There was always a darkness on the horizon for the Netherlands. Their perpetual motion-based style of play was incredibly stylish and exciting in the group stage but way too risky for the knockouts.

What was never inevitable is the thought that it would be the Czech Republic to eliminate them. Looking back, their group stage rivals (England, Scotland, Croatia) all had narratives that propelled them into the knockout rounds while the Czechs were considered a filler team who were involved in Euro 2020 to make up the numbers.

It's possible that the Netherlands overlooked the Czechs while preparing for this game but it was clear from the opening moments that the Czech Republic definitely studied every aspect of the Netherlands’ tactics.

Manager Frank de Boer stuck with his maverick 3-4-1-2 formation that's all about verticality. In only three games, right winger Denzel Dumfries developed a reputation for terrifying pace out of deep that can slice right through defensive lines and the midfield pairing of Patrick van Aanholt and Frenkie de Jong provide service, long and short, up and across, up to strikers Donyell Marlen and Memphis Depay.

The Czech Republic lined up in a 4-2-3-1, with the midfield sitting incredibly deep. They did this with the intention of overloading the Netherlands’ offensive areas and played a man marking defense that made sure nobody further forward than center-back Daley Blind was free.

This created a fascinating dynamic that left the Netherlands looking like they were playing in a bubble; they still had the pace, they still had Dumfries making moves on the right and de Jong passing along the left, only now when they reached the top of the pitch, somebody was there to block, deflect and recycle the ball the other way every time.

The Czech team isn't exactly loaded with superstars. This back four that was cutting off the flashy Netherlands consists of players from West Ham, Sparta Prague, Bristol City and TSG Hoffenheim, however what they showed is that in the finals of a tournament like this, being able to work as a team is far more important than being a spectacular individual.

When they got the ball themselves, they chained passed quickly and fluidly up the right from Vladimir Coufal to Tomas Soucek with the aim of then finding someone free up. Patrik Schick is the man of the moment but they were more than willing to get any of their attacking midfield involved.

This, from about the 25th minute onwards, proved to be the Netherlands’ downfall. They’re set up to be all wingers and strikers leading only Giorginio Wijnaldum in the midfield and so the Czechs, once they realized how much space they had to play with, regularly found themselves in threatening positions without much standing in their way.

In the second half, they came out swinging. It took only 15 minutes for their combined man-marking defense and fluidity across the midfield to drive the Netherlands to madness. In the 53rd minute, Schick was in on goal and Matthijs de Ligt cut him off. While tussling, de Ligt dropped to the ground and very clearly handled the ball to knock it out of play; what was originally a yellow card foul was upgraded to straight red and De Ligt was sent off.

Considering how tightly the Czech Republic had been playing when it was 11 vs 11, they now essentially had a bonus player on the pitch. Even better for them is that the one dimensional Netherlands had absolutely no idea how to deal with going a man down.

In the ensuing collapse, the Czechs hit them on the break over and over until in the 68th, a goalmouth scramble ended with the ball being headed across Netherlands goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg and then in by Tomas Holes to make it 1-0.

It was 2-0 in the 80th when a similar thing happened, only instead of headed across, it was played back by Holes to Schick. He knocked it in with his left foot. The ease of the goal was perhaps more important than the fact it even happened. The Netherlands hadn't simply lost, they'd been found out.

For De Boer, what started as a radical experiment to get the Netherlands back into a major international football tournament had ended with all his doubters and detractors proved right.