The Debrief as Türkiye performs heroics and the Netherlands sails

The round of 16 is done and dusted after the last two quarter-finalists were confirmed today.

Here’s what we made of EURO action on the 19th.

What happened?

The last two places in the round of 16 were confirmed under very different circumstances.

The Netherlands ended up beating Romania 3-0 in Munich, with goals from Cody Gakpo and Donyell Malen (2), in a very convincing performance.

Later in Leipzig, Türkiye defeated Austria 2-1 in the match of the round in an atmosphere to match, with Mehri Demiral, Arda Güler and Mert Gunok among the heroes.

Player of the day

Cody Gakpo was the star of the show for the Netherlands, but in reality it all came down to a draw between Arda Güler and Mehri Demiral.

Güler’s complete game (in the absence of the suspended Hakan Çalhanoğlu) once again confirmed his status as a star of Turkish football and someone to watch at Real Madrid next season. It was also his two corners that led to his team’s two goals.

However, as the old saying goes “goals win games” and how often do you see a defender score two, especially one who has only scored two in his entire 47 game international career before tonight.

It took just 57 seconds for Demiral to score the first, taking advantage of an Austrian mix-up to score from close range, and he added the second just before the 60th minute, heading powerfully at the near post.

Furthermore, the 26-year-old was part of a stubborn and resolute Türkiye defense that mostly resisted Austria’s constant attacks.

The nights don’t get much better.

Moment of the day

Fifty-seven seconds.

The fastest goal ever scored in the round of 16 in the 64-year history of the European Championship, destroying Robert Lewandowski’s 100-second record.

In addition to making history, it also confirmed that this was the “game of the round” that so many expected it to be.

The remaining 89 minutes and three seconds (plus additional time) somehow almost amounted to a truly impressive start.

Photo of the day

Christoph Baumgartner couldn’t have done more with his header, but somehow Mert Gunok pulled off the save of the tournament with almost the last touch of the game to ensure his side’s progress.

Statistics of the day

Not bad company.

What does this mean

Both the Netherlands and Turkey are in their first EURO quarter-finals since 2008, while Romania and Austria’s journey has ended.

Neither side should hang their heads as they brought as much to the tournament as anyone else.

What they said

Ronald Koeman He was delighted with his team’s victory, but warned that they must continue on this path.

“The end result is always the most important. But we are Dutch and we have to play well. The entire performance today was excellent. That’s what we need to have a chance to continue in this tournament. If we lose our performance, we won’t reach the final.”

Romanian star Radu Drăguşin was proud of his team’s tournament, which qualified them for the knockout stages for the first time in 24 years.

“I’m sad we’re going home. We wanted to stay longer and make our fans happy again. But I’m proud and I know that we created something through this experience and I’m sure that in the future we will obtain even better results.

Head of Austria Ralph Rannick couldn’t believe his team was eliminated, but praised Gunok’s heroics.

“We didn’t have the necessary luck and I believe that if the game had gone to extra time we would have won. We had time to score an equalizer, but it’s difficult when they have Gordon Banks in goal!”

What comes next?

We are at the end of the game now, with just a third of the field left with a chance of lifting the famous trophy on July 14th.

A two-day break ends on Friday in the best way imaginable, with Germany and Spain facing off in a battle between the two best teams to date, before France and Portugal face off.

On Saturday, England will face Switzerland and today’s winners, the Dutch and the Turks, will face each other.

Who wins either game is anyone’s guess at this point.