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Stekelenburg pleased Dutch played it 'smart'

Maarten Stekelenburg was pleased the Netherlands showed an ability to be "creative" against Scotland, whose manager Scot Gemmill was keen to look at the bigger picture.

Stekelenburg pleased Dutch played it 'smart'
Stekelenburg pleased Dutch played it 'smart' ©UEFA.com

Maarten Stekelenburg, Netherlands coach
I'm proud of the boys as they fought and it was not easy in the first half, though the spaces got bigger and bigger as the game went on. In the first half, Scotland put us under pressure and didn't want to let us play, so we had to play more long balls. We had to be a little bit creative in order to get the ball up front and play from the second ball, which I think the boys did very well then.

I think we have very smart players, who are tactically and technically of a high standard, but if Scotland had scored early in the first half then it could have been a very different game. So you can't say that the Netherlands were very good and Scotland were very bad – sometimes a game just flows your way. We scored at the right moments and after we made it 2-0, I think we had a lot of control over the game.

We know it will be a different England team [to the group stage] this time. We'll have to prepare very well as it will not be the same England. It'll be a different challenge.

Keziah Veendorp, Netherlands captain
Yeah, it was a really good performance – 5-0 in the semi-finals doesn't happen often. We've not really spoken to the coach, we were too busy partying! The mood's great in the dressing room and will be on the bus too. We're confident for the final, but the game always starts 0-0 and we mustn't forget that. They made a lot of changes for [our Group A] game, so I think they will be a stronger proposition in the final.

Scot Gemmill, Scotland manager
The manner of the defeat is hurtful for the players. There's a thin line between winning and losing, and I think that was evident tonight – goals change games. Once the game swings, it's very difficult and credit to the Dutch. They're full of technical players who are capable of scoring goals, but we went toe to toe with them for the first 30 minutes.

Credit to our players for getting us this far in the tournament. It's well documented that the Dutch have a tremendous youth system in place, and you can see by the level of their players that it's working very well. That's something we're aspiring to in Scotland and we feel we have put the structure in place. In the future, I'm sure we'll see the results.

They're all very, very upset but they're young players and they're still learning. They need to see the bigger picture – it might take a bit of time – because they're going to go home as better players and can hold their heads up high.

Scott Wright, Scotland forward
It's difficult to put into words. I thought we started off well. We went in at half-time and the coach just said we're still in the game, that we had to try and get an early goal and then we would have been right back in it. The more we pushed, we left spaces at the back and obviously they took advantage of that.

We've got to take a lot of positives out of it at our next meeting or gathering. We'll just speak about what we've done and what we can work on, and try to build on what we've achieved here. [I'll look back on] the standard of the football, the level and the different attention and pressure. You know you're going to feel media attention, fans and, obviously with the games being on TV, I think it's a good experience for every player involved.

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