Netherlands suffer train accident ahead of EURO 2024 semi-final against England

Ronald Koeman and his team were scheduled to take the train from Wolfsburg to Dortmund, and attend a press conference at 7:45 p.m. on July 9, Berlin time. But the train line that the Netherlands planned to travel on encountered a "blockage" problem.

Coach Koeman and his players received the news while at Wolfsburg train station. Therefore, the whole team was stuck at the train station in the 33-degree heat of the German summer, and had to choose another way to travel.

According to Dutch media, the team will take a short flight departing at 8:20 p.m. and arrive in Dortmund at 9 p.m. This will affect the Netherlands' plans, as they will have to cancel a scheduled press conference in Westfalen with coach Ronald Koeman and defender Nathan Ake.

In addition, the Netherlands did not have much time to rest and familiarize themselves with the pitch at Signal Iduna Park, where the match took place. Normally, members of both teams would be familiarized with the pitch a day before the match at EURO 2024.

UEFA also announced: "Due to the disruption to the travel to Dortmund, the Netherlands' arrival was significantly delayed and therefore no press conference will take place. The footage of the interview with the head coach will be published tonight on the UEFA media channel."

Meanwhile, England's travel and preparations have been uneventful. Asked at a press conference at Signal Iduna Park what he would do in a similar situation, manager Gareth Southgate said: "If that happens, I'll stay calm and keep things under control. But the Netherlands can still have dinner here tonight. The game is only tomorrow night."

At EURO 2024, the Netherlands only made it out of the group stage as one of the four best third-placed teams, but impressed by dominating Romania 3-0 in the round of 16. In the quarter-finals, the Netherlands showed their mettle by scoring in six minutes to come from behind to beat Türkiye 2-1.

The last time the "Orange Storm" won the EURO was the 1988 tournament, also held in Germany. At that time, current coach Ronald Koeman was a key factor for the Netherlands, with the most impressive mark being the goal that helped the home team eliminate Germany in the semi-finals. In that tournament, the Netherlands also met England in the group stage and won 3-1 thanks to a hat-trick by Marco van Basten.

Apart from winning the 1988 championship, the Netherlands' best results at EURO were third place in 1976, 1992, 2000 and 2004. Meanwhile, England's best results were reaching the semi-finals in 1968, 1996 and the final of EURO 2020, where they lost to Italy on penalties at Wembley.