Netherlands are through to the semi-finals of the Euros.

The team Sportin Wales are supporting throughout the European Championships thanks to your votes have defied the odds in reaching the last four.

Before a ball was kicked at the European Championships, DragonBet had Netherlands at 16/1 to win the tournament and Memphis Depay as they’re best chance to win the golden boot at 40/1.

Now, they will face England for a place in the Euros Final, a first for the Oranje since their 2-0 win against the Soviet Union in the 1988 final.

But how did they get there? Let’s take a look…

Pre-Tournament Injury Woes

Netherlands’ preparation for the tournament was blighted by injury with their midfield plans torn up time and time again.

Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong initially seemed to be going as their midfield lynchpin, only to have to pull out following a re-occurrence of the ankle issues that had blighted him all season.

His expected midfield partner would have been Atalanta’s Teun Koopmeiners who was brilliant in his side’s run to the Europa League title, however he also had to pull out before his country’s final warmup match.

That news would have been even more devastating, considering that Koopmeiners’ Atalanta and Dutch teammate Marten de Roon had already been ruled out due to a knee injury.

Game One – Welsh Revenge

In the first game of the Euros, Netherlands took on Wales’ vanquishers Poland.

They did so with a midfield trio of PSV pair Joey Veerman and Jerdy Schouten along with AC Milan’s Tijani Reijnders.

Netherlands found themselves 1-0 down early doors thanks to an Adam Buksa header from a corner, but a Cody Gakpo deflected strike levelled things up before half an hour.

That’s how the scores stayed until super-sub Wout Weghorst replaced Depay with 10 minutes remaining, scoring minutes later to give his side a crucial victory.

Game Two – French Stalemate

The second game saw Netherlands come up against joint pre-tournament favourites France.

Despite it being a French side shorn of star striker Kylian Mbappe due to a broken nose, it was still expected that France would be the winners.

In a strong defensive display, Netherlands’ centre back pairing of Inter Milan’s Stefan de Vrij and Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk stood tall, despite suffering a scare when Antoine Griezmann twice fluffed his lines with the goal at his mercy.

Indeed, Netherlands could well have taken all three points, only for Xavi Simons’ second half strike be ruled out for offside as Denzel Dumfries was deemed to have impacted on French goalkeeper Mike Maignan’s attempts to make the save.

Eventually the game ended 0-0 and with four points Netherlands were almost assured of a place in the knockout stages.

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Game Three – Austrian Press

For game three, Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman made three changes with his side almost assured of their place in the knockouts.

However, it was an in-game substitution which would prove most memorable.

After 35minutes, Koeman chose to remove Veerman with his side trailing 1-0 courtesy of a Donyell Malen own goal.

Veerman was the victim of a poor first half display with Koeman saying post-game that he had to “do something” after his side had played “like this for thirty minutes”.

“I saw him tripping over the ball, giving the ball away, I can’t explain it,” said Koeman.

“Being good on the ball is supposed to be his quality.”

The ruthlessness displayed by the normally mild-mannered Koeman was a reflection of the pressurised situation.

Despite an improved second half performance with goals from Gakpo and Depay, Austria eventually ran out 3-2 winners with an 80th minute Marcel Sabitzer goal.

Round of 16 – Draw Fortune

The result against Austria meant that Netherlands qualified third from their group and would face surprise winners of group E Romania after all four teams had finished on four points.

The Dutch dominated Romania from start to finish, scoring after 20 minutes through Gakpo’s third goal of the tournament before dominating most of possession and chances.

Despite all of the opportunities, Netherlands couldn’t find a way to clinch the crucial second goal and a nervy final 10 minutes looked in store until more good play from Gakpo set up substitute Malen to score with seven minutes remaining.

With seconds left, Malen added his second and his side’s third, shimmying inside to end the game with a scoreline that reflected the whole 90 minutes.

Quarterfinal – Comeback Kings

Holland faced Türkiye at the quarterfinal stage of EURO 2024 and, while the Turkish were perhaps the weakest side left on paper, their run to the last eight had bought them many fans.

Disaster struck in the 35th minute as a Türkiye corner was poorly cleared to the edge of the box. Young player of the tournament so far, Arda Güler, whipped in a beautiful cross with his weaker right foot, that found the head of the towering Samet Akaydin, who nodded the ball past Bart Verbruggen in the Dutch goal.

Güler hit the post early in the second half with a low struck freekick, and suddenly the Netherlands looked to be crashing out. Yellow cards to the previously unfazed Nathan Ake and van Dijk gave the likes of Barış Alper Yılmaz and Güler a chance to run at the Oranje defence at every opportunity.

Manager Koeman was proactive with his substitutions, though, bringing on Weghorst and Joey Veerman, helping to change the game in his side’s favour.

With twenty minutes to go, Depay’s cross from the right wing found de Vrij unmarked in the box and his header was powered into the bottom corner.

Suddenly, the Netherlands had momentum, and six minutes later a goal to go with it. Another cross from the right wing, this time a low teasing effort from Dumfries found its way all the way to the back post and Gakpo, whose effort deflected off the unfortunate Mert Müldür and into the net.

Gakpo, chasing the competition’s golden boot with three goals making him joint top-scorer, will have been disappointed to see it go down as an own goal, but the joy of reaching a first EURO semi final since 2004 will have vastly out-weighed any negative feeling.

Semi Final – Rare Meeting with England

Tuesday’s semi final clash with England will be the first tournament fixture between the two since England’s triumphant 4-1 victory in the group stage of EURO 1996. On that day, a talented Netherlands side was comprehensively beaten, thanks to a duo of braces from Alan Shearer and Teddy Sheringham.

Come Tuesday, the Dutch squad will instead be looking to channel the spirit of 1988 – their only previous final appearance at the EUROs, where they beat England 3-1 on the way on lifting the trophy – in Germany no less!