I think there are similarities in how the tournament has gone for England and Holland. When I watch England, they have players who, for some reason, are playing beneath their level. But they fight. And in the end, when you don’t have a good tournament, the only thing you can do is fight. You have to respect that. They never give up.
Holland are really fighting for every metre too. Really playing like a team. We are still not happy. In Holland, playing well is important also. And until now, we have played well only in parts of games. When it has been bad, it has been really bad. So we are quite satisfied to be in the semi-finals.
Both teams have had their share of luck. It’s a strange system when you can finish as one of the best third-placed teams to qualify, as Holland did, and then face Romania and Turkey — teams we should really win against — in the next rounds. Playing England will be a different story. But, like England, we have been really lucky with the draw.
The 3-2 defeat against Austria in our final group game was a big shock in Holland. They faced a lot of criticism. But the way we played against Romania in the round of 16 was much better. Against Turkey, we started really well, then for 20 minutes had big problems. Then we played well again and, in the end, we were really lucky they didn’t score again to make it 2-2.
That’s our biggest weakness: we can’t seem to play for 90 minutes. I think the story is the same for England. They’ve relied on luck, last-minute goals. But as I’ve said many times, you need a little bit of luck in your career — and also during a tournament.
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England have so many good players. But I think they feel too much pressure from everybody. Jude Bellingham is scoring important goals, but when he is not scoring bicycle kicks, he isn’t touching the ball much. Somehow, though, this feels like his year. In the last minute, he is there. That’s a quality, no doubt.
Cody Gakpo will be an important player for us on Wednesday. He is playing amazing. Xavi Simons has showed only glimpses of his quality, but he’s a special player. It’s also time for Memphis Depay to stand up.
But Denzel Dumfries is maybe the most important player in our team. He has so much energy, so much power. When you go to war, you want to be on his side. There was one tackle against Turkey, on Hakan Calhanoglu, it was like he was giving his life for this team. That’s what we need.
Dumfries is a right back but he is playing almost as a winger. I prefer him a little bit further back, with the game in front of him. When he’s standing high, he can’t use his pace as much, which is his strength. On the left, it is Gakpo, who is high and wide, and the left back Nathan Aké forms a three-man defence in the build-up. If Aké is not working, we put in Micky van de Ven. He has done well every time he has been on the pitch. We have good strength on the bench.
It is important to have a plan B when plan A isn’t working. For us, that usually means bringing on Wout Weghorst in attack. We call him the “crazy guy”. He comes in, gets into fights, screams at everyone. He’s a totally different type of player. Similar to Niclas Füllkrug of Germany. There has been criticism of the team in Holland, but we think Ronald Koeman is doing a great job. He’s always calm, always making the right subs, the right decisions.
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After two years at Tottenham Hotspur, I still have a soft spot for England. I had a fantastic time there. So, for me, it’s a special game. I played with Harry Kane when he was 18. To see what an amazing player he has become, I’m so happy for him. If one player deserves to win a title, it’s him. But I hope it’s not this one. I think it could be a long night for everyone. Maybe 2-2, extra time and penalties. And Holland win.
Games like this are usually won by the individual qualities of your forward players. When the forward players are not living up to expectations, then the whole team struggles. I think that has been the same for both teams.
For the first hour of Holland’s 2-1 win against Poland in our opening group game, Gakpo was unbelievable. Against Romania, Simons and Gakpo played well. Suddenly we looked a much better side. But in the other games, our forward players were not the greatest. We are still hoping Depay will perform against England or, if we win, in the final. He’s one player who can make the difference, but that has not been the case yet.
I actually would not play Simons in this game. He is not the No10 who complements Depay. Depay needs a running No10 behind him; Simons is a ball-playing ten, getting between the lines but not making deep runs. If you don’t have a striker who runs in behind, or a No10 who is running in behind, who is going to hurt the defence? I would play Donyell Malen, the Borussia Dortmund forward, but we will see.
England have had a similar issue. But Kane has the usual suspects around him — Phil Foden, Bellingham and Bukayo Saka: players he has already played so many times with for England — so it should be better.
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England have so many good players . . . but f***ing hell! What we have seen so far doesn’t even come close to the potential of these players. The manager [Gareth Southgate] is not known for his attacking style of play. That much we can say easily. It seems very calculated. He probably had dinner with Didier Deschamps, the France manager, too many times.
You could say now that it has been effective. But when you get through on penalties, and before that were going out with 30 seconds left on the clock against Slovakia, you can also say England have been very, very lucky. If we are really honest, normally when you finish third, as we did, you are out of the tournament. So we were lucky too.
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We were very down in Holland after the Austria game. The answer from the squad against Romania was great. And after going 1-0 down and turning the game around against Turkey, everyone is on a high.
The big difference between Holland and England is we never expected to win this tournament. England were one of the favourites — especially for the English themselves. When we lost Frenkie de Jong, the Barcelona midfielder, and Teun Koopmeiners, who had a fantastic season at Atalanta, through injury before the tournament, nobody gave us a chance.
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Now, though, there is a belief that we are capable of causing a surprise.
Speaking to Gregor Robertson
