Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman on Monday ruled out making wholesale changes for Tuesday’s last 16 match with Romania in Munich.
The Dutch finished third in the pool stages, behind Austria and France, earning a last 16 clash with surprise group winners Romania.
Koeman’s side were beaten 3-2 by Austria but the coach insisted: “I will not make many changes to the line-up, we shouldn’t panic because of just one game.”
The 61-year-old praised Ralf Rangnick’s Austria, saying “sometimes the opponent is just better”.
Tuesday’s winner will face off against either Austria or Turkey in Berlin on Saturday, meaning a re-match with the Alpine nation could be on the cards.
Koeman was a player when the Netherlands won the 1988 Euros on German soil.
“If we have the luck we had in 1988, we’ll win tomorrow,” he said.
Virgil van Dijk said the Netherlands seemed to lack the “will to win” against Austria but forward Cody Gakpo said Monday: “We need to be there, give energy, that’s our game plan.
“We will need to start fighting from the first few seconds.”
“We’re disappointed, everyone knows it needs to be better and we trained on that basis.
“We’re through and now (the tournament) can really start,” added the Liverpool forward.
‘Big things’ –
Romania topped their group largely thanks to an opening 3-0 win over Ukraine, having drawn and lost their remaining fixtures.
The win was only Romania’s second victory in Euros history, but midfielder Razvan Marin said Monday his team believed in themselves.
“We knew after we qualified for this tournament the expectations would be very high from everyone, now they’re even higher of course because we progressed to the knockout stage,” said Marin.
“But we can deal with this pressure and these expectations—and we are ready to do big things.”
Romania coach Edward Iordanescu said: “Holland are favourites tomorrow, their players have had great achievements and their squad is worth about a billion euros, but we have our own strengths.
“We’ve got a good group, both on an athletic and a human level. We have a country behind us who support us.”
Romania’s best record was a quarter-final appearance at Euro 2000, having defeated England 3-2 in the group stage.
“When you’re playing with history in front of you, then you want a lot from this one and you want to give your all,” added Iordanescu.
