'We actually lost through my action that feels very annoying,' he told Dutch public broadcaster NOS in quotes reported by Reuters. An experienced one makes the first mistake and then lets the forward go through because you've still got 11 on the pitch.'įrank de Boer says the Netherlands' final ball let the team down in their last-16 defeat to the Czech Republic and admits the sending-off of Matthijs de Ligt changed the game (©UEFA 2021) De Ligt: 'My bad decision to blame'ĭe Ligt took responsibility for his country's elimination in a candid post-match interview. When the first bit goes wrong, a young defender makes the second mistake. 'He gets his footing wrong because he's misread the ball. You only slip as a defender when you've got your footing wrong, when you're out of position when you've misread the flight of a ball and you panic. 'I never buy into it that you slip, that you're unlucky. 'De Ligt looked slow and sluggish - he looked like he was going to be exposed. That then runs into the moment of the match. The goalkeeper anticipates it, knows what he's going to do.

'Malen does so well - then he just complicates it. They had more character and more personality.' they looked really poor after the sending off. De Boer's men wilted like you wouldn't believe. Image: Wout Weghorst trudges off at full-time Soucek this time was the architect as he found Lukas Masopust, but Antonin Barak's attempt on the overlap was flicked over by a brilliant recovery block by De Ligt. The subsequent drinks break did little for De Boer's men as their opponents came even closer with seven minutes of the first half remaining.

The Netherlands, who had found their rhythm through three group games in Amsterdam and were the leading scorers in the opening three matches - cantering to top spot - came close again five minutes later when Denzel Dumfries' diagonal run was found by Blind, but Tomas Kalas did well to slide across and block the shot.Ĭzech Republic had only won one of their previous seven games at major tournaments, but they fired a warning sign midway through the opening period as Tomas Soucek outmuscled Marten de Roon to meet Petr Sevcik's cross, but his glancing header did not trouble Maarten Stekelenburg. Boril's place was taken by Pavel Kaderabek while Antonin Barak and Petr Sevick were brought into the midfield with Jakub Janto dropping to the bench, while Darida sat on the sidelines. Czech Republic made three changes having lost captain Vladimir Darida to a training-ground injury while Jan Boril was suspended.De Roon had been shielded from a possible second yellow card of the tournament in the last outing. Their only change from that match saw Marten de Roon replace Ryan Gravenberch in midfield. The Netherlands kept faith with exciting striker Donyell Malen alongside Memphis Depay, and in place of Wout Weghorst.

Czech schick goal