Belgium managed to book its place in the semifinals of the European Under-21 Championship with a 2-2 draw against Netherlands at the Abe Lenstra on Saturday.

Jean-Francois De Sart's side needed a single point to qualify for the semifinals and took an early lead against the Dutch, who have already qualified to the next round. Netherlands coach Foppe de Haan, made four changes to the team that had defeated Portugal 2-1 on Wednesday.

Ryan Donk was moved to a holding midfielder's position from his natural position of a center back. However the changes seemed to have made no impact on the team's attacking prowess as the Dutch had the first chance of the match as early as in the first minute when Royston Drenthe saw his shot just miss his target.

Netherlands nearly took the lead in the sixth minute when keeper Logan Bailly pulled off a great block to deny Donk's header from inside the penalty area. However it was Belgium who took the lead in the 9th minute when Kevin Mirallas headed home a curling cross from Tom De Mul from the right hand side.

A stung Dutch team swung into action and pretty soon scored the equalizer in the 13th minute. Ryan Babel took possession of the ball near the center of the fielded and ran up to the right hand side of the penalty area, pulling away three defenders in the process. Babel then passed across the ball to an unmarked Maceo Rigters, who smashed the ball past Bailly into the goal.

Netherlands started to take control of the match and were rewarded in the 37th minute when Drenthe hit a curling free kick which wrong footed Bailly who could only palm the ball into the net. The Dutch team was looking invincible and Belgium were staring at elimination from the competition at half time.

Netherlands could have increased the lead in the 67th minute through Daniel de Ridder, but his effort was pushed away by Bailly. Just when it looked like Netherlands had done enough to secure their third win in a row, Belgium struck.

Sebastien Pocognoli took control of the ball near the center of the field running down the left wing to hit a scorcher from outside the penalty area and even though Vermeer got a hand to it, he could not stop the ball from going into the net, leaving the Belgian fans ecstatic.

The draw meant that Belgium went through to the semifinals even though Portugal won the match against Israel. The Belgian team now faces Serbia in the semifinals while Netherlands will have to wait for another day to know who will they be facing on Wednesday.