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Admittedly, I expected Austria to be a powerhouse in this tournament after seeing how impressive they were in the Group stage. They looked good enough that it seemed to me that they might even contend with the bigger sides to go very deep in this tournament.
So much for that idea, eh? Clearly, I was mistaken.
Türkiye shocked Austria almost right from the start of this game. Turkish centre-back Merih Demiral scored a goal right in the first minute, giving his side a 1-0 lead, which they managed to hang onto for the duration of the first half.
In the second half, Demiral managed to score again early in the second half, scoring in the 59th minute to give Türkiye a commanding 2-1 lead.
Not too much later, Austria finally struck back, getting on the scoreboard after Michael Gregoritsch scored in the 66th minute.
However, they were not able to follow up with another goal. So Türkiye hung on for the improbable win, and advance to the quarterfinal stage.
The other elimination game played this Tuesday, however, was not nearly so suspenseful. Netherlands had a pretty easy time of it against Romania.
Dutch forward Cody Mathès Gakpo broke through in the 20th minute, giving Netherlands a lead that they would never relinquish.
Still, Romania was tough enough on defense it took the Dutch side quite a long time to add to that goal, and get some breathing room. In fact, Netherlands would not score again in the first half, and it would take most of the second for them to do so.
However, forward Donyell Malen broke through for the Dutch side in the 83rd minute, giving them a nearly insurmountable lead with time running out.
Then in extra time, Malen managed to get yet another score to provide the final 3-0 margin.
Those two games set up a clash between Netherlands and Turkiye in the quarterfinal set for this Saturday.
As impressive as the Turkish side was yesterday against Austria, finding a way to beat Netherlands in that game would be a far more impressive upset win. I expect that almost everybody will expect Netherlands to win, and likely to win quite soundly, at that.
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