Koeman confident ahead of Euro 2024 semi-final despite travel delays

Netherlands head coach Ronald Koeman insisted that travel delays experienced by his team will not affect them ahead of their Euro 2024 semi-final with England on Tuesday.

The Netherlands were due to travel from their tournament training base in Wolfsburg to Dortmund, but those plans were disrupted by a blockage on the route that caused their service to be cancelled.

Instead, Koeman and his squad flew to Dortmund, arriving at their hotel on Tuesday evening.

“It was not a problem, we had a good rest this afternoon, we were on the plane for just 30 minutes, arrived at our hotel and we can have a good rest tonight,” Koeman said in an interview with UEFA after his scheduled pre-match press conference had to be cancelled because of the delay.

See you tomorrow. #NothingLikeOranje #NEDENG pic.twitter.com/8TQGtJbpMw

— OnsOranje (@OnsOranje) July 9, 2024

This will be the fourth meeting between the two sides at a major tournament, with England and the Netherlands both winning once.

England have triumphed just once in their last nine meetings with the Netherlands in all competitions, but Koeman is expecting a tough encounter against the Three Lions.

“We know that there is really not much difference between the two teams, it’s really 50-50 in my opinion,” Koeman said. “But we will need the perfect game to win.

“We know they have a lot of individual qualities but both teams are really strong and it will be a good fight,” he predicted.

The Netherlands came from a goal behind to secure their place in the semi-finals of the competition, beating Turkiye 2-1 in Berlin last Saturday.

England, meanwhile, needed penalties to edge past Switzerland, something Koeman believes could be an advantage ahead of kick-off.

“England had to play extra time in their last game (against Switzerland) so maybe that could be a difference in the latter stages of the match,” Koeman said.

“We are sharp, we are focused and we are looking forward to playing a good match against them.”