Romania vs Netherlands Matchday Stats Preview

This will be only the second ever major tournament (World Cup/EUROs) meeting between Romania and Netherlands, with the Oranje winning 2-0 in the group stage of EURO 2008.

Romania have won just one of their 14 matches against Netherlands in all competitions (D3 L10), losing their last four in a row since a 1-0 win in UEFA European Championship qualifying in October 2007. The Tricolorii have only scored three goals in those 14 encounters, while conceding 29.

Romania have reached the knockout stage of a major tournament (World Cup/EUROs) for the first time since EURO 2000, when they were knocked out by Italy at the quarter-final stage. The Tricolorii have only progressed from one knockout tie in major competitions, beating Argentina 3-2 in the 1994 World Cup last 16.

Netherlands have lost each of their last three knockout stage matches in the UEFA European Championship, defeats to Portugal (1-2 in 2004 semi-final), Russia (1-3 in 2008 quarter-final) and Czechia (0-2 in 2020 last 16). They could become only the second side to lose four consecutive knockout matches in the tournament’s history, after Yugoslavia from 1968 to 2000.

This will be Romania’s 20th game at the UEFA European Championship, making them the 16th side to reach that total at the finals. They have won just two of their 19 games to date (D6 L12); previously, the fewest wins by a nation in their first 20 matches in the competition was four by Switzerland.

Netherlands were ahead for just 12 minutes and 27 seconds of matches in the group stage of this UEFA European Championship, the fewest of any side to qualify for the knockout stage, with only eliminated sides Czechia (7:20), Hungary (2:01) and Serbia (0:00) ahead for less among all sides in the group phase.

In the group stage, only Georgia (71) faced more shots among sides to qualify for the EURO 2024 knockout rounds than Romania (46). However, the average xG per shot faced by Romania was just 0.07, above only England (0.04) and Belgium (0.06) in the group stage, meaning the average quality of the shots they faced was the third-lowest of any side.

In the EURO 2024 group stage, only Rasmus Højlund (129) applied more pressures in the final third than Netherlands’ Memphis Depay (108). Depay recorded at least 66 pressures in the final third more than any other Dutch player (Cody Gakpo closest with 42).

Razvan Marin has scored two of Romania’s four goals at EURO 2024; the only players to score more in a single edition of a major tournament for the country are Florin Raducioiu (4 at the 1994 World Cup) and Gheorghe Hagi (3 at the 1994 World Cup).

Cody Gakpo scored two of Netherlands’ four goals in the EURO 2024 group stage and could become the sixth Dutchman to score 3+ in a single edition of the finals, after Marco van Basten (5 at EURO 1988), Dennis Bergkamp (3 at EURO 1992), Patrick Kluivert (5 at EURO 2000), Ruud van Nistelrooy (4 at EURO 2004), and Georginio Wijnaldum (3 at EURO 2020).