ÖFB eleven paving the way

Calhanoglu: “We are number one with the fans”

Hakan Calhanoglu celebrates in front of the Turkish fans.

(Bild: AP ( via APA) Austria Presse Agentur/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

After the Turkish national soccer team's victory against Austria in the round of 16 of the European Championship, Hakan Calhanoglu was full of confidence. The captain was suspended in the clash against the ÖFB team and is now eager to play against the Netherlands. The "Oranjes", on the other hand, emphasized that they had learned their lessons from the defeat against Austria. 

The 2:3 defeat against Austria at the end of the group stage of the European Football Championship appears to have been a valuable shot across the bow for the Dutch national team. The "Oranjes" showed a positive reaction on Tuesday and advanced to the quarter-finals with a 3:0 win against Romania. The ÖFB squad's defeat to Turkey means there is now no chance of revenge, with the Turks building up a lead over coach Ronald Koeman's team on their way to the semi-finals.

The Turks have already mastered the round of 16 as underdogs and now have a hugely important offensive pillar at their disposal again in the form of suspended captain Hakan Calhanoglu.

"We want to keep making people happy," emphasized Calhanoglu. The support from the stands is certain for his team. "We are number one with the fans. They are with us everywhere. It's the same in every stadium. But of course it's one number higher in Berlin. We Turks are everywhere," said the 30-year-old. They want to take 2008 as an example. At the finals in Austria and Switzerland and Turkey's last quarter-final appearance to date, they managed to advance to the final round.

Defeat against Austria as motivation
The Dutch, on the other hand, have obviously learned the right lessons from their defeat against Austria. They expressed their satisfaction after the commanding victory against Romania. "The performance was exceptional and we need performances like that to have a chance of progressing," said Koeman.

After slight teething troubles, the victory was never really in danger after taking the lead, the only shortcoming being the exploitation of chances, which was easy to get over with a 3-0 win to start the knockout phase. "We showed a good reaction. That was a step in the right direction," said Gakpo. This was also thanks to the return of right-back Denzel Dumfries to the starting line-up. "We've learned our lessons," said the 28-year-old Inter Milan player.

The pressing and positional play was better than against Austria, and the attacking line also performed very well. "We showed that we are always good for a goal," said Dumfries. According to Gakpo, it had paid off that they had talked a lot about aggression and intensity in the last few days and about how to behave when defending. The result was evident on the pitch, Koeman has set the right levers in motion with his team.

The dream of the title
"We did a lot of things well and set a strong example. The team realized that the last game was really bad in every respect," said the 61-year-old. Finding reasons for the ups and downs from one game to the next is sometimes difficult, he said. "This time we were sharp right from the start. That made the difference," emphasized Koeman. He was never afraid of conceding the equalizer, "because we defended so well".

Ronald Koeman

(Bild: AFP )

As a reward, the "Elftal" have reached a European Championship quarter-final for the first time since 2008 and the dream of winning their second European Championship title since 1988, which Koeman experienced as a player, lives on. "We have great talent in this team, but of course it's important to win something once, then people can start drawing comparisons with 1988," said the Bonds coach. In any case, it is much more difficult in the current era. "Football has changed, it's all more physical and you also have to be quick and technically good."