Cody Gakpo scored and Donyell Malen netted twice off the bench as the Netherlands booked their place in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals with a 3-0 win over Romania.
Gakpo saw his low drive beat Florin Nita for power 20 minutes in to settle the Oranje's nerves, and they were in total command from that moment on.
The Liverpool man saw a potential second goal ruled out before Virgil van Dijk struck the woodwork, but some fine work late on saw him tee up substitute Malen to make it 2-0.
Malen then added further gloss on the break in stoppage time, and the Netherlands will approach Saturday's quarter-final tie against Austria or Turkiye with confidence, with a potential semi-final clash with England still on the cards.
The Netherlands made a tentative start and were fortunate to see Dennis Man's 20-yard drive float over the crossbar, but the Oranje went ahead in the 20th minute.
Gakpo cut inside Andrei Ratiu before shooting from the left side of the area, and Florin Nita arguably should have done better as the ball squirmed past him at his near post.
The Netherlands grew in confidence from there and bossed the remainder of the first half, going close to a second goal when Denzel Dumfries forced an error from Bogdan Racovitan before teeing up Xavi Simons, but the RB Leipzig man took too long before shooting wide.
The Oranje pressure continued after the restart as Ratiu's desperate tackle prevented Memphis Depay from blasting into a gaping net, before Van Dijk sent a downward header against the post and wide just before the hour mark.
Depay then called Nita into action with a ferocious 25-yard strike before he was denied his brace by a VAR review, being called offside after he poked home following a scramble in the area.
Joey Veerman went closer still when he rolled his shot across goal and wide after finding space on the left of the box, but Ronald Koeman's team had daylight with seven minutes remaining.
Gakpo did brilliantly to keep the ball in play under pressure from Radu Dragusin, with Malen turning his low cross home for the clinching goal.
With Romania crestfallen, Malen doubled his tally at the death, streaking away on the break before rolling his finish into the bottom-left corner.
Gakpo enters Golden Boot race
Perhaps Nita should have done better for Gakpo's opener, failing to keep his shot out despite getting two hands to it at the near post, but the Liverpool man caught out the goalkeeper with a lethal strike after turning Ratiu.
He now has three goals at Euro 2024, joining Jamal Musiala, Georges Mikautadze and Ivan Schranz at the top of the scoring charts, with the latter two having already been eliminated.
He also scored three times at the 2022 World Cup, meaning Kylian Mbappe (nine goals) is the only European player to outscore him across the last two major tournaments.
Gakpo is also just the third Netherlands player to score three or more goals at two different major tournaments, after Johnny Rep (1974 and 1978 World Cups) and Dennis Bergkamp (Euro 1992, 1994 and 1998 World Cups).
Romania's luck runs out
Romania thrilled fans with their matchday-one victory over Ukraine, but after that, they were somewhat fortunate to escape the most balanced group in European Championship history.
Among all teams to progress from the group stage, only Georgia (71) faced more shots than Romania's 46.
They started brightly as they attacked a sea of yellow at one end of the stadium on Tuesday, but the Netherlands soon assumed control, firing off 23 shots worth 2.75 expected goals (xG) to Romania's five (0.28 xG).
The extent of the Dutch dominance was illustrated by the fact they had 10 first-half corners, with only Sweden (11 versus Italy at Euro 2000) having more in an opening period at the tournament since 1980.
Messi 'trained with fear' ahead of Argentina's Copa America clash with Ecuador
Lionel Messi was fearful ahead of his return to action for Argentina at the Copa America.
Messi sat out Argentina's win over Peru in the group stage, but despite Lionel Scaloni saying the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner was a doubt to feature against Ecuador in the quarters, he started on Thursday.
The 37-year-old had just 32 touches in a 1-1 draw, marking his fewest touches in a competitive match for his country in which he has played 90 minutes since 2011.
Messi subsequently missed his penalty in the shootout, but goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez spared his blushes in a 4-2 victory for the defending Copa America champions.
When asked how he had been feeling ahead of the tie, Messi told reporters (via The Athletic): "The truth is bad.
"With a lot of uncertainty, with lots of fear when I was training, a lot of desire to be here and doing everything possible to be able to play.
"I was able to be here and [help] the team."
Messi explained it was no surprise to Argentina that they faced such a stern challenge from Ecuador.
"The truth is it was a difficult match, which was very hard to play," Messi added.
"We knew it was going to be that way because they’re a great team, a hard team who press well, who have intense, dynamic players, and when they have the ball they do damage as well.
"We expected this kind of game."
Argentina have now extended their unbeaten streak against Ecuador to 17 matches at the Copa America (W11 D6). This is the third longest unbeaten run for La Albiceleste against a single opponent in the competition, following a 30-match run against Chile (W22 D8, excluding penalty shootouts) and 26 against Paraguay (W20 D6).
Messi and Co. will face either Canada or Venezuela in the last four.
Uruguay v Brazil: Aguero backs Bielsa's team as only ones capable of stopping Argentina
Marcelo Bielsa's Uruguay are the only team capable of stopping Argentina from defending their Copa America crown, so says Sergio Aguero.
First, though, Uruguay will have to overcome nine-time Copa America champions Brazil.
Uruguay, who topped Group C with nine points from their three games, face the Selecao in Las Vegas on Saturday. They scored nine times across those three group contests, which is three goals more than any other team in the competition.
Brazil finished second in Group D, behind Colombia, drawing two and winning one of their matches. Not securing top spot means they now have to overcome a huge quarter-final test.
Former Argentina striker Aguero feels that Uruguay, not Brazil, are the favourites to challenge the reigning champions, who scraped past Ecuador on penalties to reach the last four.
In an interview with Stake.com, Aguero said: "I think Uruguay have a lot to give now with Bielsa. They should go far in the tournament.
"I think Argentina are their own biggest threat, and we shouldn't be overconfident. But Uruguay are the only team that could beat us, because Bielsa knows Lionel Scaloni very well.
"Let's not forget that Uruguay is the only team that has beat us since becoming world champions."
As well as beating Argentina in World Cup qualifying, Uruguay have also defeated Brazil.
And their achievement in winning 100% of the available points in the group stage was the first time they had done that in the Copa since 1942, when they won all six of their matches and were crowned champions.
In a further boost to Bielsa's team, Brazil's talisman Vinicius Junior will miss the game due to suspension.
"Vini is a top player who can win games for us," Brazil defender Danilo said.
"But we have other players with a lot of quality and potential, and let's try to make up for Vini's absence."
Real Madrid forward Vinicius is Brazil's leading scorer at the tournament, with both of his goals having come in the 4-1 win over Paraguay on Matchday 2.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Uruguay - Sergio Rochet
Goalkeeper Rochet has kept a clean sheet in six of the last seven matches he has played for Uruguay across all competitions.
The only team that managed to score against him during this period was Panama, in Uruguay's 3-1 victory in the group stage.
Brazil - Raphinha
Raphinha scored Brazil's goal in their 1-1 draw with Colombia last time out, and with Vinicius out of action, the onus will be on the Barcelona man to provide the spark in attack.
Against Colombia, he attempted six dribbles, completing three of them, with both figures being team highs. His direct free-kick goal was the first scored by a Brazil player since 2019.
MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW (IN 90 MINUTES)
We have already had one penalty shootout in the Copa America quarters, and Opta's model is suggesting we could have another, with the supercomputer finding it hard to separate these sides.
Brazil and Uruguay are two of the three teams who have not fallen behind at any point of the tournament, alongside Argentina, so it may not come as a surprise to see the system predicting a tight contest.
Uruguay have lost only one of their 10 quarter-final matches at the Copa America (W4 D5), since this round was first played in 1993. Half of these games have been decided by penalty shootouts, with Uruguay winning two of those.
This will be the first knockout meeting between these nations at the Copa America since the 2007 semi-finals, when Brazil won on penalties en route to becoming champions.
Knocking out Brazil is no mean feat. They have never lost a knockout match against Uruguay in the Copa America, with two wins and three draws (W2 L1 of the penalty shootouts).
And, in a streak that is ongoing since 2011, Brazil have not conceded more than one goal in any of their last 24 Copa matches.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Uruguay - 35.6%
Brazil - 37.4%
Draw - 27%
Euro 2024 social round-up: Andrich debuts new look, Walker turns cheerleader
After two long days without any Euro 2024 action, the quarter-finals got going on Friday.
There were two mouthwatering ties on offer as Spain played Germany, while Kylian Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo went head-to-head for France and Portugal.
And what about the action online?
Here is the best of the social media posts from Thursday and Friday at Euro 2024.
New look?
The hosts have already caught the eye with their performances en route to the quarter-final.
And now, Robert Andrich has caught attention with a bold new style, possibly inspired by Germany's away kit at the tournament.
Ultimately, Andrich did not get a chance to debut his new look from the start of Germany's clash with Spain, as he was named on the bench.
Walker the cheerleader
Before starting training for the day, Kyle Walker took some time to check in on how the goalkeepers were preparing for England's tie against Switzerland.
John Stones tagged along with his Manchester City team-mate, and almost got themselves into trouble after getting a little too invested in the session.
Spanish goalkeepers put to the test
Things can get a little hectic in the penalty area during set-pieces with both teams desperate to get on the ball.
Spain have figured out an impressive way to give their goalkeepers an in-game experience during training.
Although, some of those shirt tugs would likely catch the referee's attention...
The Portuguese take over Hamburg
The Portuguese fans were out in full force before their round of 16 penalty shootout victory in Frankfurt.
They have now taken to the streets in Hamburg, with the hopes that their side can recreate the magic of the Euro 2016 final, when they beat France 1-0 to lift the trophy.
Back to their roots
France's squad is full of household names, with their players spanning the globe for their various clubs.
In a special photo shoot, they instead looked back to their beginnings, each donning the shirt of their first-ever club, and they gave a glimpse behind the scenes to see how it all came together.
The competition heats up
The Netherlands produced their best performance so far at Euro 2024 on Tuesday when they booked a place in the quarter-final with a 3-0 victory over Romania.
And their competitive spirit stretches past the pitch and into the game room at their training base.
While Nathan Ake showed off his interesting technique for a new high score, tensions were on the rise at the ping-pong table.
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