Dutch media and broadcasters were enraged at losing to England in dramatic fashion at the Euros 2024 semi-final.
They all but accused England of cheating their way through, and have called for the referee to be blacklisted. England’s last-gasp decider from Ollie Watkins sealed their route to the final against Spain on Sunday, but it did not come without controversy.
After opening their account after seven minutes with a scorcher from Simons that screwed into the top corner of the net, despite England keeper Jordan Pickford getting a hand to it, the Dutch were livid when Harry Kane was adjudged to have been fouled by Dumfries following a VAR review.
Kane silences critics with penalty
Kane coolly found the left corner, despite Verbruggen guessing correctly and diving the right way. It was simply too powerful a shot and too close to the woodwork to stop.
Dutch media were furious, claiming that Sark had committed a handball in the build-up. They called for the referee to be blacklisted.
Typical of the reaction was former national team star Rafael van der Vaart, who told Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), one of the Dutch public broadcasters, “What a s*** team they are,” he fumed. “Slowly, they didn’t want to do anything anymore. They have such top players on the field.”
Grudgingly, he conceded, “We didn’t do much either. We had a few chances. There could have been so much more in it.”
Referee should be “blacklisted”
Voetbal International (VI), a Dutch football magazine, was incensed, pointing out Saka’s alleged handball.
VI claimed the “international press were unanimous about the penalty moment with Dumfries” and that it was not a penalty.
Pierre van Hooijdonk, working alongside Van der Vaart for NOS, raged: “(Referee) Felix Zwayer and the VAR Bastian Dankert: (should be) blacklisted. Terrible.”
Holland’s hearts were broken in the 90th minute by Ollie Watkins slamming home a Cole Palmer assist to send the national team to Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on Sunday to face Spain.
“No one remembers who came in second”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Dutch media made little reference to what would have been an inch-perfect goal by Bukayo Sake, disallowed for offside.
The late US professional golfer once said, “No one remembers who came in second.”
This is even more the case for those coming in third and fourth, it seems.
