Netherlands v Czech Republic: Dutch must learn from past mistakes, says coach Ruud van Nistelrooy

Date: 27 June. Kick-off: 17:00 BST. Venue: Puskas Arena, Budapest. Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, text commentary, report and highlights on the BBC Sport website.

Assistant coach Ruud van Nistelrooy says the Netherlands must not be complacent after topping Group C at Euro 2020 and learn from mistakes made at major tournaments in the past.

“I talked about it with the group,” he said.

“That’s why it was important not to loosen the reins too much.”

The Netherlands scored eight goals as they won all three of their group games at Euro 2020 against Ukraine, Austria and North Macedonia.

But former Manchester United striker Van Nistelrooy says a different mentality is needed for knockout phase.

“In the groups you have more moments where you can make a mistake, in that sense it’s a different kind of pressure, (in the knockout stage) it’s all or nothing. Mentally that’s important.”

TEAM NEWS

Netherlands striker Luuk de Jong will play no further part in Euro 2020 after suffering a knee injury in training.

Oranje boss Frank de Boer otherwise has a fully fit squad to choose from.

Czech Republic captain Vladimir Darida is a doubt for this game after missing Saturday’s training session with an unspecified injury.

Ales Mateju could start in place of left back Jan Boril, who is serving a one-match suspension after picking up two yellow cards in the group stage.

Chances of Euros success rated

Simon Gleave, head of sports analysis, Gracenote says: “The Dutch team find themselves in the more favourable half of the draw after winning Group C. As they can avoid all of Europe’s top five teams in the next three rounds, their chance of winning the competition has increased by about half from 5% pre-tournament to 7.6% now. The Netherlands will play no-one ranked above them by Gracenote until the semi-finals and, if England do not make it that far, Oranje have a run to the final which does not include any teams ranked higher than themselves.

“The Czech Republic’s chance of winning Euro 2020 now stands at 1.7% after they began the tournament with a 1% probability of achieving this. Third place in Group D was between the Czechs and the Scots and once the former had won the opening game between those two, they were always favourite to take the spot,” he added.

“The Netherlands are strong favourites to win this according to Gracenote with 66% chance of going through to the quarter-finals, nearly twice the chance that the Czechs will progress (34%),” said Gleave.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• This will be the first meeting between the Netherlands and the Czech Republic since October 2015, when the Dutch were beaten 3-2 in a Euro 2016 qualifier.
• The Czech Republic and the Netherlands will face each other at the European Championship for the third time (excluding Czechoslovakia meetings), with both sides winning one game apiece previously.
• The last meeting between the two sides in this competition was a thriller at Euro 2004, in which the Czechs came from two goals down to win 3-2, following an 88th minute winner from Vladimir Smicer.

Netherlands

• Since winning the tournament in 1988, the Netherlands have progressed from just two of their seven knockout stage games in the European Championship.
• The Netherlands are looking to win their opening four games of a European Championship for only the second time, having last done so at Euro 2000.
• Memphis Depay has been directly involved in 13 goals in his past 10 appearances for the Netherlands in all competitions (9 goals, 4 assists), while only Robert Lewandowski (12) attempted more shots than Depay (11) in the group stage at Euro 2020.
• Georginio Wijnaldum has scored 15 goals in 25 appearances for the Netherlands since the start of 2019, with no player scoring more for the country in that time.

Czech Republic

• The Czech Republic have been eliminated in three of their past four games in the knockout stages of the European Championship.
• They have only won one of their past seven games at major tournaments.
• Patrik Schick recorded six of the Czech Republic’s nine shots on target in the group stage at Euro 2020, the highest percentage of any player for his team in the tournament (67%).