On Sunday night Czech Republic stunned Netherlands and progressed through to the Quarter Finals of Euro 2020 by winning 2-0 at the Budapest Arena in Hungary, which saw Netherlands finish with 10 men.
The game turned out to a much closer affair than originally imagined (Due to the fact that Netherlands were marked as heavy favourites to win the matchup) as the game kept on flowing with great attacking intend from both sides.
Following a 0-0 first half, the turning point of the game came within one minute of second half gameplay. After some great peace of dribbling, Dutch striker Donyell Malen found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper. However he was unable to finish off the move as he tried to round off Tomas Vaclik, who brillantly came out and made a superb stop to deny him.
Mere moments later, a long ball in Netherlands half saw Patrick Schick running towards the goal who was brought down by Matthijs De Ligt at the edge of the box. Originally referee Sergei Karasev showed him a yellow but was soon instructed to have a go and look at the monitor by VAR. Following the review he changed his decision and gave De Ligt his marching orders for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity in the 55th minute.
Down to 10 men, the Dutch fought hard but the task proved too tough for them. They gave a cheap free kick just near the corner flag. A high cross was headed back across the goal by Tomas Kalas which was then thumped in by Tomas Holes in the 68th minute to send the Czech fans in heaven.
The game was wrapped up in the 80th minute as Tomas Holes turned provider for Patrick Schick. A long free kick from Vaclik was headed away by the Dutch. Holes however nicked the ball away from the toes of Wijnaldum and raced forward towards the penalty area before squaring it to Schick who cooly slotted it home to make it 2-0.
The other game of the day saw Belgium knock out Defending Champions Portugal from the competition as they won 1-0 in Seville.
The only goal of the game came in the 42nd minute as Thorgan Hazard smashed a rocket into the right hand corner. Rui Patricio who was in hindsight, could have done better as he scrambled back.
Portugal went close in the second half through Dias, Guerreiro and Felix all went close but were unable to beat Courtois as they bowed out of the competition at the Round of 16.
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