Virgil van Dijk speaks ahead of the Netherlands’ Round of 16 match with Romania. (0:26)
The Netherlands squad had to clear the air after a poor performance in their final Group D match against Austria last Tuesday, midfielder Tijjani Reijnders said.
There was an in-depth and frank postmortem after the 3-2 loss as they finished third in the group and will face Romania in their round of 16 clash on Tuesday in Munich.
“We’ve had some tough conversations but we’re on the right track and everyone is on the same page. It is clear from now on that winning means we go through, losing is going home,” Reijnders told a news conference on Saturday.
“I’ve watched the match again and saw what could be improved. We have to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Romania is the ideal opponent to show how things should be done.
“They also play with a lot of intensity. We have to be much more careful with the ball and didn’t have that at all against Austria,” he added.
On Friday, Dutch captain Virgil van Dijk admitted he had put in a poor performance while Reijnders also said he could have been better.
“Everyone had an off day, including me. That is something to learn from and do better against Romania. There is more pressure involved but that would have been no different had we had won against Austria,” Reijnders said.