The Netherlands shuts down early as football fever mounts – DutchNews.nl

With one win and one draw so far, Oranje has automatically qualified for the European Championships knock-out competition, thanks to Spain beating Albania.

While the first and second teams in each group of four go through, so do the best four third-placed teams, and the Dutch, with four points, are guaranteed to be among their number.

Oranje meet Austria at 6 pm on Tuesday and both teams, as well as France, could all win the group. The fourth team, Poland, is already assured of last place.

“We want to finish first,” coach Ronald Koeman said at Monday’s press conference. “That is always best in my view, because it gives you more confidence through winning a game.”

If the Netherlands tops Group D, they will go to the right side of the playing schedule and will meet the number two from group F in the next round – and that, with one game to go, is currently Turkey.

If they are second, they will be on the left-hand side where Belgium is currently the likely opponent. If they move through as one of the third-placed teams, they will meet a group winner, whatever happens.  

Meanwhile, the Netherlands is set to close down early on Tuesday as people leave work in time to watch the match at home. The ANWB motoring organisation expects rush hour to begin an hour earlier than normal, at 4.30 pm rather than 5.30 pm.

Tuesday is also likely to be a big “working from home day”, Edwin van Scherrenburg, from employers organisation VNO-NCW told the AD. “And if you normally work later and want to go home early, that can usually be arranged,” he said.

Trade union federation FNV also expects many people to stay home, “so you can shut your laptop and put on the television as soon as the warming up starts,” spokesman Guus Staats told the paper.

It will be a tough evening, however, for people working bars and cafes. The combination of sunshine and football is likely to mean big crowds and packed terraces, whether the cafe has a big screen or not.