Think England are bad? Potential last-16 opponents Netherlands in crisis after ‘appalling’ defeat
by Richard Jolly
Jun 26, 2024
3 minutes
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Ronald Koeman has won a European Championship in Germany after a group-stage defeat. Admittedly, it was 36 years ago, as a player and not a manager and to a country – the Soviet Union – that no longer exists as the same entity. But if the precedents from the past offer encouragement, the present bodes less well. Koeman had said the day before facing Austria that he did not want to finish third in Group D. The Netherlands lost and duly did.
“We knew that if we are third came with a warning for their prospects; and, by extension, his.
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