The Netherlands: Croon’s rare failed shoot-out: “Was it all my turn?”

It was with him that The shootout -Occlusing of the Netherlands in the final of the European Championship Started Saturday. Jorrit Croon missed face-to-face with Germany goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneberg. A setback that the Netherlands could not Wonen. The midfielder is normally a certainty, a real specialist. Now his attempt failed from the start, when he started a little late.

Croon was one of the first to report to the press on Saturday evening after the lost European championship final against Germany. He responded smiling to a joke. That he did not yet have this European championship medal in his collection. “I don’t need this either,” says the Bloemendaler advertisement REM.

Of course he immediately thinks back to the moment he could have shooted Orange to be the same. The potential 1-1. Or should have been shot if you look at Croon’s figures. He benefited from sixteen of his nineteen earlier attempts. But number twenty is one to forget quickly. ‘Just assumes that those statistics are not a guarantee. I have to say that the shoot-out was strange. The buzzer went. But the keeper was not ready on his goal line. And the referee did not indicate that I could start. I was still waiting. Was a bit surprised by the fact that we already started. ‘So it’s all my turn, “ I wondered.

There was a lack of clarity. Or I didn’t pay attention. But it was not clear to me that the shoot-out could start. Jorrit Croon

“Above all, I didn’t want to be fooled. Immediately through it. Eventually I came two tenths of a second short. I haven’t seen it anymore. But of course I regret that it is that way. There was some confusion. Or I didn’t pay attention. But it was not clear to me that the shoot-out could start. If you make it, you are good in the series. Now you are immediately behind. That is incredibly sour. In summary: ‘It went very fast, those eight seconds.

Orange is not cooling the game

The Lost Shoot-Out series is at odds with the game, in which the Netherlands dominated. “We did that. But it wasn’t enough in the regular playing time. We can blame ourselves that they have not been killed. That we did not win within sixty minutes. Unlike that, I think we can be very satisfied. How we have presented ourselves, which orange stands for. We ran the balls out of our pants. Set high pressure. Germany kept far from our goal. It was good on the ball. We even continued to chase a goal in the last minute. ‘

With a sigh. ‘It’s just a shame that we didn’t kill the game. Everyone would feel that it was justified, I think. But that’s not how it works in top sport. If you don’t do it, then the differences in the shoot-outs are very small again. And Germany just did better. ‘

Photo: Willem Vernes

The end of that beautiful series

Those shoot-outs had recently become a weapon of the Dutch. The last eight series were won by the Netherlands. A world record in shoot-out country. ‘Enough has been said and written about that,’ Croon refers to the articles made about it in the run -up to and also during the tournament. ‘Yes, we went into it with great faith. But of course we didn’t think we would automatically win it because of the past. We draw the same attention in it. Viewed hours of laptops with images of Germany. A lot has been trained on it itself, even in recent weeks here. So the preparation was not the problem.

For the first time at a tournament, the Netherlands was the prey instead of De Jager. That was of course the result of the competitions that were won in Paris. ‘But we didn’t think for a moment: we are at the top, we have won something, now we can take it. No, we looked even more critical. We threw even more energy into it. That is also necessary if you want to stay at the top. And even then you can fail.

The differences between us and Germany are small. That was the case in Paris, it was now. But the feeling that goes with gold or silver is again very far apart. “Another sigh. ‘I think it is slightly less than a year until the World Cup at home. I am already looking forward to that. ‘