Spurs defender secures match up with England

Spurs defender Micky Van De Ven will face off against England in the European Championship semi-final on Wednesday night, thanks in no small part to his heroics.

Van De Ven came on in the second half of their quarter-final showdown with Turkey for his fourth substitute appearance of the tournament, and this one was comfortably his most productive cameo so far.

Van De Ven was once again introduced in place of Manchester City defender Nathan Ake after 73 minutes, with the game in the balance at 1-1. 3 minutes later, the Dutch were ahead and thanks to Van De Ven, were able to withhold a late Turkey onslaught.

In his time on the pitch, the Dutch defender made 2 clearances, blocked a shot and made a tackle. His most important contribution, by far, was his goal-saving block after Turkey substitute Zeki Celik had made a run to the far post, attempting to place the ball into what he thought was an open goal, Van De Ven was there just a few yards from the goal-line, to crucially get in the way and get the ball to safety.

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Van De Ven to play England, getting more and more minutes

It is getting to the point where Spurs' number 37 will be wondering what else he has to do to get a start. There is just such tough competition in the Netherlands backline, even Stefan De Vrij, who seems the most likely player to come out, came up big with a huge equalizer in the aforementioned win over Turkey.

So on Wednesday night, Van De Ven and his Dutch counterparts will showdown with England at the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund for a place in Sunday's European Championship final in Berlin and a chance at European glory.

The Netherlands last won the European Championships back in 1988, whilst England's best effort to date was their runners-up finish in the last edition back in 2021.